"Screeech!!!"
In the dead of night, the sharp sound of sudden braking tore through the silence like a fragile mirror shattering, its fragments scattering across the ground. Immediately after, a heavy crash rang out. The headlights stopped abruptly, frozen in the darkness, dust and tiny insects swirling wildly in their beams.
"Damn it, stupid mutt!"Amid the chaos, a furious curse split the air. A truck came to a halt in the middle of the road. The driver leaned out, yelling angrily, then drove off in another direction, leaving behind a dog lying weakly in a pool of blood.
So it turned out, the driver had hit a dog.
The dog's body twitched faintly. Soft whimpers escaped its mouth, painful, helpless, desperate. A single tear slipped from the corner of its eye. After a brief struggle, it died.
Cars and people continued moving through the night, but no one paid the slightest attention to the dog's life. They merely steered around it and disappeared.Until, suddenly, someone appeared.
It was a girl.
Wrapped in mist and darkness, her figure looked unreal. She stepped toward the dog's body. No one on the road seemed to notice her. A car even passed straight through her, as if through empty air.
That girl… did not exist.
Like a gentle wind, she approached the dog and slowly knelt down. Her hand reached out and rested on its cold fur. Instantly, a soft white light flashed like countless stars gathering together. The dog's soul gradually separated from its body.
The girl smiled at the dog and gently lifted it into her arms.
Her figure then faded into the night.
That girl was Anwen.
Anwen was perhaps only a figure from legend. To humans, she did not exist. She was an angel, an angel who guided the souls of dogs and cats to heaven.
...
Early the next morning, the medical quarantine area was already in turmoil.
An outbreak had spread. People living far from home could no longer remain in the bustling city and were forced to return to their hometowns, to the places where they were born.
How cruelly ironic it was. Those bright cities had once called villagers to leave barren fields behind in search of a better life. Now, when disaster struck, that same call drove people back, back to hardship, back to despair. What could be more painful than this?
Inside the medical station, voices echoed registrations, arrangements, instructions. Yet in one corner, a completely separate argument rang out.
"Destroyed? How can that be allowed?!"
Two medical workers stood before a middle-aged couple. Behind the couple were sixteen dogs and one cat.
"It's mandatory," one medical worker said firmly. "The outbreak is severe. No one knows whether the animals carry the virus. After all, the initial source of infection was animals. What if they infect others? Who would take responsibility then? Right now, human safety and lives come first."
The couple exchanged exhausted looks. Their eyes, dark with sleepless nights, were filled with bitterness. The man finally let out a long breath and spoke perhaps to his wife, perhaps to himself.
"…So be it."
The medical workers took it as consent.
"Please come this way for registration and testing," one of them said.
The other moved to take the dogs and the cat away.
The couple hesitated. They turned back to look at the animals. The dogs and the cat gazed at their owners with innocent, confused eyes, eyes filled with unease. Though they could not speak, it was as if they sensed something terrible approaching. As their owners walked away, the animals stood up and tried to follow, tails wagging only to be stopped.
...
The animals were taken to a nearby river.
Later, their bodies were thrown into the water and carried away by the current.
A breeze passed through, and when the leaves stilled, a figure appeared beneath the trees.
Anwen.
She had come, guided by the ring of souls.
Her eyes followed everything, the actions of the two workers, the river carrying away sixteen dogs and one cat.
Anger surged within her. Such cruelty.
She understood the importance of disease prevention. She understood loss and fear. Over the past year, heaven had welcomed countless souls, young and old, even children taken suddenly, without farewell, full of regret and unfinished wishes. Heaven had received endless prayers from the living: prayers for safety, messages of longing, love for the departed.
Anwen was an angel, but she was also part of this world. She understood.
Yet every life was precious. Those dogs and cats should not have died like that. It was not favoritism, it was justice. They could have been isolated. The source of the outbreak was uncertain. Animals were blamed, yet it was humans who harmed them, humans who spread disease among themselves and still they placed their suffering upon innocent lives.
Anwen felt profound sorrow. She had guided many souls lost to illness, accidents, poison, cruelty but never had it hurt this deeply.
She pressed down her emotions and moved on to fulfill her duty.
In heaven, there would be no more pain.
…
The next morning.
Anwen was sleeping when a sound suddenly woke her, the sound from the bracelet on her wrist.
She startled awake, nearly losing her balance, then remembered she had fallen asleep on a tree branch.
The sun was already high.
She rarely slept this long. Usually, even before dawn, the call of souls would wake her.
She steadied herself and looked at the bracelet. A beam of light pointed in one direction. Catching the wind, Anwen stood and followed it.
The bracelet led her to an apartment.
She passed through the wall and immediately heard shouting.
"I already told you there's nothing between us! Why won't you believe me?!" a woman shouted angrily.
"Nothing? A man and a woman going off alone and you say it's nothing? You think I'm an idiot? Give me your phone!"
They were a couple arguing.
Anwen looked past them and saw a British Shorthair cat sitting on the sofa, staring at its owners in confusion.
"If you want respect, you have to give it too! Everyone deserves privacy. If there's no trust, then let's break up!"The woman stormed out, slamming the door.
The man exploded with rage, smashing a vase to the floor. His face flushed red as he cursed and paced the room.
"Damn woman. You think I'm afraid of you?"
Then his gaze fixed on the cat.
He picked it up and left.
Anwen followed as he bought fuel, drove to an empty field, and stopped.
Her heart tightened. What was he planning to do?
The cat rubbed against his legs, meowing softly, trusting, unaware.
Then...
Anwen froze in horror.
She cried out softly, unable to believe what she was seeing. How could a human commit such cruelty?
She had seen many deaths, but never one born purely from personal rage.
Anwen felt unbearable sorrow. She could not intervene. She whispered comfort to herself and to the cat, that the pain would soon end, that she would guide it to heaven, a place of peace and joy.
The fire roared, violent and merciless like the human heart.
Just as everything seemed lost, a sudden sound rang out.
A young man appeared out of nowhere, tearing off his jacket and wrapping it around the cat. He held it close, ignoring the heat, and ran.
"Hold on. We're going to the hospital. You'll be okay."