The wind lashed violently against the worn wooden doors and windows, producing a sharp creaking sound that tore through the stillness of the place, as if nature itself were raging to take part in the old man's departure.
Kaelin wiped the streaming tears from his face with the back of his trembling hand that would not stop shaking, then slowly stood up, weighed down by his pain. He stepped out of the old man's house with stumbling steps, while despair mercilessly gnawed at his chest like a savage beast. He raised his head toward the cloud-covered sky, his reddened eyes filling with tears again until his vision blurred. Then he turned bitterly and returned to his silent home.
He grabbed an old iron shovel and headed, with his bent back, to the barren patch behind the old man's house.
There, he drove the blade of the shovel into the ground and began to dig.
With every strike into the hard soil, he felt his heart shattering more, as if the blows were landing on his chest instead of the earth. With every handful of dirt he tossed aside, his sobs grew louder and choked in his throat. He dug a deep grave, far deeper than necessary, until his legs began to tremble from exhaustion and grief as he descended into the pit to prepare the final resting place.
He whispered in a broken voice filled with despair:
"Why… why always? Why does everyone I love die and leave me alone in this world?"
He climbed out of the grave, his body covered in dirt, and entered the old man's house for the last time with a shattered soul. He gently carried the lifeless body in his arms. It was painfully light, as if life had evaporated from it, leaving behind nothing but memories.
Every step Kaelin took while carrying this final burden felt unbearably heavy, as though the earth itself clung to his feet, preventing him from moving toward the last farewell.
"I'm sorry, uncle… I should have stayed with you and not left you alone."
He lowered the body reverently into the cold grave, covered it softly with some dry leaves, then began pouring dirt over it with trembling hands and eyes that would not stop shedding tears.
In that harsh moment, amid dust and tears, he realized the bitter truth he had ignored; the old man was not just an elderly neighbor. He was his father, his mother, and everything Kaelin had left of family in this desolate world. He fell to his knees before the freshly covered grave and cried bitterly like a lost child who had lost his last refuge and only safety.
In the midst of the shattered silence that filled the place… strange, invisible threads began to scatter through the air and wrap around him mysteriously.
Suddenly, a deafening scream burst from him, shaking the forest as something exploded deep within his soul while he cursed everything and everyone who had caused this pain.
A sharp pain like a knife tore through his head from the inside, and his exhausted body collapsed onto the dirt, unconscious.
When he opened his eyes heavily, his face and eyelids were covered with a thin layer of dust and soil. He rose with great difficulty, his limbs stiff, and looked with dull eyes at the grave beside which he had slept all night in the open air.
"Rest in peace, uncle…"
From that bleak day on, his life became simple in routine and cruel in loneliness. He woke at dawn, slept at dusk, and visited the grave every single day without exception, sitting there silently, speaking to the soil.
One cold morning, he was awakened by sharp noise and unusual knocking.
Kaelin rose, his spirit too broken to face anyone, and opened the wooden door that let out a loud, irritating creak. On his doorstep stood two girls dressed in luxurious noble clothes that reflected excessive wealth, looking around in confusion as if searching for someone lost in this ruin.
Inwardly, Kaelin thought bitterly that nobles only came to forgotten places like this when they wanted something.
He shut the door in their faces and returned to his worn bed. But before he could lie down, heavy, rapid knocks followed.
He opened the door again, feeling irritated.
There stood a girl with eyes as deep and blue as the ocean, skin pale as snow, and blue hair flowing like silk over her shoulders. She brushed her bangs aside gently and spoke in a steady, composed voice, asking if he knew an old man who used to live here.
Kaelin froze, his heart tightening.
"The old man? What do you mean? And who are you?"
The girl fell silent for a moment, took a deep breath, then said sadly that she had been searching for him for many years. She introduced herself as Hanabi Chinoya, and the girl beside her as her sister. They were from the famous Crimson Moon Guild.
Kaelin's eyes widened in shock when he heard the family name, and he asked in a trembling voice for the old man's name.
Without hesitation, she answered, "Leonard."
At that moment… everything in Kaelin's mind shifted.
A heavy, desolate silence fell between them. Then Kaelin spoke in a faint voice, barely audible, telling them sorrowfully that the man had died.
Hanabi collapsed to the ground, sobbing silently.
Her sister rushed to her in anguish and anger, then turned to Kaelin, shouting at him harshly, demanding to know what he had said and what he had done to her sister.
Between her sobs, Hanabi whispered, calling out to Namiro and telling her their father had passed away.
Namiro looked at Kaelin with eyes burning with rage and threats. She grabbed his clothes and shook him, warning that he wouldn't live another moment if he was lying.
Kaelin answered her with a cold, sharp gaze—one he had never known he possessed.
She raised her hand to strike him, and in that fleeting second… Kaelin clearly saw an invisible thread moving toward him in the air.
His body moved on its own with astonishing speed before his mind understood what was happening, and he dodged the blow smoothly.
He stepped back, then another step, and pushed her hand away.
Namiro's eyes glowed with a strange, frightening yellow as she prepared to attack again, but Hanabi's loud scream stopped her.
Hanabi gently held Kaelin's arm and, in a broken voice, asked to see the place where her father had lived.
He felt the coldness of her fingers and the same trembling running through her body. He nodded and asked them to follow him.
He led them behind the house through tall grass and stopped before a fresh mound of soil, pointing at it and saying it was his grave.
Kaelin burst into tears again. Hanabi collapsed to her knees beside him without asking any questions or showing doubt.
Namiro shouted in confusion, asking how she could believe this stranger so easily, saying he might be a liar or a fraud.
Hanabi turned to her with sharp, confident eyes, saying she had the ability to distinguish truth from lies in a person's voice.
Namiro fell silent, sadness overtaking her, and she began to cry, apologizing.
Kaelin said in a broken voice that their father had been ill and always spoke about them, telling stories of how his wife had left and taken his daughters with her, leaving him with nothing, so he lived here quietly until he passed away.
Hanabi used her special ability, then nodded sadly, believing every word.
She thanked him deeply and told him they had decided to stay here for a full week. She thanked him again with a broken heart for being their father's companion and not leaving him alone in his final hours.
Hanabi wrapped him in a warm, long embrace, and Namiro followed, hugging him as well in gratitude and silent apology.
Kaelin bid them farewell quietly and entered his small house.
For the first time in many long years of wandering and sorrow… he closed his eyes and slept with a smile on his face.