The well was colder than he expected.
Not physically.
Existentially.
As he climbed down, the hanging shadows trembled.
He could feel their emotions brush against him — sorrow, fear, abandonment.
At the bottom stood the other version of him.
But now it had eyes.
And they were terrified.
"You're not me," Aarav said.
"I'm what you became," it replied.
"And if you leave, they survive."
For the first time, Aarav understood.
The shadow wasn't evil.
It was survival.
It was a system built to contain pain in a village that never learned how to face it.
If he stepped forward, the system would collapse.
People would feel their grief again.
Their guilt.
Their loss.
Raw and unfiltered.