The same dark clouds still hovered above the sky.
They moved slowly across the heavens like silent witnesses, casting a dull gray shadow over the land below.
Beneath them, the ruins of Rivera Village lay motionless.
Smoke still drifted faintly from broken homes. The wind carried the bitter scent of ash and blood through empty streets that once echoed with laughter and life.
Amidst the destruction, Vyvian lay flat on his back on the cold ground.
His eyes stared blankly at the sky.
He didn't blink.
He didn't move.
The numbness inside him was deeper than pain.
For a moment, the ruined village disappeared from his mind.
Instead, memories began to surface—quiet, distant memories from a time that felt like another life.
He remembered the river.
Back then its waters had been clear, reflecting the bright blue sky above. Children used to run along its banks, their laughter ringing across the village.
He remembered running there as a child, his feet splashing through the shallow water while his father pretended to chase him from behind.
His mother would stand near the shore, calling out to him not to wander too far.
"Vyvian! Be careful, you'll slip!"
But he had only laughed and kept running.
The sound of that laughter echoed faintly in his mind now.
Another memory surfaced.
The smell of warm food drifting from their small home at dusk. His mother placing a bowl in front of him while his father spoke about the harvest and the villagers gathered outside.
Back then, Rivera Village had been alive.
It had been a small place, but to Vyvian it was the entire world.
And now…
That world was gone.
The laughter.
The warmth.
The people who filled those memories.
All erased in a single night.
The dark clouds above drifted slowly across the sky.
Vyvian continued staring upward, his eyes hollow and distant.
Even now, his mind struggled to accept what his heart already knew.
Rivera Village no longer existed.
After some time, Faye's eyes slowly opened.
At first, the world was nothing but blurred shapes and dull ringing in her ears. Her head throbbed painfully as she tried to remember what had happened.
Then the smell reached her.
A thick, metallic scent filled the air.
Blood.
Her eyes widened.
Faye suddenly pushed herself up from the ground and staggered to her feet. Panic flooded her chest as memories came crashing back all at once.
The monster.
The village.
The destruction.
"...No."
She began running toward the ruins.
Her steps were unstable, her mind refusing to believe what her eyes were already seeing.
Then suddenly her foot slipped.
The ground beneath her was slick with something wet.
Faye lost her balance and crashed forward, falling face-first onto the cold earth.
Her hands instinctively pushed against the ground to lift herself up… but something felt wrong.
Slowly, she looked down.
Her palms were soaked in red blood.
Not just drops, pools.
Her breathing became uneven as she stared at her hands trembling before her eyes.
A slow warmth trickled down her cheek.
She wiped it away without thinking.
When she looked at her fingers again, they were red too.
Blood had smeared across her face when she fell.
Her body froze.
For a moment, the world felt silent.
Then the horror finally reached her heart.
"AAAHHHHH—!"
Her scream tore through the ruined village.
She wiped her face desperately, but the blood only smeared further across her skin. The smell clung to her, heavy and suffocating.
These weren't her wounds.
This wasn't her blood.
It belonged to the people who once lived here.
Her hands began shaking violently.
Tears blurred her vision as she screamed again, her voice breaking into sobs.
"VYVIAN?!"
Her voice echoed across the broken houses.
"VYVIAN!!"
Her eyes searched wildly through the destruction.
Then she saw him.
A short distance away, Vyvian lay flat on his back on the ground.
His arms rested loosely at his sides.
His eyes stared up into the sky.
Empty.
No tears, no anger, no life.
Just a numb, distant look.
"Vyvian!"
Faye rushed toward him, stumbling across the blood-soaked ground until she reached his side.
She grabbed his shoulder and shook him slightly.
"Vyvian! Where did it go?!"
Her voice trembled.
"That monster… where did it go?! Did it say anything?! Did it say if—"
Her words caught in her throat.
"—if our parents are alive…?"
Vyvian slowly turned his head toward her.
For a moment, he said nothing.
His face held no expression.
Then he quietly pushed himself up to a sitting position.
"Everyone is dead."
His voice was calm.
As if he were stating something ordinary.
Then he stood up.
Without another word, he began walking toward the ruined homes.
Faye remained where she was.
Her mind struggled to understand what had just happened.
Then the meaning of his words finally sank in.
Her knees gave out beneath her.
She collapsed to the ground, tears pouring down her face.
"How…?"
Her voice cracked as she looked toward Vyvian's back.
"How can you say that like that?!"
Her breathing became frantic.
"Everyone is dead… our parents are dead… our home is gone…!"
She slammed her fists into the ground.
"Do you not feel anything?!"
Her voice echoed through the silent village.
"Everyone is dead and you're saying it with a plain face!"
Her tears streamed endlessly.
"Do you not feel?!"
Her voice broke into a desperate scream.
"Are you even human?!"
Vyvian stopped walking.
But he didn't turn around.
From the outside, he showed no reaction.
But inside…
Her words shattered something deep within him.
His eyes slowly moved across the ruins.
Broken houses.
Collapsed roofs.
Bones scattered among the debris.
Blood everywhere.
This was the place where he grew up.
Where laughter once filled the streets.
Where his parents waited for him.
Now it was nothing but silence and death.
His steps slowly carried him toward the river.
The same river that once flowed clear and gentle beside the village.
Now its waters moved slowly.
Dark, heavy, and crimson red.
Vyvian knelt beside it.
For a moment, he simply stared at the surface.
Then he lowered his hand into the water.
The red current wrapped around his fingers.
When he lifted his hand again, blood-colored water dripped slowly back into the river.
He stared at his palm.
It looked as though the blood belonged to him.
As though the blood of the village had been spilled by his own hands.
The faint smile he once carried was gone.
Completely gone.
He leaned slightly closer to the river.
The surface reflected his face.
But the reflection staring back at him was not the same boy who had left for training.
It was a face painted in red.
A hollow expression filled with silent pain.
He wanted to cry.
He wanted to scream like Faye.
He wanted to break down and collapse under the weight crushing his chest.
But nothing came out.
Not a tear.
Not a sound.
The grief inside him had frozen solid.
After a long moment, Vyvian slowly stood up.
He walked back toward Faye.
She still knelt on the ground, her shoulders shaking as she cried.
Vyvian stopped beside her.
"Get up, Faye."
His voice was quiet.
"We have to move."
Faye looked up at him with tear-filled eyes.
"What…?"
"We should go to Sereneth."
His gaze drifted across the ruins one last time.
"We need to talk to Rem… and Elder Seriyah about what happened."
Faye stared at him in disbelief.
Her voice trembled with exhaustion and despair.
"Give me a break…"
Her shoulders shook again.
"I can't handle this anymore."
Her voice dropped to a whisper.
"I don't want to live."
Vyvian stood beside her in silence.
He didn't know what to say.
There were no words left that could heal what had just been destroyed.
So he simply stayed there.
Standing beside her.
Waiting.
After a long time, Faye slowly wiped the tears from her face.
Her breathing was still unsteady.
But the crying had stopped.
"…Okay."
Her voice sounded hollow.
Dead.
"I'll go."
The sky above them slowly cleared.
The heavy clouds drifted away, revealing a bright noon sun that spread warm light across the land.
But the light felt distant.
Cold.
The warmth of the sun could not reach the darkness that had settled inside their hearts.
Before leaving, Vyvian and Faye both turned toward the ruined village one last time.
The place that had once been their home.
Without saying anything, they both bowed their heads.
A silent farewell.
Then, with slow and heavy steps…
As they walked away from what was once their home, neither of them spoke.
Their footsteps were slow and heavy along the quiet forest path. The wind moved gently through the trees, carrying with it the faint scent of smoke from the ruined village behind them.
Faye walked beside Vyvian in silence.
Her eyes remained lowered to the ground.
The tears had stopped, but the emptiness in her chest remained.
Her thoughts slowly drifted away from the present.
Back to a distant memory.
Back to when she was small.
She remembered the first time it happened.
She had been playing near their house, chasing a butterfly through the tall grass while her parents watched from nearby.
Then suddenly her body had begun to glow faintly.
She didn't understand what was happening.
Before she could even call for help, her small body shifted.
Soft orange fur appeared, her ears lengthened, and a tail formed behind her.
She had transformed.
A tiny fox stood where she once had been.
She had panicked immediately, stumbling over her own paws as she tried to understand what had happened.
But instead of fear, her parents had laughed.
Her father had knelt down and gently picked up the small fox in his arms.
"Look at that!" he had said proudly.
"Our daughter awakened her form this early."
Her mother's eyes had sparkled with excitement.
"She's amazing already."
They weren't afraid.
They weren't worried.
They were proud.
Her mother had softly stroked the fur on her head while smiling warmly.
"You'll grow into someone incredible one day."
Faye had adored them.
Every smile.
Every moment they spent together.
Every word of encouragement.
But even more than that…
Her parents adored her.
To them, she wasn't just their daughter.
She was their pride.
Their little miracle.
The memory flickered gently in her mind like the last warmth of a fading fire.
Then it shattered.
The warmth.
The laughter.
The voices that once filled her home.
Gone.
All of it.
Faye clenched her hands slightly as she continued walking.
Her chest tightened, but this time no tears came.
Behind them, Rivera Village slowly disappeared into the distance.
And ahead of them…
Only the silent road to Sereneth remained.