All that remained of the spider's web was a tangled clump of silk, its strands still drifting in the air.
The children were poking at the spider whose web they had destroyed with a stick.
Elan gently scolded them and made them watch as the spider rebuilt its web as punishment.
Holding the necklace Karon had given him, he asked,
"Will this really be enough?"
"More than enough. But remember, you can't tell them anything about me."
"I understand."
He brought Karon his meal in bed and cleaned up the children's leftovers.
A child tugged on Elan's clothes.
"Uncle Elan, we're so bored. Can we play hide-and-seek?"
"Sure, but I'll be the seeker."
The children rushed outside with excited cheers.
"I'll count to one hundred, and you'll hide. Don't go too far."
Ignoring Elan's warning, the children scattered.
"One... Two... Three..."
After finishing the count, Elan placed a hand on the ground. A wave of energy spread beneath the earth.
Leaves rose into the air, and the ground trembled.
Once he located the children, all that remained was to tag them.
The wind accelerated around him, and he moved in perfect harmony with it.
Some children hid behind trees or inside bushes.
The clever ones slipped into the house and crawled beneath Karon's bed.
The bold ones climbed into the trees.
In the end, however, they were all found.
As Elan counted them, he realized one was missing.
He counted again and again.
Aria was nowhere to be found.
At first, he didn't panic. He simply widened his search.
But after a while, sweat began running down his face, and he hurried back to Karon.
With clear anxiety in his voice, he said,
"Aria's gone."
Ignoring his wounds, Karon forced himself to his feet, and the two split up, searching in opposite directions...
A small child walked between towering trees.
She had no idea what awaited her.
With the innocence only a child could possess, she searched for the perfect hiding place.
She wandered farther and farther without realizing how far she had gone.
When she spotted an enormous tree, she hid behind it.
She never stopped to wonder why the tree was so massive, or what that might mean.
To her, it was simply a big tree.
Nothing more.
As she wondered when Uncle Elan would find her, she heard rustling nearby.
At first, Aria didn't think much of it.
Then an arm emerged from the bushes.
She immediately realized she had been wrong.
It was enormous—thick with muscle.
The arm reached into the bushes, gathered fruit, and pulled them back.
Following the arm with her eyes, Aria saw the creature it belonged to.
Its body was colossal.
Covered in black fur, it stood nearly three times her height.
Its arms were as large as Aria herself, while its torso was even larger.
Its legs looked short and weak.
It seemed to move using its powerful arms more than its legs.
As Aria carefully studied the creature, she stepped backward onto a dry branch.
Crack.
The sound startled them both.
The creature and Aria locked eyes.
Terrified, Aria turned and ran.
The creature raised both arms, slammed them into the ground, and let out a deafening roar.
It was obvious which one was fleeing...
...and which one was hunting.
Aria believed she was fast enough.
The creature proved otherwise.
Though it moved at an almost casual pace, it closed the distance without effort.
After a short but exhausting chase, the creature struck the ground again.
A wall of earth erupted in front of Aria, cutting off her escape.
Realizing there was nowhere left to run, tears filled her eyes.
She slowly turned to face the enormous figure.
Her life had been miserable.
A family that never loved her.
Friends who never cared.
Not once had anyone admired her purple hair or dark brown eyes.
She was simply a girl everyone ignored.
Then, one day, her family suddenly became unusually kind.
For the first time in her life, she knew what it felt like to be someone's daughter.
It was also the last day of that life.
She was sold into slavery.
After that...
she no longer felt alive.
Every day was the same.
Rotten food.
Children dying beside her.
The stench of corpses and filth.
When she thought her life had already ended, she remembered the person who had become her light.
The one who carried his own pain...
yet still cried for theirs.
The one who blamed himself for what had happened to Aria...
and tried to heal the wounds he believed he had caused.
Karon...
Covered in blood.
The moment his image filled her mind, Aria wiped away her tears.
She picked up a wooden stick.
Then, standing as straight as she could...
she faced the giant creature.