Silence.
The birds stopped singing.
Alicia's expression crumbled. Not with hysterical tears, but with a slow, quiet fracturing.
Her eyes, which had begun to shine over the past six months, dimmed once more. Hollow.
She stared at me like a child whose hand had just been let go in the middle of a crowd.
"But... why, Master?" Her voice broke. "Did I do something wrong? Was my cooking not good enough? Was I too slow?"
I looked at her.
A part of me wanted to lie. To say that this was for her own good. That I wanted her to be safe.
But that was a cliché. And I hated clichés.
"Because I need to move," I answered honestly. "And I can't move if I have to keep looking back to make sure you're still there."
Tears fell down her cheeks. One. Two.
She didn't argue. She was a good slave. She accepted her fate of being discarded, even if it shattered her newly mended heart.
"Very well, Master... I understand."
I took out the empty glass jar.
I held it out to her.
"Take this."
Alicia took it with trembling hands. She clutched the empty jar to her chest, as if it were the most precious thing in the world.
"Master's coffee jar... the empty one..."
"Find an Elf named Elyra. Give it to her."
Alicia nodded slowly. A tear fell, striking the lid of the jar.
I looked at her one last time.
The white shirt. The red vest. The neatly combed hair.
She was no longer the broken doll I had bought at the harbor. She was whole. And this place... this place would keep her whole.
"Alicia."
She looked up.
"Someday... I will return."
Her red eyes widened a fraction. A tiny spark of hope reignited within them. Small, but present.
"I'm leaving."
I didn't wait for her reply. I didn't want to watch her cry any longer.
A prolonged goodbye would only dull my resolve.
I turned to face the vast desert.
Facing a silent freedom.
The muscles in my legs coiled tight. The cells in my body spun faster, demanding release.
I pressed down into the earth.
CRACK!
The ground beneath my feet fractured, sending a spiderweb of cracks across the stone surface. Dust billowed outward.
A wide grin etched itself onto my face. A smile that did not belong to a civilized human, but to a monster that had just slipped its chains.
My gaze pierced the horizon. Sharp. Wild.
"HAAAAAAAAA!!!"
A silent roar. An inner release.
BOOM!
I launched forward.
A burst of speed that generated a miniature shockwave. Leaves fell in my wake.
I was leaving Alicia. I was leaving my home. I was leaving behind a comfortable routine, and Azisa... once again.
The wind slapped harshly against my face.
It hurt.
It was lonely.
But within this loneliness, I was no longer bound.
Sometimes, letting go is necessary to move freely.
Even if it feels like tearing away a piece of yourself.