Niloufar remained frozen in place, the biting cold emanating from the heart of the cave lashing against her face, yet the chill seeping into her veins was far more ruthless. She watched Alex as he folded the map with a chilling indifference, as if uttering her father's name, "Alfred," was as ordinary as the darkness surrounding them.
Niloufar (with a trembling voice): "Alex.. stop. Answer me, how do you know my father's name? I am certain I never mentioned his name to you, not once!"
Alex turned toward her slowly, a faint and mysterious smile etched on his face, his eyes drowning in the cave's blackness. He replied in a calm tone, as if correcting a simple mistake:
— "Actually, you were the one who told me on the first day we met.. you likely forgot due to the intense fear and confusion, but I never forget details. What matters now is continuing the path; the exit isn't far."
Niloufar shot him a look full of doubt; she was certain she hadn't, but his coldness and confidence forced her to swallow her words for the moment. Alex continued his way coldly, and Niloufar followed him, monitoring his every move, whispering to herself in suspicion: "And how does he also know the exit isn't far?! Has he been in here before?"
[Leo's Scene: Hunger and Humiliation]
On the other side, Leo dragged his heavy footsteps through the city. The body that used to soar through the night sky had now become an exhausted human shackle, staggering from thirst and hunger.
Leo (to himself bitterly): "Why do my entrails feel this burning? Is this what hunger is? I am no servant to the calls of this mortal flesh!"
He slumped down in a corner of an alley. Suddenly, a man with coarse features kicked him, saying with contempt: "Get up from here! We don't want beggars; go die somewhere else." Then he gathered his companions and began beating him, chasing him out of the city. Leo lay on the dirt, but the survival instinct pushed him to rise again; he returned to the city dragging his brokenness, searching through the alleys for anything to eat, but everyone drove him away because he had no money. His body could take no more, and he collapsed, fainting from extreme hunger in the middle of the road.
Leo woke up to find himself inside a warm room, with an elderly man wiping his forehead with a damp cloth.
The Old Man: "Your temperature is very high.. why did you stay under the sun all this time? Do you feel better now?"
Leo looked at him in bewilderment; it was the first time someone had asked about his "well-being" without an ulterior motive. He tried to get up, saying: "I can leave now." But the old man stopped him: "Stay with me, I've just prepared food."
Leo: "No, I don't want—" At that moment, his stomach let out an audible growl. The old man smiled: "But it seems your stomach has another opinion."
Leo asked: "And did you see the dragon that was with me?" The old man laughed: "A dragon? You mean that pet? It's outside."
Leo went outside only to find the man who had beaten him mocking him again: "Oh, you believed you'd live here with this crazy old man?" He continued on his way, laughing.
Leo turned to the old man and asked what the man meant. The old man sighed sadly: "My son left home two years ago and never returned.. everyone says he died and that I've lost my mind, but I know he will return one day."
Leo looked at the old man as he continued his way, then laughed bitterly while staring at the horizon where the sun had begun to set completely. He muttered darkly:
— "There is nothing left until nightfall.. and my reckoning with you starts now."