Now Lioran stood only a few steps away from the body nailed to the tree.
He stopped.
His body refused to move any further.
The air felt heavy; his breaths were short and uneven.
His gaze slid across the ground—he didn't dare lift it.
Quietly, very quietly, he whispered,
"I can't…
I can't go any farther…"
At that moment, Anahita stepped in from behind and wrapped her arms tightly around him.
Not so tight that it hurt—
but firm enough to keep him from collapsing.
Her expression was somber; her voice low, yet steady.
The voice of someone who felt the pain too, but refused to fall.
"I'm here with you… I won't leave you alone…"
She locked her arms around his chest, as if trying to hold his heart in place.
"Go… go…
You can do it.
Even if you think you can't, even if it feels impossible—you still can.I believe in you."
Lioran closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and stepped forward for the final few steps—
steps that felt as heavy as a thousand.
His feet slipped on the nearly fresh blood.
A faint, wet crushing sound reached his ears like a quiet slap, making his stomach tighten.
His gaze was still lowered.
To the motionless feet of the body.
To the blood-soaked ground.
To the reality he still wasn't ready to face.
Anahita held him tighter in her arms.
Lioran turned his head slightly and looked at her. His eyes held no visible emotion, yet behind them hid a mountain of grief and despair.
Anahita only nodded gently.
No words. No advice.
Just that look that said: You can do it… I believe in you.
Lioran turned back toward the body.
His gaze slowly rose.
From the feet…
to the knees…
to the clothes whose every fold felt familiar.
Clothes he had seen a thousand times.
Clothes that smelled like home.
His heart pounded so hard it hurt.
His trembling hand slowly lifted. His fingers shook as if they no longer belonged to him.
Hesitantly, he touched the long black hair.
Lioran held his breath.
With a slow movement, he brushed the hair away from the face.
And in that moment…
the world stopped for Lioran.
The ruby necklace in his clenched hand slipped free and fell to the blood-soaked ground.
The face that appeared was one he had seen thousands of times—
the face he had grown up with.
But the smile was gone.
Half-open blue eyes, empty of light.
Lips that would never call his name again.
And a wound on her forehead that hadn't even given her the chance to scream.
Lioran's hand froze in the air.
It was as if time itself had stopped right there.
His eyes widened.
His lips parted without his control,
and a muffled, trembling sound crawled out of his throat—
"Mom…"
The word was so quiet
it sounded more like a plea than a call.
Anahita saw the woman's face too.
At that moment, her breath caught in her chest.
Her eyes fell with sorrow, and before she even realized what had happened, tears began to slide silently down her cheeks.
But Lioran didn't cry.
His other hand—trembling even more than before—moved closer to his mother's face.
With fingers that no longer obeyed him,
he brushed the remaining blood-soaked hair away from her face.
Then he began to speak.
Not with the voice of someone crying,
but with his usual cold tone—
a coldness born this time from shock and disbelief.
"Mom…
Mom, what happened?
Who did this to you?"
He paused for a few moments.
He looked into the lifeless eyes—
eyes that had once been a living blue.
"Mom… why are your beautiful eyes so dim?
Look at me… say something…"
No answer came.
Lioran's lips trembled slightly,
yet still no tears fell.
Then slowly, he turned his head and looked at Anahita.
Anahita was crying.
Her lips trembled with grief, and only she knew the kind of hell Lioran was trapped in.
"Anahita… my mom…
My mom isn't smiling…
She's sad.
I think… I think she's sad because she lost too much blood.
We just need to heal her quickly…
Yeah… we need to free her first..."
His voice rose a little,
as if he were trying to convince himself.
"When she's healed…
she'll smile again.
I'm sure she will…
My mom always smiles…"
Anahita stared at Lioran's cold gaze. She listened to his trembling voice as tears fell from her eyes without stopping, like rain.
With a sob that burned in her throat, she said,
"She's not going to smile anymore, Lioran… she's gone. She left us… she… she was murdered. You have to accept the truth."
The words struck Lioran like a direct blow to the chest.
All the effort he had made to escape reality collapsed in that instant.
His eyes darkened.
"Let go of me…"
His voice was rough, filled with anger.
"You're lying… get away from me…"
He violently tore Anahita away from him and shoved her back. Then, with unsteady steps, he turned toward his mother again.
"You're lying… you're lying…"
His voice grew louder, but it trembled.
"Why would anyone hurt someone as kind as her? Why? Why would anyone want to hurt my mom?"
His breathing became fast and uneven.
And then—
his gaze slipped.
To the place he had been trying not to see from the beginning.
The arrows.
First, the arrow buried in her abdomen.
Then—
the cursed arrow that had split his mother's forehead.
Lioran's eyes locked onto it.
Something inside him seemed to shatter.
His mouth remained half open, the sound dying in his throat.
There was no room left for denial.
In a voice that no longer carried anger—only emptiness—he whispered,
"Why… why would anyone want to take my mom away from me?
She… she's the only one I have…"
At that moment, a gray mist began to slowly seep from Lioran's body.
A cold, heavy, suffocating mist.
A chill haze that seemed to smother the air itself, carrying a smell that reminded one of freshly dug graves.
"Lioran…"
Anahita's voice trembled. When she saw the cold mist rising from him—reeking of death—she flew toward him in alarm.
"Lioran, no… this is dangerous… you need to control your emotions…"
And suddenly—
a wave of memories crashed into Lioran's mind like an unstoppable tide.
He saw himself in scattered moments from the past,
standing beside his mother.
In their small kitchen, next to the window where the morning light poured in.
On the street, when she held his hand.
At night, when she gently stroked his hair.
And in every single one of those memories, his mother was smiling.
That same warm smile.
That same gentle gaze.
And over and over, she called his name.
"Lioran… Lioran… Lioran… my little boy…"
Anahita saw the mist growing stronger with every passing moment.
Her heart sank.
In panic, she muttered to herself,
"He's losing control… damn it, this can't happen… I have to stop him…"
She rushed forward and quickly pulled Lioran into her arms, resting his head against her shoulder.
With a trembling voice, she said,
"Lioran… please, come back to yourself… Lioran… you have to come back…"
The golden light of her body flared brighter, several times stronger than before.
It spread around Lioran like a warm shield, trying to contain him, refusing to let the dark mist escape from his body.
But the moment didn't last.
Lioran's mind could no longer endure it.
The flood of memories—combined with the image now standing before him—felt like the sudden collapse of the pillars holding his soul together.
At first, a quiet groan escaped his throat.
Then the sound slowly grew louder.
His knees buckled.
His body no longer had the strength to stand.
He fell to his knees, threw his head back toward the sky, and a cry tore from his chest—ripping through the silence of the forest.
The sound echoed among the trees.
Lioran screamed,
yet not a single tear fell from his eyes.
Between dry, choking sobs, he whispered,
"She… she never hurt anyone…Then why?
Why did they do this to her?Whyyyyy..?!"
"No… no… come back to yourself, Lioran! Don't let your emotions take over!" Anahita shouted anxiously.
But her words had no effect.
With one final scream—
Lioran's eyes turned white.
His body went completely still.
His head fell back.
His unfocused white eyes stared at nothing.
His mouth hung open—
yet even now, no tears fell.
The shock had stolen his consciousness.
Despite the warm, powerful light radiating from Anahita's body, the gray mist suddenly burst out from Lioran like a living creature.
The wave of mist slammed directly into the light Anahita had created, swallowed it, and passed straight through her body.
A moment later, the mist erupted out behind her and spread through the air around them.