The days passed heavily and unbearably slowly, as if every second carried an unbearable weight on Elena's heart.
The sun would rise in its golden color every morning and slowly set on the horizon every evening, but the days of the second week of Theo's disappearance in the cave seemed identical, gray, filled with a painful emptiness and an anxiety that never left her heart for a single moment.
Every corner in the small house they shared life in reminded her of him, every sound outside the door would make her suddenly jump from her place, hoping it was him finally returning after a long absence.
She would sit on the old rocking chair by the window in the familiar living room, staring with her tired eyes at the dirt road that led to the dense forest, which led to the forest that had swallowed her son almost two weeks ago. Time passed very slowly, and every moment that passed increased her anxiety, and Rayn's words, with which he tried to calm her, echoed in her ears like a faint distant sound, "Don't worry, aunt, he's fine... it's a new and very strong training... it requires him to be inside the cave for a while... he will return as soon as he finishes it."
She believed Rayn at that moment, or rather, she chose with all her strength to believe him, even though her maternal instinct screamed danger inside her, she had no other real choice but to cling to the faint glimmer of hope Rayn had given her.
Rayn's pale face, his injured arm wrapped in a bandage, and the tone of his voice, which he tried hard to make confident and strong but carried a hidden anxiety that did not escape Elena's sharp eye.
He had promised her two weeks, a deadline that seemed like an eternity. And here the second week was passing very slowly like a cold weapon wounding her heart, and every day that passed increased her anxiety and undermined her faith in Rayn's words little by little.
She tried hard to maintain her boring daily routine, cooking for herself although she didn't crave food, cleaning the house that seemed wide and empty without him, talking little with Rayn when he came to calm her, but her heart and soul were not with him in any of these actions.
They were there, somewhere in the depths of that dark and cold forest, with Theo, with a piece of her soul. She wondered incessantly what he was doing, was he really fine as Rayn said, was he hungry, was he scared in the dark alone, was he injured? All these questions gnawed at her mind and increased her torment.
She remembered Theo when he was a very young child, before his world began to change. He wasn't like the other children in the village, who would run and play noisily in the dirt streets. He was very quiet, tending to be isolated, loving to spend time alone reading the books Celia lovingly brought him, or drawing, which he was talented at.
There was always an aura of mystery and calmness surrounding him, something different about him that she couldn't fully understand that made him special from others, but she loved him boundlessly, loved him more than anything else in this world.
She remembered the first time she clearly noticed the difference in him. He was very young, and she was stroking his soft hair while he slept deeply in his bed. She suddenly felt a strange and unnatural coldness emanating from him, something that didn't belong to an innocent child, something mysterious and unsettling. That feeling terrified her at first, making her tremble, but it quickly faded. She didn't understand what it was, couldn't explain it, but she felt it was related to the whispers she sometimes heard in the village from the villagers, about "the strange child," about "darkness in his eyes" which were remarkably black.
She remembered how she always defended him with all her might, how she tried to protect him from the villagers' suspicious, fearful, and uncomprehending gazes, how she suffered in silence when she heard them whispering about him behind her back, talking about strangeness in his behavior or in his eyes.
She had to be strong for him, to be his shield and fortress against a world that didn't understand him and didn't try to understand him, a world that feared what was different.
Then came Kyle. The Fifth Rank fighter, the unshakable mountain in his strength and calmness. When Kyle seriously offered to train Theo, Elena felt a complex mixture of fear and deep gratitude. She knew that Theo needed to learn how to protect himself in this harsh world, especially with his power beginning to show more clearly.
But she feared the harsh and brutal training Kyle provided, the unforgiving training. She would see Theo return home completely exhausted, bruised and bleeding, and she would suffer with him in silence, feeling his pain as if it were her own. She would try to treat his wounds herself with the herbal ointment she made, and talk to him in a calm and loving tone, trying to erase the traces of the training's brutality from his body and soul.
She remembered her deep conversation with Celia before Celia embarked on her journey to search for whatever she was searching for, a conversation about Theo's unique abilities, about the darkness flowing in his veins as a latent power.
Celia spoke in a serious and unsettling tone about the challenges awaiting Theo in his life, about the absolute necessity for him to become strong enough to face them.
Elena listened, her heart aching with fear for her beloved son. She didn't want Theo to live a life full of fighting, suffering, and danger, she wanted him to have a simple, quiet, happy life like the other children in the village, but she knew deep in her heart that this fate might not be written for him.
"He is different, Elena. He has a power most ordinary humans don't possess, a power that could be dangerous if not properly guided and controlled," Celia said that day, her clear blue eyes holding a concern similar to Elena's, as if she saw what Elena did not. "He has to learn how to control it completely, how to use it to protect himself, and to protect others he loves."
"But... does his whole life have to be fighting, suffering, and pain?" Elena asked with a broken heart, her tears almost falling.
Celia sighed deeply, the sound of her sigh carrying the weight of knowledge and experience. "I don't know what the future holds for him, Elena. The path ahead will undoubtedly be difficult, and full of unavoidable challenges. But he is strong. He has a solid will I haven't seen in a child his age. And he has a kind heart, and that's what's most important."
Celia's words brought some temporary reassurance to Elena's heart, but they could not erase the deep anxiety that completely consumed her. She knew that Theo carried a heavy burden on his small shoulders, a burden much greater than his age. The burden of his unique ability, the burden of his talent.
Elena returned to her reality in the quiet living room, the silence of the house pressed on her nerves. She looked at the empty chair where Theo usually sat when reading the books Kyle or Celia brought him.
To the table where he used to draw with intense concentration. Everything in the house reminded her of his painful absence, making him powerfully present in his absence. She felt his presence everywhere, in every corner, like a shadow following her.
The remaining days of the second week passed very slowly, every moment was like an endless eternity. She slept very little at night, waking up to the sound of her heart beating violently from anxiety, to the sound of her thoughts that never stopped.
She went to the front door several times at night and during the day, opening it slightly cautiously, and staring into the darkness or the daylight, hoping to finally see Theo's shadow returning to her, but she saw nothing but darkness and trees moving in the wind, and the empty road that brought her only silence.
She began to seriously question Rayn's truthfulness. Did he really lie to her to prevent her from going to the cave with him? Had Theo been in real danger all this time, during which days passed like months? Should she have insisted on going with him from the start? She felt guilt creeping into her heart, adding to the anxiety she was already suffering from. If something had happened to him... if he didn't return... she would never forgive herself as long as she lived.
On the last day of the second week, before the deadline she had set with Rayn was complete, her anxiety had reached its absolute peak, to a breaking point.
She sat on the rocking chair, her eyes fixed incessantly on the road leading to the cave, her heart pounding violently in her chest, almost leaping out of place. She seriously considered going to Celia at that moment, to ask her to go with her to the cave immediately, now, she couldn't wait any longer, she couldn't bear this waiting and this anxiety. The maternal instinct screamed inside her that there was a real danger threatening her son, a danger that could be fatal.
But unfortunately, Celia was not present now, she had been trying to find something that would help Theo and had not returned for over a year already, she had completely disappeared.
She remembered the last time she saw Theo, his tired face after the harsh training, his faint smile that lit up his face when he hugged her tightly before he went with Rayn. Did she know deep down that this farewell might be different from all previous farewells? Did she feel something dark and harsh looming and approaching them?
She was looking at the road, and hot tears began to gather in her eyes and pour down her cheeks relentlessly. They were tears of anxiety and fear, and perhaps tears of a vague feeling that something very bad had already happened or was about to happen at any moment. She felt her hand wipe a tear that fell on her cheek, but more kept coming. She tried to stop herself from crying, but she couldn't.
"Theo... my beloved son... where are you?" she whispered to herself, her voice choked with crying, barely audible. "I'm so, so worried about you, my son... please... come back to me safely... don't leave me alone..."
The sun had begun to dip towards setting, casting long and frightening shadows on the trees and the road. The air began to cool significantly.
A feeling of loneliness and despair strongly swept over her, wrapping her like a dark cloak. She felt completely alone in her anxiety, alone in her fear for her son, no one understood the extent of the pain she was experiencing.
She looked at the road one last time, as if begging it with all her might to bring Theo to her, to return him to her in any form. But the road remained completely empty, silent.
She felt a coldness run through her body, not from the coldness of the outside air, but from the coldness of fear that had penetrated deep into her soul. Something was terribly wrong. A strong feeling that the promise of two weeks might be just a grand illusion, just a white lie hiding a dark truth.
She sat there, alone in her anxiety, contemplating the empty road, unaware that her son was at that very moment already trying to get out of the cave, and that Rayn was in a difficult battle on the same road leading to her home, and that the dark fate she had feared all her life had already begun to knock violently on her door, bringing with it sorrow and loss.