"Dad? Mom? Ella? Where are you?!"
My voice tore itself apart as I ran into the burning house. Smoke clawed at my lungs, heat biting my skin, ash crunching beneath my feet. Charred furniture loomed like corpses, collapsed beams blocking my path. I stumbled through it all, eyes wild, searching—begging—to find someone. Anyone.
Then I saw him.
Dad lay crumpled in the corner, his body twisted unnaturally, utterly still. A jagged shard of glass jutted from his chest where his heart should have been. Crimson blood—still wet—slowly trickled down, staining the floor beneath him.
"No…" The word barely escaped me. "This… this can't be real…"
I dropped beside him and grabbed his wrist, my fingers shaking so badly I could hardly hold on. I waited. Counted. Prayed.
Nothing.
No pulse.
No warmth.
My dad was gone.
"Dad…" My voice cracked before it fully formed, splintering into nothing. I took a step closer, then collapsed, my legs refusing to obey me. My hand reached out without thought, resting against his shoulder.
Cold.
Too cold.
My stomach hollowed out, like something inside me had been ripped away. This wasn't possible. He was supposed to be strong. He was supposed to protect us. He was supposed to come home.
"No… no, no, no…" The sound clawed its way out of my throat before erupting into a scream.
"DAD! DAD!"
I fell to my knees beside him, clutching at his chest as if I could force it to rise, as if I could command his heart to beat again. Tears streamed down my face, blurring everything, burning my skin—but I didn't wipe them away.
"I'm here… I'm here, don't leave me, please…" My voice was hoarse, shredded from screaming, but I couldn't stop. I pressed my forehead against him, feeling the unbearable stillness beneath my skin. He didn't move. He didn't breathe.
How could he just… disappear?
I shook him—gentle at first, then more desperately. "Please… wake up, Dad… please…" My hands twisted into his shirt as I pulled him toward me, rocking back and forth, like I could cradle life back into him. My sobs wracked my entire body.
The room was silent.
Too silent.
Every distant sound—the wind outside, a bird calling—felt wrong. Cruel. Like the world had decided to keep going without him. I pressed my face into his chest again, sobbing, whispering broken promises I didn't even understand. Promises to protect him. To fix everything. To make it right.
I didn't know what right meant anymore.
"Noooooo!" I screamed. "Why is this happening?! What did I do?! Why does everything always get taken from me?!"
My voice shattered under the weight of my grief.
Then—
Breathing.
Faint. Fragile.
I froze.
"Mom?" I whispered, dread crawling up my spine as I crawled toward the sound.
"I'm here, dear," she said softly.
"Mom!" I sobbed, collapsing into her arms.
But the moment I touched her, I knew.
Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.
I pulled back and saw it.
Blood soaked through her clothes, dark and spreading. A knife was buried deep in her abdomen.
My heart seized.
"Mom, I can heal you—right now!" I started forming the spell, hands glowing faintly.
"No, Kawa." She gently pushed my hands away. "Don't."
"Boy… did I mess up," she chuckled weakly, her face twisting in pain.
"Save your astralis for Ella," she whispered, smiling. "She needs it more than I do."
It was a real smile. Soft. Honest. One I hadn't seen in so long. For the first time, she looked… free.
"Don't talk!" I cried, pressing my hands against her wound, desperate to stop the blood. "We can fix this—please—"
"I'm sorry, Kawa." She pulled me into a hug, her arms trembling.
"Huh…?"
"In my last moments, I just wanted you to know… I love you. I love both you and Ella." Her voice wavered. "And I'm sorry. For not being a good mom."
She glanced toward the sky. "Renar was right. We should've told you both. And now… the two of you have to carry what we couldn't."
Tears streamed down my face. I couldn't breathe.
"I'm sorry for leaving so soon," she said softly. "I'm sorry for so many things…" She laughed weakly.
"I wanted to see you both go to school. I wanted to take you places. I wanted to watch you grow up…" Her voice broke. "But I guess… that won't happen now."
She smiled faintly. "When I saw you practicing astralis with your dad… I was so happy that day. Even though I knew…" Her words trailed off.
Knew what? I wanted to ask. I was too afraid to hear the answer.
"I wanted to be there when you entered the academy," she whispered. "To shout, 'That's my son!' But…"
Silence.
"Please take care of your sister," she said, looking at me. "She might not remember today. But you will." Her fingers tightened weakly around mine. "Knowing you… you'll want revenge. Please don't—"
I cut her off, tears choking me. "That choice is mine. If I walk that path… it's my decision."
She laughed softly. "You really are my child."
"I'm so glad… I had you. Both of you."
"Mom?" I shook her gently. "Mom?"
"I'm going to join your dad now," she whispered. "Bye, Kawa… bye, Ella…"
Her voice faded into nothing.
A single tear slipped down her cheek as she whispered,
"Mothers… don't cry…"
The light left her eyes.
Her body went limp.
"Mom! Mom, don't go! Mom!!!"
I screamed until my throat burned raw, until no sound would come out anymore.
Why.
Why is this happening to me?
Ella, I needed to find her. My only family left.
I dashed into the closet. Ella always hid in the closet when scared.
"Ella! Ella are you there?" I yelled through tears.
"Brother?" A familiar voice called.
"Ella! Ella! Where are you?" I traced the source of the voice, wiping my tears.
The amount of carbon dioxide was rising in the room, I had to get her out now.
"Here!! Under the wood!!" Ella shouted.
I turned to see a pile of wood behind me. Oh no, Ella, she must be stuck inside.
No choice, I crawled inside.
"Ella, it's ok, I'm here," I scooped her up and rushed to the living room.
"Ella, can you stand?" I gently placed her on the floor.
"Yep," Ella nodded slowly.
Mom was right. At my level of healing, I would have just wasted my astralis on her, but Ella, on the other hand, had cuts and bruises. I was sure she cried until there were no tears left, or she would've been wailing by now.
"O life that flourishes unseen—mend all souls with gentle light, 「Healing Bloom」." I recited, my hands positioned above her body.
"That should do it," I bent down, checking her body.
"Ella, listen to me very carefully, we need to escape this place now, ok? I'll explain everything to you later."
"Ok…"
I grabbed Ella's small hand and escaped through the broken window.
"Good job, Ella, now jump into my arms, I'll catch you," I told the squatting Ella.
"Wheee," Ella exclaimed as she jumped into my arms.
Something's wrong.
Someone's behind us.
I swiftly pulled out a gun from my thigh holster.
"Ella, stay behind me," I ordered.
I looked straight at the figure before me. "Who are you? What do you want? Did you do this?"
"Fang, stay on guard. If anything happens, teleport us to Celestara," I told Dang telepathically.
"Roger that."
"No need to be so hostile, let's see, uh, Hoshikawa, and the other one? Oh right, Ella." He said with faint amusement.
"How do you know my name?" I shot back, high on alert.
"Of course, I know your name, after all, we created you, didn't we?" He replied with relaxed confidence and nodded to his accomplices.
"..."
"Ah, of course you don't know about that. Well, you don't need to know about it. Not yet. What's most important is…" He snapped his fingers. The two accomplices beside him walked towards us. "We're here to take you back, Hoshikawa Hoshino," He said calmly. "After all, you are our most successful attempt," He spoke as though stating a fact.
"And why should we trust you?" I gripped my gun tighter.
"Because you are ours, as much as your parents are ours. They broke the contract; the only thing left to do is to take back what is ours."
Contract? What contract is he talking about? What does he mean by them creating me? One thing I know for sure now is that they're definitely lying about creating me. Because I'm reincarnated and I saw with my own eyes that when I came out, I saw my parents and not them.
"Yoy're lying. I've never heard of this before, and you're not answering my questions. Who are you? And did you do this?" I questioned once more.
"Ah, I see," He smoothed out his hair. "I am Lazarus from Project Atlas, and I did in fact do this. And don't worry, you won't be able to tell anyone about 'Lazarus from Project Atlas' because," He paused and his lips curled up into an eerie smile. "No one's ever heard about it before! Hahahahaha!" He threw back his head and laughed.
"You killed Dad and Mom… You killed Dad and Mom…" I stepped back in disbelief. It was him, he was the killer, and he's standing right in front of me! This psychopath is the source of all my pain.
"I'm going to kill you…I'm going to kill you…I'm going to kill you!!!!" I screamed, my eyes bloodshot as I sprinted forward with my gun.
"Stop. You are no match for him. Go, escape from this place." A cool voice rang in my ear.
"No…no…no! I won't listen to you!! I'm going to kill him!!! I swear!!!" I fired a shot at his chest.
Lazarus stopped laughing. He looked down at the bullet in his chest in disbelief. "Blood…blood…my blood?! Blooooooooooooooood!!!!" He screamed as he started pulling out his own hair. His accomplices rushed to sustain him.
"Marvellous, simply marvellous." An accomplice clapped. "If you could shoot Lazarus, you are truly the genius of Project Atlas. Guards, seize him!!" He ordered.
"Fang! Leave now!!!" I commanded.
"Ella! Let's go! NOW!!" I grabbed Ella and climbed onto Fang's back.
And once again…we dove into the shadows.