Three days… I feel like I'm three days old.
Nothing makes sense anymore. Everything feels different. When did I grow this big? I remember being five... or perhaps six.
I sat again in that dark chamber below, the one I had come to call mine. The flicker of the dim bulb above swayed faintly, shadows crawling along the jagged stone walls as my thoughts drifted aimlessly.
Have I simply forgotten some of my memories?
No… it can't be. The city has changed. It lies in ruin now.
Is this the result of the Malgeds' attack that night? Or… am I no longer in the same city at all?
Either way, too much time has passed and I've been left behind, blind to the world and all that's changed within it.
The silence stretched until faint footsteps broke it—soft, hesitant. Someone was tiptoeing through the chamber. But the presence tried to remain hidden, their movements barely stirring the air.
I tilted my head slightly. "I don't sense any evil intent from you," I said, voice calm but sharp. "So why hide yourself from a blind man?"
A momen of silence followed, then a familiar voice echoed, quiet yet clear: I expected that… Master Isolde's senses are as sharp as ever.
From the shadows, a faint green glow began to form. The figure stepped forward and bowed deeply, one hand placed behind the other in a formal gesture of respect.
"I apologize for my behavior, Master Isolde," he said. "I didn't mean to disturb the quiet or make you suspicious of me."
It was Light, someone I was certain had died.
I turned slightly toward the sound of his voice. "Light… was that your name?"
"Yes, Master," he replied, bowing again. "Light indeed is my name."
had questions, too many, and yet I knew asking them would not bring real answers.
My whole existence felt hollow, misplaced, as if I'd woken up inside a world that only pretended to know me. Nothing here felt like home, not this dim chamber, not the silence, not even the air that touched my skin.
"You're the one who's been taking care of me here, right?" I asked quietly.
"Yes," Light answered.
Silence returned as he stood motionless behind me, his faint glow reflected on the damp stone walls.
"This place…" I said at last, "it isn't my home, is it?"
Light didn't answer. His silence wasn't ignorance, it was refusal.
I figured as much. He won't tell me anything if I demand it. He must know why I woke up blind… when this morning I could still see.
"Come closer, Light."
I heard him flinch, the air shifting slightly as he hesitated, his breathing quickening.
"I'm not going to hurt you," I added, my tone calm but firm. "Just come closer. I want to take a better look at you."
Slow, uncertain steps followed, his presence edging nearer, the faint hum of his energy brushing against my senses. Then he stopped a few paces away.
"Closer," I said again.
After a moment of hesitation, he knelt in front of me.
There was something about him, something familiar, though I couldn't place it. I wasn't sure if I had known him before, or if this recognition came from something deeper than memory.
My hands drifted upward, searching. Then my fingers brushed against his hair first, soft and long, much longer than I remembered. I traced the strands carefully, my touch studying rather than seeing.
He looked at me with quiet confusion as I tilted my head, trying to piece him together.
When I saw him outside, I thought I was mistaken about the length of his hair… but it really was long.
Still, who could blame me for wanting to know him this way? I had woken up blind, yet I could sense glowing figures and see fragments of things through another kind of sight, something foreign.
My hand found his face. His skin was smooth like a child's, his chin narrow and sharp, his eyes small but alert.
For a long moment, neither of us spoke. Only the flicker of the bulb and the quiet rhythm of our breaths filled the chamber.
I thought he would drown me in questions… but what is he doing instead?
Light watched in silence.
I hadn't noticed before, but after losing his sight, Master Isolde's eyes… they're terrifying. That pale blue is now veiled with a smoky white. It's unnatural. It frightens me.
"Master Isolde," he finally spoke, voice unsteady. "What are you doing?"
I tilted my head slightly, still tracing the air between us. "As you can see," I said calmly, "I'm a blind man. And right now, you're the only person I know, perhaps the only one I can trust. I wanted to make sure I knew you better. But do you swear your loyalty to me, Light?"
"Of course, Master Isolde." Light straightened immediately. "If I can't serve you, then I can't serve anyone else. My loyalty to you is boundless. I would do anything to please you, Master."
Actually, he thought quietly, it isn't a choice. Serving you, being loyal to you is my karma, Master Isolde. So no matter what, I will always be on your side, even if if measured to go against the whole world.
I smiled faintly. "Even if I asked you to cut your hair?"
He didn't hesitate. "Yes, Master."
I'll remember those words, I thought, my expression darkening slightly. Because I have a feeling you'll go back on them one day and betray me. Do you really believe I can trust you that easily? You and that woman put on quite the show out there.
"Get me something to wear," I said as I pulled my hands away from his face. "We're going somewhere."
"Yes, Master," Light replied, bowing quickly before heading toward the stairs. "I've always kept clothes ready for you… just in case you woke up."
As his footsteps faded, I turned my head toward the ceiling. I wonder how long I've been sleeping. It feels like a millennium.
Light returned shortly after, carrying neatly folded garments that smelled faintly of oil and dust. He helped me dress, a black tunic, dark trousers, and a heavy cape whose fabric whispered as it fell over my shoulders.
The moment the cloak settled around me, I exhaled. The faint sound of wind filtered through the cracks in the stone ceiling, and somewhere deep inside, something I couldn't name stirred awake.
It didn't need to be said aloud, this creature didn't trust me, not yet. Not with anything that mattered. But I already knew where the truth lay. The answers I sought would be in that book. I just needed to find it.
Memory offered me nothing. Not a face, not a name. Only fragments... shards of thought that refused to align. All I knew was that I had woken in that dark room and claimed it as mine, as though instinct alone made it so. The land outside, vast and silent, overgrown with grass and ruin, belonged to me simply because no one else remained to claim it. Whoever had lived here before… had long vanished.
The only thing that lingered was the dream.
A place bright and strange filled with children whose voices still echoed faintly in the back of my mind. I couldn't remember their faces, only the pain in there screams. And the feeling that somewhere among them, something precious had been lost, something that once belonged to all of us.
My voice broke the quiet.
"That woman from a moment ago… she wasn't real, was she?"
Light flinched. And I heard it, the stutter of his breath, the sudden, hard rhythm of his heartbeat. He thought I wouldn't notice.
He hesitated before shaking his head. "No, Master. The one you killed wasn't real."
He paused again, lips parting as though to say more. His voice lowered. "But… if she had been real, would you still have killed her, Master?"
I turned slightly toward him, my expression unreadable. Deep down, I knew he wanted another answer, something merciful, something to prove I was human. But the last thing I would do was wear a mask before a servant who had just sworn loyalty.
"Yes," I said quietly. "I would have still killed her. She trespassed into my home."
It sounded absurd, even to me, a shallow excuse to hide something deeper.
But the truth was simpler. I hadn't killed her because of what she'd done. I killed her because I wanted to. Because that smile she wore… that mocking, knowing smile… I couldn't stand it. And doing it gave me a familiar joy.
I know the truth is far from what he's saying. Light thought to himself. I don't know what drives him now… but whatever it is, I'll still stand with him.
But won't he ask about his dream? Maybe why I woke him up? Or where his family is? Why that woman was here? Or how he's suddenly blind?
Light knew the only thingI remembered was what I saw in my dream and my name being completely different from the one he was callingme.
I wish I could still hear your thoughts, master's; then I'd know what you're thinking. You seem so unaffected by everything, and that scares me, to some degree.
Light shock his thoughts away, his eyes locking on my missing hand for a moment, but he pretended and decided to act fool.
"I'm done, master. Let me tie your hair real quick." Light said as he rose and moved behind me.
He's oddly quiet again. Light thought as his hands moved through my hair, gathering it, then brushed against something hard but he didn't pause.
They've grown, they almost peep through his hair.
"I suggest you don't cut your hair, master. It suits you."
He just didn't want to admit that it would cover my now-scary eyes. But I couldn't care less about my hair. I had a itching feeling like the world was pleading to me to burn it. It needed war, and I was going to grant it the wish.
My last action was likely war, because it was the only thing I craved at the time.
----
No long after, Light and I left together, stepping out into the night. The forest trailed behind us, whispering with wind and ash.
Once we emerged from the trees, a town appeared ahead, a cluster of bright lights set deep within the valley. It was enclosed by tall fences and walls that circled inward, forming its own little world apart from the ruin beyond.
Beside me, Light's faint glow shimmered, reflecting off the damp grass, and it would draw attention.
"Maybe you should stay behind," I said quietly. "I'll go on my own."
His voice answered not from his lips but inside my mind.
[Like this, no one will notice my presence, Master.]
He vanished, his glow dissolving into the darkness until even the sound of his steps faded.
I flipped on the hood of the cape and was about to move when something caught my eye.
The ground pulsed with veins of light ranning beneath the soil, thin lines glowing in shifting colors, branching like the roots of an ancient tree. They spread in every direction, faint where I stood but burning brighter as they reached toward the town.
What are these?
Without speaking, I projected my thought.
[Can you make fire?]
Light's voice responded instantly, still within my head.
[Yes, I can, Master.]
[Good. Go ahead of me and burn a few houses. Twenty in each neighborhood. Make sure they're full and make sure no one escapes.]
There was a long pause before Light's voice cracked, [W—what?], disbelief spilling through the telepathic link. [Why would you want me to do that, Master?]
My reply was cold, and steady, echoing straight into his mind.
[Didn't you swear loyalty to me, Light? Do as I said. Go and burn them.]