Kyrian, as soon as he saw the first letter, recognized that it was from his mother and immediately focused.
He opened the letter with trembling fingers, still not fully accepting that his mother had…
Then he read the letter slowly, his tears, which he thought had already dried, falling again.
'My baby. You are special. I feel it. Your eyes are a gift, not a curse as others say.'
'Don't hide them. Live. Fight. Become so strong that nothing can bring you down. Stronger so you don't lose to anyone, that's what your father would want. So strong that no one can hurt you. That is what I want most.'
'And also, leave the village when you're older. You are a genius child in absolutely everything you've done. The world is big… and I want you to know it, instead of staying in this small place.'
'Have many children too. Understand? You are my only son, you need to let our lineage spread more. I always wished for many grandchildren.'
'And please. Be happy. You are my love, my pride. And the best son I could have. Sorry for not being able to stay with you a little longer.'
…
After finishing reading the letter, Kyrian was silent. His tears finally stopped falling.
He looked at his mother's face.
A small smile appeared on his lips.
"I understand. Mom, don't worry. I will definitely become stronger. Stronger than you could ever imagine."
"I…"
"I definitely will. Live, for you, Mom. The best life I can." Kyrian said with his still childish voice, showing signs of breaking.
The faint smile on his face faded as he wiped his tears. Then, Kyrian went to the fireplace in his house. The only part made of stone in his home.
He took the cloth still hanging around his neck and threw it into the fire, which immediately started crackling as it turned to ashes.
Kyrian decided. He would never hide anything from these eyes his mother gave him again.
Then, he also threw his mother's letter into the fire. When it finally stopped burning, Kyrian put out the fireplace.
Then, he left the house.
A few minutes later, he returned with the village chief. He saw Liora dead and sighed with sorrow.
The village chief thought about saying something to Kyrian, but seeing the boy's completely calm face, he kept his words to himself.
"I want to bury her by the big trees behind the house. It was the place she liked to be the most."
Kyrian said calmly, but his breath faltered as he remembered his mother beneath the tree, calling him happily.
"Alright. I'll bring a coffin and shovels. And some people to help dig." The chief said as he left, but Kyrian stopped him.
"No, just bring the coffin. And one shovel. I want to do this alone." Kyrian said, clenching his fist.
"No one in this village helped my mother while she was sick."
He knew she couldn't be helped.
But no one even tried to help all this time.
He would never let any of them touch her.
The village chief understood. After several minutes, he returned carrying a very simple wooden coffin and handed Kyrian the shovel.
Then he patted the boy on the shoulder twice, sighed, and went back to his home.
And then, Kyrian began.
The weather in the region was approaching summer. And because of that, it wasn't as cold as usual. He started removing the snow where he decided to dig.
Afterward, he grabbed a pickaxe leaning behind his house, remembering his mother's words.
'Your father used it in the coal mine on the mountain to help the village.'
The pickaxe was extremely heavy for Kyrian, but he didn't care. With all his effort, he began hitting the lightly frozen earth with his thin arms. Gradually, the frozen ground cracked enough for him to finish with the shovel.
But at that moment, Kyrian's heart felt like it would leap out of his mouth, and his breathing was extremely heavy.
His body trembled as his hands burned, cuts appeared on them from using the pickaxe. But that pain and the blood dripping didn't matter.
He would keep going.
But then his mind recalled.
'LIVE!'
"…" Kyrian stopped.
He lay down in the snow, looking at the sky. Night was slowly falling.
His breathing calmed.
'Mom wants me to live. I can't let my feelings take over. If I try to dig without resting, my body won't hold… I need to grow fast…'
"No. That's because I'm weak. Mom is right. Strength. I need strength." Kyrian thought aloud as he raised one of his hands to the sky.
In his vision, the particles he always saw were like silver threads dancing everywhere.
Now without the cloth. He could fully use his eyes and felt different.
It seemed like nothing could escape his sight. But he still had no idea what those particles in the air were. Since he opened his eyes. He instinctively brought all of them into his eyes.
And now he thinks it's because of that that his eyes gradually got better and better. But they seemed to have reached their limit. The particles now refused to enter his eyes.
"If I go to the city. Will they know what these things are? Mom said the city was completely different from the village and hoped one day I could visit…"
"The nearest city is… two weeks away on foot. But early tomorrow the village caravan will leave to sell coal and bring food…"
"I need to finish digging before they leave, otherwise, next time will take too long. I don't want to wait."
Having decided, Kyrian stood up, and in the snow, the silhouette of his small body was clearly marked.
And then, long hours passed slowly.
The night was cold. Kyrian breathed in the cold air deeply as his body trembled.
He decided not to rest anymore because if he did, he doubted he'd have the strength to finish.
So, even feeling his arms almost falling off, he kept digging.
Only when the dark night began to disappear did a large enough hole appear beneath the tree.
He fell to his knees completely exhausted, his hands bleeding. The tiredness was an anchor, as if dragging him toward darkness.
Kyrian's vision began to darken.
'No… I can't faint…'
'I CAN'T!' he shouted inside his mind, determined when he felt his body giving up. And that's when something changed.
Suddenly, Kyrian felt his eyes react, the bright particles around him, the particles he always saw, suddenly gathered and plunged into his pupils at high speed.
After that, from his eyes, spreading through the rest of his body, came a sharp pain in his nerves for three seconds.
And as soon as the pain passed, a coldness seemed to sweep his body like a tide.
He gasped, feeling his muscles contract suddenly.
Afterward, he felt his breathing become lighter, and his body was no longer the same as before.
"What…?"
Kyrian stood up easily while looking at his hands. He opened and closed them, then clenched them.
He picked up the shovel that had fallen on the ground easily, as if it weighed nothing. In fact, he was…
"Stronger?"
"What happened? What are… these things?" he asked, extending his hand to a nearby particle and pulling it. It then entered his right eye.
"Ahh! They entered my eyes again!"
"…"
"This is not the time to think about what I'm doing," Kyrian realized it was already clear and decided to enter the house quickly. Seeing his mother's body, sadness arose again. But at the same time, a strong determination.
He approached, placing one arm under her legs and the other under her back.
Kyrian carried her body like a princess, with extreme care.
When he arrived behind the house, he slowly placed her in the wooden coffin.
He rested his mother's head on the pillow she always used. Then he looked at her face one last time.
Even after death, she still had her small gentle smile. Her long black hair spread across the coffin.
"Goodbye, Mom, I will remember you forever. And when I have my children, I will raise them as well as you raised me. I love you more than anything. I hope that one day, I can see you again…"
Kyrian held back his tears, not wanting to cry in front of his mother again. Then he smiled faintly…
The coffin was closed. Kyrian began shoveling dirt over it, his arms moving quickly as the earth fell around the wooden coffin.
The smell of earth and snow entered his nose. Above the tree, a white bird began to sing. The only sound besides the shovel hitting the damp earth.
Memories passed through his mind. Memories he would never forget.
In less than an hour, Liora's coffin disappeared beneath the earth.
He sighed as he watched the white bird in the tree, which stopped singing, spread its wings, and flew away.
A bigger smile appeared on his face.
'As pure as her smile, isn't it?'
"I got a little stronger, but. Mom. One day, when I am the strongest, I will come back here and tell you everything. Just wait." He thought before turning and going back inside.
Kyrian took only a small bag, containing a change of clothes and the last two fruits from his house.
He didn't know, he had no idea what would happen next.
In fact, he was eager for it.
He then set off toward his village's caravan without looking back once.
Without fear.
His eyes now see the path, his goal.
And he would follow it until he became even better than his mother and father ever wished for him.