Chapter:10- When you lose someone twice
The world didn't roar.
It sighed.
Mira's brother- the sewn mouth creature, stopped moving.
No final struggle.
No sound.
Just stillness.
Like he had finally been allowed to rest.
The swamp beneath him softened, gentler than anything in this place had ever been.
Mud curled around his arms like hands pulling a blanket over him... and slowly consumed him.
Mira didn't cry loudly.
She didn't break.
She simply whispered, "Thank you."
As he sank, the stitches on his mouth loosened.
He was no longer fighting silence.
I just stood beside her, not knowing what comfort meant in a place that fed on grief.
"Mira... I'm sorry."
She shook her head.
"Don't be. He wasn't supposed to stay this long. He wasn't supposed to be here at all. He just ...waited. For me."
Her voice cracked.
"He wanted someone to see him."
The ground rippled beneath our feet again. Not threatening, not pulling... Just responding.
The world was grieving too.
Mira wiped her face and finally looked at me.
She wasn't hiding or being mysterious.
Her eyes were tired and real.
"You deserve to know," she whispered.
"How all of this works.
Why I'm connected to this place and
why does it react to you the way it does?"
My breadth caught.
This was the moment I had been walking toward since the first dream.
She sat down, folding her legs beneath her.
"I'm going to tell you what I couldn't understand in time to save him." she said softly.
"And what almost killed me to admit."
I sat beside her.
The tree's pulse hummed through the soil, syncing with my heartbeat again... too easily.
Mira inhaled.
"Vehan... this world doesn't appear when you're weak."
"It appears when you lie to yourself so much... that your truth needs somewhere else to grow."
She paused, staring at her hands.
"My brother came here first because he broke down.
He kept suppressing everything- every feeling, every fear- until he couldn't stand under his weight anymore."
"He didn't die that day. He gave up."
Her fingers trembled.
"He abandoned himself and became that creature."
I swallowed.
"And you?" I whispered.
"How do you know all this?"
She lifted her face, and for the first time, I saw her the way this world must see her.
Held together by threads too thin for the grief she carries.
"Because I followed him here," she said.
"I was supposed to save him."
Her voice shook.
"But I didn't know. How could I? I was just a kid."
I saw him give up. And for a moment,I thought... Maybe I should take his place.
She looked away.
"But the world chose him, not me."
"When it was over, I tried to go back to living. But I never forgave myself. And that one guilt kept me tied to this place."
Her lips trembled with a sad smile.
"And this damn world... It loves people who suppress everything. It loves people who hold grudges against themselves."
She looked directly at me now.
"And I'm afraid I'll lose you...Vehan. "
"But why? Why do you want to save me?" I asked softly.
Her answer hit me hard and soft.
"Because I already lost my brother twice."
"I watched others lose themselves here."
"And I can't afford to lose anyone again."
"You're getting affected even faster than him."
"This world... It's more violent towards you."
Suddenly, the ground throbbed.
The tree's pulse quickened.
As if calling my name. As if it wanted me.
"Vehan... this world already took my brother." Mira swallowed.
"It's choosing you now."
It makes you believe giving up is an option.
But it wouldn't let you leave until you accept what you're running from.
"And accepting it..."
Her voice dropped.
"...comes with a price."