"And that's how I got us here" Carai puts away the empty bowl,
"What happened to the hybrids?"
"I don't know my only concern at that time was getting out alive," She glanced at me, "Are you oky?"
The memories came flooding in.
No matter how hard I breathed, it felt like I wasn't.
I grabbed my chest, my stomach shot up and I vomited.
"Kayon! are you oky," she called out to me but all i saw was her mouth move.
My mind went blank.
"Kayon!" she called out to me
Days passed.
I think.
It was hard to tell.
Carai spoke.
A lot.
Her voice moved around me like wind through broken walls.
I heard it.
But it didn't reach me.
"…Kayon?"
Nothing.
She shook me once.
My head tilted with it.
That was all.
Pain came.
And went.
Hunger came. Didn't matter.
Sleep came. Didn't matter.
I stared at my left hand.
No, the place where it used to be.
I waited to feel something.
Anything.
Anger, fear or hatred.
Nothing came.
It was quiet inside me.
Too quiet.
Like something had been hollowed out.
Carai grabbed my face one day.
Forced me to look at her.
Her eyes were red, wet.
"Say something," she whispered.
I looked at her.
I knew I should.
I knew this mattered.
But the thought felt distant.
Like it belonged to someone else.
My mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
She broke.
And I just… watched.
Days passed, and she was cooking.
Her voice blurred into the background.
I tried to move.
Just a shift. Just enough to sit up.
The ground gave way beneath me.
For a second, there was nothing.
No thought. No fear.
Just falling.
Something crashed into me midair. Arms. Warm.
'Carai?'
We hit the bottom with a loud thud.
The floor cracked beneath us.
"Are you oky kayon" her voice rough grunting,
She looked at me.
I didn't react.
Tears filled her eyes.
She stood up then faltered as she tried to move,
I felt that fall, like I woke from a long dream.
Soft cries sounded.
I looked for them, and there Carai limping wiping her face.
"Are...you, oky" I called out.
Carai looked back and rubbed her ears,
"Huh? Kayon?, did you say something?"
I slowly sat upright and pointed at her
"Did you change those ears for muscles"
She froze.
And ran into me and held me tight.
"Never leave me again" she crumbled crying.
I paused for moment and just held her tight.
We sat there, Carai gently sobbing
Moments later her cries faded into silence.
"How did we even get down here" I broke the silence.
She sat wiped her tears.
"You fell. I jumped after you."
"I see, thank you Carai"
She smiles and pats my head "good boy"
"Oh, so now I'm a puppy?"
We both laughed into the night,
The sun rose. I woke up in Carai's arms.
'huh this feels nice wait I should push her away but she won't notice me right'
"mmm".
"wait who said that," I slowly looked up and saw Carai looking at me with a big grin.
I jolted away, "Ahhh when did you get up?" She layed on her side and continued smiling,
"W what's wrong with you I wasn't doing it, I didn't do it, stop smiling like that it's creepy"
"sure thing huggy" She laughed.
"Ack! un..believable" I started grovelling towards the away.
"I am making food" I looked around and couldn't see the door.
My body was in the air.
She got me by the collar and I was dangling,
"Hey put me down"
"Hell no I am not having a one legged worm make my food"
"Huh! how dare you call me a worm, put me down I'll show you what am made off"
"Sure thing snakey" She continued swinging me.
"Besides look at where we are, we have to find a way up first" She gently put me down.
We found a small opening leading to a corridor, "lets go threw here" She measured the hole.
"I can't fit through that" I moved away.
She looked at me, "Yes you will"
She squeezed through and pulled me to.
She carried me on her back.
We moved cautiously through the corridors, each step echoing in the silence. I leaned heavily on her, unsteady.
As we passed a cracked archway, A sliver of daylight broke through, and Carai smiled faintly.
"We're close," she whispered. "Just a little further."
I gritted my teeth as she took another step.
she glanced at me, then continued walking.
'For the first time in days, there was a glimmer of hope and the determination to survive in Kayon's eyes,' Carai smiled.
The pain slowly got to me, I felt a stream of warm liquid move down my left leg.
I grunted softly.
"Should we take a rest" She put me down.
She sat next to me, and leaned on me.
"You know what this reminds me of back then"
I looked and she was already asleep.
"Good night"
Silence.
Light spilled across the stone floor ahead, pale and weak, for a moment I just stared at it.
It felt… distant.
Like something that no longer belonged to me, Carai slowly opened her eyes looked at me. her gaze fixed on me.
"what?" I asked.
"Nothing am glad I made it in time"
I felt the warmth in those words.
"Alright lets get going" She adjusted her grip and put me on her back, She didn't rush this time.
"You don't have to force it," She said quietly.
I didn't answer but tightened my grip, but my arm trembled almost immediately.
Pain shot through my body immediately. My face grimaced, step by step each one felt like it was breaking with every swing.
The ruins stretched endlessly broken walls, hollow stone skeletons picked clean by time. The wind whistled through them.
Grass had begun reclaiming the land, growing through cracks in the stone.
The air was cold, fresh,
I inhaled slowly but it hurt.
Carai guided me to a fallen pillar, helping me sit.
We stayed there in silence, the wind moved gently through the ruins for the first time since the square.
There were no screams.
No laughter.
No eyes enjoying me suffer.
I looked down at what remained, trembled fingers curled slowly into a fist.
Carai noticed. I didn't smile or speak. She just sat beside me.
"I remember," My voice low.
Carai turned toward me carefully. "What do you remember?"
I stared ahead.
"Their faces." My jaw tightened.
"Soren." Fingers clenched harder.
"Sera." Breathing grew heavier.
"The young lord." Silence.
"They smiled," I whispered.
Carai watched him carefully this was dangerous.
"Kayon…" She called gently.
"I couldn't do anything." My voice trembled.
"I couldn't stop them, I was weak."
Carai leaned forward.
"No," she said firmly but I didn't look at her.
"They took everything."I was quieter now.
"My power, my name, my body." I paused, Then finally.
"They took who I was." silence followed.
The wind passed between the broken stones,
Carai reached forward slowly and placed her hand over mine.
"They didn't take everything," she said.
I didn't respond she squeezed my hand gently.
"They didn't take your life, and I may not mean much to you, but they didn't take me" I was there motionless for a long time.
very slowly I looked at her something had returned.
"I'm still alive," I muttered.
"Yes," She whispered.
"I will get strong, enough that I won't lose anything ever again"
Neither of us spoke after that.
The wind moved through the ruins, quiet and steady.
I focused on breathing. In. Out.
Each breath hurt less than the last.
Carai stayed beside me. Not saying anything. Not pushing.
Just there.
For once… that was enough.
Slowly, we made our way back to the camping area.
Later, when we made it back.
"We made it," she said, dropping me a little harder than necessary.
"You're enjoying this too much." I winced. "you are too strong"
"Hu hu hu praise me more."
"That wasn't a compliment" I dragged myself upright.
Carai made the food,
she put the food to eat,
After I tried to change clothes, Carai just sat there looking at me,
"Hey, am about to change"
"Yes and so"
"Get out!" I yelled, but she didn't even flinch
"Just change besides everything on you is small except one thing"
"What? wait what do you mean" My face turned red,
"Nothing oky am leaving" Her ears red, She hid her face,
"Wait it's not fair"
"what, what's not fair?"
"you know, you saw mine and I didn't see yours"
"It was an accident, I didn't mean to see it anyway"
"I don't buy it, show me" Carai slowly turns around face red eyes moving left, right.
"I can't show you"
She turned away. Then stopped.
"I'm not a coward," she muttered.
Before I could react, she moved.
My brain stalled.
Heat rushed to my face instantly.
"…Carai."
She froze.
"…Why are you so quiet?"
"Because this is a terrible idea."
"what do you..." I glanced down.
Yeah. That was a problem.
"…You should turn around."
"…Why?"
"Just trust me."
Carai saw this then ran into the next room.
There was an awkward silence.
'it's oky to laugh like this now' I smiled and started laughing.
She came back.
"I plan no going to the city and collect more food"
"Huh is that safe after what happened"
"Don't worry I will go back to my barrack to collect the food"
"Seriously are we that close to the city"
"Not right now, when we escaped I went to the nearest ruins, and would occasionally go back to get food while moving away from the city"
"And I was unconscious the entire time?"
"Yes, hehe.. so currently if I ran at full speed I should get there in like 3 days"