I slept peacefully.
You think?
Oh, how wrong you are.
The moment I fell asleep, my mind dragged me somewhere else.
Somewhere horrible.
I stood in a wasteland covered in darkness.
There was no village.
No trees.
No houses.
Just endless mud beneath my feet and a sky trapped in permanent twilight.
Then I heard voices.
"How did you survive?"
I froze.
I knew those voices.
I slowly turned around.
My friends were standing there.
My parents too.
Everyone I'd lost.
But they didn't look like themselves anymore.
Their faces were twisted by grief and anger, and their eyes stared straight through me.
"You left us!"
"You ran away!"
"Why did you survive?"
I stumbled backward.
"No..."
"You abandoned us!"
"I didn't!" I shouted.
They began moving toward me.
I fell to my knees.
"I didn't want to leave you!"
My voice cracked.
"I was scared!"
Nobody listened.
My best friend, Adolf, stepped forward.
"You promised we'd stick together."
I stared at him.
"I know..."
"You promised."
"I know!"
Tears filled my eyes.
"I'm sorry!"
Then Hella appeared beside him.
"Why didn't you come back?"
I couldn't answer.
Because I had.
I'd gone back.
I'd searched.
I'd called for them.
But I couldn't save anyone.
Then I saw Mom.
She looked at me with the same expression she'd given me countless times when I was little.
Except now, there was sadness in her eyes.
"Tom..."
I stopped breathing.
"Why you?"
My heart shattered.
"Why did you get to live?"
"Mom..."
"You were my son."
She reached toward me.
"And I couldn't protect you."
I shook my head.
"No."
"You couldn't protect us either."
"STOP!"
I covered my ears.
But her voice was still there.
Then Dad stepped forward.
He looked disappointed.
Not angry.
Somehow, that hurt even more.
"I taught you to be strong."
I looked at him through my tears.
"I tried."
"You ran."
"I was scared!"
"You ran."
I collapsed.
"I'M SORRY!"
The entire world went silent.
I looked up.
Everyone was staring at me.
My friends.
My parents.
My neighbors.
Everyone.
Then they all spoke at once.
"Why didn't you save us?"
I screamed.
"I COULDN'T!"
The ground beneath me cracked.
"I was just a kid!"
The darkness swallowed everything.
"I didn't know what was happening!"
The voices became quieter.
"I couldn't fight him!"
The darkness closed around me.
"I couldn't stop him!"
And finally—
"I didn't choose to survive..."
Silence.
I opened my eyes.
Nothing.
No village.
No people.
No voices.
Just darkness.
Then I heard one final whisper.
"Then become strong enough that it never happens again."
My eyes snapped open.
I shot upright in bed.
My heart was pounding.
I was breathing heavily.
For several seconds, I didn't know where I was.
Then I looked around.
The room.
The bed.
The walls.
The Elven Enclave.
It had all been a dream.
I pressed a hand against my chest.
My breathing slowly settled.
But the words remained in my mind.
I was just a kid.
That was true.
I hadn't known how to fight demons.
I hadn't known what Katsuo was.
I hadn't even understood Nature Breathing.
I couldn't have saved everyone.
But that didn't mean I had to remain powerless.
I wiped the tears from my face.
Katsuo had taken everything from me.
I couldn't change that.
But I could decide what happened next.
I looked toward the window.
The first light of morning was beginning to appear.
Tomorrow, my training would begin.
And this time...
I wouldn't run from it.