He wakes again in the cave
The cave was silent.
He didn't know how long he had been unconscious.
When his eyes opened, darkness surrounded him.
For a moment, he didn't remember where he was.
Then the pain returned.
His back.
His shoulder.
His chest.
And the sharp burning in his wrist.
He suddenly remembered.
The Hero.
The knife.
The blood.
Her.
His breathing became uneven.
He pressed a hand against his chest.
"...I'm alive."
The words barely came out.
He didn't know whether that was something to be grateful for.
Slowly, he pushed himself against the cave wall.
His arms trembled beneath his weight.
Every movement reminded him that his body was still broken.
Then he noticed the pool.
A small pool of clear water rested beneath the moonlight.
Beside it was the bottle.
He crawled toward it.
His hands shook so badly that he almost dropped it.
He drank.
Cold water ran down his throat.
For a few seconds, he simply sat there.
Alive.
Alone.
No chains.
No prison.
No Hero.
No villagers.
Just silence.
He looked down at the water.
His reflection stared back.
A pale face.
Golden eyes.
Blood dried around his mouth.
He barely recognized himself.
"...What did I do?"
The reflection remained silent.
His fingers tightened around the bottle.
"Do I deserve it?"
His voice cracked.
He hated that it did.
He had spent years hearing the same words.
Monster.
Murderer.
Demon.
Villain.
He had learned to pretend those words didn't hurt.
But alone in the cave, there was no one to pretend for.
His eyes lowered.
"Maybe they were right."
A tear slipped down his cheek.
He quickly wiped it away.
Then—
A ripple moved across the water.
He froze.
His heart stopped for a second.
There was no wind.
Nothing had touched the pool.
He slowly looked around.
Darkness.
Stone walls.
Nothing else.
He looked back at the water.
His reflection was still there.
He lifted his hand.
The reflection didn't move.
His breath caught.
Slowly...
the reflection raised its hand.
A few seconds after he had.
His entire body went cold.
He stopped breathing.
"No..."
He stepped backward.
The reflection remained still.
He stepped again.
His heel struck the stone behind him.
He nearly fell.
"No. No, no..."
His voice became smaller.
He had fought soldiers.
He had faced the Hero.
He had broken chains that were supposed to be unbreakable.
But this—
This made something inside him panic.
Because he couldn't fight something he couldn't understand.
He stared at the pool.
His reflection slowly lowered its hand.
Then its eyes moved.
Past him.
Toward the darkness behind him.
His stomach dropped.
He couldn't turn around.
Every instinct screamed at him to run.
But his legs wouldn't move.
His fingers dug into the stone wall.
"Don't..."
The word escaped before he could stop it.
He didn't even know who he was speaking to.
Then he forced himself to turn.
Nothing.
Only darkness.
He looked back at the water.
His reflection was normal.
His chest rose and fell violently.
He wanted to laugh.
He wanted to cry.
Mostly, he wanted to leave.
But there was nowhere to go.
He was alone.
And somehow...
he no longer felt alone.
"Who are you?"
His voice shook.
No answer.
The mark on his wrist suddenly burned.
He screamed.
He grabbed it as the Yuruke Gift glowed beneath his skin.
But beneath the familiar mark...
something else appeared.
A symbol.
Old.
Impossible.
He had never seen it before.
The cave became freezing cold.
The bottle slipped from his hand.
It hit the ground.
Crack.
He flinched so hard his whole body shook.
The fireflies inside the broken jar flickered.
One.
Two.
Three.
Then every light went out.
Darkness swallowed the cave.
He couldn't see his own hands.
His breathing became faster.
"Who's there?"
Nothing.
"Show yourself!"
His voice echoed through the cave.
Nothing answered.
Then—
A voice.
Quiet.
Ancient.
So close that it felt like someone was whispering directly inside his mind.
"You survived."
His eyes widened.
His heart slammed against his ribs.
He pressed himself against the wall.
"Who are you?"
Silence.
He looked toward the darkness.
"Where are you?"
His voice broke.
"Please..."
He stopped.
He hated himself for saying it.
He had never begged the Hero.
Never begged the people who chained him.
Never begged the people who called him a monster.
But now he was begging something he couldn't even see.
The darkness remained silent.
Then the voice came again.
"Not yet."
His eyes filled with fear.
"Not yet... what?"
Nothing.
The strange symbol beneath the Yuruke Gift disappeared.
The cold vanished.
The fireflies remained dark.
The water became perfectly still.
He waited.
One second.
Two.
Ten.
Nothing.
He slowly looked at his wrist.
The strange symbol was gone.
As if it had never existed.
But he knew what he had heard.
He knew what he had seen.
And that frightened him more than the Hero ever had.
Because the Hero was human.
Humans could be understood.
Humans could hate.
Humans could lie.
Humans could die.
But whatever had spoken to him...
he didn't know what it wanted.
He pulled his knees toward his chest and stared into the darkness.
For the first time since escaping the prison, he wasn't thinking about revenge.
He wasn't thinking about the Hero.
He wasn't thinking about the villagers.
He was thinking about one thing.
Something knows I'm alive.
A tear rolled down his cheek.
And somewhere far beneath the earth...
something opened its eyes.