Rose's rapid breaths n the cold cave air as she leaned over the workbench, her trembling fingers struggling to secure the final connections on the metallic device. The candlelight shadows danced across her pale face, a drop of sweat sliding down her cheek, mingling with an oily fingerprint left by her hand, marked with tiny cuts.
The shadow of Dark suddenly appeared behind her, his voice tinged with worry. She hadn't heard his steps because of the ringing in her ears that had plagued her for three sleepless days. Her shoulder trembled before she turned to him.
"You need to rest,"
he said, gently touching her shoulder, but his fingers froze suddenly when they felt the coldness of her skin.
"You're overworking yourself!" Why?!
Rose lifted her face toward him, her lips trying to smile.
"Just… a few more hours," she whispered in a hoarse voice. "This invention will be different this time." I mean, this is to be better and proud of myself, haha.
Then she wiped her forehead with the back of her hand, leaving a streak of grease on her pale skin.
"Dark… this is about diligence. About pride. I must be the best. I have to prove that I can do the impossible." Her words came with a forced confidence, trying to convince Dark, and perhaps herself, that her motives were noble and simple.
Dark looked into her eyes, trying to read beyond her words. There was something that unsettled him, a vague feeling that she was hiding something. But he couldn't pinpoint what it was. He knew Rose well, knew she was stubborn and persistent, always striving for perfection in her inventions. Perhaps that was the only reason.
Dark sighed, then gently placed his hand on her shoulder.
"Alright, but don't overdo it. You're important to me, more than any invention
He said it sincerely, then turned and left, leaving Rose alone in the dim candlelight.
As soon as Dark disappeared into the darkness, Rose sank to her knees, her tears falling silently. These were not tears of physical exhaustion, but tears of fear and anxiety. Her words to Dark had been a lie, a white lie to protect him.
It wasn't about diligence or pride; it was about fear. The fear of losing Dark and Fatum.
She saw herself as the shield for her family, the only one capable of keeping them safe.
"I'll do this for you…" Rose whispered, her voice trembling between sobs. "I'll endure all this fatigue, all this pain, to protect you. I won't let anything hurt you again." Her words were a vow,
a promise she made to herself in the silence of the night, a promise that she would be the strength to protect her family, no matter the cost. She knew the road ahead would be difficult, that she would face greater challenges, but she was ready for everything. She was ready to be the unseen hero, the hero who works in the shadows, for those she loved.
The next morning, Rose was preparing to transport her new invention. Her eyes still carried the marks of exhaustion, but a spark of determination shone in them. She carried a small bag containing parts of her invention, checking that everything was in its proper place.
Meanwhile, Dark approached her, looking somewhat hesitant.
"Rose, can you come with me today?"
he asked, trying to keep his tone as normal as possible.
"We need to search for more resources. I think we'll need a larger quantity this time."
Rose looked at him, feeling some annoyance.
"No, Dark. I want to test my invention today. I've worked hard on it, and I'm sure it will work this time."
she said, trying to convince him.
"Try it later."
Dark replied in a firm tone.
"It's not necessary to test it now. Gathering the resources is more important. We can return and try it afterward."
There was a determination in his voice that Rose wasn't used to hearing from him in such matters. She sensed that something was troubling Dark, but she couldn't figure out what it was. To prevent any doubts he might have, she decided to agree.
"Alright."
Rose said, placing her bag on her back.
"I'll come with you."
She picked up her invention, a small complex device, and carried it with her. Dark looked at the device with surprise.
"Why are you bringing your invention with you?" he asked.
Rose smiled widely, trying to appear as natural as possible.
"To test it immediately after we finish gathering the resources! I don't want to waste any time."
Her answer was logical enough to convince Dark. He sighed and nodded.
"Alright, as you wish."
And so, they set off together, Rose carrying her invention, and Dark carrying his hidden worry, heading toward the village that looked peaceful from afar.
When they reached the outskirts of the village, where the roads branched like veins through a body, Dark stopped.
"We'll split up here,"
he said to Rose, pointing to two different paths.
"You go this way, and I'll go the other. This way, we'll cover a larger area."
Rose nodded, then set off on her path, while Dark took the other road, which led to the outskirts of the village, where some abandoned warehouses stood, places they were accustomed to raiding for resources.
Dark moved lightly through the narrow alleys, slipping like a shadow in broad daylight. His eyes glimmered with focus, scanning for anything that could be useful. He reached an old warehouse and began searching for anything of value.
As he collected some wood and metal, he heard approaching footsteps. These were not ordinary villagers' steps, but careful, calculated steps—soldiers' steps. Dark braced himself, gripping his dagger tightly, and hid behind a pile of barrels.
Two men appeared, dressed in simple villager clothes, but their movements betrayed military training. They spoke in low tones, but Dark caught a few words:
"...Commander's orders… we must stop him… he cannot continue stealing our resources…"
Dark realized these were not just villagers, but disguised soldiers. There was no time to think, as one of them suddenly spotted him.
"There!" one shouted, and the two lunged at Dark. He was fast, dodging the first strike, then retaliated with a powerful punch to one's face, making him stagger. The other tried to stab him with a knife, but Dark used his magic, sending a gust of wind that threw the soldier back.
Dark did not want a long fight; his goal was to gather resources and return to the cave. He fought skillfully, using his agility and magic to repel their attacks. The soldiers were strong and trained, but unprepared for Dark's speed and magical abilities.
He sustained some scratches and bruises but managed to knock both soldiers unconscious. He did not kill them, only incapacitated them. Coldly, he looked at them, then gathered what he could of the resources and set off back to the cave, his heart weighed down with worry. He knew this would not be his last encounter with the village's disguised soldiers.
This pattern repeated for several weeks. Each time Dark and Rose went to gather resources, on days when Rose finished her invention, she insisted they split up, while on other days, when she hadn't finished, she didn't. This made Dark suspicious of something about Rose.
Doubt began creeping into Dark's heart slowly, like a slow-acting poison. He felt something strange, uncomfortable, in this repeated pattern. Why did Rose insist on splitting up every time she finished an invention? Could Rose… be betraying him? Could she be the one giving weapons to those soldiers? Initially, it was a weak suspicion, a foolish thought that could not come from the sister he loved and trusted.
Dark tried to push the thoughts from his mind, but they returned again and again. One time, he could no longer contain his doubts and asked her directly:
"Rose, where do all these inventions you make go? I've never seen any of them work properly."
Rose always tested her inventions in the cave, but she never showed him the final results. She looked at him with a forced smile, trying to hide her tension.
"They burn when I test them, Dark. Some explode, others melt. They're just failed experiments," she said.
Her answer seemed logical at first glance; new inventions often fail initially. But something in her tone, in her eyes, made Dark's suspicions grow. He had no concrete evidence, but his intuition screamed that something was wrong.
The day came when Dark decided to put an end to his doubts. That morning, when Rose insisted, as usual, on splitting paths after reaching the village outskirts, Dark nodded in agreement, but this time he did not take his usual route. Instead, he waited until Rose disappeared from sight, then began following her stealthily, hiding among trees and bushes. His heart pounded in his chest, a mixture of fear and anticipation.
The closer Rose got to the direction of the barracks, the more his fear and suspicion grew. He hoped his doubts were illusions, but every step brought him closer to a painful truth.
Rose moved lightly, heading directly to the back of the barracks, where secret meetings took place. Dark hid behind a thick tree, watching her disappear into a small building. He barely processed what he saw when he felt movement behind him.
There was no time to think, as a soldier lunged at him from the shadows. The soldier wore camouflage, but Dark immediately recognized his movements. This was another of the village's soldiers, likely sent to monitor or remove him.
The fight began instantly. The soldier was skilled, swinging his sword with precision, but Dark was faster and more agile. He dodged a powerful strike, then countered with a magical punch that sent the soldier flying backward.
Dark fought with rage—rage at the possible betrayal, and rage at this repeated pattern that had exhausted him.
As he exchanged blows with the soldier, he noticed something strange. The soldier wore a shiny glove on his right hand, a glove he had never seen before. Suddenly, the soldier raised his hand, and a blazing projectile shot from the glove toward Dark with incredible speed. The flames glowed bright orange, leaving a trail of smoke behind.
Dark barely dodged the fire, feeling its heat brush past him. The technique was familiar; he had seen Rose work on something similar in her inventions. At that moment, all his suspicions were confirmed. Her inventions weren't burning—they were being delivered to these soldiers.
Dark's anger doubled, and his fighting became more ferocious. He no longer fought to survive, but for revenge. The soldier tried to use the fire glove again, but Dark gave him no chance, moving too quickly for him to strike.
Dark looked at the fire glove, then at the building Rose had entered. He felt deep disappointment and indescribable anger. Returning to the cave took a long time, as he had to deal with the soldier in combat and gather his scattered thoughts. The wounds from the fight and the heat of the fire projectile hurt, but the greatest pain was in his heart.
Rose returned to the cave early that evening, carrying some resources she had gathered, her heart dancing with joy at her success, believing Dark would be fine and return soon as usual. But time passed, night fell, and Dark had not returned. Anxiety began to creep into her heart, growing when she saw Fatum sleeping peacefully, unaware of the danger surrounding them.
When Dark finally returned, it was midnight. He wasn't walking but dragging himself with difficulty, his body trembling, face pale. Clear burns marked his chest and shoulder, deep bleeding wounds on his arm and leg. His clothes were torn, and his eyes held a look of pain and fury.
Finally, he reached the cave and collapsed, unconscious. Rose and Vatom were shocked. Rose leaped up and rushed towards him, followed by Vatom, who had woken up at the sound of his stumbling footsteps. "Dark! What happened to you?" Rose screamed, her voice trembling with fear. "Who did this to you?" Dark did not answer. He fell to the ground, passed out. Rose and Vatom rushed to him and began tending to his wounds. Rose carefully wiped the blood and placed bandages on the burns, while Vatom held his hand, not knowing what those things on his skin were and believing he was just asleep. Rose was bandaging him, and the pain wrung her heart, but they were determined to save him.
After many long hours, Dark slowly began to regain consciousness. He opened his eyes and looked at Rose and Vatom, who were sitting beside him. Rose's face bore the marks of fatigue and worry. The burns on his chest and shoulder had been carefully bandaged, but the pain was still there. Rose tried to smile at him, but her smile vanished when she saw the look of pure rage in his eyes.
Suddenly, and without warning, Dark kicked Rose hard in the stomach. It was a sudden and brutal kick that sent her slamming into the wall. Rose cried out in pain and looked at him in shock. "Dark! Why?" she asked, her voice barely a whisper.
"Why?" Dark screamed, his voice shaking with fury. "You ask me why? Because you're a traitor! Because you caused all these injuries! Because you made me suffer for you, and in the end, you do this to me!" His words came out like whips, lashing at Rose cruelly. He shouted at her, accusing her of betrayal, exploitation, and everything else. Rose saw a face she had never seen before—a face filled with hatred and rage.
Then, Dark started punching her face and kicking her.
Dark: All this time, all my life, I've been defending you, securing you, supporting you! And this is what you do in the end?!
Rose: Dark, there's a misunderstanding! Please stop!
Dark: No! There is no misunderstanding here, you liiiiiiiiiar!
Vatom watched the scene in shock. She had never seen violence before, never heard Dark scream like this, never seen Rose hurt this way. She started crying loudly, trying to understand what was happening. But Dark did not stop. He turned to Vatom, his eyes gleaming with madness. "And you! You too!" he screamed, then moved towards her, lifting her by the neck, squeezing her throat tightly. "All of you! All of you are the reason for my suffering!" He cursed her, blamed her, pressing her neck until Vatom began to choke, her eyes wide with terror.
"Let her go!" Rose screamed, trying to get up, her body wracked with pain. "Let Vatom go!" She was shouting at the top of her lungs, trying to reach him, to stop him. But Dark didn't listen. He violently threw Vatom toward Rose, then screamed at the top of his voice: "Get out! Get out of here! I don't want to see you ever again!" He kept screaming, demanding that they leave, his eyes blazing with madness.
Rose and Vatom had no other choice. Rose got up with difficulty, carrying Vatom, who was crying non-stop. They left the cave, leaving Dark behind, alone in the darkness. Rose felt the pain in her body, but the greatest pain was in her heart—a heart broken by the brother she loved and tried to protect.
As soon as they disappeared, Dark collapsed to the ground. He began to wail and weep, his voice echoing in the empty cave. He was crying bitterly, grieving for what he had done and what he had lost. He felt loneliness, betrayal, and despair.
After Rose and Vatom left the cave, Dark collapsed to the ground, his cries echoing throughout the empty space. He wept bitterly, his tears mixing with regret, anger, and pain. He continued to wail and cry until his strength gave out, and he began to feel the heavy weight of sleep overtake him. Dark slept, but his tears did not stop falling down his cheeks, witnessing the storm raging in his soul.
While Dark was immersed in a deep sleep, his painful memories began to materialize in the form of a terrifying nightmare. He found himself standing in a dream world, seeing his past self, a young boy standing next to his mother. The scene before him was agonizingly real: his father being executed in front of everyone, tied by ropes at his wrists. Dark began to feel a severe headache in the dream—a real pain that transferred to reality. He started screaming in his sleep, clutching his head tightly as if something was trying to tear it apart from the inside.
Suddenly, Dark's father began to laugh hysterically in the dream—a lunatic laugh that intensified Dark's headache in reality. The laughter echoed in his ears, adding to his suffering. Then, without warning, the dream world changed abruptly. The peaceful village turned into ruins and fire, bombarded by yellow streaks of light and flaming arrows. Bodies were scattered everywhere, and people were dying in desperate screams.
In the heart of this hell, Dark saw his mother. She was standing before the dragon that had killed her years ago, and the scene was replayed before him as a living nightmare. RVatoman with insane speed towards his mother, trying to save her. He had lost the ability to distinguish between reality and the dream and believed this horrible event was happening now. He ran at full speed, but the distance between him and his mother lengthened every second, becoming longer and longer. Dark felt nothing but his approach to his mother, not realizing he was moving away from her. The closer he tried to get, the more his headache increased, and in the real world, he was screaming and coughing up blood in his sleep. Every step he took in the dream changed reality, but he focused only on saving his mother.
When he finally reached where his mother was, she and everything around him vanished. Severed heads of his sisters appeared before him, burned and with pierced eyes, shedding tears of blood. Then the heads began to scream with a terrifying sound, and a horrified girl's voice echoed with them: "Save us! Save us! Save uuuuuuus, Daaaaaaark!"
Then came his mother's voice, a tender voice yet carrying an unbearable weight: "Save them, Dark."
Suddenly, Dark woke up from his sleep, tears of blood falling down his cheeks, and blood coming out of his mouth. He put his hand on his head, feeling intense dizziness. "Save us? Mother? Huh?" he said in a faint voice, his mind still muddled between the nightmare and reality.
At that moment, a spear pierced the cave, flying at insane speed directly past Dark's head. Dark was deeply shocked and scared, and he raised his weapon, ready to fight. "I will... I will do it, Mother... but save them from what?" he said to himself, trying to understand what was happening.
Then suddenly, he found writing written in fire on the spear: "We have captured your sisters. Come to the Old Castle naked and without a weapon if you want them alive." Dark was stunned, his eyes widened as he screamed, then he ran at insane speed towards the Old Castle, shouting at the top of his lungs: "Roooooose! Vatooooom!"