Elric's body trembled long after the silver light had vanished. The figure of the Shadow Slayer haunted his mind—the glowing blade, the inhuman speed, the way the cursed shadow had fallen in a single instant.
He sat alone under the withered branches of a tree, clutching his knees. His heart still raced as though he had witnessed a nightmare, yet strangely… it wasn't fear that lingered. It was something else.
"Was that… really a man?" Elric whispered to himself. His voice cracked against the silence. "Or was he… something more? Something beyond human?"
In sixteen years of his life, Elric had never seen anyone move like that. Not his brother with his martial arts trophies, not the strongest students at school, not even the instructors who drilled survival into them. Compared to the slayer's speed, everyone Elric had ever known seemed like they were moving in slow motion.
The thought clawed at him. Could a human truly fight the shadows like that?
And yet, when he remembered the cursed shadow's reaction—its shriek, its frantic retreat, its terror in the face of that glowing blade—Elric realized something else.
The shadows feared him.
They feared the Shadow Slayer.
That night, as silence reclaimed the mountains, Elric sat under the stars with his empty stomach twisting painfully. The slayer had vanished into the darkness as if he were nothing but a phantom, leaving Elric with more questions than answers.
Where did he come from?
Why does he fight them?
Are there others like him, or is he the only one?
Every night, as Elric curled into himself for warmth, those questions gnawed at his thoughts. Hunger clawed at him, fatigue dragged his body down, but his mind refused to rest.
For the first time since losing his family, he wasn't thinking about dying. He was thinking about the man who refused to let the darkness consume everything.
And in that thought, a fragile thread of hope began to take shape.
When the sun rose the next morning, burning away the last traces of the long night, Elric forced himself to stand. His legs shook, weak from hunger, but his eyes carried a stubborn light that hadn't been there before.
"I can't stay here," he muttered. "If he exists… if there are people who can stand against the shadows… then I have to find them."
He tightened the straps of his worn-out satchel and set off down the path. He didn't know where the slayer had gone, or even if he could find him, but standing still would change nothing. If nothing else, he needed to know: how could someone so ordinary like him ever face the same darkness?
Elric had always possessed a strange sensitivity. Back in the village, before the massacre, he could sense when storms were approaching before anyone else, or when animals lurked unseen in the woods. His father used to laugh and call it "a hunter's nose."
Now, that same sense stirred inside him.
The night his family was destroyed, Elric remembered a faint, acrid smell in the air. It hadn't meant anything to him at the time, but now—after seeing the cursed shadows up close—he understood. That smell had been their presence.
And last night, before the slayer appeared, he had caught it again.
He clenched his fists. If I can sense them… even a little… maybe that's where I begin.
He wandered from one ruined village to another. The destruction was everywhere—burnt homes, broken walls, echoes of lives erased. He searched for signs of the slayer, but found none. No footprints, no trails, nothing but silence.
Each night, as he curled under broken roofs or collapsed barns, hunger gnawed at him. His body ached from walking, his mind screamed for rest, but the image of that glowing sword refused to leave him.
If he can fight… why can't I?
At first, the question felt ridiculous. He was Elric—the boy too lazy to train, too weak to swing a sword, too ordinary to be remembered.
But the longer he thought about it, the heavier it grew.
Why can't I? Why should I always be the one left behind?
His family's faces returned to him—his brother with his confident smile, his sister with her boundless energy, his parents who had worked so hard. Tears stung his eyes, but this time, there was no guilt in them. Only determination.
"I couldn't save them," Elric whispered into the night. "But maybe… I can save someone else's family."
The truth hit him hard. He had no idea how to fight, no idea how to begin. In school, he had wasted every opportunity, slacking during survival training, mocking drills as pointless. Now, those wasted chances burned inside him like knives.
But Elric wasn't empty. He still remembered.
The evenings his father had shown him martial arts stances, insisting he learn to defend himself.
The afternoons when his mother forced him to play football with his sister, teaching him to run faster, to never give up chasing the ball.
At the time, Elric had hated those lessons. He had been lazy, uninterested, always wanting to escape.
Now, those fragments returned to him as lifelines.
He stood in the ruins of an abandoned courtyard, closed his eyes, and spread his legs apart. His stance wobbled at first, but he forced himself to remember. His father's voice echoed in his mind. "Balance, Elric. Without balance, even the strongest strike will fail."
He raised his fists. Weak. Unsteady. But fists nonetheless.
Then he ran—back and forth across the yard until his lungs screamed, remembering his mother's laughter: "Faster, Elric! Don't stop now!"
His body collapsed in exhaustion, but his heart didn't waver. For the first time in his life, Elric wanted to get stronger. Not for pride. Not for recognition. But to fight back.
The shadows were stronger than him. He knew that. Without training, without power, he would die in a heartbeat.
But Elric had seen the impossible become real. A slayer had faced the abyss and won. And if one man could stand against it, then why not him?
The night fell again, darker than ever. Elric sat on a broken stone wall, staring at the horizon. His body ached, his stomach groaned, but his eyes carried a new fire.
"I'll find them," he whispered. "The Shadow Slayers. I'll find them… and I'll learn."
And if he couldn't find them?
Then he would fight anyway.
Because for the first time, Elric refused to remain the forgotten extra.
Somewhere in the forest, far away, a faint echo stirred—the unmistakable cry of a cursed shadow. Elric stiffened. His hunter's nose caught the faint scent, bitter and suffocating.
He rose slowly, fists clenched, his heart pounding.
This time, he wouldn't just hide.
This time, he would face the darkness.
The boy who once prayed for death now prayed for strength. The path of the Shadow Slayer had begun.
.......................................................................................................
" If you were in Elric's place, would you run or fight? "