Year 5003, Month of the Crimson Twilight: Day Twelve

  (Alene's Perspective)

  The room in "The House of Despair" was their small island in an ocean of despair. Its air still carried the scent of moldy dust, but Alene found herself breathing more deeply here, among this group of broken people, than she ever had in her clean room on the "Sunrise Balcony.

  " She sat beside Rio, who was sleeping on a makeshift bed they had made for him in a corner of the room, her face turned toward the maps scattered on the table.

  "Mama," whispered Rio, who had woken up silently and was watching her. "Why did we leave our new home? And why did you leave your job?"

  Alene turned and gave him a tired smile. She gently ran her fingers through his hair.

  "Do you remember when you said you wanted to protect me?" she whispered to him. "This is what I'm doing now. I'm protecting you." He didn't fully understand the words, but he felt the warmth in her tone and closed his eyes again.

  Once she was sure he was sound asleep again, she joined Akira in another corner of the room, where a makeshift smithy had been set up. The smell of burning coal and hot metal was sharp, but it was the smell of creation, the smell of hope being forged.

  "Thank you for the staff," she said, sitting on a rickety wooden chair. "It's wonderful."

  Akira didn't look up from a piece of metal he was shaping with his hammer. "Don't thank me. Thank Kaito."

  "I thanked him. And now I'm thanking you.

  " She paused for a moment, then asked, "I heard you were the one who chose this place."

  "Big, empty, and everyone thinks it's haunted," Akira said, plunging the hot metal into a bucket of water with a violent hiss. "The perfect hideout."

  "Haunted... because of the massacre?"

  Akira stopped working and looked at her.

  "So, you know. Yes. The Panyer that appeared in the city recently... he's the one who did it. Slaughtered every child here."

  A chill washed over Alene. "The monster that chased me... is the same one who committed this atrocity?" she wondered to herself. The conflict in her mind was sharp and painful.

  "Was I running from the ghost of Hong-min, or from a child-killer?"

  "You don't seem affected," Akira said, returning to his work. "Or you hide it well. In any case, did you really think we would let you into a super-secret organization like this without looking into your past?"

  Alene laughed sarcastically. "Makes sense.

  Now get out. I hate having someone next to me while I work.No one ever taught you any manners, huh?" she said, getting up and laughing.

  She found Kaito and Yumi in the map room, their faces grim under the dim lantern light. Yumi's hand was trembling slightly as she held her pipe, her eyes constantly darting toward the door.

  "That son of a bitch..." Yumi said, the anger in her voice clear.

  "He suspects. He feels something is happening."

  "There are a lot of sons of bitches," Alene said. "Which one do you mean, exactly?"

  "Ling Gu."

  Alene froze. "What? Does he know about our plans?"

  "We haven't reached that stage," Yumi said. "But he suspects. And my informant 'Wěn' warned me.

  Wait... Wěn?" Alene said in shock, remembering his thick fingers and his satisfied smile. The one-armed Wěn is the informant? You know him? Yumi asked.

  If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  "Yes," Alene said with icy coldness. "He is one of my clients... and he has some strange hobbies." She felt disgusted as she remembered his humiliating requests, and how this man who had degraded her was the same one holding their fate in his hands.

  "When that bastard suspects, he won't let it go!" Yumi cried. "We must cancel the plan immediately!"

  "Calm down, Yumi," Kaito said with quiet sternness. "He has no proof. He only suspects." He then looked at Yumi. "Focus on gathering trustworthy allies.

  You and Da-yun. And I emphasize the word 'trustworthy'."

  Yumi got up and left, swearing under her breath.

  "I apologize for her behavior," Kaito said softly. "When the demon of her past is near, she gets scared."

  "I know the feeling."

  "Let's change the subject," Kaito said with a slight smile.

  "How is the staff? Have you tried using it?"

  Suddenly, Alene's whole face changed. Her eyes lit up with a childish excitement she had long forgotten. "It's amazing! I've never seen anything like it! The way the Mana flows through the wood, and the blue stone at the top acts as an energy amplifier, it increases the power of my spells by at least twenty percent! And that toad Akira is a real genius, how did he manage to carve..."

  Kaito burst into a quiet laugh.

  "Slow down, slow down. I can barely keep up with you."

  Alene felt the heat rise to her face. "Shut up. I don't like it that much."

  "Of course not," Kaito said, laughing. "Continue, but slowly this time."

  "I don't want to anymore," she said, turning her face away in embarrassment, but a small smile was still on her lips.

  (Yumi's Perspective)

  "He's watching me. I can feel it. I'm sure he's watching me."

  Yumi was walking down a dark corridor, her heart pounding violently. "He knows everything. Everything is falling apart. I have to run. Yes, I have to run. To hell with the revolution. I'll go back to that bastard's den...Yumi."

  She froze.

  Akira was standing in front of her, blocking her path.

  "I know how hard this is for you," he said softly. "And if you want to run, you can. No one will stop you. But..." he took her hand firmly. "Running away from a son of a whore... that is not the behavior of the Yumi I know."

  "Who said I was brave?!

  she screamed, her voice broken. "I'm a coward! You don't know anything!"

  "Yes, I don't know anything," Akira said. "But the Yumi I know would kick that bastard in the balls, and would never run."

  Yumi collapsed, crying. Akira hugged her tightly.

  I wish you were a little shorter," he said, laughing. "It's hard to hug someone taller than you."

  "Shut up, you toad," Yumi said, laughing through her tears.

  (Alene's Perspective)

  When they gathered again in the planning room, the tension had eased slightly. Kaito said seriously, "Today's event has confirmed that we must disappear. From now on, we are practically dead."

  He looked at them one by one.

  "Yumi, Akira, you were officially killed by bandits while traveling. Da-yun will continue her work as our cover in the House. As for you, Alene..." he looked at her with regret.

  "You and your son committed suicide together in a desperate leap from the Twilight Bridge."

  Alene laughed a bitter laugh. "Couldn't you come up with anything better?"

  "No, I could not," Kaito said sternly. "Now, let's continue..."

  Suddenly, the air changed.

  It wasn't a sound; it wasn't a movement. It was a pressure. A suffocating, heavy feeling descended upon the entire Swamp of Shadows, as if an invisible mountain had appeared in their midst, absorbing all light and hope.

  "He's entered," Yumi whispered, her face as pale as death.

  "Who?" Alene asked.

  "Ling Gu."

  Everyone froze.

  Kaito closed his eyes, his face grim with concentration. He saw the world as lines of energy, and he saw Ling Gu as a massive black flame moving with confidence through the filthy streets of the slum.

  "He's not here for us... He's moving fast... What a monster! He sensed me!" Kaito's eyes snapped open, genuine shock on his face. "But he ignored me. He's going somewhere else."

  "Where?" Akira asked.

  "To... the Forest of Restraint?" Kaito said with surprise.

  (Akira's Perspective)

  After Ling Gu had left and the atmosphere had returned to normal, and after the meeting had ended, Akira found Yumi asleep in a chair in the corner of the room, her pipe having fallen from her hand.

  He gently carried her in his strong arms and headed for her room.

  "Yumi," he whispered, looking at her peaceful face as she slept. "Since the day I saw you, you were like a demon. Yes, a vile and hateful demon. But we have been together for a long time. For you, like me, were a victim of Ling Gu's hobbies."

  Year 4993.