A vivid image of a boy kneeling on an execution block appeared like light.
A headless body lay sprawled before him, and in the boy’s hand was an ornate dagger.
The stark conqueror and the black-masked executioner.
The frenzied crowd below the execution block.
Dazzling light, bearing a mix of faces, pierced him like a knife.
He was back in his childhood, confronting a past nightmare buried deep in the abyss of his soul.
“Offer your heart!”
Tigrinu commanded, and the light vanished. In the darkness, his father’s taunts buzzed.
“You’re too much like that lowly woman.”
“The dog that begged for its life.”
“The King’s hound has arrived. Throw him a piece of meat.”
In the sticky darkness, mockery and derision swirled like a storm.
The darkness was hot, boiling.
It felt as if all his air passages were blocked and his entire body was melting away.
But it was nothing compared to the insults and contempt that shredded his soul.
Blayden groaned in the agony of flesh tearing.
He was being stabbed by his own memories.
Fire without light.
This must be my soul.
But why do I feel pain?
The darkness thinned, and another vision emerged.
He was seven again.
Priestesses in pure white robes surrounded him in the sanctuary of the Tarsewyn Temple, casting spells.
When the ritual ended, Priest Boren approached, knelt before him, and spoke.
“Now, Your Royal Highness, you will feel no pain. You will endure any torture from your enemies. Therefore, you must survive.”
This happened the night before Klavil Castle fell.
The stars in the sky were exceptionally bright.
The enemies’ shouts from the ramparts seemed distant, like a dream.
The boy’s body stretched.
The boy, now strong and hardened, fought on the battlefield.
Enemies fell before his sword.
Between the sky, covered in flaming arrows, and the ground, piled with corpses, the boy’s face was smeared with blood.
No, he was no longer a boy.
He was a monster.
A devil.
A beast that killed people.
Aaargh!
Blayden screamed and thrashed.
He wanted to escape but couldn’t.
He wanted to deny the past but couldn’t.
Get me out of this pain.
Anyone.
Anything.
Please.
There was no answer to his desperate plea.
The darkness, having withdrawn its vision, was hot yet indifferent.
A lightless fire consumed him with silent heat.
If I cannot be saved.
If I cannot be healed.
Then, rather…
He shed a handful of tears, and his eyes closed.
The acrid heat receded from the darkness.
The darkness rippled and embraced him, like the embrace of an angel leading him to heaven.
He wanted to let go of everything.
The debt of fate, the desperate life—he wanted to lay it all down and find rest.
Blayden prayed to God.
Grant me death.
Enough now, a sweet death.
Have mercy on this tragic fate.
***
“Sir Knight! Sir Knight!”
Leni pounded Blayden’s chest with her fists.
Blayden didn’t react.
He only hung limply, eyes closed, head lolled back.
Only his arms, tightly embracing her, seemed to possess any will.
“Open your eyes, Sir Knight!”
Leni cupped Blayden’s face and wailed.
They were sinking deeper and deeper into the swamp.
They weren’t just sinking into the ground; it was as if they were moving into a different dimension.
A place where time stopped and the mind was erased.
A place where only a shell of a body remained, bidding farewell to life.
“No. Sir Knight, please… wake up.”
Tears streamed down her face.
This couldn’t be the end.
She couldn’t die like this.
“I haven’t even thanked you. You have to let me repay my debt.”
Even as she cried and pleaded, Blayden wouldn’t open his eyes.
“Wake up!”
Crying out in fear, Leni remembered something her father had once told her.
“In the Shadow Land, there’s a swamp of souls. That swamp is the mind itself. It’s where you drown in your own darkness. To escape it, you must tear your mind apart.”
How does one tear apart their mind?
Her own sobs scraped at her ears.
A sense of utter uselessness tightened her throat.
“Uh… uh… don’t die, Sir Knight.”
Leni pressed her forehead against Blayden’s and pleaded.
She felt even more desperate because there was nothing she could do.
Her pleas turned into prayers.
Let us live.
Let us return to our loved ones.
We will overcome any trial; just please, allow us to continue living.
As she prayed until she was breathless, a wound on Blayden’s cheek glistled through her tears.
“I’m sorry. I hurt you, not knowing you were trying to save me.”
As she stroked his cheek, the wound seemed to writhe as if alive.
Her tears stopped, and her mind cleared.
Taking a breath, Leni pulled out a pin from behind her ear.
“Forgive me just one more time.”
Gripping the steel rose, she dragged its sharp tip down Blayden’s arm.
With all her might, relentlessly.
***
The swamp of souls vanished as if by magic.
Leni stood facing Blayden beneath a tree laden with black fruits.
“Solenia Radelyon.”
Blayden opened his eyes and spoke weakly, then collapsed forward.
“Sir Knight!”
Leni caught him with her shoulder.
“You called me.”
Blayden whispered, a sigh in his voice, and closed his eyes again.
“You can’t fall asleep! Stay awake!”
Leni urged Blayden, helping him to walk.
The trees stretched endlessly.
No matter how far they walked, it was still forest.
The more they moved, the more lost they felt.
It was as if they were circling the same spot, or the forest was growing larger.
Blayden recalled the bone tree’s advice.
“He said escaping this place is about the mind.”
“The mind?”
“Yes. Right now, we’re trapped in our own minds.”
They’d escaped the swamp, but it was still about the mind?
“Is it the shadow’s dark magic?”
“I don’t know.”
Hadn’t Gustav mentioned a way to escape?
“What we just got out of was the swamp of souls. My father once told me that people get trapped in the darkness of their own minds…”
Leni began to explain, then looked at Blayden’s arm and shook her head.
“This won’t do. Mind or no mind, we need to treat your injury first.”
Blood continued to seep from his arm where she’d cut him with the pin.
Could a hair pin really cause so much bleeding?
Was this another trick of the spirits?
It might not be real blood, but a hallucination, yet Blayden clearly needed rest.
His face was pale, his breath faint, and his steps grew slower and slower.
At this rate, she wouldn’t be able to support his weight and would collapse too.
“Just bear with it a little longer.”
Leni kept talking to him, fearing he’d lose consciousness again.
A cool breeze blew from ahead.
Following the direction of the wind, they saw a small cave beyond the bushes.
“We should rest in there.”
“Okay.” Blayden’s voice was weak as he replied.
“Just a little further. Please hold on.”
Leni practically dragged Blayden up the incline.
The slope was gentle, but her trembling legs kept slipping on the damp earth.
Her entire body ached so much it felt numb.
Her breath was hitched in her throat, and her vision was starting to white out.
Leni gritted her teeth.
She couldn’t stop.
Just a little more.
One more step.
As they finally reached the arched cave entrance, Blayden collapsed onto the damp floor.
“Haa.”
He exhaled a sigh, and Leni lay down beside him.
Her eyes closed.
Her utterly exhausted body felt like it would melt away.
All was quiet, and the wind was sweet.
Would all this be a bad dream after a short nap?
Should she close her eyes for just a moment?
Leni forced her heavy eyelids open.
No.
If she fell asleep, who knew what might happen.
Perhaps he had the same thought, for as soon as he caught his breath, Blayden also got up and tore a sleeve from his tunic.
He grimaced as he bound the wound with the folded cloth.
“Does it hurt a lot?”
Blayden silently shook his head and examined the cave.
Following the narrow, straight entrance, they came to a round, room-like clearing inside.
The sound of dripping water echoed loudly throughout the dim, damp space.
Though it was an enclosed area, it seemed sufficient for two people to rest.
There were no signs of predatory beasts or nocturnal animals that might hide in such a place.
With a hint of relief, Blayden slumped back down.
He wouldn’t die, it seemed.
As he let out a long sigh, a chill rose from the uneven floor, making him shiver.
“Sir Knight, get up. You can’t fall asleep!”
Leni shook his shoulder, worried he might lose consciousness.
“With your voice so loud, how could I sleep even if I wanted to?”
“This is no time for jokes.”
He opened his eyes to see Leni’s anxious gaze pouring over him.
How much had she cried?
Her eyes were swollen, and the tip of her nose was red.
She always thought about running away, but she had a sense of loyalty after all.
The words Leni had chattered as they escaped the monstrous swamp and came this far echoed in his head.
She’d said she’d resent him forever if he died here.
She’d never forgive him.
She’d curse him eternally.
The words ‘forever,’ ‘never,’ ‘eternally.’
Words he’d thought one shouldn’t utter carelessly or believe, now sounded like a fairy’s song.
His body and mind were in tatters, yet the fact that Leni was worried about him made him chuckle.
“What’s so funny?”
He’d almost died, and now he couldn’t even laugh freely because her nagging was so scary.
“The bleeding seems to have stopped.”
Changing the subject, Blayden, raising his heavy body, searched for flint.
Leni had gathered dry branches from outside the cave, and the two of them built a bonfire.
As a faint flame flickered, warmth spread inside the cave.
The light seemed to soothe his weary mind.
Blayden opened his satchel and took out a padded tunic.
“Change into this.”
Leni was trembling, soaked from head to toe.
Her face was bloodless, and her lips were bluish.
If her body temperature dropped further, it would be unbearable.
Instead of taking the clothes, Leni scrutinized him from head to toe.
“What about you, Sir Knight?”
He was in no better shape than Leni.
The swamp of souls, indeed.
Not only had it ravaged his mind, but it had also left him looking like a drowned dog.
He was just as cold.
But Blayden gritted his teeth, suppressing a shiver, and lied.
“I’m fine.”
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