The three travelers stood silently around the unconscious boy while the strange village watched from all sides. After several minutes, the boy's eyelids began to flutter.
His breathing quickened.
Slowly, he opened his eyes.
The first thing he saw were three strangers standing over him. 'They survived.'
His gaze shifted toward the solidified light restraints around his body before settling on Hound. 'They're going to kill me.'
Strangely, the thought didn't frighten him anymore. 'I probably deserve it. They weren't the ones who attacked this place.'
His shoulders slumped slightly.
He looked tired.
Really tired.
After a long silence, Hound finally stepped forward. "My name is Frederick Hound. These are my students, Zyon and Lorenzo."
Zyon crouched slightly so he wouldn't be towering over the boy. "We're not here to hurt anyone."
Lorenzo nodded. "We're just trying to survive... same as you."
The stranger stared at them.
Up close, he looked roughly their age, perhaps thirteen or fourteen.
Countless small scars crossed his dark brown skin, twisting across his face and arms like the roots of an ancient tree.
Despite his age, he was broad-shouldered and tall, standing nearly eye-to-eye with Zyon.
Or he would have been, had he been standing.
"What should we call you?" Zyon asked gently.
The boy hesitated.
Then answered.
"Quade."
He then paused. "Quade Simmons."
Zyon nodded. "What happened here, Quade?"
Immediately, the guarded look returned.
Quade studied each of them in turn before glancing down at the glowing restraints. "If I tell you..." His voice was rough. "...will you let me go?"
Hound remained silent for several moments before giving a small nod. "If what you tell us sounds truthful."
Quade let out a shaky breath.
His gaze drifted toward the frozen villagers surrounding them.
He squinted his eyes as the painful memories returned.
"My people were called the Simmons Warriors." The pride in his voice appeared for only a moment before fading.
"We didn't have flashy powers or special abilities."
His hand clenched. "So we mastered Heka instead."
The scars across his arm shifted as his muscles tensed. "We strengthened our bodies. Our weapons. Everything."
For the first time, a small smile appeared. "It worked too. Our strength became known. Mercenaries when the world demanded it, but we preferred living apart. We kept the old traditions alive. The warrior spirit."
His eyes drifted toward one of the nearby tree houses. "For generations." The smile then vanished.
Then his voice grew quieter. "I was hunting when it happened."
No one interrupted.
"I heard screaming." His jaw tightened. "So I ran back to the village."
Quade no longer seemed aware of the three listeners.
The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
He was back there.
Living it again.
"When I reached the village..." His voice cracked. "...everyone was already gone."
Around them stood the evidence.
Frozen villagers remained trapped in time, scattered across platforms and walkways. Some stood motionless where they had apparently fallen. Others looked as though they had been speaking, running, or fighting before everything suddenly stopped.
Many were missing limbs.
Others were missing much more.
Around every wound swirled that same black-purple energy, revealing an endless galaxy of stars hidden within the darkness.
"There was someone standing in the center of the plaza."
Quade's hands trembled. "At first I thought it was human."
His eyes remained locked on the ground. "But it wasn't."
The village seemed colder suddenly.
"It wore a cape." He swallowed. "The thing looked like space itself."
Lorenzo frowned. "Space?"
Quade nodded. "Galaxies."
His voice became distant. "Stars. Nebulae. Entire worlds moving through its clothes."
Even now, the memory unsettled him. "If everything around it hadn't been so horrible..."
He shook his head. "...it might've been beautiful."
A bitter laugh escaped him. "When it turned toward me, it wore a mask."
His fingers dug into the dirt. "Behind the mask was something human."
His voice dropped. "But the rest wasn't."
Quade's breathing became uneven. "I charged it."
No hesitation.
No fear.
"I drew my katana and put everything into a single strike."
Zyon could almost picture it.
A young warrior racing toward the creature that had destroyed his village.
"I didn't even reach it." Quade laughed once.
A hollow sound. "It moved first."
His hand drifted toward his chest, where his heart would be. "It punched me right here."
"It should've killed me." His eyes widened slightly as though he could still feel the moment. "I felt my heart stop."
The silence that followed felt suffocating.
"I remember the hole." Quade touched his chest again.
"I remember dying." His gaze unfocused. "But my mind stayed awake."
Lorenzo went pale.
"I couldn't move." Quade's voice trembled. "I couldn't breathe."
The memory clearly haunted him. "I could only watch."
A tear slipped down his cheek. "It took a chain off its arm."
He pointed toward a broken pillar deeper within the village. "It placed it there."
The three followed his finger.
Then Quade looked skyward. "A veil covered the village. And when I looked back down, a black hole opened next to the attacker."
Nobody spoke.
"It stepped inside." Quade's gaze lowered. "Then it was gone."
For several seconds, all that could be heard was the distant rustling of leaves.
Quade's shoulders shook. "When I woke up, the hole in my chest was gone."
More tears followed. "I thought everyone would be back, just like me."
Even now, the memory of that hope hurt. "But they weren't."
His voice broke. "They were still like this."
Frozen.
Silent.
Forgotten.
"I've been here ever since." His head was lowered, and more tears dropped into the already soaked clothes he wore. "
This happened four hundred days ago," he said quietly, staring at the familiar faces trapped all around him.
His fingers tightened into a fist as a faint spark of determination appeared in his eyes. "I don't know why, but I've never been able to believe they're truly gone. Every day I've spent here, I've felt like this can be undone somehow."
Zyon felt his chest tighten. 'Four hundred days, alone?'
Nobody spoke immediately.
Even Lorenzo seemed at a loss for words.
Finally, Hound stepped forward. "You've carried this burden for a long time."
The old adventurer studied the boy quietly before raising a hand.
The light restraints dissolved into harmless sparks.
Quade didn't move.
He no longer seemed worried about escaping.
"I think you're right."
Quade looked up.
Hound's expression remained thoughtful. "I don't believe these people are dead."
The older man gestured toward the villagers. "They feel rather trapped."
His gaze moved from one frozen figure to another. "Frozen in time."
Then he gazed toward Quade. "Or somewhere else entirely."
Hope flickered. Tiny and fragile.
But real.
"And somehow," Hound continued, "that same power has become part of you."
As though responding to his words, the galaxy-like energy surrounding Quade's missing hand and lower leg suddenly shimmered.
Everyone froze.
Little by little, bone began forming within the darkness.
Muscle followed.
Then flesh.
Veins.
Skin.
Lorenzo's jaw nearly hit the floor. "What the hell?!"
A fully restored hand flexed in front of Quade's eyes.
His leg followed moments later.
The boy simply stared.
Then opened and closed his fingers. Again. And again. "It always comes back eventually."
Quade's voice sounded hoarse. "The harder I push..." His newly restored hand clenched. "...the longer it takes to come back."
Zyon found himself looking down at his own hands.
For years he had complained about how weak his light was.
Meanwhile, Quade had spent four hundred days protecting a graveyard while pieces of his own body vanished every time he fought.
A wave of shame washed over him.
"In a strange way," Hound said quietly, "you're not that different from us..."
Quade looked up.
"...our village was destroyed too."
The words hung heavily in the air.
"Different circumstances." Hound's gaze drifted toward Zyon and Lorenzo. "But the same loss."
Then Hound extended a hand. "Come with us."
Quade blinked. "What?"
"Grow stronger." Hound's voice remained calm. "Find answers. I think you hold the key to this mystery."
His gaze shifted toward the frozen villagers. "And save them."
Hope returned to Quade's face. Stronger this time.
But so did fear. "I can't leave." His voice trembled. "What if something happens while I'm gone?"
Hound rested a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "The barrier protecting this village is still active."
Quade looked around slowly. After four hundred days, the idea of leaving felt impossible.
Yet for the first time in four hundred days...
There was a chance.
A real chance.
Slowly and carefully, Quade nodded.
As though afraid the moment might disappear. "Then..." His voice caught. "Then I'll come with you."
Lorenzo immediately smiled.
Zyon did too.
The weight hanging over the village suddenly felt a little lighter.
Hound extended his hand once more and helped Quade to his feet.
"Welcome to the group, Quade Simmons."
And for the first time in four hundred lonely days...