Night fell.
*Hah.* You’re wondering how Yadan could tell it was night in a cave that never saw the sun?
Because the wailing cries, like those of vengeful ghosts, always arrived without fail every single night.
These sounds had been repeating for over a year.
At least, Yadan had heard them ever since the day he was thrown into this place—the voices of countless captives, tortured and suffering through endless nights.
The wretched screams would slice through your heart like a knife, cutting you open again and again, destroying your psychological defenses and leaving you to collapse in terror.
Yet, to Yadan’s surprise, the cave next to his was very quiet.
Exceptionally quiet.
No terrified sobbing, no broken roars of despair…
Perhaps they were just cowering in the corner, trembling.
At the thought, Yadan wrapped the tattered cloth around him tighter.
*Trembling?
It’s freezing!*
“I… I’m so scared… I don’t dare tell… don’t want to make… worry about… me…”
In his half-sleep, Yadan heard a soft, whispered voice.
It sounded like the whisper of an angel, a voice so soft and sweet.
Surely it would bring Yadan a pleasant dream?
Yet, in his sleep, Yadan suffered a nightmare—a dream where even the gods were hunted.
The world lay shattered, all its beauty consumed by flames.
The guardians and protectors of humanity fell before the Destroyer’s spear, their bodies utterly defenseless.
A shadow from the clouds enveloped the world as colossal wings beat above, unleashing wind-blades of death that bathed the earth in blood…
And the girl with the angelic voice lay on the blood-soaked ground, weeping softly.
*Perhaps someone should have stepped forward…
This world… needs…*
Yadan jolted awake as the nightmare reached its end, his heart trembling.
*A dream?*
*A nightmare?*
How long had it been since he’d had one?
Yadan pressed his hand to his chest.
His heart was pounding violently…
It had never been this terrified, not even in the endless ages, not even when he had faced Alduin himself.
Crying?
Crying in a dream?
No, the crying came from reality, from behind that wall.
Yadan carefully crawled toward the wall, his clothes rustling against the ground.
He gently pressed his ear against the stone.
On the other side, a girl was sobbing… the exact same sound he had heard in his dream.
Yadan slowly adjusted his posture and sat on the floor, leaning his back against the wall.
He listened intently to the sobs, a mixture of fear and sorrow.
Gradually, a desire stirred within him: he wanted to make her happy, to hear the laughter of an angel.
After an unknown amount of time, the sobbing gradually subsided, followed by a rustle.
Then, the adjacent cave fell into a profound silence.
From then on, every night, Yadan could hear the girl’s voice—sometimes weeping, sometimes pouring out her heart.
Gradually, the crying grew rarer.
In its place came the girl’s stories—confessions of her deepest fears and expressions of her longing for a better world.
Yet, even in Hell, she never lost hope.
She clung to visions of the future, beautiful dreams of escaping this place with her family.
Perhaps she was simply too innocent.
She was only eight years old.
But for an eight-year-old, she acted with remarkable maturity.
She never showed her fear to her mother, sparing her family any worry.
She was the strong one, the pillar supporting her mother’s fragile spirit.
Two months passed this way.
For two months, Yadan lived like a thief, stealing hope from the girl each night… because her stories, her voice, were the most beautiful things he had ever known.
Yadan never tried to reveal his presence to her.
He always hid in the shadows, watching as she dreamed of a hopeful future.
***
Perhaps this was fine as it was.
But one day, everything began to change.
“The bad people said Daddy did something wrong, so they won’t give us any food. Lisa is so hungry… But as long as Daddy is okay, he’ll take Lisa, Mommy, and Uncle away from here.” The voice spoke, sounding weak.
The food provided here each day was already pitifully scarce.
If they went without it for even a single day, how could they possibly endure?
Hearing that frail, powerless voice from the other side of the wall, Yadan’s heart… suddenly felt strange.
In this place, the daily ration was a single piece of bread, as hard as a stone.
You had to soak it in water, and only after it swelled could it fill you up to about thirty percent.
After listening to the girl’s story during the day, Yadan silently returned to his bed.
He picked up the bread from beside him—it was his only food for the day.
Yadan broke off a small piece, stuffed it into his mouth, and then gulped down the water.
He had to admit, drinking too much of this water, mixed with sand and mud, made him feel quite full.
That night, the voice returned to the wall to pour out her heart.
Though her voice remained weak, she no longer complained of hunger.
Her words were filled with hope for the future—she longed to return to school, to visit the amusement park…
She missed Grandpa Bide’s pizza, which was always loaded with cheese and her favorite sausages…
*Pizza…* It must have been delicious.
Yadan couldn’t help but swallow hard.
He could almost picture the pizza’s flavor from the girl’s description.
The night slipped away in this gentle, beautiful reverie.
In the days that followed, a semblance of normalcy returned.
Yadan wondered if the captors had resumed their food rations, for the girl’s voice, though frail, was always brimming with hope.
She never complained again.
Until one night…
That night, the girl did not come to the wall.
Yadan couldn’t sleep.
He felt as if he had lost something precious.
Fortunately, the next day, the girl returned to the wall to speak.
Though her words were still filled with hope, her voice sounded incredibly weak, like a candle about to flicker out.
And just like before, on this night, the girl did not come to the wall to talk.
So Yadan returned to his bedside, sat quietly for a moment, and then took the food he had saved for three days from the table beside his bed: three pieces of bread… one of which only had a small half left.
Yadan broke these pieces of bread into small bits, stuffed them through the small hole in the wall, and then used a dirty wooden stick to push all the bread stuck in the hole through.
Finally, he greedily licked the stick, because it was covered in breadcrumbs.
After a long time, Yadan, who had fallen asleep on his bed, was suddenly awakened by a scream.
The childish scream was laced with joy and astonishment.
Yadan heard the sound of hurried footsteps; the sound was very faint, and the person running must have been very light.
After another long while, Yadan heard someone tapping on the wall.
A hoarse and weak voice came from the other side of the wall, “Thank you.”
This must be the little girl’s mother.
“You’re welcome.”
It was the first time Yadan had ever communicated with his neighbor.
That night, Yadan heard the girl’s voice again.
“Hello? Hi! I’m Lisa. Are you asleep yet?” Her voice was childish and sweet, as clear and pleasant as a mountain spring.
To Yadan, who was hungry and had nothing, her voice suddenly made him feel whole and filled with a sense of contentment.
“Hello…” Yadan leaned gently against the wall, his voice tinged with nervousness.
“Great! You’re still awake! Uncle Stone, thank you for the food you sent us.” The girl’s voice was always brimming with joy.
*Uncle Stone?* What a strange nickname.
A smile spread across Yadan’s face.
Suddenly, a faint rustling sound came from the small hole in the wall, and a piece of candy was pushed through.
Yadan had eaten this kind of candy before—it was the sweetest candy in the world.
The girl spoke again: “Uncle Stone, this is all I have left. It’s Lisa’s very last piece of candy. I’ve been saving it for a long time. Mommy says we should learn to be grateful. This is Lisa’s gift to Uncle Stone.”
*Gratitude?*
Hearing the word, Yadan felt a surge of awkwardness—the telltale sign of a guilty conscience.
He tried to hastily stuff the candy back into the girl’s hand, but she gently stopped him.
Ultimately, Yadan chose to obey.
Facing the cheerful, hopeful girl, he felt unusually restrained.
To Yadan, she was like the most beautiful crystal in the world, flawless and pure.
He held her in his hands with the utmost care, terrified of shattering her, refusing to let even a single crack appear on this precious gem.
That night—their first night of true conversation—they talked for a long time, and they talked happily.
But Yadan’s heart grew heavy.
He suddenly realized how much he owed her.
How could he ever repay her?
How could he repay the hope she had given him during all those nights?
And…
Yadan touched the candy in his pocket…
*The girl had given her gift long ago.
This single piece of candy would be a debt Yadan could never fully repay.*
(End of Chapter)