[The strange silence of the forest]
[The faint melody of a woman’s voice in the distance]
[The cold dampness spreading through the air]
Arjun’s breath suddenly stopped.
Captain Bloodshadow’s man had already fallen.
The moment his body hit the ground, the atmosphere of the forest changed.
A faint red mist began spreading through the surroundings.
At first, it looked like smoke.
But it was so cold that it seemed to seep directly into the body.
There was pain within that mist.
An ancient pain.
The kind of pain that reached directly into one’s memories.
Then—
A woman’s voice.
[A slow, sorrowful melody]
It was not an ordinary song.
There was grief within it.
The pain of unfinished love.
The longing of someone calling for a person who had never returned.
The melody seemed to come from somewhere very far away.
Yet within seconds, it had spread throughout the entire valley.
And then every animal in the forest fell silent.
Completely silent.
No growling.
No rustling leaves.
Not even the sound of breathing.
Only the song remained.
An intense chill ran through Arjun’s body.
It was so sharp and deep that even his fingers began to stiffen.
He felt as though the same blood rain that had once drowned his city had begun falling inside his body once again.
He could not move.
[The sudden stillness of the wind]
Captain Bloodshadow had already run several steps away.
But the moment the song reached him, his body abruptly stopped.
Fear appeared on his face.
He turned around and took another step backward.
At the same time, the red mist around him became thicker.
His breathing grew faster.
Then—
A pale, whitish energy began leaking from his body.
[A subtle pulling sound]
The energy escaped through his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears, dissolving into the red mist.
Captain Bloodshadow’s body began to shrink.
His skin dried.
His strength, his arrogance, his cruelty—
Everything seemed to be pulled out by some invisible hand.
Arjun stood frozen, watching.
Within moments, Captain Bloodshadow’s body had withered into a hollow shell.
Then even that shell crumbled apart.
Only dust and fear remained in the air.
And then Arjun’s eyes fell toward the ground.
Where Captain Bloodshadow had been standing, two red shoes now lay on the earth.
No soldier.
No sign of battle.
Just—
Two red shoes.
But what happened next was beyond Arjun’s understanding.
The shoes began moving on their own.
[The sound of slow footsteps]
It was as though an invisible woman wearing the red shoes was walking through the mist toward him.
A shiver ran down Arjun’s spine.
He wanted to run.
But his body had frozen in place.
His eyes remained fixed on the shoes as they approached him one step at a time.
Two meters.
Then even closer.
Arjun’s heartbeat began racing.
At that exact moment, a rough, trembling voice emerged.
“Rosalind…”
“Is that you?”
It was Veerbhadra.
For the first time, his voice broke.
The moment he spoke those words, the strange song stopped.
[Sudden silence]
The red shoes stopped as well.
Then, slowly, they changed direction.
It felt as though the invisible woman standing within the mist had turned her face toward Veerbhadra.
Arjun looked at him.
The stern old man who never bowed to anyone— was trembling.
Tears filled his eyes.
Tears he no longer had the strength to hold back.
“You…”
“Did you come back?”
His voice was almost a whisper.
The red shoes moved forward slightly.
Then they stopped directly in front of him.
Arjun felt as though something invisible was standing between them.
A woman.
Someone who had once been very close to Veerbhadra.
Veerbhadra slowly raised his hand.
It seemed as though an invisible hand reached toward him and touched his face.
But his fingers grasped nothing but empty air.
[Slow, trembling breaths]
Veerbhadra’s hand slowly fell.
His tears flowed faster.
His lips moved, but the words were too unclear to understand.
He was saying something filled with grief, regret, and unfinished longing.
Then a long, heavy silence descended over the mist.
The red shoes turned.
They moved away from Veerbhadra, passed slowly beside Arjun, and disappeared into the forest along with the red mist.
Where they had gone, only coldness remained.
Arjun was still standing motionless.
Slowly, the forest began breathing again.
The sounds of animals returned.
But the atmosphere was no longer the same.
Veerbhadra lowered himself against a tree and sat there.
His eyes remained fixed on the direction in which the red shoes had disappeared.
The harshness Arjun had always seen on his face was gone.
What remained was simply a broken man— a man who had, after many years, seen the ghost of someone he had loved deeply.
Arjun said nothing.
This was not the time to ask questions.
After a while, Veerbhadra took a deep breath.
“You must be wondering what that was,” he said quietly.
Arjun did not answer.
He only gave a slight nod.
Veerbhadra looked toward the sky.
The faint traces of red mist reflected in his eyes.
“They say very few people survive after hearing the Singing of the Blighted Lands.”
“And those who do…”
“They receive a gift.”
He tried to laugh bitterly.
But the laugh never came.
“The second time the song is heard…”
“A person sees the face they most desperately wish to see.”
Arjun listened silently.
Veerbhadra’s voice became heavier.
“I always thought it was nothing more than a story.”
“But today…”
“Today, I saw her.” Enjoying the story? Read on at novelping.com.
For the first time, Arjun realized that the old man was truly exhausted.
Not merely in body.
But in his soul.
Veerbhadra stared toward the forest with empty eyes.
“I’ve remained in this place for many years,” he said.
“My hair turned white.”
“Days passed one after another, like a blade slowly wearing down stone.”
A long silence followed.
Then he spoke in a very low voice.
“If there is someone between life and death in your life…”
“Don’t become like me.”
“Don’t stay here.”
“I saw the person I had been waiting to see.”
“But now…”
“There is nothing left inside me except emptiness.”
[The soft rustling of wind]
For the first time, Arjun understood something.
The greatest pain in this world was not always death.
Sometimes, the greatest pain was seeing the person you had lived for again— and still realizing that nothing had truly been completed.
At that moment, Arjun’s gaze shifted toward the weapons scattered across the ground.
Captain Bloodshadow was gone.
His men were gone as well.
Only their belongings remained.
And silence.
Arjun stepped forward.
He took out his dagger and dug a small hole in the earth.
Then, one by one, he placed the weapons inside.
Especially the enormous shield that had witnessed the battle and the mace carved with wolf teeth.
[The sound of digging soil]
There were no bodies left to bury.
But to Arjun, this still felt like a farewell.
He had not known these people for long.
But a battle fought together had made them more than mere names.
He covered the weapons with soil.
The small grave was sealed.
At that moment, Veerbhadra looked at him carefully for the first time.
The stern evaluation in his eyes was gone.
Something deeper had replaced it.
It was as though he were seeing Arjun differently now.
Not merely as a cultivator.
Not merely as a survivor.
But as someone who understood what a debt meant.
[The slow, solemn melody]
After some time, they prepared to leave the forest.
The sun was beginning to set.
The air remained heavy.
But the immediate danger had passed.
Veerbhadra spoke quietly.
“Come.”
“It’s time to return.”
Arjun nodded.
He looked one final time toward the place where the red shoes had disappeared.
Then he picked up his weapons and moved forward.
The coldness was still inside him.
But behind that coldness was something new.
A feeling telling him that this forest…
this Singing…
and this sorrow…
were all doors leading toward the next stage of his journey.
And that door had not yet opened.
Chapter CliffhangerWho was the invisible woman behind the red shoes?
Will Veerbhadra’s forgotten past become a major turning point in Arjun’s story?
What effect will the power of the second Singing have on Arjun?
And what will change inside the camp now that Captain Bloodshadow is gone?