“The Amber Eyes”

The rain lashed down on Mount Lichtwelt, turning the sacred ground into a cold mire. Leonard, on his knees, exhausted, wept. These were not sobs. Not wails. It was a dry, silent cry, the pure manifestation of emptiness. The tears, indistinguishable from the rain running down his face, washed away the dirt, but not the pain.

His trembling fingers traced the inscriptions on the tombstones. "Leah Winters." The memory of Evelyn, a pale ray amid the storm, brought a sharp pang to his chest. "Ahh... it's true... Mount Lichtwelt is never wrong... is it, Eve?"

Hours dissolved in the rain. No one approached. Mount Lichtwelt, sanctuary of death, commanded respect even from the king's hounds. Leonard didn't care. Inertia dominated him, the will to disappear, to join the dead, to return to the emptiness of the well in Besen.

His eyes turned to Roland's tombstone. "Uncle Roland... Ah, ironic... I never even had the chance to call you Uncle. How would you have reacted?"