Chapter 7: Conversations in the Refuge

The sound of the electric generator filled the shelter with its constant buzz. The fluorescent lights flickered occasionally, casting elongated shadows on the concrete walls. Outside, the world was in chaos: the doors were still open, the hunters fought against unknown creatures and the snow covered the streets of the city, turning it into a silent disaster scenario.

Inside the shelter, the atmosphere was different. Hundreds of people had taken refuge there, some in silence, others muttering to each other. The floor was covered with mats, backpacks and thermal blankets distributed by emergency workers. In a more remote corner, Lyon approached with two steaming cardboard cups and sat in front of Zhen Yu.

"Here."

Zhen Yu, wrapped in a blanket, hesitated for a moment before accepting the glass. His fingers, cold and clumsy, clung to the hot cardboard, feeling the immediate relief of the heat filtering through his skin. He brought the container to his lips and tasted the liquid cautiously.

Sweet.

The taste was deep and slightly bitter, but the warmth descending down his throat was comforting. It wasn't like anything I'd tried before.

"What is this?" he asked, frowning as he looked at the dark liquid.

Lyon looked at him in disbelief.

"Have you never tried hot chocolate?"

Zhen Yu shook his head slowly.

Lyon sighed and reloaded against the wall, crossing his arms.

"Then you do come from far away."

Zhen Yu didn't answer. He came from further away than Lyon could imagine.

The shelter was full of murmurs from other people. Families gathered, hunters checking their equipment, children hugging their parents while emergency workers tried to maintain order. Some hunters talked to each other, comparing their experiences with the creatures they had faced. Others, like Lyon, simply watched in silence.

But Lyon was not alone. His attention was still fixed on Zhen Yu, analyzing each of his gestures. This guy didn't look like a soldier or a hunter.

I didn't have the position of someone who had fought to survive in this world.

"Where do you come from?" Lyon finally asked, his tone was direct, but not hostile.

Zhen Yu held the glass in his hands, feeling the heat seeping through his fingers.

"From afar."

Lyon clicked his tongue.

"You already said that."

Zhen Yu looked down. What should I answer? I couldn't tell the truth.

"From a place where I never had to worry about any of this."

Lyon looked at him more carefully.

"Nothing like this?" Do you mean the doors?

Zhen Yu nodded slowly, not daring to say more.

Lyon frowned thoughtfully.

"Then you were rich or something like that."

Zhen Yu blinked.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because only the rich live without worrying about what happens in the world. Although, to tell the truth... -Lyon scanned his clothes with his eyes-, you don't seem rich.

Zhen Yu felt that he had made a mistake with his words.

"I'm not rich."

Lyon looked at him with skepticism.

"So, what are you?"

Zhen Yu pressed his lips. Even he didn't know how to respond to that now.

—Someone who is trying to understand this world.

Lyon let out a slight sarcastic laugh.

—Welcome to the club.

Zhen Yu looked up and saw how Lyon drank from his own glass.

"Was it always like that?" he asked suddenly.

"What thing?"

"The world."

Lyon was silent for a moment, watching the lights flicker on the roof of the shelter.

"No." His answer was short, but loaded with weight. There was a time when doors didn't exist, when we could live without hunting monsters every day.

Zhen Yu felt a pang in his chest.

That world had disappeared by his decision.

The silence between them became denser. Lyon turned her head to look at him again.

"And you?" Do you have a family?

Zhen Yu felt his throat tighten with the question.

He thought of his father, of his older brother.

"Yes."

"Are you alive?"

"Yes."

Lyon nodded slowly.

"Do you think they're still waiting for you?"

Zhen Yu felt his stomach turn. Yes. His father and brother were waiting for him.

But he couldn't go back yet.

"I don't know." His voice came out lower than he expected.

Lyon watched him for a moment before speaking again.

"If you have something to return to, then you have to make sure you live long enough to return."

Zhen Yu felt something strange in his chest when he heard those words.

Did he really want to go back?

Until now, his only goal had been to understand this world, as well as the fact that he had come at the request of his father to discover his curiosity about Lyon. But without knowing what that something was in Lyon, in his way of speaking, in his way of living without luxuries or divine protection, it awakened in him again that curiosity that he had from the beginning.

For the first time, he wondered if returning was really what he wanted.

The noise of the shelter was still present: children laughing shyly with their families, adults whispering worried about what was happening outside, hunters sharpening their weapons and preparing their equipment for what would come next.

Lyon, on the other hand, just took another drink of his chocolate, as if he was already used to this type of situation, in the end it had already been 1 week since Zhen Yu had opened the doors.

Because the two dimensions, the throne of Zhen Yu and Lyon were completely different in time.

Zhen Yu watched him in silence. If anyone could help him understand more of this world, it was him. Because the world in which Lyon lived was destroyed by Zhen Yu.

The electric generator continued to buzz in the background. But for the first time since he had arrived, Zhen Yu felt that the noise was a little more bearable.