Chapter 39: The World Without Him

A year had passed on the surface.

Only a year.

The skies above the city were clearer now. The dungeon had gone quiet. Gates stopped appearing. The ground stopped trembling. For the first time in centuries—though no one knew it had been centuries for him—there was peace.

But Ren was gone.

And the world remembered.

Yui had grown. Her healing magic had bloomed into something beautiful, quiet and powerful. But her eyes still scanned the streets each morning, hoping to see his figure—scarred, tired, smiling.

Kaede became a captain of the city guard, commanding respect with the weight of someone who had lost something irreplaceable. She trained others, defended the walls, but always left one seat open at her table.

His mother kept the house as it was. Dust collected, but nothing moved. She said, if he ever returned, he should know nothing had changed.

Everywhere, Ren's name had become legend.

The boy who couldn't awaken.

The one who descended and never returned.

The one who held back the dark.

But legends were cold comfort.

Yui stood alone at the edge of the shrine one night, the wind brushing through her hair. She placed a single candle on the steps and whispered, "You promised to come back."

She closed her eyes.

And for just a moment, the wind shifted.

She thought she heard his voice.

"I'm trying."