"How long do I need to wait?"
Eldric muttered to himself, staring down the empty hallway. Arian had mentioned that Sarah would come to fetch him later, but he hadn't specified when. Now, more than five hours had passed, and Eldric had spent most of that time restlessly rolling around on the bed, boredom etched on his face. With no phone or books to keep him occupied, there was little he could do. The idea of taking a stroll briefly crossed his mind, but he quickly dismissed it, reminding himself that he still wasn't entirely familiar with this place.
"I'll just wait a bit longer," he decided. After all, he'd already waited this long; a few more minutes wouldn't hurt. If no one showed up by then, he'd go explore on his own.
Just as he resolved to wait a little longer, the sound of footsteps echoed down the corridor. Eldric's head perked up as he looked toward the source of the noise.
"Eh? Didn't he say Sarah would come?" Eldric thought, puzzled as he recognized the familiar figure of Arian approaching. One moment Arian had said someone else was coming to get him, and now here he was.
"Let's go," Arian said with a smile as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
"Okay." Oblivious to the earlier argument between Arian and Sarah, Eldric simply nodded and followed, though he wasn't particularly excited about attending a gathering.
It didn't take long for them to reach a small room with a table laden with various dishes. Before Eldric could fully take in the scene, his attention was drawn to the people already in the room.
Reona was there, busy setting the table, and beside her stood a grumpy-looking middle-aged man with a bald head and a long scar running across his neck. Despite having never met him before, Eldric immediately recognized him as Jeron, Reona's firstborn and Arian's older brother.
The only other person in the room was a boy, sitting comfortably in a chair, his curious eyes fixed on Eldric. The boy, who appeared to be around Eldric's age, had long, messy hair that nearly obscured his eyes, and he wore an old, worn-out shirt paired with faded pants, giving him a quiet, unassuming demeanor.
"You're here," Reona's voice pulled Eldric from his thoughts.
"Umm..." Eldric nodded and stepped forward to take a seat. Even as he sat, his eyes continued to roam the room, searching for someone.
"Sarah has something important to do; she won't be able to join us," Reona said, her tone tinged with annoyance and helplessness, which Eldric couldn't help but notice.
"No worries." Eldric shook his head, though he couldn't shake the feeling that Sarah might not be too fond of him. But he didn't blame her; after all, who wouldn't be wary of a complete stranger suddenly showing up?
"Good." Reona smiled, then raised her hands to signal the start of the meal. "Let's eat."
"Hmm..." Eldric nodded again and turned his attention to the dishes in front of him. At first glance, everything seemed fine, but as he examined the food more closely, he realized something was off. Despite the variety of dishes on the table, all of them were either raw fruits and salads or canned food. There wasn't a single freshly cooked dish in sight.
"What's wrong?" Arian asked with a slight smile, noticing Eldric's furrowed brow.
"Nothing..." Eldric hesitated, then spoke again after a moment. "I just thought that when you said dinner, you meant you'd be cooking it yourself."
"I did," Arian replied, nodding. "I prepared most of the things."
"No, no..." Eldric shook his head again. "I mean cooked, like over a fire."
Arian exchanged a confused look with the others, clearly not understanding what Eldric was getting at.
"He means food prepared over a fire," Reona finally explained, her eyes fixed on Eldric as she swallowed a slice of tomato. Just when he was wondering what she meant by that, her next words left him stunned.
"I forgot to mention, but fire doesn't exist here anymore." Her words hit Eldric like a ton of bricks. "When the darkness enveloped the world, it didn't just render technology useless; it also made fire obsolete. From that day on, no one has been able to light a fire. Even heaters, induction stoves—anything that uses electricity to generate heat—stopped working."
The other three at the table were unfazed, having lived their entire lives without fire, but Eldric was reeling from the revelation. For a moment, he wondered if Reona was playing a cruel joke on him, but the serious expressions on their faces quickly dispelled that notion.
Sensing Eldric's inner turmoil, Arian decided to change the subject. "How about we talk about something else?"
Arian smoothly shifted the conversation, clearly trying to lift the mood after his earlier encounter with Sarah. He didn't want the dinner to end on a somber note.
Within moments, the awkwardness began to fade, and Arian started recounting stories of his encounters, making Eldric gasp in disbelief at times. Though some of the tales seemed wildly exaggerated—like the one where Arian claimed to have single-handedly taken on a group of five Umbrals—Eldric soaked up every detail, eager to learn anything he could about these creatures.
After about an hour, the dinner concluded. Reona, along with Arian and Jeron, left for their daily patrol, leaving Eldric and the boy, Ellic, to clean up the room and do the dishes.
Eldric watched them leave in silence, lost in thought. The dinner had certainly warmed the relationship between him and the family, but not enough for him to trust them unconditionally. He wasn't naive; he knew there were still many things he needed to explore and understand before he could fully trust anyone.
"Do you think it's a happy, harmonious family?" A young voice broke Eldric's train of thought.
"Huh?" Eldric turned to see Ellic standing beside him. The boy hadn't uttered a single word during the dinner, even when prompted.
"I thought you were mute."
Ellic didn't seem to catch the sarcasm in Eldric's words. "If you can hear me, then clearly I'm not."
"Still... you didn't answer my question."
"You mean about your little happy family?" Eldric raised an eyebrow.
"Yes." Ellic's response was simple but direct.
"I don't know." Eldric shrugged. "Seems decent enough to me."
"Umm..." Ellic didn't say anything more, but he stared into the distance for a long time before letting out a mocking smile and muttering softly, "I hope you can say the same after a few days."
Without waiting for Eldric to respond, Ellic turned and walked out of the room. "I have to leave now. See you later."
"Weirdo," Eldric muttered, watching Ellic's frail figure disappear down the hallway.
As Eldric reflected on his interactions with the family, he realized just how socially awkward they all were—except for Reona, of course. Sarah was always stoic, her emotions carefully guarded. Ellic was like a shy child who avoided people but wasn't shy about passing random comments when alone. Arian was overly enthusiastic and cheerful about everything, while Jeron always eyed Eldric as if he wanted a piece of him.
The more Eldric thought about it, the more he realized how odd these people were. But even so, he had no intention of leaving just yet. If one could overlook their social quirks, they were relatively simple and straightforward.
"Maybe it's because they've been isolated for so long," Eldric mused to himself. According to them, they'd been living like this for over forty years. It wasn't surprising that they'd forgotten how to communicate properly, especially the two children who had never interacted with anyone their age besides him.
With these thoughts swirling in his mind, Eldric focused on the simple task of cleaning up.
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"GET OUT!"
Sarah's voice cracked through the silence like a whip, her hand slicing the air in a dismissive wave. She stood tense, her back rigid, refusing to face the person behind her.
"I'll go once you've eaten something," Ellic replied, his tone calm yet insistent. He stepped closer, holding a small plate of salad and canned meat, the bland offerings a poor attempt at comfort.
"Do you want another beating?" Sarah snapped, her voice low and trembling with barely suppressed rage. She finally spun around, her eyes blazing as they locked onto her brother.
Ellic didn't flinch. His gaze was steady, focused not on her fury but on the vivid red handprint marring her cheek. "Your face," he murmured, the words heavy with unspoken concern.
Sarah's lips curled into a bitter sneer as she turned away from him, but her defiance couldn't hide the tear that slipped down her cheek, glistening like a shard of broken glass.
Ellic didn't move, didn't rise to her anger. Instead, he quietly dragged a chair over and sat down beside the bed. "I'll stay here until you're ready to talk," he said softly, his voice a gentle counterpoint to her fury.
For a long time, Sarah didn't respond. She stared at the wall, her eyes unfocused, as if trying to pierce the solid barrier with her gaze. The room was steeped in a heavy silence, broken only by the distant creaks of the soft, irregular sound of her breathing.
Minutes ticked by, stretching into nearly an hour. Finally, Sarah's stiff posture eased, and she slowly turned her head to look at Ellic. Her eyes were dark, haunted, as if weighed down by thoughts too heavy to bear.
"Say…" Her voice was a mere whisper, raw and fragile. "How about we leave this place?"