Lyra's eyes shone with genuine warmth as she thanked them again for their aid in the battle against the Kalindra.
"If our paths cross again, please stay long enough to join us for our village's celebration of Zah'riel, the Dune's Luminous Night. It's a celebration you won't soon forget."
She smiled, handing them a sack filled with an assortment of fruits and a strange, dried meat that seemed impervious to spoilage.
"Eat well on your journey," she said, her voice tinged with a hint of maternal concern. "And don't forget to stay hydrated."
She offered them a waterskin, but they politely declined, explaining that their sack-like canteens were enchanted to supply them with drinkable water.
Koki's curiosity got the better of him, and he asked Lyra, his voice tinged with a hint of trepidation,
"What...what does the Terragrim eat?" He eyed the creature warily, its massive, scaly body swaying gently beneath them as they rode.
Lyra's smile never wavered. "Don't worry, the Terragrim doesn't need food...at least, not for now. It can survive for a month without sustenance, provided it's feasted beforehand. And once you reach your destination, the Terragrim will be able to smell its way back to our village, so you needn't worry about its return journey."
As Lyra finished speaking, the Terragrim continued on its steady pace, its eight blind eyes facing forward, its scales glinting in the sunlight.
The group rode in silence, the only sound the soft creaking of the Terragrim's harness and the gentle thud of its massive feet on the sand.
Despite the creature's intimidating size, it moved with a strange, almost gentle rhythm, as if it had been trained to carry riders for centuries.
As they bid farewell to Lyra, Ryo's thoughts drifted to the convenience of their situation. He couldn't help but feel a sense of curiosity, however, as he gazed at Kenzo, who was cradled into a corner of the seat on the beast's back.
Akari, too, turned to Kenzo, her hands fidgeting as she contemplated asking him about his ordeal.
Ryo's gaze shifted to Akari, and he closed his eyes in submission, as if steeling himself for what was to come. He then moved to sit beside Kenzo, his eyes locking onto Kenzo's dull, dodger blue gaze.
The once-elegant hairstyle now looked disheveled, and Kenzo's eyes, which had once sparkled with life, now seemed devoid of emotion, filled only with a deep-seated fear.
Ryo's neutral expression betrayed a hint of curiosity and a touch of unease. He wondered what could have driven Kenzo to this state, what horrors he had faced.
Ryo's mind was a jumble of conflicting emotions – he didn't need to pry into Kenzo's affairs, yet he found himself drawn to the enigmatic young man.
As if acting of its own accord, Ryo's body moved closer to Kenzo, his left hand gripping Kenzo's shoulder firmly. The others watched this sudden display of affection with a mixture of surprise and confusion.
Mei, who had been quiet for some time, looked at Ryo with a perplexed expression, her eyes searching for answers.
Tsukiko, who was steering the beast, sensed the sudden stillness behind her. She glanced back, her eyes meeting Ryo's for a brief moment, before she smiled softly and returned her attention to the path ahead.
The Terragrim continued on its steady pace, its blind eyes facing forward, as the group rode on in silence, each lost in their own thoughts.
Ryo's voice was low and detached, his words devoid of emotion, as he asked Kenzo,
"What's wrong with you? What did you see?" Kenzo, who had been unresponsive, slowly raised his head from the downward, glooming position he had cradled himself into.
His eyes, once bright and full of life, now stared at Ryo with a vacant, expressionless gaze. The look was unsettling, a chilling reminder that something was fundamentally broken within Kenzo.
As Kenzo's gaze locked onto Ryo's, a shiver crept through Ryo's soul. The feeling was unnerving, yet familiar. It reminded Ryo of the emptiness he often saw in his own reflection.
The realization sent a cold, dark sensation spreading through his chest. He clenched his hand, his eyes narrowing slightly, as he pressed on,
"What's wrong? What did you see?" The questions Ryo asked all needed the same answer, but Kenzo's expression remained unchanged, a mask of emptiness that seemed to suck the air out of the atmosphere.
Ryo's mind flashed back to Lyra's words: "I can bring his form back to normal, but his mind...his mind won't be guaranteed to return." The memory lingered in his mind, a cold, hard fact that seemed to mock him with its ambiguity.
Ryo's eyes narrowed, his mind racing back to the fragmented whispers he had heard Kenzo utter in his previous broken state.
A name echoed in his mind, a name that seemed to hold significance. He leaned in, his voice barely above a whisper, as he asked Kenzo, "Who is Emiko?" The question hung in the air, heavy with an unspoken weight.
Kenzo's eyes widened, his expressionless face contorting into a twisted mask of fear and pain. The transformation was subtle, yet unsettling.
Ryo's eyes locked onto Kenzo's, his gaze piercing as he searched for answers. He asked again, his voice low and even, "Who is Emiko?"
Kenzo's grip on his knees tightened, his knuckles white with tension. His pain and terror were palpable, radiating from him like a dark aura.
He whispered, his voice barely audible, "She...she was my wife." The words hung in the air, a haunting confession that left Ryo reeling.
Ryo's confusion deepened, his mind struggling to comprehend the implications. Kenzo was a teenager, barely eighteen years old.
How could he have had a wife? The memories they had uncovered in Calignia had revealed nothing of the sort. Ryo's eyes searched Kenzo's face, seeking answers to the questions swirling in his mind.
Kenzo's trembling grew more pronounced, his eyes welling up with tears as he spoke. "I failed...Taro as well...I couldn't protect them."
The words were laced with a deep-seated guilt and despair, a sense of responsibility that had been cruelly crushed.
Ryo's confusion gave way to a growing sense of unease. Who was Taro? He asked Kenzo, his voice soft and measured.
Kenzo's reply was barely audible, yet it sent a shiver down Ryo's spine. "My son." The words hung in the air, a haunting reminder of the devastating secrets Kenzo harbored.
The others watched, their faces a mixture of confusion and concern, as Kenzo responded to Ryo's questions.
They couldn't hear the whispers, but they saw the pain etched on Kenzo's face, and it filled them with a sense of trepidation. What secrets had Kenzo uncovered? And what horrors had he faced?
Kenzo's voice trembled, his words spilling out in a crooked, halting rhythm. Ryo's expression grew increasingly conflicted, his eyes clouding with a mix of confusion and pain.
The more Kenzo spoke, the more Ryo's face seemed to sag under the weight of the revelations. He couldn't help but think that this was too cruel, too much for one person to bear. Kenzo's memories, though fabricated, had been his reality – a lifetime condensed into mere seconds.
As the truth dawned on Ryo, he felt a chill creep down his spine. The Kenzo he was speaking to was no longer a boy, but a man – a man whose mental age was a testament to the crushing weight of his experiences.
With each sentence, Kenzo's expression seemed to soften, as if the act of sharing his burden was lifting a fraction of the weight from his shoulders.
But then Ryo spoke the words that would shatter Kenzo's fragile composure. "What you saw, Kenzo, it was just a dream. A mirage. An implanted memory." The words hung in the air like a challenge, a harsh truth that needed to be spoken.
Kenzo's face contorted in a twisted, inhuman pain. A scream tore from his lips, followed by a laughter that was both haunting and heartbreaking. He covered his face with his hands, his body shaking with a mixture of mirth and despair.
The others watched in stunned silence, their faces frozen in shock. Even Tsukiko, steering the Terragrim, turned back with a similar expression.
Kenzo's laughter echoed through the desert landscape, a haunting, terrible sound that seemed to reverberate deep within Ryo's chest.
Ryo gritted his teeth, his eyes locked onto Kenzo's tortured face. He understood, somehow, the depth of Kenzo's pain – the feeling of having one's entire reality torn asunder.