It was a noisy night, in the Guild's restaurant, where some teams were discussing, others were celebrating, and even some were quarreling. I was the only one sitting in a corner of the restaurant, observing in silence.
The reflection of Kyle in my gray eyes was like a mirror... His spiky blond hair and his sharp crimson eyes were like a gemstone placed perfectly. While I watched in silence, my mind wasn't quiet.
The voice of the man who summoned me to this world echoed in my mind, as if my thoughts were reminding me of what I had to do.
"Save Kyle."
The man said to me in his majestic, luxurious voice. I slowly placed my glass on the table while tightening my grip on it and said resolutely:
"I swear I will save you... Kyle."
I stood up from my place, catching a glimpse of Kyle's quiet laughter for the last time before heading to pay for my drink.
...
The sky was cheerful with its blue colors and white clouds reflecting beams of light descending from above, creating a warm scene. I lived with my family in a city that coexisted harmoniously with nature. Here, traffic jams were rare, and you could wake up to the sound of migrating birds... A peaceful place where the air had both taste and scent, and where the trees' colors weren't dull.
Such views shouldn't go to waste. I stood there, contemplating their warmth, focusing on the little details that would fade from my memory of the world, hoping to feel the light's tenderness as the clouds did.
"Arin?" My little sister tugged at my black pants in annoyance, raising her face to speak to me.
"We're going to be late," she said in a childish, angry tone.
I smiled gently at her while patting her long, wavy black hair and laughed before apologizing.
"Let's go."
I removed my hand after messing up her hair a little. As I moved, the house door opened slowly, revealing my sick mother leaning against the wall, wishing us well. My mother, Tiana, looked at me before advising me.
"Take care of Mary, Arin," she said in a tired tone, her breath carrying the scent of medicine.
"Send my regards to Mard (the father)..." she added with a glimmer of nostalgia and a hint of sadness in her voice. I nodded to her before leaving.
"I'm off."
On the way to the hospital, where my father was being taken care of in a desperate attempt to extend his life by a few more days, my sister Mary spoke to me about her latest projects and what she had learned about devices and mechanics. She explained with her face glowing with hope—those smiles that might shatter due to our parents' critical condition. I smiled at her, pitying a future that had already decided to erase her dreams.
"In this entire world, I'm sure I won't find another girl who loves mechanics and programming as much as you, haha."
We laughed until we reached the hospital gates.
There, we sat by my exhausted father, reminiscing about the good old days and unfulfilled dreams. We had to lie and fake our laughter just to talk naturally.
"Arin."
My father, Mard, looked at me with pity, his tired smile barely held together by faint wrinkles. He stayed silent for a moment before adding in a calm tone:
"There's a happy future waiting for you both...where we, your mother and I, won't be around... Arin, take care of Mary, oh Arin... Mary."
It wasn't advice, I was sure. His broken words seeped into my ears as I questioned the truth of what I was hearing... Maybe the air confused me, and I heard wrong... Maybe my ears were deceiving me...
I reached out to place my hand over my father's, who let a single tear fall slowly from his tired red eye. Yes, what he said was true, but I couldn't accept it... I would lie to myself and live in my rosy dreams as always.
"Father, you'll live, and we'll all be together someday...!"
Firmly... No, angrily, I said to my father, who smiled at me, pitying me. Was I the one being pitied now?
Visiting hours ended after a while, and Mary, whose energy was drained by her time with our father, no longer had that light shining from her smile. How I pitied that small heart.
By sunset, we arrived home. A small house with three bedrooms, a bathroom, a kitchen connected to the living room, and both a backyard and a front yard. It was once a kingdom of songs and laughter, as the house walls and room corners bore witness.
"I'll beat you!"
Mary raced ahead of me and opened the house door, rushing into my mother's embrace.
With my first step, I clearly noticed the change in the air's scent. The jasmine fragrance throughout the house calmed anyone who entered, as if the house was asking for quiet...for someone who needed rest.
"Welcome, welcome. You're late... The electricity went out just as you left the house."
I... froze in my place as soon as I comprehended what I heard. My mother was sitting on a couch in front of a turned-off TV, with medicine bottles bearing complicated names next to her. My mother had stayed alone... in the darkness, waiting for us silently on the couch.
"Mother..."
A burning sensation filled my throat as if I were crying from deep inside while scolding my eyes not to tear up.
She chuckled slightly, saying:
"It's okay, I didn't notice the time."
No.
I didn't understand what she said in words, but I understood her wrinkles... the dark circles under her eyes and her reddened eyes from crying... I understood the family album on the table before her... I understood her smile... and how she was lying to us.
Not wanting to ruin the atmosphere, I forced a smile and walked over, gently moving Mary's legs, who had fallen asleep on my mother's lap, to sit beside her as well.
And so, the house resonated with our laughter and conversations...
...
<11:30 PM, after the family gathering>
"Phew..."
It was a long, peaceful day in every sense of the word.
"Finally!!"
Forgetting all my worries, I grabbed my favorite novel from the bookshelf.
Kyle Among the Shadows.
A book where Kyle, a warrior raised by a southern family, seeks revenge against a secret organization that wiped out his entire village. His powers awakened as he watched his loved ones die... and he was forced to flee into the forests.
Yes~, the story is a bit cliché, but honestly... it's good. Kyle has such a unique and deep character that I get goosebumps when I see analyses of him. His philosophy reflects the personality he shows to others:
"Peace won't be achieved with mere friends and happy connections. History has written strength as the only key to the door of a happy ending."
"Today is the last day..."
I'm not sure how I feel. This novel, which has been with me since my early university days, has always overshadowed my loneliness. In it, I saw the people I always wished I could be among... Today, I'll read its ending.
With the room darkened, I walked over, pulled out a rough wooden chair, and sat on it. I turned on the desk lamp, sighed, and opened the final chapter.
I read and read until I was exhausted, but my passion wouldn't allow me to close my eyes even for a second. I repeated its final words, which would imprint on my soul until I perished:
{Kyle stood alone at the edge of the vanishing world... He stared into the white void consuming everything, with a gentle breeze... the last breeze of this world. Kyle looked around him at the dead armies... all those corpses and all those tragedies... In the end, strength wasn't enough.
"This is the end I've been walking toward all along."
Kyle smiled, recalling those old memories. He dropped his damaged sword, looked at the ground as his blond hair covered his eyes, and cried... cried over the past. The happy ending he always sought... dissolved along with the world's dissolution, and Kyle disappeared along with the last of his rage and loneliness...
This was a masterpiece, a painting of a bird in a large, beautiful cage... A painting to the flames.}
I stayed silent for a while in the darkness, staring at the last lines. My black hair fell over my face, hiding me as I quietly wept.
"Strength wasn't the key in the end."
I repeated the last words before my eyelids began to close, forcing me into sleep. That passion that had kept me awake for years despite my drowsiness no longer existed.
I rested my head on the novel's pages... and my vision began to blur.
Tick tock.
The clock on the wall behind me ticked quietly as I gradually drifted into a deep sleep.
Tick!
At the stroke of midnight, the sound ceased... I felt something wrong.
"The clock...?"
Maybe the battery ran out. I'll sleep on the bed. I got up from the chair quietly so as not to make any unwanted noise, feeling the novel's pages before I left. I'm not sure if this was out of respect for it or if I was afraid of moving on without it.
"Arin Drivyn."
A distant voice resonated in my head, as if my back was being struck... All other sounds disappeared after that, leaving me in a moment of absolute silence with a ringing in my ears.
"Huh?"
I said nervously, never imagining such a thing would happen... What if it was a ghost??
"Arin Drivyn."
The voice started roaring in my room. I fell to my knees from its intensity as if lightning had struck next to me!?
In a moment, I opened my eyes... Everything around me was white... I was floating in the void. I looked at my hands, hoping I'd wake up soon.
"Arin."
The voice came from behind me, continuing until it reached infinity. It was a majestic voice... deep and dense. I turned around to see a throne behind it, with walls, a floor, and a ceiling, all slowly disintegrating.
I didn't say anything... I just looked up, raising my head. There was a giant man with short white hair and luxurious white clothes... and black eyes that made you feel as if they were pulling you into them...!
He sat on his throne, stabbed, with blood flowing from his mouth... crying but with a resolute voice, he said:
"Arin, answer me."
His calm voice, which felt as if it came from beyond the world, sent shivers down my spine. After regaining my senses
"Wh-What...?"
I felt at ease at the same time, as if I was dreaming... I looked at the man with his black eyes, while everything near him slowly faded. He offered me:
"Arin, I am The Inkeer of this world, here where Kyle was just a few minutes ago before he followed into nothingness... Arin, save this world and I swear to you, if you succeed, I will heal your father and mother so you may live what you couldn't in your current state..."
Without stuttering despite the blood dripping from his mouth as he spoke, and despite his crying, his voice remained normal... Here, I realized that perhaps I wasn't dreaming... I opened my mouth and my eyes widened when I heard his offer, but I truly didn't understand what was happening... Kyle? Was he here...? What's going on...
"What do you mean by all this...?? What's happening??? And where am I?!"
I said fearfully, not knowing where I was or what was happening...
"Will you heal my mother and father...?"
These words, hard for me to believe, stirred some hope in my soul. The Inkeer responded to me before the fading reached his throne:
"This world... was not just ink on paper, the dreams of everyone in it were not just words... including Kyle, Arin, this is my world, which I tried to protect with all I had... Will you save it?"
The Inkeer's appearance was truly hopeless... and sad. Originally, The Inkeer was the character who ruled the world in the novel "Kyle Between Shadows," and there had been a revolution seeking to strip him of his rule, which succeeded, and the world faded away... Does this mean... I am now in the fading world...?
"I... I don't really know..."
This is madness, what's happening now is madness!! I lowered my head, staring at the endless void below me, thinking about what I should do...
The Inkeer looked at me before snapping his fingers... And then, memories that weren't mine, memories I never created in my mind, poured in... The image of my father crying over the family photo album... What's happening...?
"My mother...?"
The image of my father lying in bed after I left, asleep, waiting for time to kill him...
"What is this...?"
And Mary... who is suspiciously touching a knife...
"!!"
My face paled as I processed what I was seeing...! I looked at The Inkeer with fearful eyes.
"What's happening?!!"
I screamed at The Inkeer, but he was unaffected by anything. In fact, he was like a corpse speaking...
"Will you save the world in exchange for saving your family, Arin?"
This time, his words weren't cold; his tone was slightly fearful... I snapped back to reality and thought deeply...
"Save Kyle... Arin."
No, it wasn't an order or a request, it was a reproach. The novel "Kyle Between Shadows" had always been with me during my hard times; it was always my salvation and my pleasure... He wants me to repay him. I looked at him firmly and said:
"I...agree."