The rain poured down from every corner of the community, hitting the rooftops and trickling down the walls until it reached the ground. Some people hurried by with umbrellas, but the streets were almost deserted, with little movement. However, something was happening nearby on that cold night.

A tall man was running through the alleys with a woman in his arms, who appeared to be bleeding heavily. "Agh, Samantha? Wake up, please stay awake!" He continued running until he entered a dead end. Before he could turn back, a silhouette appeared at the entrance of the alley. The man, holding the woman, took a few steps back. "Why the chase? WHAT DO YOU WANT?!" The figure moved closer, illuminated by the moonlight...

Three hours earlier...

"Damn it! We don't have much time!" said a man with brown hair and eyes, his tone filled with concern. A woman with long black hair entered the room, quickly rummaging through a suitcase, and replied, "I know, Victor, but don't worry. We've got everything ready for our trip. We just need to get out of here as fast as possible. Hurry up."

Victor: "It's not just this situation that's worrying me."

He quickly began to get ready, putting on a brown overcoat over a suit and a dull green tie. The wardrobe was filled with jewelry and items that seemed very valuable, almost like relics. He grabbed some of the jewelry and tucked it into his pocket.

Victor: "Samantha, did you give the necklaces and the book to Roger?"

Samantha: "Yes, don't worry, he received everything."

Victor's hands trembled, not due to the night's chill, but from fear and the dread of the unknown. Samantha noticed her husband's trembling hands and felt the same unease.

Samantha sighed softly and went to him, placing her hand over his and intertwining their fingers as she said: "I know, this whole situation is very scary." Victor replied, leaning his face closer to hers: "It's not that. I'm terrified at the thought of never seeing our children again. It's almost funny, isn't it? I've faced many dangers that nearly cost me my life, but nothing has ever frightened me in this way."

Samantha: "I understand. Life changes completely when you have children, doesn't it?"

She brought her lips close to his, capturing his mouth in a gentle kiss. Victor reciprocated, embracing her tightly. They both calmed down, and after a short moment, she pulled away slightly, saying: "What reassures me the most in all this is that I still have you by my side." She looked at his face tenderly and added, "And you didn't shave off that beard I asked you to, you stubborn man." Victor noticed her attempt to soothe the situation, even if just a little, and smiled, saying: "It's part of my charm. It's because of it that I won you over." Samantha let out a light laugh.

Samantha: "Come on, I already packed the suitcase and got everything that was missing."

They walked to the door with an umbrella and took one last look at the house before closing it.

Three hours later...

The figure approaching Victor in the alley seemed to shrink the space with every step taken. The silhouette revealed itself to Victor, and before he could react, his throat was slashed. He fell to the ground beside his wife, his bloodstained vision could only see that figure moving closer, and his sight faded after his heart was pierced by a dagger.

That same night, in a distant house, two children shared the same room, enveloped in the silence of the night and the soft glow of a lantern illuminating the space.

Zoe: (breaking the silence) "I'm scared, Leo."

Leo: "Don't worry, Zoe. They'll be back soon. It shouldn't be long."

Zoe sprang from the bed quickly and began to hit Leo in the face with the pillow nonstop.

Zoe: "Don't try to act calm! Our parents wouldn't just leave like that!"

Leo grabbed the pillow and yanked it from her hands, retaliating by throwing the pillow back at her face while saying: "You're not the only one worried here. I am too." Zoe tossed the pillow back, hitting Leo square in the face.

Zoe: "Then why aren't you doing anything?!"

Leo took the pillow and started hitting her. She did the same, grabbing another pillow nearby, and thus began a pillow fight.

Leo: "You know the family rules all too well: 'Don't interfere in Dad and Mom's work.' That's the rule they told us to obey."

Zoe: "And you're really going to follow that stupid rule?!"

Feathers began to fly all over the room, and footsteps were heard growing closer to their room. They immediately stopped arguing and returned to their previous positions on the bed.

The door opened, and a tall, strong man stood in the doorway, looking at the children, who pretended to be asleep. He held a lumberjack axe in hand and said: "I know very well that you're not sleeping. Only a deaf person couldn't hear you two arguing." The children stopped pretending, and Leo replied: "Sorry, Uncle Roger. It's just that Zoe can't stay quiet." Zoe quickly buried Leo's face in the sheets and retorted: "That's not true! I'm just worried about Mom and Dad, unlike this insensitive person who shows no concern for them."

Leo: "Are you deaf or something? I've already said I'm worried too! I'm just, unlike you, obeying and trusting that they're going to come back home."

Zoe: "You insensitive brat!"

Leo: "You're the brat!"

Roger tapped the end of his axe on the floor, making a heavy, loud sound. He sighed and said: "Stop fighting, you two." The siblings quickly fell silent and both said, "Sorry, Uncle Roger."

Roger: "If you can't sleep, follow me to the living room and see if you can calm down a bit."

They followed Roger to the first floor of the house and headed into the living room, which had a sofa and an armchair facing an unlit fireplace. Roger sat in the armchair and said: "Leo, please light the fireplace." Leo went to the woodpile, placed some logs in the fireplace, and stood for a few seconds before igniting the fire. Zoe broke the brief silence.

Zoe: "Did Mom and Dad say anything to you before they left, Uncle Roger?"

Roger adjusted himself in the armchair and said: "That's not something you should be worrying about right now. Just be kids and find something to do for fun."

Leo managed to light the fireplace and sat in front of it, saying: "But there's nothing we can do here, and it's too late to go outside." Roger looked out the window at the trees in the distance, which slightly hid the moon behind them, and replied: "That's true. So I'll read you a book. Zoe, go to that bookshelf and grab the first book." Zoe obeyed her uncle's order and took the book, but before handing it over, she looked at the cover and the book's title. The cover depicted a deer resting beside a human skeleton, and the title read "The Meaning Given to the Journey." Zoe handed the book to Roger, who opened it to the first page.

Roger: "Sit down. I'm going to tell you a story, a little reflection on life."

The two siblings sat with their backs to the fireplace, waiting for him to begin.

Roger: "In a forest illuminated by the light of the moon, a deer with a bleeding front paw rested beside a skeleton leaning against a tree. The skeleton turned its skull towards the deer and asked, curious: 'How did you end up in this situation?' And the deer replied: 'I was scratched by the claws of a lion. I don't have much time left.' The skeleton asked: 'Does it hurt?' The deer responded: 'No, it doesn't, but I feel my strength fading away little by little.'

Skeleton: 'What luck. My death was quite painful. I was ambushed by rival knights while sleeping and ended up the way I am now.'

Deer: 'Luck? There's nothing lucky about that.'

Skeleton: 'So you would prefer to have a painful death?'

Deer: 'Your choices led you to have a death like that.'

Skeleton: 'I died protecting many families, so I don't think it's fair for you to have a painless death while I didn't.'

Deer: 'You protected many families but destroyed many others for territory. I'm in this situation for trying to protect my child, but he was devoured by the lion, and now I'm dying in vain. However, I don't regret it.'

Skeleton: 'Well, when you put it that way, we're not so different. I died to protect my kingdom, and in the end, we lost, and the kingdom was taken over by enemies.'

Deer: 'So you died failing your only task of protecting your kind. That's why you had a painful death.'

Skeleton: 'Wait? But you also failed to save your child.'

The deer then began to close its eyes slowly, and giving its last breaths, replied: 'Yes, you're right, but I didn't kill other deer for it.' It took its last breath, and then the skeleton disintegrated into dust, flying off with the wind and joining the ground. The deer then opened its eyes, licked its front hoof, removing the blood and revealing that there was no injury at all. It stood up and walked away from the tree, saying: 'Rest well, knight.'

The End."

Roger: "What did you think?"

Leo replied: "A bit confusing," while Zoe yawned and added: "It's very different from the stories Mom tells me." Roger chuckled lightly and said: "Yeah, maybe the books I have aren't suitable for children, haha. But this one is special. It was the first book I read to your father when he was your age."

Leo: "Dad told us you were a very mean brother to him."

Zoe: (smiling) "True. He said you told him scary stories, and he couldn't sleep because of that, haha."

Roger: "Hahaha, that's true. Before Victor became the man he is now, he was quite the scaredy-cat in his childhood. That brings back good memories."

Silence filled the room for a few seconds, but soon Roger broke the silence, asking: "Are you two calmer now?" The siblings nodded, and then Roger got up from the armchair, saying: "Good, then go to your room and rest. Your parents should be back soon. Don't worry." The siblings stood up and headed toward the stairs, with Zoe saying: "Thank you for reading the story, Uncle Roger. Goodnight." Leo also thanked him, saying: "Thanks for everything, Uncle Roger. You're the best uncle in the world." Roger laughed and replied to Leo: "You're only saying that so I don't scold you, aren't you?" Leo ran towards the room, laughing along with his sister, and the door closed.

Roger spent some time gazing at the fireplace, and a vague memory flickered through his mind. He went to a drawer and took out two necklaces, circular in black with a yellow circle in the center, reminiscent of the pupil of a human eye. Roger recalled the promise made to Victor: "If this happens, deliver these necklaces to them." He took the necklaces and made his way to his own room, leaving the door slightly open to have a view of the outside. He snuggled into bed, placing the necklaces under his pillow, and tried to rest. The house filled with complete silence, and the children fell asleep within minutes.

[In the same alley where Victor's life was taken]

two figures stood in front of the two corpses, a tall man wearing a slightly open black cloak revealing reinforced black leather clothing along with trousers and boots of the same color as the cloak. Beside him was a woman slightly shorter than he, dressed in a dark green cloak, with both arms and legs covered in black bandages. But more than the clothing, something else stood out about them: the woman was covering her face with a goat skull, leaving only her emerald green eyes visible, while the other one beside her had deer antlers on his head.

The tall man crouched down to pick up a jewel that had fallen on the ground and said, "Something happened here." The woman approached from behind him and replied with an ironic tone, "No kidding, Payner. Seriously, you think something happened here? I thought they were just taking a nap." Payner stood up, dropping the jewel back on the ground, and headed out of the alley. "Ironic as always, aren't you, Evora? Let's just finish what we came here to do. You know what you have to do, right?"

Evora gave a subtle smile and said, "Of course I do. It's not like it's the first time, and you know that." Both figures calmly walked to the exit of the alley, as if the situation didn't bother them at all. They entered the darkness of the nearest street and completely disappeared, leaving behind only a light, cold mist that spread throughout the area.