The cold frozen air of the room, which resembled an abandoned stable, was filled with the smell of fresh blood and the metal of knives. The faint light from the broken windows cast long, eerie shadows on the stone walls, and the snowy storm outside continued to howl, as if the world was mourning something immense. Valentina, with her sleeves rolled up, sat on a low stool. She held a sharp knife in her hands and began slicing through the boar's skin and flesh with deadly skill. Zelina, with her long, braided hair reaching past her knees and shining blue eyes, stood beside Valentina, holding the boar and occasionally turning it to make her master's work easier. Rio, a few steps back, stared at the scene with a pale face. Anxiety coiled around his heart like a cold snake, and each movement of Valentina's knife seemed to cut not just the boar but something within him as well.
Valentina and Zelina occasionally exchanged mysterious glances, looks that seemed to share an unspoken secret. The silence was heavy until Valentina, without stopping her work, said in a calm voice:
"I told your sister last night too. If you want to return quickly, the only way is to cross Ester Bay and walk on the frozen sea. If you move at a good pace and travel day and night, you'll reach the human empire in two months."
Rio whose face had drained of color, said in a hoarse voice full of doubt and hesitation:
"Two months? But that's too long! We need to get back as soon as possible. I have to make sure my family is okay."
Valentina swapped her knife for a sharper one. Her hand, now drenched in the boar's warm blood, gleamed in the faint light. She cast a cold, merciless glance at Rio and said in a tone that left no room for argument:
"There's no other way. The island's passage gate has been destroyed. The nearest gate is in the human empire."
Zelina who had been silent until then, suddenly shouted with eyes wide from shock:
"What? The passage gate is gone? What happened?"
Valentina let out a deep sigh.
"Valdis is after this kid. He tracked him this far and leveled the elves' empire to kill him."
Zelina's voice now trembled. With eyes full of disbelief, she said:
"What? But why? What does this kid have that Valdis is after?"
Valentina cast a mysterious glance at Rio, her turquoise eyes searching his being like a blade.
"Well, that's what I'm trying to figure out."
Rio hearing their voices, lowered his head. His heart trembled under the weight of guilt and fear. In a broken and weak voice, he whispered:
"I'm sorry for the trouble I caused. You got into this mess because of me."
Zelina looking at Rio's sad and depressed face, suddenly shouted in anger:
"Damn old woman, talk to the kid properly!"
Valentina, with eyes flashing with irritation, growled:
"What are you saying? I didn't say anything to him!"
Amid this strange and tense argument, Rio sank into his thoughts. Horrific images of being chased by the Starman—Valdis—replayed in his mind like an endless nightmare. The screams of elven warriors lost in smoke and ash, and the charred bodies covering the ground stabbed into his heart like a dagger. He looked at his severed wrist; the thin cloth around it now had fresh bloodstains. He closed his eyes and, for a moment, wished it was all a nightmare. He wished his wound, his pain, and his memories were just an illusion. But when he opened his eyes, the truth stood before him like an impassable wall. At the beginning of his life in this world, he had faced a catastrophe that had taken not only his hand but also a part of his soul.
He slowly raised his head and, in a voice that came from the depths of endless pain, said to Valentina:
"Lady Valentina you've lived for a long time, haven't you? You have a lot of experience, right?"
Zelina, unable to restrain herself, smirked and said in a sarcastic tone:
"Yeah, this hag is over a hundred and fifty thousand years old!"
Valentina cast a cold, deadly glance at Zelina and growled: "shush!"
Then she looked at Rio and, in a tone that seemed to hide something deep, said:
"What are you trying to say Rio?"
Rio looked around at the cold stone walls, the bloodstained knives on the table, and the black boar now in pieces. In a trembling voice full of questions, he said:
"Is this the true nature of this world? Do people die so easily? Do people like that man kill others so casually? Don't they have a conscience? Don't they have feelings? How can someone take others' lives so easily?"
Rio went to a corner of the wall, sat on the cold floor, and held his head in his hands. In a broken voice, he continued:
"What about the dreams of those who died? They each had families, but now they're all ash. That man turned them all into shadows. Why? Because he wanted to kill me?"
As he finished speaking, he raised his head and suddenly met Valentina's eyes—eyes now like two deep, terrifying icy lakes staring at him. Valentina's face, for a moment, reminded Rio of his mother, but not with kindness, rather with an intensity that could shake the world. Without looking at Zelina, Valentina said in a firm and determined voice:
"This kid hasn't eaten anything since last night. Go make him something."
Zelina with a tired voice tried to protest: "But I…"
Valentina tilted her head and cast a glance at Zelina from under her eyes—a look so terrifying and merciless that it seemed to stop time. Zelina, without a word, jumped up, threw her knife on the table, and ran toward the kitchen, as if escaping that look was her only salvation. In the cold, dark room, only Rio and Valentina remained. Silence hung in the air like a dagger, and the howling of the storm from the windows sounded like a wail.
Valentina slowly began cleaning her hands. She held a bloodstained cloth and wiped her fingers with a calm motion, but her gaze never left Rio. In a terrifying tone that seemed to come from the depths of another world, she said:
"You're saying you remember those who turned to ash and black shadows?"
Rio whose heartbeat now pounded like a drum in his chest, nodded in fear. His body trembled, and his eyes full of terror, locked onto Valentina. Valentina placed the bloodstained cloth on the table with a calm motion, but this calmness was like the silence before a sinister, deadly storm. She slowly stood up, her stature in the faint light seeming taller and more immense, and her shadow danced on the wall like a living specter. She picked up a clean knife from the table, ran her finger along its blade, and the cold light of the metal reflected in her eyes. For a moment, she stared at Rio, her eyes like two black holes sucking his soul. In a voice that seemed to shake the ground, she said:
"I'm not a woman who repeats her questions, but I'll ask you again, Rio. Do you really not know why Valdis was after you?"
Rio swallowed hard, his throat dry and burning. His eyes full of fear and pleading, locked onto Valentina. In a voice that barely escaped his throat, he whispered:
"I don't know."
Valentina paused for a moment, then, with the index finger of her other hand, without raising her arm, pointed to the sky as if gesturing to something beyond this world. Her voice was now so terrifying and deep that Rio felt his heart stop:
"You don't know? Or you're not allowed to tell me?"