The silence of the room was now filled with the heavy, steady breaths of Lane.
Sleeping in Luka's lap.
Luka's hand remained rested on Lane's head, but the movement of his fingers had ceased.
He sat perfectly still, watching the small being huddled in his lap.
As if he were an unsolved puzzle.
The cold air seeping through the cracks in the wooden plank brushed against Luka's face.
But his entire focus was on Lane.
Lane's swollen eyelids were now closed.
And that innocence which had vanished moments ago had returned to his face.
A pang rose in Luka's heart.
He knew Lane was no ordinary child.
He had seen Lane in those dark nights where even great warriors would tremble.
Yet not a drop of fear ever entered Lane's eyes.
He knew how to remain as hard as stone.
He never drew even a line of weakness in front of anyone without reason.
'Then why only in front of me?' Luka asked himself mentally.
He gazed closely at the dried tear tracks on Lane's cheeks.
He remembered that when they were in that first old dungeon, Lane had broken down in this exact same way.
A strange mixture of bitterness and tenderness surfaced in Luka's eyes.
It bothered him that the child who remained a shield for the world would melt like wax the moment he was near him.
Was this trust, or a burden that Lane only wanted to place on Luka's shoulders?
Luka's gaze once again fell upon the dusty shoes on the floor.
The shimmering white dust still clung to them like a silent witness.
Luka's jaw tightened.
He knew there was a deep connection between Lane's weakness and this 'white dust'.
One that he would dig out tonight.
He leaned his head back against the wall and stared into the darkness of the ceiling.
Waiting for the silence to begin speaking for itself.
In the blue, silent haze of the room, there was a slight flutter in Lane's eyelids.
A thin trace of moisture still lingered at the corners of his closed eyes.
As he opened them, the first thing he saw was Luka's face.
Looking down at him with immense tenderness and depth.
In Luka's gaze, the anger Lane had feared was absent.
Instead, there was a strange stillness.
As soon as Lane sat up, water began to swim in his eyes again.
He couldn't meet Luka's gaze.
"Why were you crying like that?"
Luka's voice was very low, yet it carried a certain weight.
"What happened there? Why were you sitting hidden in the shadow of that mound like that?"
Luka's direct questions felt like a dam breaking inside Lane.
His hiccups were desperate to return.
He lowered his face and began twisting his fingers together.
Luka noticed Lane's lips trembling, but no words came out.
Luka took a deep breath.
He placed his hand over Lane's shaking ones and said in a calm tone.
"If you don't want to tell me right now, it's alright. It is entirely your choice."
"I won't force you to tell me everything."
Luka's ease and the freedom he offered made Lane feel even more guilty.
*L
Luka's refusal to 'force' him felt like a blow to Lane's heart.
A warm tear escaped his eye and fell onto his hand.
He slowly lifted his neck and looked at Luka through blurred eyes.
His voice was trembling with fear:
"I-if... if I tell you the whole truth, will you be angry with me?"
"Will you—will you leave me?"
This innocent, terrified question shook Luka to the core.
Luka narrowed his eyes.
And for a fleeting second, his gaze drifted back to those white, dust-covered shoes.
That were still shouting the truth.
In that dark, dungeon-like room, where there was no sign of light.
A distinct glint floated in Luka's eyes.
It wasn't the glint of anger, but of a deep and steady trust.
Luka looked into Lane's eyes with great tenderness.
Where shadows of fear still lingered.
"I will never be angry with you,"
Luka's voice echoed like a lullaby in the silence.
Taking Lane's trembling hands in his, he continued with absolute firmness.
"And even if I ever get angry with you, or if I get upset."
"Even then I will never be apart from you. And I will never hate you."
Hearing 'never be apart' and 'never hate' from Luka brought immense relief to Lane's tiny heart.
He might not have understood heavy words like 'separated'.
But these words from Luka created the greatest comfort in the world for him.
Transferring that unbreakable spark from his eyes into Lane's, Luka asked again.
"Will you tell me now?"
Lane rubbed his swollen eyes clean with his hands and looked at Luka.
Luka's promise had given him the courage to bring the hidden truth to his lips.
Still, his eyes filled with water once more—not out of fear, but out of guilt.
In a very low and trembling voice, he asked:
"If I tell you everything... you won't be angry with me, right?"
Luka nodded slowly, holding Lane's small hands.
"Yes, I won't be angry," his voice held a comforting steadiness.
Lane took a deep breath, his fingers twisting the hem of his shirt.
"I... when I left from here, I was walking straight."
"But suddenly I saw a pit in the ground."
"I leaned over to look at it, but when I turned back, everything had changed."
"I couldn't understand where I was."
"The path... it was as if the path had vanished."
The terror of that moment flashed in Lane's eyes again.
"I turned to find the way and my foot slipped, and I fell into that pit."
"I got a sharp sprain in my foot."
"I sat there thinking I should fix my foot first... but then that girl appeared."
Luka's eyes narrowed, but he remained silent.
Lane lowered his voice even further.
"The same little girl we met when we were brought here."
"You saw her too, right, Luka?"
"She helped me out of the pit."
"I didn't know where to go, so I just started following her."
Lane's face bowed with guilt.
"My foot hurt a lot, but she was walking very, very slowly."
"Luka, you told me not to go near the railing... but at that moment, I just didn't remember."
"I crossed that white railing with her."
"But as soon as I remembered you, I got scared and started running back."
Lane's voice was trembling now.
"I was coming back, but the path got tangled again."
"I wasn't scared of the path; I was just scared because I had broken your promise."
"I sat down in the middle of that rugged field, exhausted."
"But Luka..."
He looked at Luka's face in a panic.
"I don't know how I ended up behind the shadow of that mound."
"I only remember sitting in the open field, not near any mound."
"Maybe I walked there in my sleep?"
"I only came to my senses when you called me."
"Seeing you, I felt that fear again—that you would be mad... that's why I was crying."
Another tear escaped Lane's eye and fell onto Luka's hand.
Luka sat in silence, but one question echoed in his mind—
Did Lane really walk to the mound in his sleep, or did that 'black-eyed' shadow drag him there?