Yuki and Lucian had picked up their katanas and stood in front of each other in silence. He noticed his stance has more openings than before, which worried Lucian more than he has to.
Amelia had started eating and shot her gun upwards again, signaling the sparring match had started.
They both had charged towards each other, but the difference is that Yuki's movements and attacks were slow and sluggish. Lucian stopped moving first after seeing this, and Yuki stopped afterwards.
Yuki: Why... did you stop? Aren't we supposed to be training?
Lucian: You need sleep... Whatever happened with you or your life, you need to take care of yourself. We won't be training today, I didn't think you'd push yourself this hard just to get stronger.
Yuki looked up at him with desperation in his eyes.
Yuki: But Luci..
Lucian glanced at him then sighed heavily.
Lucian: No "buts", you'll be resting up. I won't train you if you're sluggish.
His words hit Yuki like a freight train, but he knew he cares about his health. He sighed then nodded, then walked over to a rock and sat against it, alone. He put his head down as past memories was flowing back to him.
His memories of his family came back to him as his heart ache in pain. He remembered the times he smiled with them before they had died. He sat there with his head buried in his knees with his vision becoming blurry. It was tears that had then started flowing down his cheeks.
Four years ago, at the age of eleven, Yuki was playing in his yard as his parents were out working. They couldn't afford education for Yuki, and neither could his aunts and uncles. They had been bambarded with problems that they had to choose between money and helping Yuki to find good education, and they chose money.
He played with his toys with a calm and gentle smile. His parents were fourty-five years old. They worked in places that were barely minimum wage.
Later that day, there were knocking at the door as Yuki played. He was startled and stood up and went over to the door then opened it, seeing policemen standing outside. The look on their faces were expressions of not wanting to tell the news.
Police 1: Hey kid.
Yuki: Oh, hello mister, what is it?
Police 2: We... have news to tell you.
Yuki looked up at them at their eyes, confused and unsure what was going. He was oblivious to whatever happened. The two policemen looked at each other with a saddened expression and looked back at Yuki.
They both didn't want to break the news to a kid, not one of them, but someone had to do it.
Police 1: Your... parents were killed in a shooting. I'm sorry.
They both took off their caps and held it against their chest as kid Yuki's eyes widened in shock. He couldn't process it fully because he was young.
Yuki: Wh-What? Mommy and daddy...? They're...?
His voice was shaky from shock and fear as the policemen felt bad about telling the news to him. They both nodded in sorrow.
Yuki had tears flowing down his face, his hands trembled and the thought of his parents being dead put so much shock into him that he froze and was speechless.
Yuki: What about my uncle? My aunt? Do they know?
The policemen was a bit concerned that he'd asked that. They stayed silent, showing something had happened.
Yuki's eyes widened more as he started to cry and tug on the police's shirt.
Yuki: They can't be... they're gone too..?
He sniffed as the pain in Yuki's heart was unfathomable. The policemen nodded. They felt even more guilty about releasing this news.
Ten minutes later after the policemen left, Yuki closed the door and went to his room and had cried loudly in his pillow. He screamed, threw things around, and was destroying parts of his room.
Yuki: W-Why... How...? I'm scared... I'm all alone now... no one is here with me...!
He shouted in pain as the thought of being alone scared him so much.
Ten days later, he turned on the television in the living room, noticing the two policemen who had spoken to him on that day about his family's death, had perished away. It had put more sadness and fear into Yuki's mind, but also started taking a toll on him mentally and emotionally.
It was painful to hear. It was all over the news, and Yuki, only at age eleven, had already lost so many people within that week.
He started doubting it. He started blaming himself. He thought that it was his fault they had perished away, and he had thought they only acted like they cared around him to make him feel safe.
A year later, at the age of twelve, he went to the cemetery to visit his parents grave.
Yuki: Mom... dad, I'm sorry that this all happened. I'm not sure what's going on, I'm not sure why this is happening. If you, auntie, and uncle can hear me, do please know that I love you all.
He murmured to himself as he sits down and places flowers on the dirt in front of their graves.
Yuki: Anyone who I speak to, has died the day afterwards or the week after. I'm thinking it's because of me. I'm scared. I do wish you all a happy life up there, in whatever place you guys are in. Bye, mom and dad, and everyone else...
His voice cracks as he sat there wearing a suit. On that day, it started raining. Yuki had grew out his hair, but it was due to stress and isolation. He never wanted to meet anybody else nor speak to anyone. He felt lost. He couldn't even shed a tear anymore.
His brain and body had gotten so used to death that he can't shed a single tear for even a second, not even if it's a little tear drop. He lost all hope in himself, and started drifting away from reality.
Three years later, back to the present time, Yuki had sat against the rock for the entire night. It felt like an eternity. Lucian had patted his shoulder gently, startling Yuki, causing him to jolt up and look at him with tears flowing down his cheeks.
Lucian: You've been asleep all day.. what's wrong?
Yuki had tears flowing down. He had a tired, and almost a dead expression on his face.
Yuki: I... don't got any friends. Ever since when I was eleven years old.. I couldn't get myself to leave my home. I lost all hope. I was unable to cry really...
He sniffed as he wiped the tears from his eyes.
Yuki: I could only cry now because... I'm just so tired of living. So tired of everything. I'm scared, but.. you and Amelia are my first ever friends who couldn't die just for being in my presence...
His voice had cracked after each sentence as Lucian looked at him in the eyes. He started to see the exhaustion and toll it had on him, then he sighed.
Lucian: I used Heavenly System, and let's just say... it isn't a curse. It's more of a thing that erases others and places them somewhere else that is beyond our comprehension. That's how much I figured out, considering it's forbidden knowledge no one knows about.
Yuki's eyes widened in shock as tears continued flowing from his face. Lucian could see the amount of sleep he had lost throughout the four years.
He was in pure shock, then scooted over to him to hold him close. He wanted to feel warmth again. Amelia watched and heard everything. Her heart ached in sorrow and pain.
His tears dried up, and had fell back to sleep again against Lucian.
Amelia then walked over and sat next to them as she started feeling worried about Yuki. Lucian sat there in silence.
Lucian: I'll be honest here... I can only gain forbidden knowledge within this world. Anything beyond that, I have no access to, so I'm pretty limited here.
Amelia: I see...
They both sat there as Yuki slept on Lucian's shoulder in peace. He then felt his grip tighten on his coat and sighed. At that moment, Lucian had carried him on his back and made the katanas disappear into his storage-like space.
Amelia noticed this, and immediately knew that they will start heading out of the woods, and start trying to find a good place to stay at, even if it costs a lot of his savings.
Amelia: Where to, Lucian?
Lucian: We'll be heading North..
Amelia nodded as they started walking up North to find a kingdom or a city at least. They walked the distance as Amelia kept an eye out from all directions, making sure they aren't attacked by any magical beast, until they both heard a loud roar in the mountains as they exit the forest.