Sora touched the blood wetting his face in shock. He had not expected it to hurt that much. His fingers turned crimson, and swelling had already begun to rise across his cheek. For several seconds he simply stood there, looking upward at the bleeding sky. The strange sight calmed the lonely night, and for a moment the silence around him dulled the pain.
Watching it, Sora imagined himself as that solitary sky.
It was beautiful… unlike me.
That might be the difference.
Maybe the only one.
Blood from his nose dripped slowly down his dirty skin, carving thin red lines through the dust and sand covering his face. As it flowed, it cleaned narrow streaks across his cheeks. The sight dragged old memories back into his mind—memories from nights long ago, when he was younger and survived in the city with the other children who lived like rats among alleys and abandoned streets.
Those nights had been long and dangerous, yet he had not been alone then.
Now all of them were gone.
As people liked to say, they had gone to the heavens.
One memory rose more clearly than the others.
The night they were chased.
They had been running through the empty streets when one of them noticed something behind them. At first it looked like a reflection sliding across the ground—something that did not belong to the road itself. But as it drew closer, the shape became clearer.
It looked like a girl.
Yet something about her was terribly wrong.
Her face could not be seen because long strands of hair covered it completely. Her neck was twisted at a broken angle no living person could hold, and in one hand she carried a knife. She moved like a reflection gliding across water as she followed them.
One of Sora's friends—the boy wearing the yellow suit—grabbed him while they ran.
"Sora, go to the lake," he said quickly.
"What? Why?" Sora asked while struggling to keep pace with the others.
"But don't look at the water," the boy continued. "And don't cross the bridge you see there."
Sora looked at him in confusion.
"What do you mean? I don't understand."
"The bridge you see is a trick," the boy said urgently. "The lake shows you a false bridge. The real bridge is invisible."
Sora stared at him.
"Invisible?"
"Yes. Close your eyes and walk forward over the emptiness above the water. That is the true bridge. Don't open your eyes until you reach the other side."
Sora hesitated, fear tightening in his chest.
"…Just do it," the boy urged again. "Don't you trust me?"
"…Okay."
Sora ran until he reached the lake. The water stretched before him like a black mirror beneath the night sky. Behind him the others shouted.
"Sora! Close your eyes and go!"
He obeyed.
Sora shut his eyes and stepped forward. For a brief moment his heart stopped, expecting to fall into the water, but instead his foot landed on something solid. He took another step. Then another.
His feet moved forward across the lake without touching the surface.
Beneath him there was nothing he could see, yet something supported his weight. The invisible bridge carried him across the emptiness while he walked over the dark water.
Behind him he heard a terrible sound.
It was a mixture of bones grinding together, skin tearing, and wet pieces of flesh twisting against one another. It sounded as though an entire body had been crushed and forced into something unnatural.
"Sora! Don't look back!" the boy shouted.
Sora ran faster across the unseen path until the voice called out again.
"Congratulations. You can open your eyes now."
When Sora opened them, he was already standing on the far side of the lake. The boy in the yellow and black suit waited there for him.
"…Thank you," Sora said quietly.
The memory ended.
Suddenly, Sora struck his own face with his fist. The sharp impact echoed faintly through the open space.
"What the hell are you doing, you cursed rat?" the knight shouted angrily. "Have you gone mad?"
"I might have," Sora muttered slowly. "Otherwise how could I forget something this important?"
He lowered his hand. The swelling on his cheek slowly faded.
"I forgot to take Vincent's skin… and you burned it."
His voice hardened.
"How did you dare? How?"
The knight stood there breathing heavily. Blood continued dripping onto the stone floor. One foot was completely gone now, and the wound where it had been kept bleeding steadily.
"I burned the monster," the knight replied.
"No," Sora answered immediately. "Do not lie to yourself. You burned an innocent human. You are a killer."
"But you saw it!" the knight snapped. "Even after I cut him, he didn't die! And why am I even explaining myself to a rat like you? If I am a killer, then I only killed a shadow to save the sun!"
"Indeed… why?" Sora replied quietly, his voice trembling slightly, as if he might begin laughing.
The knight suddenly felt uneasy.
Something about the silence surrounding them felt wrong.
The night seemed strangely empty, and the wind crossing the open space only deepened the stillness.
Sora wiped the blood from his face with the pale fabric he wore and slowly stood up straight. His eyes fixed directly on the knight.
The knight froze when he saw them.
The sclera of Sora's eyes had become smooth and reflective like polished glass. At their center, where the iris and pupil should have been, there was only a hollow circle of darkness—like a black void carved into a mirror.
When the knight looked into them, he saw his own reflection staring back.
But something was wrong.
In the reflection, he was not wearing his helmet.
Confused, the knight reached up and removed the helmet from his head. He placed it on the ground and looked again into Sora's strange eyes.
Now his own face was fully visible—black hair, a rough beard, and sharp blue eyes hardened by years of battle.
This time the reflection matched perfectly.
The knight exhaled slowly, yet the strange feeling remained. The wind brushed across his face and he could feel it clearly, but something about it felt wrong.
"But tell me, Sora," he said slowly, "why is it so quiet? I can feel the wind on my face, yet I cannot feel the cold. When I looked into your eyes, I saw my face even though I had not removed my helmet."
His voice lowered.
"If I am standing here… then Apis help me… who was the man I just watched burn?"
Sora answered calmly.
"Apis cannot hear you through the ash."
He tilted his head slightly.
"Look at your hands, knight. Do you feel the wind? That is because nothing is blocking it anymore. You did not remove your helmet… you removed your existence."
Sora's reflective eyes held the knight's image like a perfect mirror.
"The man you watched burn was the one the world recognized as you."
A faint pause followed.
"The one standing here now?"
Sora's voice remained calm.
"You are only my reflection."