Coldness woke him. The blanket had slipped off. Nat sat up on the sofa and looked up at the dim ceiling. It was still before dawn. Outside the window, morning mist rose from the great hole of the Abyss, catching the moonlight and stagnating in pale blue-white pools. The "Harbi's Lamp" inn was wrapped in its usual silence. Even the creak of the stairs echoed unnaturally loud today. The old wood groaned under his weight, as if resenting it. Nat stopped in front of Riko's room. Steam rose in lazy spirals from the bowl of porridge he carried. "[gentle]Riko, it's morning. I brought porridge..." No answer. That was normal. She always lay facing the wall, breathing faintly like a lifeless doll. Nat assumed it was the same today, and as always, he gently pushed the door open. There was no one in the room. The sheets were tangled, the bed empty. Nothing on the desk. Only a faint, strange scent lingered — sweet, yet somehow burnt. The scent of the Abyss. It was the body odor of the changed Riko that Nat had come to know. The bowl of porridge slipped from his hands. The dry sound of shattering pottery. Hot porridge splattered onto his feet, but he felt no heat. "Riko...?" He called out again. His throat was tight, barely producing a proper voice. He just wandered through the room. The window, the closet, under the bed. Some part of his mind knew she couldn't possibly be hiding in such small places, but he couldn't stop himself from searching. She was gone. A sound that couldn't form words finally leaked from the back of his throat. Thoughts like *betrayed* or *why didn't you say anything* hadn't surfaced yet. Just a sensation — a vast, hollow hole gaping in the center of his chest. And from it, something hot welled up. (*She became convinced she couldn't stay here.*) That letter. The eerie scrap of paper that said *Maiden of the Abyss*. Riko had seen it, and more than anything, she had feared harming someone. The relic runaway incident in the East District. She must have convinced herself that was her fault too. (*Riko intends to die.*) The certainty pierced Nat's chest like a blade of ice. She meant to disappear alone — with no one to watch over her, no one to trouble. And that very kindness was the greatest rejection of him, who wanted to protect her. Nat didn't even grab his cloak. He burst out of the inn's entrance. The outside air was freezing. The eastern sky was just beginning to pale. "Riko!!" He shouted, heading toward the South District. The black market alleys of Salvo. If there was a place to obtain dangerous, shady things, there might also be a way to quietly vanish. In Nat's mind, Riko's childhood smile and her current expressionless face flickered and faded, one after the other. That utterly radiant smile she once showed. How her eyes would sparkle when she talked about rare mushrooms, always dragging him and Shigu around. (*I couldn't protect her. Even though I swore I would.*) Nat bit his lip. The taste of iron spread through his mouth. The South District alleys lay sunken in the morning haze. As he passed the tavern "The Piper's Hearth," the owner Gorma was just hanging out the shop curtain. "Old man Gorma!" Gorma looked at Nat, who ran up breathlessly, with a puzzled expression. "[surprised]What's this? Pale as a ghost... A brawl this early in the morning?" "Have you seen a girl with silver-white hair, beautiful, but with a lifeless face?! She should be wearing a black cloak!" "Can't say I have. Haven't seen a lass like that." At Gorma's words, the faint hope shattered into pieces. Nat slammed his fist against the nearby wall with all his strength. A dull thud sounded, the skin on his knuckles split, and blood seeped out. But he felt no pain at all. (*No. I'm wrong again.*) She went somewhere remote, alone. Nat hung his head. His own powerlessness was unbearably infuriating. He hadn't understood even a shred of Riko's feelings. — Around that time. After watching Nat's panicked back disappear, Shigu had returned to Riko's room alone. Her emerald-green bob cut swayed each time she bent down. Her large amber eyes were still moist with tears, but deep within them was a startling calm. (*Big sis went somewhere she wouldn't trouble anyone.*) Shigu carefully searched under the bed, in the desk drawers, and then in the wastebasket. And she found a crumpled, discarded scrap of writing paper. She reached out and gently smoothed it open. On it, in trembling handwriting, "I'm sorry" was written over and over, each one scribbled out in black. Only a single hastily scrawled line on the last piece remained unmarked. *I'm going somewhere I won't trouble anyone.* The moment she saw the word "somewhere," a memory like lightning flashed through Shigu's chest. (*The outskirts of the East District... the old watchtower ruins!*) It was the place they had used as a secret base when they were children. An abandoned watchtower standing on the edge of the Abyss. The adults always said, "It's dangerous, don't go near it," but Riko had led them there, and the two of them often went to play. That place where no one else came, where the winds of the Abyss howled. Shigu clutched the paper to her chest. Her heart, now moving with purpose, held no more hesitation. After leaving the inn and walking for a while, Shigu met Nat at the entrance to the South District, walking with his head hung low. Blood was seeping from the back of his right hand, and his eyes were hollow with despair. "[sad]Nat..." At Shigu's voice, Nat looked up. "Riko, she's nowhere..." "[gentle]The outskirts of the East District. There's a secret place that belongs to me and big sis." Shigu spoke quietly, but with strength. "[serious]Big sis doesn't want to be alone. She's just scared that someone will get hurt because of her." In that instant, Nat felt a shock as if he'd been slapped across the face. (*That's right... I was always saying "I'll protect you," "It's okay." But to Riko, that was nothing but the crushing weight of "You have to protect me." My self-satisfaction was just rubbing salt into her self-punishment.*) Tears spilled from Shigu's amber eyes, one after another. She was honest with her emotions. She didn't want to protect Riko. She just wanted to be with her. That pure, simple cry gouged deeply into the heart of Nat, who had been hiding behind the mask of responsibility. "[crying]What... have I been doing?" It was a hoarse voice, mocking himself. Shigu took Nat's hand and pulled him. "[gentle]Let's go. This time, the two of us will go get big sis, without making any mistakes." Evening. The hour when the sky burned crimson. The two of them reached the outskirts of the East District — the ruins of the abandoned watchtower standing on the edge of the Abyss. Weeds grew thick on the crumbling stone steps, and the wind blowing up from the Abyss made a lonely, whistling sound. From here, the great hole of the Abyss was fully visible. It was a place like the end of the world. At the top of the stone steps was a small stone chamber, likely once a lookout room. The roof was half-collapsed, and old rubble lay scattered across the floor. In the corner, Riko sat huddled, hugging her knees. Her silver-white hair, reaching down to her waist, glowed pale blue-white in the twilight, like the moon itself. Her left eye was purple, her right eye gold — heterochromatic eyes that shone with an eerie light. From her left shoulder down her back, scale-like transformations peeked through the gaps in her clothes. At the sound of Nat and Shigu's footsteps, Riko flinched, her shoulders trembling, and looked up. Her face was pale, her lips dry and cracked. Around her alone, the air felt thin, a taut silence hanging. "[scared]Stop... don't come closer..." Riko's voice was hoarse and trembling. "[whispers]Because of me, the city's relics are going haywire. That accident too... it must have been because I got too close... If I'm near you, I'll break you too..." She clutched her own hands and curled up, as if embracing herself. Her palms were chapped and red-swollen from the cold morning wind. "[crying]I'm sorry... please, stay away..." It was like a mantra. *Stay away. Don't get involved with me anymore.* Nat now understood, down to the marrow of his bones, that those words came not from rejection, but from her deep love. But Shigu was different. "[crying]Big sis!!" Shigu ran forward without hesitation. Spurring on her stumbling body, she threw herself at Riko's slender form, embracing her head-on. She forcefully held down Riko's resisting arms and hugged her with all her might, as if pouring her entire being into that fragile body. "[crying]I won't let go! I'll never let go!!" Shigu's tears fell onto Riko's pale cheek. "[crying]I don't care if you break things! I'll break everything together with you! So please, don't go alone, don't leave me behind!!" Shigu's cry soaked into the ruins, into the twilight. At that sight, Nat's feet froze, unable to move. He didn't possess Shigu's straightforward emotions. All he had were petty feelings, covered by masks of protection and responsibility. That was when it happened. The moment Shigu embraced Riko. The whitened, transformed skin on Riko's neck and arms began to glow with a faint, pale blue-white light. The light pulsed, as if alive. — *Viiiiin...* The rubble discarded on the floor — fragments of the abandoned relics once used in the watchtower: broken lighting fixtures, cracked measuring instruments — all at once emitted a low, resonating hum. Like a choir answering an ancient song. "[crying]Let go... it's no use... I don't want to break things!!" Riko cried out, desperately trying to pry Shigu off. But Shigu shook her head and held on. Even trembling with fear, her hands gripped Riko's clothes tightly. Snapping out of his shock, Nat rushed over. He grabbed Riko's arm and stared straight into her strange, heterochromatic eyes. "[angry]Riko!!" His voice trembled. His throat tightened. But he had to say it. Looking into Riko's eyes, with his own trembling voice, casting aside every lie. "[crying]I can't... let you die here. That much... is the truth." (*Ah, I see.*) The moment those words left his mouth, Nat finally realized what was inside his heart. This wasn't responsibility. It wasn't duty or friendship. It was simply a fierce, ugly, helpless feeling — that he didn't want to lose her. Love. He faltered. His hand, gripping Riko's arm, tightened. Something inside Riko snapped. Deep in the Abyss, beyond memory — the warmth of someone who should no longer exist, someone who had protected her. That memory, and the warmth of Nat's hand gripping her arm now, overlapped for just a moment. "...Re...g..." A faint murmur, like a vibration in the air. And in the next instant, tears burst from Riko's eyes as if a dam had broken. It was the first human emotion she had shown since returning from the Abyss. — At that same time, far below the watchtower. In the shadow of the cliff where the Abyss winds howled, a middle-aged man had been watching this entire scene. Wrapped in a grimy cloak, he concealed beneath it a spiral-patterned pendant — the mark of the Volnica Holy Order. He was a scout who had been tracking Riko's whereabouts in the South District. The man watched with devouring intensity as Riko's body emitted light and caused the surrounding relics to resonate. His eyes burned with fanatical fervor. "[whispers]There's no mistake... the Guide's words were true. That person is indeed... the Maiden of the Abyss, who will lead us." The man left the area without a sound, melting into the darkness and running toward the South District, toward the Nuva mansion. The wind fluttered the hem of his cloak. The three in the stone chamber still hadn't noticed. The glow emanating from Riko's body gradually subsided as her tears dried up. The resonating hum of the surrounding relics was eventually