Chapter 17: Beyond the Fog

The wind slowly faded as the three children crossed the enormous pass between the mountains.

Their footsteps echoed softly against the black stone walls.

The fog of Asterveil lay far behind them now.

Then...

...the darkness ended.

Yun Yun stopped so abruptly that Lyra nearly walked into her.

Then they saw it.

An endless green meadow stretched out before them.

Tall flowers swayed gently in the breeze.

Blue.

White.

Gold.

Some almost seemed to glow beneath the sunlight.

Sunlight.

Kaien blinked.

Above them stretched an endless blue sky.

No gray clouds.

No endless snow.

No black pine trees.

Only light.

Warm golden sunlight poured across the rolling hills, turning the fields into an ocean of color.

The wind carried the scent of grass.

Of flowers.

Of life.

Yun Yun froze.

Slowly, she raised a trembling hand toward the sky.

As though she needed to know it was real.

Then...

...her eyes filled with tears.

Without warning, they spilled down her cheeks.

"...The sky."

Her voice almost broke.

"It's really blue..."

Kaien quietly looked at her.

He didn't understand why she was crying.

To him...

...everything still felt empty.

As though his mind could no longer make sense of the world around him.

Lyra, however, stood frozen in disbelief.

Her crimson eyes were wide.

Slowly, she turned in place, taking in the endless landscape around her.

"...This..."

She swallowed.

"...This makes no sense."

Without another word, she reached beneath her coat and pulled out her diary.

Despite the tears on her cheeks, Yun Yun let out a quiet laugh.

"Of course you're writing again already."

Lyra barely seemed to hear her.

She was already scribbling across page after page.

> "The sky beyond Asterveil is an intense shade of blue."
> "Vegetation appears healthy and thriving."
> "No trace of the gray fog."
> "Ambient temperature significantly higher."

Her quill finally came to a stop.

Slowly, Lyra looked up at the endless sky once more.

Her analytical expression softened.

"...It's beautiful."

A gentle breeze swept through the sea of flowers.

Yun Yun slowly sat down in the soft grass.

Never in her life had she seen anything like this.

No walls.

No guards.

No red windows.

No fear.

Only an endless world.

She closed her eyes and let the warm sunlight wash over her face.

A small, genuine smile appeared on her lips.

Kaien, however, remained standing.

Motionless.

His gaze drifted across the endless landscape.

Yet no matter how beautiful the world before him was...

...all he could still see was blood.

His mother's face.

The screams.

The snow of Asterveil.

Slowly, his hands curled into trembling fists.

Yun Yun noticed immediately.

Of course she did.

Even here...

...in this beautiful new world...

...her eyes kept drifting back to Kaien.

After a while, Lyra finally broke the silence.

"So... what now?"

Yun Yun slowly opened her eyes and looked at her.

"What do you mean?"

Lyra closed her diary with a quiet sigh.

"We have no money."

"No place to stay."

"And..."

She paused.

"...no food."

A faint laugh escaped Yun Yun.

"First, we keep walking."

Lyra stared at her in disbelief.

"Walking?"

"We spent the entire night running."

A small smile appeared on Yun Yun's face.

"That's not entirely true."

"We did stop for a while."

Lyra crossed her arms.

"For about half an hour."

Yun Yun couldn't help laughing.

Lyra let out a weary sigh.

"And I'm starting to get hungry."

Yun Yun nodded.

"Me too."

Kaien remained silent.

Food.

Hunger.

They felt meaningless now.

Again and again...

...he saw his parents die.

The image had burned itself into his mind.

Yun Yun slowly rose to her feet.

She brushed the grass from her coat.

"Let's keep walking."

"Maybe we'll find a village."

Lyra quietly muttered,

"And hopefully something edible."

Slowly, the three continued on.

But this time...

...they were no longer running for their lives.

No longer driven by fear.

Their footsteps grew slower.

Lighter.

The path wound through endless flower fields and rolling green hills.

The wind rippled through the tall grass like waves across the sea.

Suddenly...

...something small darted through the flowers.

Yun Yun flinched.

A small white rabbit hopped out of the grass.

Then another.

And another.

Yun Yun watched them in astonishment.

"...Animals."

Lyra raised an eyebrow.

"Yes?"

"Living animals."

Even her voice was filled with wonder.

The forests around Asterveil had almost nothing left.

No harmless creatures.

Only silence.

Or things that hunted people.

High above them, a flock of white birds swept across the blue sky.

Their songs drifted over the meadows.

Kaien lifted his gaze.

Only for a moment.

Then lowered it again.

After a while...

...they heard the gentle sound of flowing water.

Beyond a small hill, a narrow crystal-clear stream wound through the fields.

Sunlight danced across its surface.

Lyra immediately knelt beside the riverbank.

Her eyes widened.

"You can see all the way to the bottom."

Small silver fish glided peacefully through the crystal-clear water.

Yun Yun quickly sat down beside the stream and carefully dipped her fingers into it.

A look of surprise spread across her face.

Then she suddenly broke into a bright smile.

"It's warm!"

Lyra looked at her as though she had lost her mind.

"Of course it isn't frozen."

Yun Yun laughed.

"For me, it usually is!"

The two of them laughed without holding back.

Even Kaien paused for a moment, silently watching them.

The sunlight.

The water.

Their laughter.

It all felt...

...wrong.

And beautiful at the same time.

Yet inside him...

...there was still only emptiness.

After a short rest, they continued on.

Lyra barely stopped writing.

Her diary quickly filled with observation after observation.

The color of the sky.

The animals.

The flowers.

The river.

Even the sound of the wind.

Meanwhile, Yun Yun marveled at almost everything she saw.

Again and again, she stopped to admire a flower...

...or simply looked up at the endless blue sky.

But no matter what caught her attention...

...her eyes always drifted back to Kaien.

As though she were afraid to leave him alone with his thoughts.

After a while, the path gradually widened.

The flower fields slowly gave way to farmland.

Then Yun Yun suddenly noticed something in the distance.

Smoke.

Thin white trails rose beyond a nearby hill.

She stopped at once.

"Over there."

Lyra looked up from her diary.

Beyond the hill...

...rooftops slowly came into view.

Small houses.

A wooden fence.

Then they heard something else.

Voices.

People.

Laughter.

The three of them moved forward cautiously.

With every step...

...their eyes widened.

People strolled peacefully through the streets.

A man laughed as he spoke with a woman outside her home.

Children raced along the road, chasing one another.

A little girl ran after a barking dog.

No one looked afraid.

No one cast anxious glances toward the sky.

No one whispered.

No one hid.

Yun Yun came to an abrupt stop.

Her eyes trembled.

Kaien noticed immediately.

Only now...

...was she beginning to understand how deeply broken Asterveil had truly been.

A short while later, they reached a narrow road paved with pale stone.

Beside it stood a large wooden sign.

The words carved into it were neat and elegant.

Welcome to Lunaris

Beneath them was a simple engraving.

A sun rising above a river.

Yun Yun stared at the sign in silence.

For several long seconds.

Then...

...a bright smile slowly spread across her face.

A genuine smile.

Perhaps the first she had worn in years.

"...We really made it."