The day Ana vanished, Atom hadn't known peace.
He searched endlessly. Every minute calling her name. through villages, burned houses, and empty fields.
"Where… could she be?" he whispered to himself again and again, his voice growing weaker with each unanswered echo.
But all he found was silence and disappointment.
Until...
"Save me!"
A scream which jolted Atom's heart, He turned sharply toward the sound and followed it.
He went through the narrow alleys of the village he saw a small figure limping toward him he was the same child from before who bumped to him.
His face was pale, his leg bloodied. He was trembling.
"Save me… Brother!"
Behind him, a soldier in steel armor advanced slowly, dragging a long spear along the ground. The weapon scraped the earth, making a chilling metallic sound.
The soldier sneered. "Run, little rat. Run while you still can."
Atom froze. His breath grew heavy, because the memories flooded his mind. Ana's laugh, her gentle voice, her warmth.
He covered his ears, his head was spinning but the kid's cry pierced through him again.
"Save me! Please!"
Atom's heart screamed to move, but his body was refusing.
The air grew colder. His pulse thundered in his ears.
Was it fear? Guilt? Or something darker and deeper. Something that had been inside him all along?
"Don't… please don't…" Atom's voice was trembling, he stepped back, his hands started to shake, The soldier's boots scraped against the dirt.
"Don't make me remember that…" Atom whispered, his eyes flickering, not with fear, but with something far more darker.
There was something buried deep inside him. A memory sealed away, one he could not bear to face.
But the boy's cries wouldn't stop.
"SAVE ME, BROTHER!!!"
Something inside Atom snapped.
"I SAID DON'T!"
In a blur of movement, faster than the eye could follow, Atom vanished from where he stood. A single flash of steel split the air and the next moment, the soldier's armor cracked apart.
The body fell before he even realized. He was dead.
Atom stood there, sword in hand, breathing heavily. The boy trembled, tears rolling down his cheeks, but he was alive.
Atom dropped his weapon and fell to his knees..
The boy's small arms wrapped around him.
"Thank you, brother…" he whispered.
That word. Brother.. it echoed through Atom's mind like a curse.
Suddenly, the world around him blurred. The scent of blood was replaced by the smell of iron chains and damp stone. A voice. Faint, trembling, innocent. It called from the darkness.
"Brother Ani."
"Brother Ani."
"Brother Ani…"
It was Ana's voice.
Calling to him from a dark room where she was alone… chained… and calling her brother.
The memory he had buried clawed its way back, bringing with it the unbearable truth.
"Brother Ani… where are you?"
Her voice echoed through the darkness. Frail, trembling, and unanswered.
No light reached this place. No warmth, no sound. Only the dripping of water and the clinking of chains.
Ana sat alone in that cold, narrow cell, Bound by iron shackles that bit into her wrists.
She whispered again, softer this time, "I'm alone… Brother Ani… where are you?"
Her body was weak, her spirit fading, but her faith in him never broke.
So she closed her eyes, believing that one day he would come. Her brother would save her, just like he promised.
She fell asleep with that hope.
Then. Clang!
A metallic echo struck the air, the sound of a rod hitting the bars. Ana's eyes fluttered open, her heart racing, "Brother Ani… is that you?"
For the first time in so long, her voice carried joy. Her chains rattled as she tried to move closer to the sound.
"I knew it… you'd come for me," she said, smiling through tears.
Footsteps approached, hurried, uneven, scraping against the stone floor.
Her heart pounded faste, "Brother Ani…!" she called again.
The figure that appeared in the dim light was not her brother.
It was him.
The old man, his eyes clouded with madness and lust left Ana froze in her place. The smile on her face shattered like glass.
"Oh…"
"It's you… again."
Somewhere far away, in another world of light and air, Atom felt that same moment of dread, echoing through his soul like a wound reopening after years of silence.
"Big brother."
"Big brother."
"Big brother, wake up… wake up! BIG BROTHER, WAKE UP!!!" Atom gasped, eyes snapping open. His breath was heavy, his chest trembling. The world around him blurred for a moment the only thing remained was Ana's voice.
Tears streamed down his face before he realized it. His hands shook as he pressed them against the dirt, his heart aching with the same old wound.
He had failed her.. the one promise he swore never to break. He broke again.
The child beside him looked frightened.
"What happened to you? You… you were crying," the boy asked softly.
Atom wiped his tears away and forced a hollow smile.
"Don't call me brother," he said quietly. His voice was cold, yet broken. "Don't you know… I'm a criminal?"
The boy's eyes widened, but Atom didn't stay to explain. He stood up, turned his back, and walked away.
"I'm no brother," he muttered to himself.
"I'm a criminal… the worst kind of criminal."
The boy watched him leaving, he hesitated before deciding to follow.
Atom returned to the village. The streets were empty this time, the eerily silent. The once-crowded marketplace stood still, lifeless, as if the town itself was holding its breath.
But He didn't cared. He tore through doors, searched alleys, barns, wells, anywhere Ana might have been. His voice echoed through the silence, growing even more desperate each time.
Then he heard it.
"I know where you can find your sister…"
He turned sharply. The same child stood there, panting.
Atom stumbled toward him, almost falling, his knees hitting the ground as he grabbed the boy's shoulders.
"Tell me! Please!"
The child's face tightened. "They must've kidnapped her."
"Who?"
"The bandits. In this town, people go missing. And They take them… and sell them."
"Where can I find them?" Atom asked, his tone sharp, almost threatening.
The boy swallowed. "It's afternoon now… that means they'll be selling soon."
"Where!?"
"The Mountain of Nori, past the king's castle."
Atom's eyes widened. Without another word, he stood up and started running, only glancing back once.
"Thank you."
As he sprinted toward the distant hills, his thoughts burned with fury.
But beneath his rage lurked a darker truth.
The soldier he killed that day… was not just anyone.
He was the favourite of the king. He was his son.
And now, the king's wrath was coming for him.