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Fifteen more years passed…
fifteen years of isolation…
fifteen years of silence, hunger, spiritual blindness, and trying to understand "mana," which he had never been able to touch throughout his life.
Inside the cave…
an old man sits within the darkness.
His beard has grown so long it touches his chest.
His white hair falls over his face like spider webs.
His back is bent… his hands tremble… and the sound of his breathing resembles the groan of a man who has been dying for years.
This is "Railey."
He finally left the cave after a full 66 years since the day he fled the palace.
He stepped out slowly, holding onto the cave wall so he would not fall.
The outside air strikes his dried skin…
daylight burns his eyes, which have not seen the sun for decades.
Railey (in a broken, elderly voice):
"Finally… I have mana… after sixty-six years…"
He lets out a weak laugh…
the laugh of a man who knows he no longer owns anything in this world.
He descends to the ground, sits on a rock in front of the cave entrance, and looks at the forest that has completely changed during his long absence.
He remembers the face of the giant goblin…
remembers its massive axe…
remembers the pain that tore him apart…
Railey smiles:
"It was a painful battle… very painful…"
Then he coughs.
He coughs violently.
Until blood scatters from his mouth onto the ground.
He places his hand on his chest… feels a weak heartbeat… then weaker… then weaker.
Railey (whispering):
"I think… this is everything…"
He tilts his head back…
closes his eyes…
Then he dies.
He dies there, on the rock, like a man whose story ended before it even began.
The forest is silent…
the wind blows slowly…
Then suddenly—
A black light gradually appears above his body.
Like thick smoke gathering over him…
then it explodes into a single beam.
The black light rushes into Railey's chest…