Rainwater dripped as if it too was mourning something.
Under the gray sky, a child sat hugging his knees. His gaze was empty, as if he had lost something most precious to humans, 'hope'.
The wound on his leg was slowly rotting, yet he seemed to feel nothing. He simply stayed still, staring at the sky with wide-open eyes, letting every drop of rain wet his face until it looked like a faint, blurred cry.
Around him, there were only small mounds of soil, as if they had just been buried. No one knew what was hidden beneath them, even his heart had now forgotten everything.
What happened?
Who am I?
Why am I here?
Those questions spun endlessly in his head, drowning along with the sound of the unending rain.
He knew all the answers to those questions but for some reason his mind refused to answer.
it has been two days since that incident ended...
---
Very good, the atmosphere is already very strong and dark, full of sadness and mystery. Here is the continuation that maintains its poetic tone and gloomy atmosphere, while revealing Dex's background and the tragedy that befell him.
Two days had passed since the incident ended,
But for Dex, time seemed to stop at the moment when everything was destroyed.
The evening sky at that time was red, not because of the light of dusk, but because of the flames soaring high into the sky.
The village where he was born burned in a war that should never have happened,
A war between nobles fighting for false honor and land that was no longer fertile.
Their soldiers, with different banners but hearts equally black, filled the streets.
The sound of clashing swords met human screams.
Fire swallowed homes, fields, and dreams that had once grown beneath them, destroyed as if they had never existed.
Dex, who had just returned from hunting, ran through smoke and ash, calling his parents' names, but what he found were only lifeless bodies, bodies that could no longer answer no matter how many times he tried.
His mother hugged his younger sibling, protecting the child from the arrow that pierced the wooden wall.
His father lay not far from the door, still holding a broken sickle; there was not a single wound on his back.
Everything ended so quickly, Dex hid inside a barrel of drink
And when the sounds of war finally faded, only silence and the smell of burnt flesh remained.
Dex came out and fell to his knees in the middle of ash and tears.
He wanted to scream, but no sound came out.
Rain then fell, heavy, as if the sky itself was crying with him.
That night, Dex stared at the last flames licking the sky, and in that glow, something was born within him—not hope, not hatred, but a deep emptiness.
Now, two days after everything ended, he sat under the rain, no longer knowing whether he was still human, or merely a body without a soul.
A tragic story of a child not yet 17 years old, but the most heartbreaking part was not the loss itself, but what came after, guilt, sorrow, regret.
All of that almost drove him insane when he thought about it, even the hunger he had endured for two days was nothing compared to it.
Amid the sound of trickling water, his stomach growled softly.
Hunger no longer felt like a need, but like a curse that forced him to stay alive.
He did not eat, did not sleep, and did not speak, only silent, staring at the freshly buried soil in front of him.
his hands still had traces of the dirt from digging.
Like an ocean so deep that its bottom is never visible, Dex didn't even know what feeling he felt at that moment, sadness? anger? regret? every word in this world was too little to describe it.
---
Three nights had passed since the incident, Dex walked through the ruins of his village.
The fire had died, but every step he took sent ash flying, covering footprints that had never really been visible since the beginning.
In the distance, a crow perched on a charred fence post, staring at him for a long time without doing anything, as if observing the remains of a human who had almost lost everything.
Dex looked up, staring at the bird.
"Are you also here to laugh at me?" he muttered hoarsely.
The voice that came from his lips sounded like that of a stranger learning to speak for the first time.
The bird did not answer, only let out a raspy call before flying away, leaving him alone again, in the silence of that night.
As he continued walking Dex found something that made his breath stop.
A torn flag was stuck in the ground, its color a dark red almost black because of blood and rain.
Beneath the flag lay the remnants of armor, and a noble emblem on the steel chest plate that had been slightly damaged by a sickle.
That emblem, a wolf devouring the moon.
Dex recognized that symbol, he had seen it in the marketplace, in the parades of the royal soldiers who passed proudly,
The troops his mother had always admired, carrying the great banner of the Vaundrel family, nobles known for their ambition and kindness.
Dex could still remember their glorious speech at that time, and the oath spoken then.
"I, Reon Vaundrel, swear to bring peace to this world and protect all my people" Applause echoed thousands of meters away.
Dex could still remember how impressed he was when he heard that speech, he had even dreamed of becoming a soldier of the Vaundrel family.
But now Dex knew it was nothing but an empty vow, the hands that once swore to protect him, even placed everyone's life on their chessboard and left them.
Dex still remembered when they slaughtered his entire village, accusing his village of preparing a rebellion without any real evidence, only for their political interests at that time.
His hands trembled, he touched the emblem, then clenched it so tightly that the sharp metal edge cut his palm.
His blood mixed with the rain, and dripped onto the ground.
Dex had no intention of revenge or anything like that, he was only angry at himself, and at their greed.
But he knew revenge could never bring back the dead.
His head was dizzy and his stomach starving, at that moment Dex's eyes seemed unable to keep seeing, his legs slowly beginning to feel the pain from the rotten wound he had endured for so long.
His vision blurred, he could no longer hold on, and Dex collapsed without being able to do anything.
"Looks like there's still someone alive" that hoarse voice sounded heavy and old.
Dex heard it but couldn't do anything, his body stiff, his eyes couldn't open anymore, Dex lost consciousness right then and there.