Luka's eyelids were now sagging like heavy stones.
A profound exhaustion had settled within his eyes, as if they were no longer capable of bearing the weight of any further sight.
His consciousness was sinking into a suffocating quagmire, where no strength remained to resist.
But just before the world vanished completely behind a black curtain, his heavy and blurring vision caught a sight that tore the very fabric of reality apart.
Len's face, once a temple of innocence, had warped into the shadow of an ancient and predatory hunter.
His familiar golden eyes were no longer in their place.
They had transformed into two fathomless and infinite darknesses—a cosmic void whose depths even Time itself did not know.
Luka felt a strange tugging in his chest, as if his soul were being dragged by an invisible and powerful hand into the jaws of that infinite darkness.
It was a place where every ray of light, time, and hope had been lost within that profound gloom.
As that absolute darkness took complete command over Luka's vision, a supernatural and soul-shivering change swept through the air of the dungeon.
The room's temperature plummeted suddenly, as if someone had cast it into the coldest vacuum of the universe.
It was a cold that possessed the power to turn not just the skin, but the final flame of life into ice.
As Luka's heartbeat flickered for the last time like a setting sun, a final echo of a question emerged from his trembling lips:
"Len... you... who are you, really?"
Len, who was no longer 'Len', leaned so close to Luka's face that their breaths began to collide.
When his lips moved, it was not the voice of a human; it was a vibration like an echo emerging from the center of a dying giant star.
He uttered only four words:
"You may call me 'Chaos'."
With the strike of those words, Luka sank into a deep sleep from which he had lost the way back.
He was now oblivious to the terror around him, but the entity standing over him was no longer a child.
The infinite darkness of Len's eyes was now exerting a silent and destructive pressure upon reality.
The room had been severed from the entire world, transformed into a frozen dimension.
In that part of the dungeon, there were no doors or windows installed; they were merely open gateways and alcoves carved into the stones.
When the bright light from outside entered through those open passages and struck Len's face, a horrific sight was revealed.
Ordinarily, eyes reflect light, but Len's eyes drew those rays toward them like a predator and swallowed them into that infinite darkness in the blink of an eye.
The torches on the walls were also helpless before this icy dominance.
They did not just go out; their orange flames had turned into stone in mid-air due to the cold coming from those open alcoves.
The dry sound of the huddling children's teeth chattering echoed in the corners.
Len leaned closer to Luka and pressed his face right next to his ear.
His voice held the sweetness of honey, yet the glacial chill dissolved within it was enough to make the soul shiver.
He whispered very softly:
"My dear brother... if your eyelids do not intend to wake from sleep, or if I feel that you have lost the strength to bring yourself out of this deep silence..."
"Then I will turn this weak existence of yours into ash at this very moment."
"I will grind you into the dust of this world so that you may never wake for anyone else."
"Because I love you very much, my dear brother... and if you cannot be mine, then you shall not be worthy of belonging to anyone in this world."
My dear brother... if you do not wake up, or if I ever feel that you can never wake up on your own, then I myself will destroy the very existence of this body of yours. Because I love you quite a lot."
As soon as Len said this, he stood up straight.
But at that very moment, as if nature had demanded an account of that power from his small body, a sharp and piercing pain erupted in his chest.
The agony was so sudden that Len's tongue became paralyzed in his throat.
He wanted to scream, but his lungs had turned to stone.
In an instant, that entire dark empire receded, and Len's body collapsed lifelessly onto the cold floor.
Two children—an older boy and a young girl—ran toward him.
The boy gathered Len in his arms and rested him on a wooden plank.
Len's body still shivered with that unknown pain, but as his breathing steadied, the agony began to settle like cold ash.
When Len opened his eyes, the infinite darkness had vanished.
Once again, that familiar golden and radiant glow floated within his pupils.
The mask of innocence had returned.
The young girl stroked Len's hair with trembling hands and asked with concern:
"What happened, brother? Are you okay?"
Len looked at her with his golden eyes and said innocently, "I don't know why I felt that pain... but no one hit me."
At the same time, Luka was under the shadow of a completely different world.
Before him lay a vast meadow, where a carpet of velvety green grass and colorful flowers was spread.
The sky above was a deep blue.
Amidst that golden sunlight, a young woman was running, her blue-milky hair waving in the breeze.
She was chasing a small child, holding the hem of her heavy gown.
While running, a few silken strands of her hair had scattered across her face from the gusts of wind.
She stopped for a moment, and with great grace and affection, she tucked those strands behind her ears using her fingers.
A radiant smile appeared on her face, and then, gripping her heavy gown upward again, she began to run across the grass with the same agility.
Her blue pupils were shimmering like precious sapphires in the brilliance of the sun.
Squeezing her pink lips, she made a sweet complaint once more:
"Eri! Why are you so naughty? Why do you play so much? Come back... at least listen to me for once!"
She laughed heartily, and within that laughter was a depth of belonging and maternal love that made 'Eri' feel like stopping the wheel of time there forever.
There were no vampires, no dungeons, and no fear.
His mother narrowed her eyes, looking up at the high branches with a flicker of suspicion.
"Luminous, how long have you been sitting up in that tree?" she asked.
"I've been here since the moment Eri's mischief began," Luminous replied with effortless grace as he descended from the tree.
Upon hearing this, his mother's face flushed with a hint of playful anger.
She puffed out her cheeks in a pout and complained:
"So, you've been watching me run around all this time and didn't bother to help?"
A honeyed sweetness, laced with a touch of mischief, drifted into Luminous's voice.
"Mother, I came here specifically to help you. I truly thought you might catch him yourself..."
"But how was I to know you would be so 'slow'?"
His mother made a face, huffing in annoyance.
"Fine! Do whatever you have to do, just catch him and bring him back to me!"
Luminous nodded with a light chuckle, but then paused, adding:
"Mother, you're a bit 'dumb' (naive), aren't you?"
"What did you expect? You're calling out to him so lovingly—do you really think he'll just listen and come back?"
His mother glared at him with sharp, piercing eyes.
"Enough! You bring him back now and I'll forget these remarks of yours."
"Otherwise, you're going to get a very sound thrashing today too."
Luminous made a face, feigning a look of mock terror.
"Alright, alright, I'm bringing him right now."
He turned and began walking in the direction where Eri had vanished.
With every step he took, the dormant flowers surrounding him began to unfurl their petals in a magical bloom.
He reached a spot thick with floral bushes and tangled vines.
Standing there, he neither raised his voice nor gave chase.
He simply spoke in a calm, steady tone:
"Eri... are you coming out on your own, or not?"
A few moments of silence followed. Not a single leaf stirred within the bushes.
A cold, knowing smile played on Luminous's lips.
He slowly raised his right hand into the air and began to curl his fingers inward, one by one.
He was tightening them into a firm, powerful fist.
In the next instant, a rustling sound cut through the air.
The tree's vines and creepers began to move of their own accord, as if pulled by an invisible thread.
Tangled within those vines, little Eri was dragged forward—without any force or struggle.
He was drawn by the constriction of the greenery until he landed right at Luminous's feet.
Luminous looked at his mother and said with immense pride:
"Mother, your culprit has been apprehended!"