Chapter 15 — Departure
The morning they left Ashvale—
the sky was clear.
No rain.
No smoke.
Just cold sunlight stretching quietly across ruined rooftops.
It felt wrong.
Like the world had moved on too quickly.
Zero stood outside what remained of the house.
Or what used to be a house.
Part of the roof had collapsed inward during the attack. Burn marks still covered the walls while shattered wood remained scattered across the muddy ground.
Home.
The word no longer meant anything now.
Klaus adjusted the strap of the worn travel pack resting against his shoulder.
Bandages still wrapped tightly around his ribs and arm, but he ignored the pain completely.
The two boys had packed lightly.
A few clothes.
Dried food.
Water.
One old hunting knife Elias once carried.
Nothing else remained worth taking.
Silence settled between them while wind drifted softly through the empty street.
Then Klaus spoke quietly.
"…You ready?"
Zero looked toward the broken doorway.
For several seconds—
he didn't answer.
Because some broken part of him still expected Mira to step outside smiling softly with flour on her hands.
Expected Elias to complain about them damaging the fence again.
Expected normal.
But the house stayed silent.
Empty.
Dead.
"…Yeah."
The word sounded distant.
Klaus nodded once.
Neither lingered after that.
Because staying longer wouldn't change anything.
Before leaving the village—
Zero walked toward the graves.
Fresh earth stretched across the hill overlooking Ashvale.
Too many graves.
Too many names.
The attack had carved holes through nearly every family in the village.
Wind moved softly through the wooden grave markers while survivors placed flowers beside the dead in silence.
Mira and Elias rested beside each other near the edge of the hill.
Simple markers.
Nothing grand.
Just names carved into wood by exhausted hands.
Mira Vale.
Elias Vale.
Zero stopped in front of them without moving.
Klaus remained several steps behind quietly.
Giving him space.
Silence stretched.
The wind shifted faintly across the graves.
Then—
"You were wrong."
Zero's voice sounded low.
Flat.
"You said power wasn't what made someone matter."
The second heartbeat pulsed quietly inside his chest.
THUMP.
Zero lowered his gaze slightly.
And for the first time since the attack—
something painful moved behind his ribs.
Not grief.
Not fully.
Something sharper.
Regret.
A long silence followed afterward.
Then quieter—
"…I wanted that to be true."
The words barely sounded human now.
Not because they lacked emotion.
Because the emotion underneath them had frozen too deeply to surface properly.
Zero stared at Elias' grave marker.
"…but weak people still die first."
Klaus closed his eyes briefly hearing that.
Because he understood now.
Zero wasn't becoming cruel.
He was becoming empty.
The grief had hollowed something out inside him so completely that only one thing remained standing beneath the ruins.
Strength.
Only strength.
Because strength might have changed this.
Might have saved them.
Might have stopped the monsters.
Might have stopped the helplessness clawing endlessly through Zero's chest.
And now that belief was becoming absolute.
"I won't be weak again."
No hesitation.
No emotion.
Just certainty.
The kind born from someone who had already lost everything worth protecting.
Zero reached into his pocket afterward.
Then slowly placed a small wooden carving beside Mira's grave.
A wolf.
Roughly shaped.
Worn smooth with age.
Elias had carved it years ago after Zero destroyed part of the garden fence trying to fight Klaus with wooden sticks.
Mira laughed for nearly ten minutes afterward while Elias complained the entire evening while secretly carving the toy later that night anyway.
Zero used to keep it beside his bed.
Now he left it there silently.
A goodbye.
Not just to them.
To the boy who lived here.
The wind moved softly across the hill afterward.
Then Zero turned away.
Without another word.
Klaus looked toward the graves one last time before following behind him.
At the edge of the village—
Elder Rowan waited.
The old dominator looked exhausted now.
Older somehow.
Bandages wrapped tightly around his chest while dried blood stained parts of his armor.
Yet his presence remained steady.
Strong.
He carried a long dark cloak folded beneath one arm.
"You'll need this."
He handed it toward Zero.
"Ashvale can't give you much," Rowan said quietly, "but the Citadel is far from here. Hide your scars when possible."
Zero accepted the cloak silently.
Rowan's gaze shifted between the two boys afterward.
"The nearest imperial transit route is three days east. Stay away from the deep forest paths."
Klaus nodded once.
Then Rowan looked directly at Zero.
For several seconds—
neither spoke.
Finally—
"…Whatever you become," Rowan said quietly, "don't lose yourself completely."
Zero said nothing.
Because he wasn't sure there was enough left to lose.
The old chief seemed to understand that answer anyway.
He stepped aside afterward.
And the two boys began walking.
No ceremony.
No farewell gathering.
Just two figures leaving the only home they had ever known.
Halfway down the road—
Klaus glanced back once.
Ashvale looked smaller from a distance.
Broken rooftops.
Fresh graves.
Smoke drifting quietly into the morning sky.
Mira and Elias remained there now.
Buried within the village they protected until the end.
Klaus clenched his fists quietly.
Not revenge.
Not hatred.
Conviction.
He would become strong enough that nobody beside him would ever die helplessly again.
And more than that—
he would protect Zero.
Not because Mira and Elias would have wanted it.
Because Klaus himself wanted to.
Because somewhere beneath all the emptiness now walking beside him—
the boy who smiled faintly in the forest still existed.
Klaus refused to let him disappear completely.
Even if he had to drag him back himself.
Zero never looked back.
His eyes remained fixed ahead.
Cold.
Distant.
Fragments of memory still flickered faintly inside his mind.
A throne.
Chains.
Black skies.
And somewhere deep beneath all of it—
a single question.
Who was he?
THUMP.
The second heartbeat pulsed once more.
Then—
the blue screen appeared again before his eyes.
Transparent.
Silent.
Waiting.
Zero stared at it for several seconds.
Thoughts tangled endlessly inside his fractured mind.
Questions.
Pain.
Memories.
Power.
Everything collapsing together into noise.
Then finally—
he spoke a single word.
"…Status."