Felix was exhausted.
His breathing was fast and shallow. Sweat ran down his face. His arms and legs were sore. His hands hurt from blocking and striking. He had given everything in the fight, but something had changed.
The air felt different.
He blinked, wiping his eyes, and forced himself to stand again. His body screamed in pain, but he didn't stop.
Then he noticed something.
The walls around him—those plain, gray stones—weren't empty.
They had carvings.
Maybe they had always been there. Or maybe they only appeared now.
He walked closer. The light flickered, casting shadows over the stone pictures.
They didn't show warriors or monsters.
They showed pain.
A small boy stood alone in a courtyard. His clothes were ripped. Flames burned his sleeves. In another carving, adults stood nearby, cold and uncaring, watching as the boy fell to his knees. No one helped him.
Another picture showed a broken talisman on the ground. The boy sat curled up in a corner. His head was buried in his arms. Behind him, a tree stood black and burnt, its branches like reaching fingers.
Felix stared.
These weren't just pictures. These were memories.
He reached out and touched the wall, his fingers gently tracing the rough lines.
"Who are you?" he whispered. "Was this you?"
He looked back at the statue.
It hadn't moved.
It stood frozen, its glowing blue eyes flickering, unsure.
Felix felt it now. Not anger. Not killing intent. Something deeper.
Sadness. Loneliness.
Then the statue charged.
Felix braced himself—but as the moment came, he couldn't strike.
He stopped. His palm hovered in the air, just inches from the statue's body.
But his eyes weren't on the statue anymore.
They were on the wall.
On the carving of the boy sitting under the burnt tree.
He looked so small. So broken.
The statue froze, too. Its arm trembled.
Felix let out a slow breath.
"You're not my enemy," he said softly.
His voice echoed in the silent chamber.
He looked into those blue eyes again—not with anger, but with understanding.
"You were that child… weren't you?"
Everything changed.
The heavy feeling in the air didn't leave—but it became something else.
Not fear. Not rage.
Sorrow.
The statue's glowing eyes dimmed, like it were lost in memory.
It looked confused. Hurt.
Felix took a step back, not in fear, but to give it space.
His heart beat loud in his chest—not from the fight, but from something else. Something tender.
The statue stayed still.
Felix placed a hand over his chest.
"Who taught you to fight like this?" he asked, voice shaking. "Who told you pain was the only way to live?"
The statue didn't speak—but it shook.
Tiny cracks appeared on its stone body, glowing blue like lightning.
Felix didn't attack.
He waited.
"You were hurt," he said. "They left you alone. Didn't they?"
The carvings on the wall shimmered faintly.
He saw more now.
A child, holding out a drawing, smiling. But the adult pushed it away.
The boy tried to use a talisman—it fell apart.
People laughed. A cruel, ugly sound.
Felix clenched his fists.
"You just wanted someone to see you."
The statue's arm dropped to its side.
Then it took a step forward.
Felix stayed still. He didn't raise a weapon.
He looked into the glowing blue eyes—now barely lit.
"You don't need to fight anymore."
The room went quiet again.
Then, a soft voice echoed in his mind.
"I don't want to be alone anymore."
It was faint. Scared.
Felix's eyes widened.
He stepped forward slowly.
"You're not alone," he said. "I'm here. I see you."
More cracks spread across the statue's chest. They glowed gently.
Felix reached out a hand—not to fight, but to comfort.
"It's okay now. You can rest. You don't have to hurt anymore."
The statue began to shake. A low hum filled the air.
One carving on the wall glowed. The burnt tree… now shimmered with a hint of green leaves.
Something was changing.
Felix's hand hovered near the statue's face.
"Jim."
He didn't know why he said the name. It just came from somewhere deep inside.
The statue's eyes widened.
A single tear of glowing blue light rolled down its cheek.
Then it knelt.
Its light faded—not from defeat, but from peace.
Felix knelt too.
He placed a hand on the statue's shoulder.
"You're not alone anymore," he whispered.