The air inside the foundry was thick-a suffocating mixture of molten iron, burnt oil, and the relentless grit of coal dust. For Ren, the deafening rhythmic clanging of heavy machinery had long ceased to be noise; it was the heartbeat of his captivity. He was twenty years old today, and yet, as he heaved a glowing iron rod, his body felt decades older, worn down by a life spent fueling a fire that gave nothing back.
Every time his hammer struck the glowing metal, it wasn't just work. It was a silent, desperate strike against a fate that had kept him bound to this soot-stained floor.
A single droplet of sweat rolled down his forehead, carving a path through the grime before dripping onto the Silver Chain dangling from his neck. Ren paused for a heartbeat, his calloused fingers instinctively gripping the cold metal link.
Ren (Internal Monologue): "Twenty years... ten of them spent in this hell. They say time heals, but this heat? It only serves to keep the old wounds raw."
In the flicker of the furnace flames, the ghosts of the past clawed their way back into his mind. He could still smell the rain from that cursed night ten years ago-the night the world was washed away, leaving behind only the metallic scent of blood on the pavement. He remembered his ten-year-old self kneeling in the mud, screaming for parents who would never answer, while a sleek, luxury car sped into the darkness, indifferent to the lives it had just shattered.
Hiro (Calling out from a distance): "Oi, Ren! Stop acting like a statue! Shut the machine down, the shift is finally over!"
Hiro's voice acted like an anchor, pulling Ren back from the dark abyss of his memories. Hiro and Taki approached him, their faces smeared with the same black soot, yet their eyes held a flicker of something Ren had almost forgotten: Hope.
Taki (Grinning widely): "Guess what, brother? The boss actually coughed up a bonus today! No more of that watery orphanage soup tonight. We're going to eat like kings."
Ren looked at his friends-the only family he had left in a world that had tried its best to erase him. Their laughter was the only thing that made the weight of the silver chain feel a little lighter.
Ren: "A bonus? Maybe today isn't as cursed as I thought.