Heka said with a mischievous grin. "Okay. Just buy one toy. Don't take long! I don't want to get scolded."
"If you get scolded, I will protect you." Navi replied. A faint smile broke through his confusion.
Heka didn't have any idea what was going on. After all, his relief washed over him. They were still alive, somehow.
"Okay, let's go!!!" He said. He tried to steady his voice.
Suddenly, an icy paralysis gripped his legs. His entire body stiffened, as if frozen in place. He could only move his eyes. Panic surged through him as he turned to look at Navi. His body was frozen too, locked in the same eerie stillness.
From afar, A woman seemed to approach them. Her movements fluid and deliberate. "This is weird." Heka thought desperately. "Why can't I move at all? But, she moves freely?"
His heart pounded harder as dread settled in. The woman carried a blade. And the sight of it sent a shiver down his spine.
Without a word, she pressed the cold blade into his hand. Slowly, deliberately, she stabbed him, deeply, but with a peculiar gentleness.
Yet, to Heka's astonishment, he felt no pain from the prick. The blood that welled up flowed into a bowl she held carefully beneath his hand.
He wanted to scream, to run, to fight. Nevertheless, his body betrayed him. He was mute, trapped in silence. Only his thoughts could speak. He screamed into his mind. "Who are you? What are you doing to me?"
After draining his blood, the woman turned and walked away without a backward glance.
Seconds later, Heka felt the paralysis lift. His limbs regained their strength. But before he could move, he collapsed to the ground with a harsh cry.
"Auughh....!!!" The pain was sharp and overwhelming.
Navi's voice pierced the air. It was filled with terror and sorrow. "Heka...!!! Heka..!!!" He cried out. The tears streamed down his cheeks as he watched him fall and bleed.
Heka's gaze dropped to the ground. At his feet lay a large boulder, cold and unyielding. His wounded hand pressed against the rough stone. The pain radiated through his entire body. Blood flowed freely, staining the earth beneath him.
Dizziness overwhelmed him. His vision blurred. Old memories, once long buried, surged forward like a tidal wave.
He got something. It was her, that woman behind it all. The cause of his torment.
Because of her, he had endured endless pain and sleepless nights. Every day, he was haunted by a silhouette he could neither escape nor understand.
Questions flooded his mind, desperate and unanswered. "Who is she? Why did she do it for me?"
The answers seemed just out of reach, hidden in the depths of his fading consciousness.
This time, as the swirling illusion settled around him, Heka finally understood why Marchio had brought him back to this particular moment.
It was not a random point. It was the beginning of a drastic change in his life. A pivotal crossroads where everything he once knew would unravel.
He remembered clearly how life had been before. Back then, he lived normally, simple, peaceful days where sleep came easily and rest was a natural refuge.
When exhaustion overwhelmed him, he could simply surrender to sleep, letting his body and mind heal in the quiet dream.
But then, everything shifted.
His nights became restless battlegrounds. Sleep, once a gentle friend, turned into an elusive stranger. The torment of insomnia gripped him tightly, stretching over days, sometimes weeks. Dozens of sleeping pills, prescribed and taken in desperation, failed to bring relief. The dusk dragged on endlessly, each hour heavier than the last.
Yet, the cruellest part was that he could not remember why this woe had begun. The cause was a blank space in his memory, a void filled only with confusion and fear. All he knew was that something had disturbed his peace, something that shattered his ability to find rest.
And then, there was her, the woman. He did not know her name, nor had he ever met her before. However, their first encounter was marked by cruelty and pain. A brutal introduction that left scars deeper than any wound. Her motives were a mystery wrapped in darkness, and Heka had no answers.
Returning to this time meant facing the same suffering again. The relentless insomnia that no medicine could cure. It was a curse he was forced to endure, a shadow that would follow him endlessly.
His thoughts drifted to another figure, one name that lingered in his mind: Ansel.
"Am I going to meet Ansel too? Will he offer for Soul Delivery? Should I accept it? Or should I avoid it?"
Ansel was a man Heka had known not for a long time, yet understanding him was like trying to grasp smoke. From the beginning, Heka had sensed something unsettling about Ansel, a presence that was difficult to trust. Despite this, he had forced himself to resist the warnings his instincts whispered.
Now, it was clear. All the darkness that had invaded his life was tied to Ansel in some way.
Ansel was the one who had offered him Soul Delivery. A mysterious treatment that promised relief but at a terrible cost. He had also warned Heka to refuse it. A paradox that only deepened the confusion.
Ansel claimed he would always be there to help. Yet his help came with strings attached, pulling Heka deeper into a web of control and manipulation.
He treated Heka harshly, sometimes like an adversary rather than an ally, forcing him into situations that felt like traps. It was as if Ansel wanted to bind Heka's fate to his own, to make him a pawn in a game Heka barely understood.
Heka recalled the moments of torment and indecision. He had made the painful choice not to accept Ansel's help, to reject Soul Delivery despite the promises it held. He had wavered, tempted by the possibility of peace. But ultimately, he had stood firm.
He could not afford to make that mistake again. Not when the lives of their parents depended on it.
Even if it meant enduring a lifetime of suffering, sleepless nights, and endless pain. It was a price he was willing to pay. For him, preserving the souls of those he loved was worth more than any relief he could gain by sacrificing their essence.
This was his resolve: to protect his parents at all costs. Even if it meant walking through the darkest nocturne alone.