As the door slowly moved, it revealed to Talon the other side of the room. The all-too-familiar room he grew up in was there, almost as he left it before. Granted, most of it was destroyed after everything that happened, but that didn't change the core details of it.
Talon would easily recognize this room out of a thousand even in its current state. His eyes wandered around the place till they fell on them. Two Dimension Walkers were roaming the room aimlessly like puppets.
Seeing them, Talon felt his heart stop for a moment. His lips started shaking as his expression subtly shifted. He felt intense, suffocating emotions fill his head.
The monsters noticed his presence as they turned around and stared at him. However, Talon didn't seem bothered that they noticed him and instead slowly crouched down as he put his hand on his mouth. Then, he slowly gripped his face with considerable strength as he felt himself on the verge of losing it.
Meanwhile, the monsters started approaching him. Their intent was very clear. Yet, that didn't make Talon move as he kept looking down with dazed eyes. He seemed confused, lost, and perhaps even shocked.
"Son!" His father saw that and tried to pull him back. However, at that moment, Talon slowly stood up as he looked at the monsters. At this point, they were already within range to attack him.
"Talon!!" His father felt his heart almost stop at that moment as he watched the monsters attack.
However, Talon suddenly vanished like a ghost.
*Swish* *BOOOOOOM*
When he appeared again, he had one of the dimension walkers held by the face as he smashed him into the wall violently. The monster's head burst open with ease and its core was destroyed. But, Talon didn't stop there as he suddenly grabbed the monster's arm and then threw it to the other side of the room using way too much force.
The monster's body smashed against the wall violently, destroying it completely. Talon then rushed toward it as he jumped on top of it. Then, with a single pull, he detached its arm from its body. He did the same for the rest of its limbs.
Acrypha and his father watched the scene in speechless shock. Neither of them could understand what just happened. But, the first to snap out of it was Acrypha who flew toward him.
The young man continued assaulting the monster's body again with punches as he stared down at it coldly. His face lost all its previous light as he rained down on it with a beating.
"It's already dead, Talon." She tried to stop him. But, Talon didn't listen.
The monster's body was completely wrecked by that point. Talon completely destroyed it to pieces. By the time he had a black, gooey mess on his hand, he stopped and heaved up and down.
Then, he stood up and stared at his hands. Then, as if he realized what he had done, he quickly shook them to get rid of the residue and turned around. There, only one monster was left and it was already rushing toward him.
However, unlike the first one, Talon didn't immediately attack it. Instead, he stepped back and let it move past him.
The monster fell to the ground and tried to stand up again. Meanwhile, Talon kept staring at it silently. His dead cold eyes flashed with a myriad of emotions, many of which were incomprehensible. His teeth dug into his lower lip till blood seeped out of them.
"It's me, Talon. I came back, Mom. Did you miss me?" He said. "I've missed you... a lot. Sorry, I couldn't come back during the break. I had to work.
You've told me that I should take care of myself and not overwork. But, I didn't follow that advice well enough. I've tried to use every hour of my day to work. I've wanted to give you a better future than the one we had to live through. I wanted to be a neurosurgeon and achieve your dream."
"..." The monster didn't react to a single word he said as if it didn't hear him.
"Now that I think about it if I actually listened to you and came back during the break. Things could've changed. I could've changed everything. But, all I did was focus on work and college instead of you. I have done the thing that I didn't want to do the most."
Talon realized that he, who thought that he valued his family more than anything, was the one to disregard it when it mattered.
"If I knew how stupid I was... If I just listened." As he spoke, Talon's head slumped down. "I'm sorry... for everything. I'm sorry for not coming back soon enough."
Even as he apologized, Talon only felt worse with each passing second. He knew that nothing he did at that moment would change what happened. He had lost one of the most important people in his life. The person that has been his safe place from the cruel world. He had lost one of the reasons why he even worked hard in the first place.
A good chunk of his purpose in life was thrown out of the window.
Acrypha watched from the side as she cried silently. She couldn't bear to see such a scene and yet couldn't pull her eyes away.
"I'm really sorry."
"It's not your fault! If there is one person that should apologize, it's me!" His father interjected.
"Dad?" Talon looked up at his father.
"I failed you both!" Grabbing his clothes, he yelled. "I have lived because you sacrificed your life instead of mine."
As he said those words, he remembered the last words he heard from his beloved wife. Right before she closed the door, he heard one sentence.
"I love you both... So much." With a warm smile, she left that as the last memory he had of her. As much as he cherished it, it was also the source of his greatest pain.
He wanted to hear those words again from her. He wanted to hug her again and apologize till he couldn't talk anymore. He wanted to apologize for all the mistakes he made in their lives. The hardships he put the family through chasing his fleeting dream of a successful career writing books.
But, even then, he didn't wish that he would've died instead of her. Simply because he knew that it was akin to insulting her sacrifice. She had decided to put his life before hers without hesitation.
She had chosen him, even in death.
A//N: If you enjoyed reading, don't forget to support the book with GT and PS. Thank you!