Chapter 1565 Rest

Chapter 1565 Rest

The huts were either blown away by the winds or eaten by the bugs and rats.

Snakes roamed here and there before the cold reptiles slithered into the warm beds where once families slept.

The few animals that were domesticated by the village, a couple cows and a few dozen hen, were long dead. Their flesh was eaten and blood sucked, leaving only the bones to be rotten in the open.

North of the village, the square where they gathered for collective meals, always bustled with life. Now, it was empty...except for rolling dust and haunting echoes of the chatter that once filled it.

Carried in his arms, Zenny looked at the sight with a bleak gaze.

"S-Savior, Let me...down..."

Why?

Holding himself back, he released the girl carefully, treating like a delicate glass that would break upon even the slightest excess of force.

Zenny's thin and short frame, a bag of bones coverd up by a blanket of skin, stumbled as it moved forward.

She touched the large pot in which the food was cook with a nostalgic expression before moving to a tree.

'This tree...'

Varian held his breath without realizing.

Zenny's parents died when she was very young.

The day before he fell ill, this was the place where her uncle, the only member she could call her family, talked to her before he left the village.

Noticing the signs of their Savior's worsening health, he volunteered to be the scout for the team that would follow.

Before he left, he requested Zenny to help the Savior if he fell ill. To take care of him as if she would take care of her uncle. To treat him with care and gentleness.

Varian still remembered the words the older man said to his niece.

"Zenny, you're a strong girl, right? That's why I'm entrusting you the responsibility of taking care of his health. This is the most important thing in your life. If he's fine, everyone will be fine. He's our faith, hope and salvation."

"Yes! Leave it to me, Uncle! I will take care of him, no matter what!"

No matter what...

An adult would've mistaken the child's words as a mere exaggeration to sound good, but Zenny meant what she said.

And that's why...

"U-Uncle, he's good now...he's all good now. S-Savior is fine...so, everyone will be fine, right?"

The girl knelt under the knee, touching the soil as if she wanted to trace the past through her fingers.

There was a smile on her face as she spoke to him in broken words and cracked up voice. And her cheeks were flooded with tears that she couldn't stop.

"I did it...I did it...so...come back...please..."

Zenny's wails stopped and she raised her head to look at him.

On the face he expected to see hatred, he only found tranquility. Not the tranquility that would come out of serenity, but the tranquility before the final sleep.

"I...I see...Sav-No, Mister, thank you for telling me." Zenny wiped the corner of her eyes and looked at the tree with fondness. "Uncle, you heard that right? Everything was a lie. There was no savior, no paradise. It was a lie. Since it's all a lie, I don't have to keep fighting anymore."

Her voice grew incrediblyweak but a smile adorned her face for the first time in months.

"It was so painful...so hard...so lonely. It hurt so much. I'm tired...I want to...rest." Zenny muttered and slowly turned to him.

"M-Mister...can you please...put me to rest...so that I can never wake up again? It's too...p-painful."

Varian had to muster all his strenght to give a small nod.

"Thank you so much!" Zenny smiled, a bright, innocent and peaceful smile.

"I..." Varian brought his hand to the back of her neck and tried to say something before the deed. But words weren't leaving his mouth.

He could feel the fragile neck of this girl, her weak breath and even hear the dull sound of her heart.

How fragile...

How fragile she was...

And she took care of him alone for a whole year? With this fragile body?

"I'm s..."

Varian's voice broke and he choked.

"Please...put me to sleep, Mister. I'm tired...too tired." Zenny begged, bringing his arm firmly to the back of her fragile neck.

Varian's chest tightened and it felt like someone punched him in the gut.

"I-It's been so long since I had a good sleep," Zenny whispered.

Yes, how could she have slept properly she woke up in the middle of nights to rush to his care?

"So...please...let me rest..."

Varian opened his eyes wide and looked into her eyes, imprinting her face as his hand suddenly tightened around her neck, breaking it.

It was so sudden that Zenny's last expression was a slight discomfort in addition to the smile on her face.

He burned that sight into his mind, to remember that this was the price he had to pay for the grand mission he was about to undertake.

'I will win, I promise.'

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The world shattered.