Chapter 190: His long journey [3]

While walking, Carl glanced to the side and looked at Brandon.

He was way taller than him, despite the three year gap. So he had to look up.

"So your name is... Brandon?"

"Ah, yeah."

"I see...."

Different people had different circumstances. For whatever the reason why Brandon used an alias, it wasn't his business.

Looking ahead, a sense of familiarity washed over Carl.

The path to the village.

It came into view.

The familiar looking hill. The hill where Carl and Emi would often lay down and gaze at the stars.

His eyes lit up, a sense of excitement.

Looking around, the sun seemed to shine down and the sky was a beautiful clear and blue color.

Roses seemed to sprout in every corner, and it looked as if a rainbow had formed in the sky.

At that moment, an image overlapped.

The village head being overjoyed by his return. The villagers, celebrating with wide smiles on their faces.

Immediately, Carl frolicked and trudged the small grassy hill.

The sunlight casted down on him and Carl shaded his face with his hand.

He was home.

Finally.

After a long time.

After all the suffering.

He was finally back home.

His mouthed curled up into a wide grin.

"Come on, Emi!"

"Un!"

Holding his little sister's hand the two ran further up the hill with smiles on their faces.

And as expected.

"...."

There was no village.

Nothing but a pile of rubbles. Destruction ensued everywhere. The crops had all withered out, and the once–rich soil seemed to have died out due to drought.

Turning his head to the side....

"...."

....His sister wasn't there.

He was holding on to nothing but air.

"Haha."

He could only laugh at himself.

Right.

This whole time.

She was dead.

Ever since 'that' day, he had stopped seeing illusions of his little sister, Emi.

It wasn't as if he had just accepted her death. No, he had already known she was dead the whole time.

But he was lonely.

Tired.

Battered.

Bruised.

His mind played tricks on him, and Carl happily accepted his delusions.

It was his only way to cope with his suffering.

His little sister.

She was everything to him.

The only one who was by his side during tough times.

From going door to door, asking for food and the door being slammed shut in front of him.

Stealing food just so they could have something to fill their bellies for the day, and being roughly beaten up because of it.

All the kids he had fought for bullying his little sister because of her speech impairment.

All the towns they visited.

Everything.

He had done it all for his little sister.

And just when they had thought they had finally found a home.

The calamity.

As if the world was mocking them.

As if they never deserved to live a happy life.

Hours passed.

The rain eventually stopped, but Carl continued his desperate search.

Brandon stood watch, keeping an eye out for any danger, occasionally trying to tell him to stop and take a break.

But occasionally, he would help it out with the frantic search. Not just him, but Amelia as well.

As the sun began to set, Carl's hand brushed against something soft.

"...!"

His heart jumped as he carefully pulled it free from the wreckage.

It was the doll. Dirty, one arm missing. But unmistakably Emi's doll.

Carl clutched it to his chest, a sob escaping his lips.

For a moment, he was back in their old home,

Emi snuggled up next to him as the village head read her a bedtime story.

Her laughter, her warmth, the unconditional love in her eyes—it all felt so real.

"...."

But then reality crashed back. The cold, the emptiness, the aching loss.

Carl looked up at the darkening sky.

His brows furrowed and he clenched his fist.

Seething anger and despair boiled within him.

"Why?"

He shouted. His voice echoed amidst the wreckage, mixing with the soft drop of rain.

"Why did you take her? She was innocent! She never hurt anyone!"

His words faded into the night.

There were no answers here. No comfort. No justice.

No god to even grace him.

Carl slumped to the ground, still holding the doll.

He felt hollow, drained of everything but pain.

It was then.

"....Emi."

Another illusion.

No, she seemed real.

That smile on her face.

It was her.

Emi.

She was alive.

How?

This whole time.

Where were you?

My little sister.

My dear sister.

"Emi!"

He ran.

"Emi!"

He shouted.

"Emi!"

"Carl!"

Amelia and Brandon spoke in unison. But it all went to deaf ears.

Carl continued running.

"Emi! I've missed you!"

He leapt forward with his arms wide open, gesturing to embrace her.

"Haha."

He looked down and the ocean came into view.

Falling from a massive height, he turned around with a wide grin.

Of course, he knew.

She was never there.

Emi was always dead.

And for him, there was no point in living.

This was what he needed to find. The sole purpose of the request he had sent.

To return to the village that he knew was already destroyed.

To find the only trace of his late little sister.

And,

....To finally end his journey.