Ellara gasped as the suffocating darkness dissolved.
She stood in the cemetery clearing once more.
The fog thicker than before, swirling like restless spirits.
A sharp, metallic scent filled the air, and she stumbled back, her breath hitching.
Her trembling eyes scanned the eerie expanse until they locked onto a figure in the distance.
It was a boy.
He stood amidst the gravestones.
His red hair vivid against the pallid glow of the moon.
His clothes, noble in design and pristine in their original state, were now tattered and stained.
The base of his neck glistened with fresh blood.
Crimson rivulets spilling down his collar and pooling at his chest.
More blood seeped from his mouth and nose.
But his face remained eerily calm, save for the piercing gaze of his red eyes that bore into her.
Ellara froze.
Her heart pounding in her ears.
The boy tilted his head slightly.
His lips parting as he spoke in a voice both soft and haunting.
"Why did you do it, Elara?"
The question struck her like a thunderclap.
Her eyes widened.
Her lips trembling as she took a step back.
Her body moved instinctively, but her mind was paralyzed, unable to process the weight of his words.
"I... I..."
She stammered, her voice barely audible.
The boy's gaze didn't waver.
But something in his expression seemed to twist with sorrow and accusation.
"Why did you leave me?"
Her chest tightened painfully.
Tears welled in her eyes.
Spilling over silently as her legs gave way, and she sank to her knees.
She couldn't breathe, couldn't think.
The boy's words dug into her, carving out a pit of guilt and confusion she couldn't escape.
"No..."
She whispered, her voice cracking.
"I didn't... I wouldn't..."
Her eyes darted around, desperate for some explanation, some answer to this nightmare.
They landed on a shard of glass glinting faintly in the moonlight, half-buried in the dirt.
Trembling, she reached for it, her fingers brushing against the cold surface.
She begged.
"Please...stop!"
The boy reached out, his cold, bloodstained fingers brushing against her cheek.
"You left me..."
He said, his voice barely a whisper.
"You left me all alone."
His touch was like ice, sending a shock through her body.
She scrambled back.
Her small hands digging into the dirt as she tried to put distance between them.
"I don't remember!"
She screamed, her voice echoing through the cemetery.
"I don't remember anything!"
The boy stood slowly, his expression unreadable.
The blood at his neck and mouth seemed to flow more freely now, staining the ground beneath him.
"You do..."
He said, his voice calm but filled with an ominous certainty.
"You do remember everything..."
Ellara's gaze darted around the cemetery, desperate for some sign of escape.
But the gravestones loomed like silent sentinels.
Their inscriptions blurred and unreadable.
The fog thickened, curling around her like a living thing, trapping her in its cold embrace.
The boy began to walk away, his figure fading into the mist.
"Come find me, sis..."
He said, his voice carrying through the eerie stillness.
"Come find me... and remember."
She tried to call out to him, to demand answers, but her voice caught in her throat.
The cemetery seemed to close in around her.
The shadows growing darker and more oppressive.
She clutched her chest, her breathing ragged as the world spun around her.
And then, just as suddenly as it began, the world went still.
The fog receded, the shadows softened, and Elara was left alone, kneeling in the dirt with her small hands trembling in her lap.
Her mind raced, her heart pounding as she stared at the empty space where the boy had stood.
His words echoed in her mind, carving themselves into her very being.
"Come find me... and remember."
Ellara's tear-filled eyes flicked toward the shard of glass lying nearby.
She hesitated, then picked it up once more, her small hands clutching it tightly.
The reflection of the young girl stared back at her, wide-eyed and afraid.
"Why now...?"
She whispered to the girl in the glass, though she already knew the answer.