Extra's Descent

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.

He looked up.

"...."

The sky was never blue.

It was nothing but a bleak gray color.

There was no rainbow.

Drip. Drip…!

And it was already raining.

This was reality.

The world….

…..It didn't want them here.

They had no place to be here.

No place to be happy.

He cursed the gods.

And he as well…

He was probably cursed.

How could one person suffer this much?

He was nothing but a poor orphan. A 14 year–old boy.

He lost his family, and he had lost his adorable little sister.

He lost everything.

Carl stood motionless, staring at the ruins of his village.

Drip. Drip…!

The rain intensified, soaking through his clothes. But he barely noticed.

His eyes wandered over the devastation, searching for any sign of life, any hint that his memories weren't just cruel illusions.

There was nothing.

No laughter of children playing. No smell of freshly baked bread. No warmth of community that had once embraced him and Emi.

Emi.

The thought of her name sent a fresh wave of pain through his chest.

He could almost hear her voice, soft and slightly stumbling over words, calling out to him.

"...."

But it was just the wind, whistling through the broken remnants of homes.

From behind him, footsteps could be heard, muffled by the wet grass.

"Carl... I'm sorry."

Brandon's voice.

"...."

Carl didn't respond.

His eyes were fixed on a particular pile of rubble—what used to be their home with the village head.

The place where he and Emi had finally felt safe. Where they had dared to dream of a future.

He slowly walked towards it.

Each step felt heavy, as if something was dragging him down and stabbing his heart.

Kneeling down, Carl began to dig through the debris with his bare hands.

Splinters dug into his skin, but he didn't care.

He had to find something, anything.

Anything so he could never forget Emi for as long as he lived.

"What are you looking for?"

Amelia asked, concern evident in her tone.

"Her doll."

Carl muttered, as he continued searching.

"Emi's doll. I made it for her birthday. It... it has to be here."

The two didn't seem to try and stop him. He understood the need to cling to something,

Carl needed this. The doll… as if it was his only source of salvation.

Just anything, when everything else had been taken away.

As Carl dug, memories flooded back.

The day he had given Emi the doll. Her eyes lighting up, her arms wrapping around him in a tight hug.

The way she had carried it everywhere, even as the fabric became worn and dirty.

"I promised her."

Carl whispered, his voice breaking.

"I promised I'd always protect her."

Drip.

The rain mixed with tears on his face.

His hands seemed to bleed, but he couldn't stop. He had to find it. He had to have something left of her.

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.