Few minutes after Jinx finished dressing, she neared her bed and sat on it. She shifted her gaze and looked at Lena.

Lena sat beside Jinx, placed a hand on her shoulder, and exhaled softly. "I know you visited his village, and Gray took him as his own. So, since he's not here anymore, I want you to tell me what you found in the city."

Soft wind flew between them, raising Jinx's white hair slightly to her face, which she curled to the back of her right ear.

"Hmm," Jinx tore her gaze to the window, watched the birds flapping their wings, and placed her face in her palm as she closed her eyes.

"Gilgal Village is where he is from," Jinx said, tilting her closed eyes and covered face to Lena's direction.

"…and what?" Lena asked, not wanting Jinx to pause the moment she heard the name of the village.

'Gilgal Village? Isn't that the same place Gray used to say his elder brother was twenty years back?' Lena's mind reeled with questions and words she had heard from Gray before her transfer.

"The Priestess said he alone buried his mother when she died of a strange illness," Jinx removed her palms from her face and cracked her eyes open.

She stood up as if an invisible force had instructed her to, then walked to her wardrobe. She sighed heavily the moment she pulled out a photo that she'd placed in one of her pink books.

Her footsteps came in soft as she returned to the bed and handed the photo to Lena. The moment Lena's hand touched the photo, Jinx saw an extremely saddened expression tear onto Lena's face.

'Does she know someone in the photo?' Jinx thought as she kept a steady stare at Lena.

On the other hand, Lena's fingers flickered on the faces of the man and the lady with blue hair in the photo. The more her fingers pressed the photo, the more her heart heaved.

"FENLORE!" A name echoed from Lena's mouth three minutes after staring at the brown-haired man's face.

Her voice echoed softly, pushed the leaves closer to the window out as the air it carried bashed out of the room at great speed.

She crumpled the photo, covered her eyes from shedding tears, and stood up by the window's side.

Seeing the reaction Lena portrayed, Jinx's eyes opened wide as she stood there with thoughts she couldn't think of.

'…Is she a close relative to Kai's family?'

'…wait, does that mean…'

Jinx's mind stopped reeling when she saw Lena turn and stare at her.

"Fenlore is—he is Gray's older brother," Lena said with shaking lips that made the words flap in her throat before emerging from her.

"WHAT?!" Jinx stood up in an instant, spread her arms sideways, and stared at Lena, shocked.

"Gray used to say a lot about him and his twin brother, Fenlore." Lena paused, turned back, and tilted her gaze to the bright late-morning sky.

'Does that mean Lieutenant Gray knew Kai was of his own blood?' Jinx thought as she slowly moved toward Lena. 'No! I don't think he knew.'

When she stopped by the window, sobbing laughter struck her ear, forcing her mind to pause.

And for a fleeting second, Jinx saw tears dripping down from Lena's face while she laughed heartedly.

"Fenlore… Fenlore… Fenlore… Why didn't you tell us you had a son before?" Lena slammed her palm on the wall, letting dust of wood and sand fall from the wall, both on the inside and outside the room.

She focused her gaze on the brown and blue birds hovering under the clouds as they circled around each other.

"So, does that mean Lieutenant Gray had a twin brother?" Jinx asked, breaking the mixture of holistic and hellish moment Lena was in.

"Yes!" Lena said, tilting her gaze to Jinx. "They were the best twins I would ever meet."

"And where is Fenlore? The village said he vanished without a trace," Jinx asked in a soft tone that vibrated through her before exiting her throat.

Her face softened the moment she noticed Lena's lips shaking, almost as if she wanted to say something but her throat wasn't giving her the chance to.

"He… He vanished not from this country alone," Lena paused and placed her right palm on her chest. "He vanished from existence."

Three leaves spun from the branch of the tree that stretched to the window, drifted in the air, and then landed at the stool of the window where Lena's palms were.

Slowly, she raised her finger, touched the first one, which flew back and fell before her finger could land. She moved her finger to the second, which also did the same. But as she hesitated on the third, the leaf moved to her of its own will, touching her index finger.

…

Soft salty wind splashed on Kai as he remained the only person by the shore, staring at the ash-filled jar.

He wiped the mucus from his nose using his left palm, swiped the mucus from his arm, and then moved forward to where the waves touched.

Kai spread his arms wide, closed his eyes, and screamed. "WHY ME!"

The seabirds dived toward him at great speed and circled around him as if he himself was a corpse.

"WHY DON'T YOU KILL ME INSTEAD OF KILLING EVERY LAST ONE OF THOSE I TEND TO LOVE. WHY!!"

No matter how much his voice sounded, more and more birds neared him, spinning around him as if he was a god to them.

A crackling sound erupted from Kai's knuckles as he tightened his fingers around the jar and loosened his leg, letting himself fall face-up in the wailing waves.

Water splashed on where he stood, clearing his footprint that had been left on the sand.

Though his face was swallowed by the moving waves, his tears didn't stop; they kept on mixing with the salty water.

And as the waves pushed him forward, the birds moved along, flapping their wings atop him and crying loudly.

…

At the center of the bamboo forest, Jude paused as he heard the cries of the seabirds echoing loud.

"How do I hear the seabird's cry from here?" he said, tilting his gaze at the canopies of the bamboo trees, thinking the birds were right at his top.

"There's not a single one here, so how is that possible?" He began to move slowly, tilting his gaze sideways, trying to see if he could spot just a single seabird around him.

But as he neared the exit of the bamboo forest and saw countless seabirds spiraling around a moving body that had moved to almost twelve feet into the sea, his heart skipped.

Jude dashed forward, skittering over the jagged stones until he reached the shore. And when he saw the blue and black hair of the person, his eyes widened, leaving him with an extremely shocked expression.

'KAI?!' He screamed in his thoughts, then threw himself into the sea. He paddled, throwing his arms into the high arching waves, and moved forward.

Reaching the still body being moved by the direction of the waves, Jude ducked under the right arm of Kai and swam backward.

Though he had gained experience in swimming, saving someone from the sea was something he'd never tried or thought of doing.

With all his might, Jude struggled. At a point, the still body fell on him after a huge wave struck him underneath the body, almost drowning him instead.

Yet he never let go; he hurled both himself and the still body to the shore. And as he lay on the ground on his back, he coughed a lot of water from his mouth.

When he turned and saw Kai still not breathing, Jude crawled toward him, crossed his palms, and pressed them on Kai's chest.

"Come on… Come on…" he screamed as he pressed down countless times. Beads of tears snaked on his face, mixing with the remains of the salty water, and dripped onto Kai's body.

"Wake up… Wake up… Wake up!" He paused, screamed, then raised his right arm upward. The arm turned into a fist as he shoved it downward, slamming it hard on Kai's chest.

The impact sent Kai's body shaking, yet he wasn't awake.

"You're the only friend I have had throughout my stay here," Jude said as he continuously slammed his fist on the boy's chest as if he was a punching bag.

"I can't live without you!" He paused, panted for a minute, then raised both arms and struck them on Kai's chest.

Tiny particles of dust shot up from the ground beneath Kai's body the moment Jude stopped and sat beside the still body.

At that instant, two birds—one seabird and one black crow—moved toward Kai's body. At first, Jude shoved them away, but as he noticed they weren't stopping, he stopped and lay on the ground beside the still body.

"What may be may be," he said, closing his eyes and wrapping his arms around the left arm of Kai.

When the two birds moved back to the still body, the crow struck its beak at the left side of Kai—where the white cloth, which had turned brown, was—tearing the cloth from the skin.

The seabird, on the other hand, stood at the top of Kai's chest, staring at the closed eyes.

It spread its wings wide and shot out a loud cry that made Jude jolt upward.

Instead of driving them off again, Jude didn't. He stood there, shocked, the moment he saw the black line at where the cloth covered, moving on the body like a snake.

His heart heaved as his breath came in shallow. And when the seabird began bouncing air on the face of the still body, Jude stumbled two steps back.

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