Just then, a large, warm hand fell from behind, pressing heavily onto his violently trembling shoulder.
"You are no longer alone, Sodden."
Raine stood behind him, panting heavily. After Sodden was thrown out the door, Raine had thought he would be trapped in the Dwarf hall. Fortunately, he discovered that many parts of this illusion were incomplete. He easily smashed a hole through the hall wall and finally managed to find Sodden again.
The Dwarf slowly turned his head, his eyes still completely hollow.
"Sodden, we all need you. We are willing to entrust our backs to you. We want to see you at the victory banquet, happily raising a glass to drink with us." Raine’s hand pressed harder, as if trying to transfer his Power and conviction. "If you are willing, we are your new Clan, your way back, and your... home."
Hearing this, the Dwarf’s pain-filled body jolted violently. A faint glimmer of light began to struggle back to life within his brown eyes, which had been frozen by despair.
"Come back to us, big guy. We’ll fight together, and then go to our home!" Raine’s gaze was resolute as he gave Sodden a firm nod.
"Ugh!"
A muffled grunt of struggle finally escaped the Dwarf’s lips. The hand gripping the shattered emblem slowly loosened, as if it were no longer a mark of shame, but a testament to the past and the starting point of a new journey. He raised his other calloused hand and wiped his face hard, fiercely rubbing away the hot moisture that was about to spill over. When he looked at Raine again, those light brown eyes still held lingering pain, but their familiar determination and boldness had regained dominance.
"Young Earth Person... you’re right!" He gripped Raine’s hand tightly, giving a firm nod of his own. "I, Old Sodden, was almost buried by ancient history!"
He abruptly straightened his back, a low growl rumbling from his throat. "Let’s go! Let’s smash that damn black ash that manipulates minds into smithereens!
"Let it taste the price of angering a Dwarf... no, the price of angering our new Clan!"
The illusion abruptly vanished, and the suffocating sensation brought by the black mist surged back like a tidal wave.
Raine felt his brain buzzing. He was almost unable to breathe, and even his vision was becoming blurry. The churning black mist around him appeared so thick that it threatened to devour him at any moment. He could sense that his Life Force had likely bottomed out; he did not have much time left. Mustering every last ounce of his strength, he dashed toward the petite figure crouching on the ground, shivering uncontrollably. Reaching Winnie, Raine forced himself to stay alert and reached out to press against the pair of spiral black horns beneath her hood.
The moment they touched, the suffocating black mist retreated once more.
Raine found himself in a sunlit afternoon that offered no warmth whatsoever. The first thing he saw was a lush, ancient oak tree, and a tiny figure cautiously poking half her head out from behind it. She was a little girl of about five or six, incredibly frail with a sallow complexion that suggested malnutrition. Her messy dark brown hair, those distinct spiral black horns, and the slender tail swaying restlessly allowed Raine to recognize her at a glance—this was Winnie in her childhood. She wore a plain, coarse linen dress that was a bit too large; the hem nearly dragged on the ground, making her look even smaller. If not for the horns and tail, she would have looked no different from an ordinary little girl of the Human Race.
"Winnie!"
Raine tried calling out to her, but received no response. He reached out to touch her, only to be blocked by an invisible barrier. Unlike Sodden’s situation earlier, this barrier tightly encased Winnie herself, as if it were a protective shell built by her own heart.
Little Winnie was staring intently at the Shadow beneath the tree, where three children of her age crouched on the ground, engrossed in playing "house" with colorful pebbles and twigs. Their laughter drew her like a magnet. Raine could see that little Winnie’s gaze was incredibly full of longing; she wanted to join them but dared not approach. One of the children, a little girl with curly hair, noticed Winnie. Instead of immediately showing disgust like the other children, she simply blinked in curiosity. This insignificant curiosity was like a glimmer of light piercing through the darkness.
Mustering the greatest courage of her life, little Winnie inched out from behind the tree. She did not get too close, stopping a few paces away to look timidly at the "little house" they had built. The curly-haired girl hesitated for a moment, picked up the smoothest blue pebble, and tentatively held it out to her. "Do you want... to take a look?"
Raine could feel little Winnie’s heart pounding wildly. An unbelievable light instantly burst forth in her eyes, and even the entire space seemed to gain a hint of warmth as a result. However, the moment her fingertips barely brushed the surface of the stone, before she could even grasp it—
"Don’t touch her!"
A terrified, off-key soprano shriek tore through the tranquility. A middle-aged woman rushed out of the house like an enraged lioness, pulling the curly-haired girl behind her in one swift motion. She then viciously slapped the stone out of Winnie’s hand, acting as if it were not a stone but a venomous snake.
"You dirty little monster! Don’t you dare touch my daughter with your claws!"