After some time, Nyx pushed himself off the broken bed, his limbs stiff and sore, as though sleep had drained rather than restored him. The inside of the hut was suffocatingly silent, lit only by the dull, flickering glow of the dying chimney. Shadows danced across the crumbling walls, stretching and curling like fingers trying to claw their way out of the dark.
He walked to the crooked door, which moaned on its rusted hinges as he pushed it open. What lay beyond looked less like a village and more like the corpse of one.
The night outside was pitch black—unnaturally so. It felt heavier than any normal night, as if the darkness itself had mass and breath. The air was still—too still. Not a single leaf rustled. Not a single insect buzzed. It was a silence that didn't feel empty... it felt watchful.
Nyx stepped cautiously out into the open, the dry dirt cracking under his weight. The road ahead was warped and uneven, its stone slabs broken and half-buried under layers of dust and creeping moss. Strange black cracks webbed across the ground like veins.
The houses lining the road looked like they had been built centuries ago and left to rot. Their walls leaned at odd angles, some partially collapsed, their wooden frames clawed and splintered by time. Windows were either shattered or boarded up, some creaking slightly in the faint breeze that somehow never touched Nyx's skin. Doors hung open like mouths frozen mid-scream. Every step he took echoed far too loudly, as if the village was amplifying his presence—alerting something he couldn't see.
He wandered a bit further and peeked into one of the houses. Inside was worse.
It was empty, yes—but not in a normal way. Furniture wasn't missing. It had been removed. Deliberately. The floor was swept clean, unnaturally clean, except for a thick layer of dust that hadn't been disturbed in years. There were no cobwebs, no signs of insects, no bones of animals—nothing that made sense for a village long forgotten.
The village hadn't just been abandoned.
It had been emptied.
And whatever had emptied it… had done so quietly.
The entire place felt like a painting—something lifeless pretending to be real. Like the moment he turned his back, it might rearrange itself. His skin prickled with goosebumps as he backed out of the doorway.
'What the hell...? Where am I now?' Nyx thought, his eyes darting nervously from house to house.
[How the hell should I know that?]
Love replied, her voice calm but clearly irritated in his head.
Startled, Nyx turned abruptly. "And who the hell asked you—wait a minute," he paused, realization dawning on his face, "you can hear my thoughts?"
[Yes, I can. So what?]
Love's voice answered smoothly, unbothered.
Nyx blinked, stunned. "Then why didn't you tell me this before? You've been spying on my mind!"
[I didn't tell you because there was no point. And what exactly am I supposed to spy on? Your half-melted brain?]
"Fuck you!" he snapped, his voice thick with irritation as he looked around again at the oppressive darkness.
Nyx hadn't really given it much thought—whether or not Love could actually hear his thoughts. And if she could, well… he hadn't really cared. At least, not until she said it out loud.
Her voice curled into his mind like smoke.
[I can hear your thoughts... but not all of them.]
Nyx blinked. "What do you mean?"
There was a brief pause, then her voice returned, soft and oddly amused.
[I mean, I can only hear the thoughts you want me to hear. A human mind is always working—you don't even realize how many thoughts you have in a single second. So I can't exactly tune into everything. Just what slips through... or what you subconsciously want me to hear.]
"Oh." Nyx let out a small breath, shoulders loosening as a quiet wave of relief settled over him. That… made it a little better. Not much, but a little.
Love went silent for a moment.
"So just to confirm," Nyx said, breathing in deeply, "only I can hear you, right?"
[Yes.]
"Hmph. Fine. Let's put that aside for now and focus on getting the hell out of this creepy village," he muttered, folding his arms and narrowing his eyes as he scanned the abandoned road ahead.
He took a few more steps forward, thoughts churning uneasily in his mind.
"What kind of people would even attack me?" he mumbled. "I have a few guesses about who those guys could be."
[And what are those guesses?]
Love asked, now slightly more curious.
Nyx stopped walking and turned his gaze upward, thinking carefully.
"I think... they were trying to kidnap me."
[Why would anyone kidnap a retard like you?]
"Hey! I might be... mentally lacking, but I'm still a prince, dammit," he argued, jabbing a finger toward the sky as if declaring it to the gods. "That still makes me valuable to some people."
He paused, then continued in a quieter voice, "And maybe, when they realized I wasn't going to cooperate, they decided to kill me instead."
He began pacing in place, muttering aloud as he worked through the scenario.
"Or maybe... maybe they thought I was someone else. Because I was dodging their attacks, right? And someone like Nutty wouldn't be able to move like that."
He felt a little embarrassed in saying 'Nutty' word but he said it.
He shrugged to himself. "So they must've thought, 'This guy's dangerous. Let's kill him before he becomes a problem.'"
[But you didn't even see their faces, and they attacked you in your sleep, aiming to kill you from the start. So all of that? It's wrong.]
Nyx's shoulders slumped a little. "Hmm... yeah. I forgot about that. That means... I was wrong."
[Thank you for finally admitting it. Now, can you stop wasting time and think about what to do next?]
Love replied, her voice calm but firm.
Nyx looked up at the night sky—or at least, the thick, starless expanse above him where the sky was supposed to be.