“Hello, Noah…”

When the shadowy figure approached Noah's field of vision, he felt a strong sense of relief and happiness. He took a gulp before blurting out, “M-mother…”

Every step Dorothy made as she got closer to Noah had ripples sent across the vast lake. “If you’re seeing this…” she sighed. “I must have died.”

“What do you mean d-dead…? You’re standing right there in front of me…?”

“You must have a lot of questions…” Dorothy added. “But I’m sorry that I won’t be able to answer them, so please sit there,” she motioned to a wooden stool that animated behind Noah. “This could be a long talk.”

Noah, filled with a plethora of mixed and complex emotions, did as he was told.

Dorothy then continued, “You see… I…”

“No!” Noah said as he felt someone tightly clutching his chest and a tense jolt raced from his fingers all the way to his toes. “Don’t say it!”

“…Am a pre-recording which I sent to you at the last moment.”

Now… he finally understood why he grieved so much for Dorothy… no… it’s more so he accepted the reason why.

“Don’t leave me!” Noah yelled passionately. “I don’t want to be left alone again! Hit me! Hurt me! Love me! Whatever you want to do to me! I don’t care! You’re the only person left that I can call family! Please…!” However, by the end of his exclaims, he had broken down and couldn’t help but beg. “Just please… please don’t leave me… again… all alone… in this world…”

Dorothy glanced down at her hand as her body began to fade away. She remained calm, knowing that it was bound to happen. “Noah… my boy… my son I don't have many regrets in life, and it appears that my time is running short. I spent the last of my energy to transmit to you my memories of those beasts, but please... I know I shouldn't say this... but... don't meet those people... but if you do, prepare yourself, not for me, but to protect yourself and your loved ones. And when in doubt, don’t let the fearsome thing called fate dictate your life. Live out your life, don’t let others decide how you live.”

Whilst Dorothy was speaking, Noah looked down to the clear lake as ripples started to be sent at intervals. Regretting that if only he was stronger… if only he had just given her the loaf… if only he hadn’t gone to the district… if only he hadn’t listened to both Judas and Herod’s conversation… if only he just had not met her… then, maybe, she would’ve still been alive…

"Live a life you choose, a life you can appreciate, a life you can treasure even after death... so don’t you dare die a foolish death, my son.”

When he heard the words ‘Don’t you dare die a foolish death, my son’, he was reminded of how he and Dorothy first met.

By the streets, he was starving and was essentially a lifeless shell, waiting for death to arrive. Until, she walked by, suddenly stopping in front of him, and asking, “Would you like to be my son?”

At the time, Noah had just lost everything, his beliefs, his passions, his emotions, and most importantly the will to live.

“W-what’s the purpose…?”

“Hm? Are you asking me what’s the purpose of being my son?”

“What’s the purpose of living…?”

“Purpose? Do you really need one?”

“If there’s no end goal anyway, why should you stay alive? What’s the point…?”

“You must have been reading too many books, huh?”

“Just leave…”

“Either that, or you must’ve lost everything.”

"Tch! Just leave! You're so annoying! If you want a son, just go to the centers in the country!”

“I guess I struck quite a sour spot, but you know you shouldn’t let the past eat you away.”

Back then, those statements irritated Noah so much that he tried to rise up and strike Dorothy, but his malnutrition made it easy to evade his fragile assaults, as well as causing him to collapse to the ground after three attempts.

“You should’ve eaten more, then at least you could’ve done more to attack me.”

Clenching his fists, he shouted, “What do you know!? Huh!? Have you ever experienced anything to the point you’d just rather die! To the point that you lost the will to live!? To the point you’ve-”

“Yes. I’ve felt everything you’re feeling right now. But I’ve found that life will just go on, the world is too cruel to care for mere beings like us, so I learned to accept it.”

“Then you must know how hard it is to do that.”

“Yes, it is hard, but it’s not worth dying for, because everyone only has one shot in life. You should be happy that you can even have a chance to live it.”

“And I already lived it, I’ve outlived my purpose, so I can go.”

“You really do remind me of my old self, someone who was like you. However, I wouldn’t want someone to go through what I did, so become my son.”

“I already told you, I don’t want to! Just go to the cen-”

Before Noah could say another word, Dorothy grabbed his wrist and pulled him up with her weight. Her beautiful long purple hair fluttered in the breeze as she created a large beaming smile that suited her well. She then whispered words that were like an angel’s call, “And if you really want to find a purpose, I’ll help you find one, so don’t you dare die a foolish death, my son.”

In the cave, Noah stood up, running towards her with all the strength he could muster, but he was too late, just a second too late. Dorothy had already fully faded away, leaving behind the last words, “I love you, my one and only son.”

Left with grief and unanswered questions, he awoke in a dark cellar-like area. Dust and trash cluttered the black cement or steel-like floor. The walls were pitch black, there were no windows, and there was very little light coming in. With it only entering from the front of the cell, traveling through the metal bars that barred people's egress. His hands were shackled with iron cuffs that were fastened to a lengthy chain that connected to the wall. The only way out was through a small metal door on the right side of the room.

With emotions of grief, despair, and loneliness, he calmed himself to the best of his abilities. He then asked the question – Where am I…?

A few hours had passed, and in that time, he was able to think about… everything. However, even in doing that, the dark cell that had very little light and zero contact with others slowly deteriorated his mental state, to the point he went mad.

He started to see hallucinations. In it, Herod was directly in front of him, holding Dorothy in the air, slowly suffocating her.

Noah stood up and ran towards him, like anyone would; however, in the real world he ran towards the cell bars. Clang! The shackles he wore restricted his movement to get nearer to the wall. In the hallucination though, the shackles were vines wrapped around his arms and legs. It symbolized his fragility and dread in the face of Herod and Judas.

He attempted to fight it by yanking his hands one by one, but in the end, he could do nothing but watch as his mother die a slow and suffering death.

“Stop it! I’ll kill you! I’ll kill you!” he shouted nonstop with intense bloodlust, but Herod didn’t stop, and just laughed at the sight of his helplessness.

However, when Dorothy died, he was transferred to the cave he was in before. He watched Dorothy approach him again, but as she came closer, she slowly morphed into a monster-like beast that would fear anyone.

She… no… it asked Noah, “Why? Why didn’t you save me? If only you were stronger, I wouldn’t have died. If only you’d given me the loaf, I wouldn’t have died. If only you didn’t enter the red-light district, I wouldn’t have died. If only you didn’t listen to their conversation, I wouldn’t have died. If only I left you on the streets, I wouldn’t have died.”

Noah would back up, attempting to get away from that monster with every word it said. But when he would move back, it moved towards him.

After a few instances of Noah receding from it and it approaching him, a vine sprouted out from within the lake and wrapped around him. It would then repeat the same questions over and over, gradually becoming creepier in tone until Noah shuddered to his core, shattering his mental inside and out, and screamed in sorrow.

In the actual world, he'd come to a halt in front of the bars and collapse on the ground, his body trembling with remorse and terror. He'd rise up again, and the entire process from Dorothy's death until her encounter with Noah in the cave would repeat over and over again.

It repeated for hours and hours until a shadowy figure from the outside world approached the bars and looked at Noah. For some reason, his comments jolted Noah awake from his hallucinations. “So… you’re the kid that Herod told me to give ‘special treatment’ too.”

All of the lights were turned on for some strange reason, and Noah could see the man from outside. He was a tall man who had dressed in the same attire as the previous guards. He had distinguishing characteristics, notably his yellow eyes, the black baton that hung at the side of his waist, and the gray-colored flat cap he wore.

The man watched Noah who had tears running down his cheeks, and said with pity, “Sigh… not even a day went by, and you’re already insane.” He bent down, scratching the back of his head, “I'll give you a day to rest and figure out your emotions about this place. I don’t know what you did to Herod, but that will start tomorrow. Be prepared.”