CHAPTER 14: Family

  "I always wanted to be like him," Yumi's voice was emotionless, as always.

  "Oh, easy now, kid. I found you. Everything will be fine now," a voice whispered.

  When I woke up, I found myself in an unknown room. As I stood up, I saw nothing but a desk and a large lamp on the ceiling. The silence in the room was absolute, broken only by the electric hum of the lamp hanging above, casting a cold, white light over the dark wood desk. There were no windows. There were no doors in sight.

  I tried to remember how I had gotten there, but I only remembered the snow and a figure watching me from a distance.

  "Oh, it looks like you’re finally awake," said Ren, who looked exactly the same.

  I turned to look at him. He wore Japanese temple clothes—torn, dirty—and held only two prayer beads in his hands. His hair reached his shoulders; that was the first time I met the Master.

  I froze. The man in front of me, Ren, had a presence that seemed to fill the entire room despite his tattered clothes and unkempt hair. He wasn't the image of a powerful master one would imagine; he looked like someone who had walked to the end of the world and returned just to tell the story.

  His hands wore prayer beads like bracelets. I tried to speak, but I had already lost my voice to the winter.

  "Don't force yourself. You were badly damaged, but you will recover," he said, touching my head.

  From that moment on, I no longer felt the cold.

  "I will take care of you. My name is Ren, and I will look after you until you recover," he answered with that smile, as if he could read my mind.

  I didn't leave that room for weeks—not just because my body wouldn't let me, but because I didn't want to.

  A month after arriving at the temple, I finally left the room. What I saw left me stunned: the temple was empty. There was no one there except Master Ren, who was cleaning the entire temple by himself.

  I walked with unsteady steps down the wooden hallway, my bare feet feeling the rough, cold texture of the floor. As I stepped out into the main courtyard, the sunlight blinded me for a moment. When my eyes adjusted, I saw Ren’s silhouette.

  He wasn't meditating or training with legendary weapons. He was bent over with an old rag in his hand, patiently scrubbing the floorboards. The temple was immense, far too large for a single person, and yet he looked at peace—as if every speck of dust he removed was part of a silent prayer.

  "It's a lot of work for someone so important," I managed to say. My voice was still a brittle thread, but it was the first time I had spoken in weeks.

  Ren stopped and looked at me over his shoulder. His long hair fell over his dirty face, but his eyes shone with that same warmth that had rescued me from the snow.

  "No one is too important to take care of their own home, little one," he replied, setting the rag aside and sitting back on his heels. "Besides, I don’t clean it just because it’s dirty. I clean it because I’m waiting."

  "Waiting for whom?" I asked curiously.

  Ren smiled and gestured with his head toward the empty space around him.

  "For my family. They haven't arrived yet, but this place has to be ready for when they do. Someday."

  The Master said all this while looking at the sky, and for the first time in months, I had doubts. Why is he alone? Who is he? Why would his family leave him all by himself?

  Thinking of that last question brought a lump to my throat. After more than a month, the image of my mother flashed in my mind.

  "They abandoned you," I told him coldly.

  The Master only looked at me, his smile never wavering—or did it? I thought I saw his grin flicker for a mere millisecond.

  "No, they didn't abandon me. It’s just... it will take us a while to reunite," he replied, standing up.

  Ren brushed the dust off his old clothes and walked toward the center of the courtyard, where a withered cherry tree seemed to struggle just to stay upright.

  "Sometimes, time is the tallest wall in existence," Ren continued, his back to me. "Tell me, why were you alone in the snow?"

  His direct question hit me like a bullet. I simply frowned and went back to the room.

  Weeks passed that way until finally, during one of our sunset conversations, he asked a question about a detail even I had forgotten.

  "What is your name?" he asked with his warm smile.

  I froze under the orange light of the setting sun. Silence stretched across the temple courtyard, and for the first time, the weight of that void hurt. I searched the corners of my mind, trying to find a word, a sound, something that connected me to the woman in the snow or the boy I used to be.

  But there was nothing. Only the whistling of the wind and the memory of the cold.

  "I... I don’t remember," I whispered, looking down at my hands, which still looked far too pale. "I lost it in the winter. Everything froze."

  Ren didn’t look at me with pity. He didn't feel sorry for me, which I deeply appreciated. He simply stood there, watching the shadows of the trees lengthen across the wood.

  "A name is a heavy burden if it only reminds you of what you lost," Ren said softly. "Sometimes, it’s better to start with a blank slate."

  He walked toward me with startling naturalness.

  "If you don't have a name, I will give you one. It won't be from your past, but for your future. From this day on, you will be Yumi."

  "Yumi?" I repeated, testing the word on my lips. It felt strange, but solid. "What does it mean?"

  Ren let out a small laugh and looked back at the sky—that sky that always seemed to be waiting for something.

  "It means 'beauty' or 'reason,' depending on how you write it. But to me..." he paused and looked me straight in the eye, "it will mean that you are no longer alone in the snow."

  Those words opened my eyes. For the first time, I could see beyond the snow, beyond the woman who abandoned me, beyond myself.

  (Present Day)

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  "Quick! Take him to a Dream Light!" Ren shouted after seeing his disciples arrive, struck by Yumi’s dire condition.

  Standing before a house glowing with yellow light, Ren closed his eyes and raised his hand.

  "Forgive me, but I must use your dream," Ren whispered.

  A door began to materialize in front of the house. Everyone was impressed, but there was no time for questions, so they rushed inside.

  The place was a park filled with animals and a little girl playing with her parents. She spotted Ren and his team walking through.

  "Oh? Who are you?" the girl asked, approaching with innocent curiosity.

  "Hello, little one. We don’t mean to bother you, but I need you to let me do something here, alright?" Ren asked warmly.

  "Sure, sure! I’m going to go play with Daddy!" the girl shouted, running back to her parents.

  They placed Yumi on the ground, and Ren assumed a meditative Brooke. His prayer beads began to move; the spheres on his right hand started to separate and float, encircling Yumi.

  The dark wooden spheres spun around Yumi, leaving a trail of golden light that contrasted with the bright colors of the park. Young Yumi, whose skin looked almost translucent from the damage he had suffered, began to breathe with difficulty as the energy from the beads sought out the cracks in his spirit to seal them.

  Then, the diameter covered by the beads began to glow intensely, shrouding Yumi.

  "Mugen, Kumiho... watch the perimeter," Ren ordered without opening his eyes. "We are in a child’s dream. It is a pure place, but if Yumi’s darkness overflows, it could corrupt this world. We cannot allow his nightmare to touch that family."

  Mugen grunted, unsheathing his axe (which glowed with a more vibrant crimson hue in this dream world), while Kumiho readied her revolver, watching as the shadows of the forest at the edge of the park began to lengthen unnaturally.

  The atmosphere in the park began to distort. What was once a brilliant blue sky of an afternoon at play turned a dark violet at the edges. The laughter of the girl and her parents sounded further and further away, as if a glass wall were rising between them and the group.

  "Here they come!" Kumiho warned, cocking her revolver.

  From the pine forest surrounding the area, figures made of frost and ash began to emerge. They were the manifestations of Yumi’s trauma: the remnants of the winter that had nearly consumed him. These were no ordinary shadows; they were fragments of a past that refused to be forgotten.

  Mugen didn't wait. He lunged at the first figure, slicing through the air with his crimson axe. Upon contact, the snow creature exploded into steam, but the cold it released was so real that Mugen let out a huff of annoyance as he felt his fingers go numb.

  "Damn ice cubes! Get away from the Master!" Mugen roared, spinning on his axis and creating a whirlwind of red energy that held the white tide at bay.

  Meanwhile, at the center of the circle, Ren remained impassive. The golden glow covering Yumi intensified until it became blinding. The prayer beads spun at such a speed that they hummed like a swarm of bees.

  "Hold on, Yumi..." Ren whispered, a bead of sweat running down his temple. "Don't let the winter win. Remember your name. Remember your reason."

  (Past)

  "You can leave now," the Master told me as he watched the sunset.

  "Leave?" I asked. Two months had passed since I arrived, and I was finally in perfect condition.

  "That's right. You have to choose what to do with your life; I won't force you to stay," the Master replied.

  I stood on the temple porch, looking at my hands. They had turned pale, as had my entire body, but they were no longer numb; they were strong. The evening air blew softly, and for the first time in my life, the future didn't feel like a blizzard, but like an open path.

  "Where would I go?" I asked, my voice sounding firmer than ever. "I have no one out there."

  Ren turned slowly. There was no trace of mockery on his face, only brutal honesty.

  "That’s a lie, Yumi. The world is massive. You could be a merchant, a farmer, or simply a traveler. You owe me nothing for saving you. Life debts are not paid with servitude," he said with a serene gaze.

  I walked toward him and stopped by his side, looking at the same orange sky.

  "You said you were waiting for your family," I reminded him without looking at him. "You said this place had to be ready for them. I’ll stay and wait for them with you, if you’ll let me."

  I was afraid, but my heart told me I wouldn't find anyone else like him. The Master simply stroked my head, and once again, I felt that heat—a warmth that even the peak of summer could not match.

  The next day, I finally gathered the courage to go out at night. I had always avoided it because I was afraid of seeing those lights again; I thought if the Master found out, he would abandon me too. Looking at the city from my bedroom window, I could see how every house was lit up in either a warm yellow or a ghastly, dark purple.

  "If I tell him, he’ll think I’m a monster," I whispered, feeling the lump in my throat return. "He’ll think I bring the winter with me."

  "It looks like I have a lot of work today," the Master said, stretching.

  Then I noticed something I had never seen: gigantic doors began to appear in various places. At the sight of them, I fell to the floor in terror. When I opened my eyes again, the Master was looking at me with his usual smile.

  "Well, well, it seems you were able to see something, Yumi," he said calmly.

  Hearing his words, memories of the words "monster," "demon," "I shouldn't have had you," and "it’s hot outside" made me tremble with fear. I pushed the Master aside and ran toward my room, but before I could enter, he stopped me.

  "I see them too," he blurted out without looking at me.

  I turned toward him. "Huh?" was all I could say.

  "I see those lights too, Yumi," he said, turning to face me. "Now I understand why you were in the snow. You must have had a hard time," he continued with a warm smile.

  I stood frozen, my hand still on the doorframe. The freezing night air no longer made me shiver; it was Ren's revelation that made me vibrate from within.

  "You... you see the lights too?" I repeated.

  "That's right. And not only that, I help people dream beautiful moments," he replied. "Do you see those doors where the purple lights are? Those are nightmares, while the others are happy dreams."

  That explanation changed my vision forever.

  "What are you, sir?" I asked.

  "I am an exorcist, and also, a dream eater," he answered calmly.

  "A dream eater?" I repeated, my voice barely a whisper. The idea of eating something as intangible as a dream seemed impossible to me—almost terrifying.

  Ren sat on the edge of the hallway, letting his feet dangle toward the dark garden. The city lights in the distance continued to flicker between gold and violet.

  "It’s not as bad as it sounds, little Yumi," he explained, looking toward one of the purple doors. "Nightmares are like weeds in a garden. If you let them grow too much, they end up suffocating the person. I go in there, face whatever is causing the fear, and get rid of it. That way, the person can wake up and see the yellow light again."

  I approached slowly and sat a prudent distance from him. My own hands emitted a small white spark.

  "And me?" I asked, looking at my fingers. "Am I that, too?"

  "You are an Exorcist; that is the term given to people born with those eyes," he replied, stroking my head.

  I felt a shiver that had nothing to do with the snow. For the first time, someone didn't just refuse to pull away from what I was—they gave it a name and a purpose.

  "An Exorcist..." I repeated, watching how the white lights on my fingers fluttered softly, as if they had finally found their place in the world.

  "But not just any kind," Ren continued, looking toward the horizon where the violet lights throbbed. "You are one who survived the Absolute Winter. That gives you a strength that takes many others decades to achieve. Even if right now you only feel like these lights are a burden, someday they will be someone else's lighthouse."

  "So... I'm not a mistake?" I asked, on the verge of tears.

  "Many like us are judged and discriminated against for something we didn't choose to be born with, but that is also what makes you special," the Master continued. "So no, Yumi. You are not a mistake."

  Tears streamed from my eyes, falling onto my hands. The Master simply stayed there, stroking my head, and we remained that way all night.

  From the next morning on, I helped the Master with everything, but when night fell, he prevented me from going with him. He told me he didn't want to drag me into a world like that.

  And so it went for half a year. The Master always went out at night, and I could only watch from the window I had created for that room.

  That window became my only connection to the nocturnal world Ren traversed. From there, I saw how his figure vanished into the darkness and how, hours later, he would return with his clothes even more torn and a fatigue he tried to hide behind his usual smile.

  One day, as the sun set and the sky was dyed that violet color that scared me so much, I gathered my courage and stopped him before he crossed the courtyard.

  "Let me go," I pleaded, clenching my fists. "You said I was an Exorcist. You said these lights were a lighthouse. What good is a lighthouse locked in a room without doors?"

  Ren stopped. His prayer beads tinkled in the cold wind. He looked me up and down, and for the first time, I didn't see the warm Master, but the warrior who had survived the end of the world.

  "The dream world is not a park, Yumi," he said in a grave voice. "It is a labyrinth that devours those who have no reason to return. What is yours?"

  I went silent. It wasn't because of my mother, or the past. I looked at the temple, the floorboards I had helped polish, and the back of the man who gave me a name.

  "My reason is so that you never have to clean this temple alone again," I answered firmly.

  Ren burst into a roar of laughter—"Wah-hah-hah-hah!" It was the first time I had seen him laugh naturally.

  "Fine. But not tonight. I have to train you so you can survive in that world, understood?" he asked. His eyes didn't look at me with pity, but with pride.

  "YES!" I answered with excitement.