A ray of light came from the window left open enough to illuminate the Eiji’s upper half body, waking him from its slumber.

The boy looked around wondering: -where am I...? –

A voice from the darkness said –in a shelter at the edge of the forest-

Eiji couldn’t recognize who that voice belonged to, so in a faint voice tried to guess: -Grandpa?-, then he remembered; his grandfather had died, died for his fault ... "run" were his last words.

But then who was the person closest to him?

Eiji pressed his back against the head of the bed... -who are you? - But the only sentence he received in return was: -u don’t recognize me? -; so the boy finally began to focus, shivers went down his back, as he was hoping that his eyes were playing tricks: the hooded figure of his dreams, the one who had mercilessly killed the guards, was now before him.

Eiji recoiled himself, but he knew there weren’t escape routes: -What do you want from me? You’re with those people who attacked the village?-

But the Shadow did not seem troubled by those suspicions: -cool down, you're hurt, and if I wanted to kill you I would have already done it... I found you passed out along with fifteen henchmen of the GripZone and Ranov... they were all dead-

Eiji could not suppress the surprise: -Ranov... is the name of my the oldman, how do you know it? –

But as before, the shadow told him just what he wanted to say: -this is not important now, in a few time you’ll get better, the medicine I gave you are doing miracles-

Eiji could not help but to feel guilt: -they were all dead ... it was me that killed them-, however the Shadow did not move: -you did what was necessary, I’m not here to pass sentence on it-.

At these words the boy recovered, if it had been necessary, then there was no need to worry, so one evil eyes gleamed in his eyes: -GripZone... who are they? -.

Once again, the Shadow was unimpressed by the boy's words: -why worrying about them?-

Eiji took it as an understanding between them -they killed my grandfather, I need to have my revenge-, but the plans that the hooded man had for him were different: -you're worrying over the dead, rather than doing it for the living? -

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Only then the boy he remembered all those people who had remained in the village, and his thoughts flew to Soana, Marco and, what surprised him most of all, he could not help but hope with all his heart that Layla was still alive: -I have to go back to the village, I need to... -

He had just tried to get out of bed, but the pain coming from his body stopped him, Eiji hadn’t noticed to be seriously injured: -but what ... ?? -; again the shadow explained his situation: -you’ve been seriously injured, if I had not arrived in time, you'd be already dead, I don’t know how you killed all those henchmen alone, but now you can’t move-.

The shadow actually knew what he did, but chose to not reveal it: -now, recollect yourself and listen to me-This time the boy did exactly as he was told, then asked: -How much time is needed until I can walk again?- But the Shadow began to run out of patience: -for now this is not important, listen to me! -

Eiji could no longer bear to sit still and the frustration made him shout: -it is important, I need to save her-, the boy stopped for a moment to listen to his words, while a thought made its way into his head: I have to save... who?

Once again, the Shadow didn’t move, but his words were sharper than blades: -and how? You're hurt, you do not have a weapon, you have already been beaten once and ...- the Shadow paused, as if he did not know whether to continue the sentence, which ended only after a few seconds: -and you don’t know what happened in the woods, am I right? -.

Eiji was dumbfounded by the strange break, enough to push him to start to think it's true ... I can’t protect them; I couldn’t do it with grandfather, how can I success with them?

The Shadow interrupted his train of thoughts: -Will you listen to me now?-, as the boy did not answer, the hooded man continued: -then listen; I am about to reveal something that will change your life-