Avatar of the Frozen Behemoth: Volume 1

Chapter 38: Tears Beneath the Burning Sky

She was half-buried beneath the jagged remains of a building, her pale face smeared with dirt, eyes fluttering open and shut in a daze. Yukio's breath hitched. A sob escaped his lips, sharp and raw.

"Mom!" he screamed, voice cracking from the weight of his anguish.

Calista stirred, her head rolling weakly as her eyes struggled to focus on him. For a moment, they met his-a fleeting second of recognition. "Yukio..." her voice was barely a whisper, strained and thin.

But there was no time. Yukio's hands were already clawing at the rubble, his fingers bleeding as they scrambled against the cold stone. Every piece of debris felt like a thousand tons, pressing down on him as though the weight of the entire world was trying to crush him, break him.

His muscles screamed in protest, but his mind was numb to the pain. He could only think of her-his mother, the last shred of family he had left. He couldn't lose her. Not now. Not after Amara.

"Where's... where's Amara?" Calista's voice broke through the madness, weak but filled with the kind of fear that only a mother could have. She blinked up at him, eyes widening in confusion. "Yukio... where's your sister?"

Yukio froze, his fingers tightening around a slab of rock. Amara. Her name felt like poison on his tongue, choking him. The memory of her final moments crashed over him like a wave of fire, and for a second, he thought he might drown in it.

"I..." His voice cracked, the words caught in his throat. He couldn't say it. Not to her. The image of Amara's broken body seared into his mind again, and he bit down hard on his lip until he tasted blood.
His hands trembled violently as he tried to pull the rubble away from his mother's legs, but it wasn't just the physical weight that crushed him-it was everything. The guilt. The grief. The shame.

Calista's face twisted in concern, the lines of worry deepening as she repeated, "Yukio... where's Amara? Where is she?" Her voice was growing more frantic, her breathing faster.

"Mom, I-" Yukio's voice shook, and his hands slipped from the stone. He could feel his body quivering under the strain, his heart screaming in his chest. He dropped to his knees beside her, hands gripping the edges of the rubble again, but he couldn't lift it. His body was failing him.

No matter how hard he pulled, the debris wouldn't budge. He screamed, a sound of pure anguish tearing from his throat as he tried again, veins bulging as his muscles fought against the impossible weight.

Calista's voice cut through his desperation, louder now, laced with panic. "Yukio! Amara! Where is she?!" Her eyes searched his face, wild with the rising dread that was now clawing at her heart. Her mother's instincts were screaming at her, telling her something was wrong. Horribly wrong.

"Mom..." His voice broke completely now, the words barely a whisper. "I-I couldn't... Amara, she-" He bit down hard on his lip, tasting blood, fighting the urge to scream. "She's gone, Mom. They... they shot her. She didn't make it."

Calista's eyes widened, the blood draining from her face as her worst fears began to solidify into a sickening reality. She covered it with her trembling hand as if trying to hold back the unimaginable grief. "No..." The word slipped out, fragile and broken.

"I wasn't fast enough," Yukio choked out, the words spilling from his lips before he could stop them. His body convulsed with the effort, his breathing ragged and uneven as he stared down at his mother, tears finally breaking free from the dam and streaming down his cheeks.

"I couldn't save her. I-I should've been there. I should've-" His voice broke, and he covered his face with trembling hands, the sobs wracking his entire frame as he fell forward onto the rubble. "Mom, I couldn't save her..."