READY OR NOT - Landoscar

12 - What's on Your Mind?

The dream began differently that night, casting Lando into a realm that felt less like a nightmare and more like a memory suspended in time. The forest around him was quiet, as if the trees themselves were holding their breath, waiting for something to break the silence. Moonlight filtered through the canopy, painting the ground with patches of silver. He could feel a strange, gentle pull, drawing him forward along a narrow path that seemed to appear solely for him.

When he finally emerged into a small clearing, Lando stopped short, surprised by the scene before him. Pia was there, sitting cross-legged on the forest floor, his back turned to Lando. He wasn't pacing, brooding, or lingering in the shadows like he usually did. Instead, he seemed focused on something small in his hand. As Lando stepped closer, he realised that Pia was idly playing with a stone, running his fingers over its smooth surface and letting it catch the light, a childlike wonder softening his features.

Taking a breath, Lando moved closer, careful not to disturb the stillness. The air felt charged, as if one wrong word or movement could shatter the fragile moment. He lowered himself to a crouch directly in front of Pia, hoping his presence wouldn't break the spell.

Pia didn't look up right away, his gaze fixed intently on the rock as he turned it over and over in his hand, tracing invisible lines across its surface. His expression was thoughtful, almost lost, as though his mind were thousands of miles—or perhaps hundreds of years—away.

"Hey, Pia," Lando murmured, keeping his voice low and gentle. "What's on your mind?"

Pia's eyes flickered up, the caramel-brown depths meeting Lando's gaze for a heartbeat before shifting away again, as if holding eye contact was somehow too revealing, too vulnerable. He looked down at the rock once more, his fingers tracing its edges as if trying to read some ancient story from its smooth surface.

"It's... quiet here," Pia said finally, his voice barely above a whisper. The tone was softer than Lando had ever heard it, as though the weight of ages rested within those simple words. "Too quiet, sometimes."

Lando nodded, letting Pia set the pace. "Is it different from... before?" he asked, not wanting to press too hard but hoping to unlock whatever memory was floating just beneath the surface.

Pia's lips quirked in a faint, bittersweet smile, his eyes distant. "It wasn't always this way," he replied, his voice carrying a hint of something Lando hadn't expected—a touch of warmth, of sorrow. "Once, there was life here. The laughter of people, the sound of voices echoing in the forest... the scent of fires, the warmth of... family."

The word hung in the air between them, heavy and unfamiliar. Family. It was the first time Pia had spoken of anything resembling his past, and the intensity in his gaze made Lando's heartache.

"What happened?" Lando asked, his voice gentle, encouraging Pia to open up more. He could feel the edges of something profound lurking behind the walls Pia had built, something that tied them together in ways he couldn't quite explain.

Pia took a long, measured breath, as if the weight of what he was about to share pressed heavily on his shoulders. "I wasn't... always alone," he murmured, his fingers tightening around the rock. "There were others, people who... trusted me, who looked to me. I wasn't just a shadow. I was... someone."

The words were laced with a sadness so deep that Lando could feel it sink into his own bones. He wanted to reach out, to place a comforting hand on Pia's shoulder, but something told him to hold back, to let Pia find his own path through the memories he was so cautiously unearthing.

"There was a name," Pia continued, his voice barely audible. "A name I was given... a name that held meaning, that tied me to a life, to... them. But that name was taken from me. It was burned, cast into shadows. And now, here I am... in pieces."