The Dreamer's Epilogue-Chapter 35: Jurkil Julaibib

Chapter 34 – Jurkil Julaibib

Emrys didn’t know what to say at first. He just sat there, his whole body drenched in the blood smearing the ground, the flies buzzing all around them relentlessly.

The young boy didn’t seem to hear or even see them. Hell, he didn’t even seem to see the bloodied corpse of his own sister on his lap.

His face was bright, his eyes holding the innocence a young boy has now lost.

It should have been heartwarming, but in that current situation...Emrys felt nothing but deep, horrific dread riding his body like a man on a stomping stallion.

"I can save her, right, big brother?" The young boy repeated, prompting Emrys’s mind to return back to the current situation.

He looked at him, and took in the appearance of the boy.

He was lean, with celestial red hair that fluttered like crackling bloody fire. His eyes were equally the same color, glistening with hope while clutching tightly the herb in his two hands.

"The shaman..." the boy continued, nodding to himself as he spoke, "The shaman said sister is ill, because of a poison from a bad monster. She said only the Jutred herb could heal her!"

He practically thrust the herb into Emrys’s face. "I found it!" He chirped, laughing heartily. Yet Emrys only felt coldness spreading through his insides.

The more the child was happy — normal — the more he couldn’t stop the sadness overwhelming him.

"Do...do you know where your sister is?" He asked, trying to make the boy realize the corpse that looked eerily like him on his lap.

But he went even further, "Can...can you see all this destruction?"

Emrys swept his hands all around. It was cruel, he knew, but it was always better to face reality than to run away from it.

But it was useless.

"See what?" The boy tilted his head cutely. "I am sorry, big brother. I have very bad memory, teheheh!"

He laughed shyly, embarrassed.

"I always forget things!" Then his face twisted into sadness. "That’s why I forgot where my sister is! And also where my tribe is!"

"I now find myself in quite a strange place, but it’s fine! I will find my sister! I will find them!"

He nodded to himself. "Then, I will save her, right, big brother?"

Emrys’s tears were now striking down his cheeks. He bit his lips, holding the two hands of the boy within his own, looking deep inside him.

"You will find her." He lied. "And you will save her."

The boy’s tears shimmered, then he nodded. "I will be a good big brother then. Father and mother will be proud in Vorn’s Gate!"

Emrys’s throat tightened, his body subtly trembling. "What is your name?" He asked, suddenly wanting to remember this boy.

"Oh!" The boy made a realizing face. "I once again forgot to present myself! Teheheh!" He laughed awkwardly, then answered,

"I am Jurkil Julaibib, big brother, of the Blessed Tribe of Hushu."

"I will remember you, Jurkil." Emrys said, tightening his hands around his. "I will definitely do."

Jurkil paused, then his face became sad. "But I will not remember you, big brother." He said, his voice suddenly cracking. "I always forget. And right now, big brother, I am forgetting even faster. I can feel it, big brother, I won’t remember you. I won’t remember anything. I am afraid of forgetting to give the herb to my sister!"

He smiled with deep fear.

This was the smile Emrys wanted him to have at first, but now loathed to see it on this innocent and pure boy.

He looked around, and suddenly found on the dead corpse of Jurkil’s sister a bloodied notebook.

His eyes flashed with insight, and he immediately took it, giving it to Jurkil.

"Here!" Emrys said with sudden enthusiasm. "Write down everything you think worthwhile in this notebook!"

Jurkil tilted his head. "Write down...?"

He muttered, his eyes having a light of recognition while looking at the notebook.

"Yes," Emrys nodded, smiling to drown his silent cries. "Write it down so that even if you forget, you will at least know that you had lived it."

The moment he said those words, Emrys’s eyes widened immediately.

’Isn’t it worse?’ He wondered, about to take back his words, but it was too late.

Jurkil’s eyes brightened, holding the notebook dearly to his chest. "Good idea! I will do so, big brother!" He said, laughing heartily as if finally finding the one thing he always needed.

"I will find my sister!" He shouted, and Emrys thought the world slowly dissolving, transforming into molten light of red. 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

"I may not remember the road towards her," Jurkil smiled beautifully, "...but I remember where my heart is going."

Emrys’s heart trumpeted.

"Jurkil, I—!"

His words were cut through as the dream disappeared completely. He found himself lying on his bed, body covered in sweat, heart stomping against his ribs mercilessly.

He looked at the panel in front of him,

[Gift of Dream activated]

[A Witness...]

Emrys began to suddenly cry, the lingering emotions of the dream still present.

[You have been the first Witness of Jurkil Julaibib, the Lost Soul, the Gentle Wanderer.]

His sob grew harder, uncontrollable, remembering the young boy searching for his sister in order to heal her.

A dead sister.

—End of Chapter 35—