Full transcript
0:17[music]
0:18Heat. Heat.
0:24Heat. [music]
0:37[music]
0:42Heat. [music]
0:58The cold has a way of making everything
1:00[music] quiet
1:04out here. [music] You can hear your own
1:05breath.
1:07The snow falling
1:10before the gates. Before [music] the
1:12monsters, before I learned what it felt
1:15like to fight for every breath,
1:18there was home.
1:21My mother [music] used to fill the
1:22kitchen with music in the mornings. She
1:25would hum while she made breakfast, even
1:28when she forgot [music] the words
1:29halfway through a song. My father always
1:32acted like he was too serious to sing
1:33with her.
1:35I remember the way they looked at each
1:36other. Like the world [music] could be
1:38cruel outside those walls, but not to
1:41us. Not while we were together. My
1:44father [music] taught me how to hold a
1:45sword before I was old enough to
1:47understand why anyone would need one.
1:50He used to say, "Balance [music] came
1:52before strength. Anybody can swing
1:54hard," he told me. But knowing when not
1:56to fall, that's what keeps you [music]
1:58alive. I thought he was teaching me how
2:01to fight. I did not know he was teaching
2:03me how to survive.
2:09>> What are you doing, man?
2:15>> My mother would watch us [music] train
2:16from the doorway. She would laugh
2:18whenever I fell.
2:21Then she [music] would help me up and
2:22tell me I was getting stronger.
2:25I believed her. Then my mother got sick.
2:28[music] At first it was small things.
2:30She would sit down halfway through
2:31cooking. She stopped [music] singing as
2:33much. She started closing her eyes when
2:35she thought nobody was looking.
2:38After that, our home changed.
2:42The [music] light stayed on later and
2:44the kitchen became quieter.
2:48Hospital visits, doctors speaking softly
2:50[music] outside rooms because they
2:52thought I could not hear them. But I
2:54heard enough.
2:56I heard my father [music] asking how
2:57much time she had. I heard my mother
3:00tell him not to look at her like she was
3:01already gone. And I remember staying
3:03outside that door holding my breath.
3:05[music] After that, our home changed.
3:07And I remember standing outside that
3:09door holding my breath because somehow I
3:12[music] thought making no sound would
3:13stop the words from becoming real.
3:18After [music] that, our home changed.
3:30The light stayed on [music] later.
3:36My father [music] stopped sleeping.
3:40He spent nights reading old books,
3:43drawing [music] symbols,
3:45searching through things I had never
3:46seen before.
3:58He kept saying [music] there had to be
3:59something somewhere
4:02>> a way to bring her back. One night
4:04[music] I found him sitting alone at the
4:06table. He looked older than I
4:07remembered, not because his hair [music]
4:09had changed, because hope had started
4:11hurting him.
4:13That was the [music] first time he
4:14showed me the map.
4:17Seven gates, seven worlds, and [music]
4:20somewhere beyond them, a relic that
4:23could restore. He told me [music] it was
4:26only a story, but he did not say it like
4:28he believed it. He said it like he
4:30needed it to be true.
4:36I asked him if he was going to leave. He
4:39did not answer [music] at first.
4:41Then he put his hand on my head and told
4:44me he was going to find [music] a way to
4:46save her.
4:50He said he would be back before I had
4:52time [music] to miss him. I wanted to
4:55believe him
5:00because when you are young, you think
5:02promises [music] are stronger than fear.
5:07He left before [music] sunrise. No
5:10dramatic goodbye,
5:12no warning,
5:18just an empty room, his coat gone,
5:24and the sound of my mother trying not to
5:26[music] cry in the next room.
5:31At first, I waited. Every day
5:35I listened for the door.
5:41I checked the window whenever [music]
5:42Hitler passed outside.
5:46I kept thinking he would walk in tired
5:48and cold and say he had found [music]
5:50something, anything.
5:56Days [music] became weeks. Weeks became
5:59months.
6:01The door kept opening, but it was never
6:03him.
6:05My mother got weaker and I got older.
6:14I learned how to make tea the way she
6:16liked [music] it.
6:20I learned when [music] to remind her
6:22about medicine without making her feel
6:24helpless.
6:28I learned how to [music] stand outside
6:29hospital rooms and pretend I was not
6:32scared.
6:38I learned how to [music] smile when she
6:39asked if I was okay.
6:45And when she fell [music] asleep, I
6:47trained.
6:50At first, I trained because I missed
6:52him. Then I trained because I was angry.
6:55Then I [music] trained because it was
6:57the only thing that made me feel like I
6:59could still do something.
7:05like I [music] was not just standing
7:06still while everything I loved
7:08disappeared.
7:15Years later, I found the things he hid.
7:18The old sword case,
7:25the map, his notes, proof that the seven
7:28gates [music] were real.
7:35proof that he had found a [music] way
7:36inside.
7:40He had not abandoned us. He [music] had
7:42failed to return. There is a difference.
7:46So, I made a promise of my own. I would
7:48find the relic. I would bring [music] my
7:50mother back. And I would find out what
7:52happened to my father.
7:56No matter how [music] many gates stood
7:58between us.
8:00>> Stat team to room 410 now. Her rhythm
8:03[music] is unstable. We need to
8:04stabilize her now.
8:05>> No matter what waited behind them
8:11because I [music] have already watched
8:13my home become quiet once.
8:19>> Here.
8:19>> I cannot let it disappear completely.
8:27Not while I am still [music] here.
8:31>> Stay with me. Keep monitoring.
8:35Not while I can still fight.
8:43Not while there is still [music] time.
9:13Your father stood where you stand.
9:21You knew him.
9:27>> I knew the man who carried that blade
9:30before the gates changed it.
9:33>> Where is he?
9:36>> The path you seek is not for the faint
9:38of heart.
9:42>> He reached this realm.
9:45He came searching for the relic.
9:49>> He came here to save her.
9:54>> Did he make it through?
9:58>> He chose the road beyond the frost.
10:01[sighs]
10:04>> Then I'll find him.
10:07>> Then survive me.