At a decaying shrine on a small hill at the edge of the village, the scorching summer sun beats down mercilessly, and heat rises from the cracked earth. In the windless silence, the leaves of the dried-up trees rustle with a parched sound.

A young man is tied to the large sacred tree within the grounds.

His emaciated body is draped in a single thin cloth, visibly stained and frayed. From the torn sleeves and hem, blue bruises from violence and old scars from harsh labor peek out painfully. Though his wrists and ankles are bound tightly with thick rope, denying him even the chance to flee, the young man's expression shows neither misery nor fear. His grey eyes, visible through gaps in his black hair, reflect no light, merely staring off somewhere into the distance.