Echoes of a Life Lost
Fractured Reality
Diane stumbled forward, her breath ragged, the weight of the Abyss pressing against her very bones. The last remnants of the twisted visions still lingered, flickering in her mind like ghosts refusing to be exorcised. Every step felt heavier, as though the shadows themselves tried to reclaim her.
She clenched her fists. Not yet. You're not taking me yet.
The ground beneath her shifted, the dark stone pulsating with unnatural energy. The further she walked, the more the environment twisted—what should have been a corridor of raw stone turned into something else entirely.
A hallway of a hospital.
Diane's heart clenched as fluorescent lights buzzed weakly overhead. The air was sterile, the scent of antiseptic and something far worse clinging to the walls. Her boots clicked against tiled floors, a stark contrast to the ruins she had been navigating.
She turned the corner—and there, sitting on the hospital bed, was Tom.
Her son.
A jolt of raw emotion shot through her, her breath hitching in her throat. No. It's another trick. She forced herself to look closer.
Tom sat there, older than she remembered, his fingers twirling something between them. A wheel—golden, shining, turning.
A roulette wheel.
Diane staggered back. "No. No, this isn't—"
Tom turned to her, his golden eyes unreadable. You erased us, Mom. His voice wasn't accusatory. It was a simple statement of fact, yet it cut her deeper than any blade.
She clenched her jaw. "That's not true."
But doubt slithered into her mind. The Abyss had shown her glimpses of another existence—one where she wasn't a warrior but a prisoner, chained by her own sins, seeking redemption for something unthinkable. For erasing them.
Tom stood, his fingers running along the wheel's edges. "You always liked to think you were in control. But tell me, Mom…" His golden eyes burned into her soul. "Do you really think you were the one who decided how things turned out?"
The roulette wheel spun faster, clicking into motion, each rotation warping the air around them. Diane felt herself being pulled, not physically but existentially. The walls shimmered, flickering between the hospital and the abyssal ruin. The world itself felt unstable.
She reached out, desperate. "Tom—"
The wheel stopped.
Everything broke.
---
Shattered Memories
Diane hit the ground hard, gasping. Her fingers dug into cold stone—not tile. The hospital was gone. Tom was gone.
But the doubt remained.
She pushed herself up, forcing her heartbeat to slow. It was an illusion. A test. Just another way for the Abyss to mess with my head.
Then why did it feel so real?
She touched her chest, where her heart pounded like a war drum. She had spent so much time fighting through reality-altering nightmares that she knew when something was purely an illusion. This wasn't just that.
It was a memory.
Maybe not hers, maybe not even real in this world—but it existed somewhere.
She looked down at her hands. They trembled.
What if… what if I really did erase them? The thought sent a sickening shudder through her. What if this is what I'm really running from?
A gust of cold air swept through the cavern, and Diane forced herself to stand. She wasn't done yet.
She wasn't broken yet.
---
Ren's Warning
Elsewhere, back in the waking world, Gar and Nisse tracked the ruins with grim determination. The moment Nisse had lost Diane's presence in their bond, she had nearly collapsed with panic. Gar, ever the pragmatic one, didn't share her distress on the same level, but even he knew that whatever had happened wasn't good.
They had found Ren in his usual cryptic mood.
"You lost her?" Ren said, tilting his head slightly.
"I didn't lose her," Nisse snapped. "I can't feel her. That shouldn't be possible."
Ren's gaze darkened. "No, it shouldn't."
Gar crossed his arms. "So where the hell is she?"
Ren chuckled, shaking his head. "You always ask the wrong questions. It's not where she is. It's when."
Gar's eyes narrowed. "What does that mean?"
Ren exhaled slowly, his expression unreadable. "Diane has stepped into a place where time doesn't flow the way you understand. If she's not careful, she might walk back into a past that doesn't belong to her… or a future she can never escape."
Nisse's throat tightened. "We have to get her out."
Ren met her gaze. "Are you sure she wants to leave?"
Nisse stiffened. "What?"
Ren looked toward the horizon. "The past is tempting, Nisse. Especially when it offers the chance to fix something broken."
Gar's fists clenched. "You think she'd stay in whatever place she's in? You think she'd abandon us?"
Ren smiled faintly. "I think if you don't reach her soon, she might not have a choice."
---
A Choice Yet to Be Made
Back in the abyssal ruin, Diane stared at the golden dust that lingered where the vision of Tom had stood.
The roulette wheel.
A power that could control probability. A power tied to him.
She inhaled sharply, the weight of it pressing down on her. I don't believe it. I can't.
But doubt was a persistent thing.
She took a step forward, deeper into the ruin, deeper into the mystery of what had just happened.
And somewhere, unseen, a pair of golden eyes watched.
The wheel had already started turning.
And Diane was running out of time.
---