Darkness.
It was all he could feel—thick, suffocating, endless. It wasn't just around him; it was seeping into him, curling into his chest, wrapping icy fingers around his heart.
Distant sounds echoed through the void, strange and dreamlike. A waterfall crashing somewhere far away… the rhythmic thud of feet dancing lightly on stone… soft laughter, playful and warm, as if from another lifetime. Two people talking, lost in joy, in a world untouched by pain.
Then—
A sudden shift.
The laughter twisted. Became darker. Twisted into something unnatural.
That sound—haunting, chilling—the laughter of four devils.
A rush of chaos followed: the clash of blades, the hiss of daggers slicing flesh, the thundering agony of battle. Despair bloomed like a storm, heavy and all-consuming, growing louder, sharper—until it felt unbearable.
And then… he saw them.
Those eyes.
Sea green, familiar, once full of tenderness and devotion. The eyes that always sought him, held him, and loved him.
Now—
