"Haah... Haah... Hah..."
I panted, each breath scraping against the inside of my throat like razors. Blood oozed from my nose, leaked from my ears. Every heartbeat felt like an explosion in my skull.
I hate it.
This much pain.
I hate it.
I couldn't make sense of any single thing.
What the hell is going on?
What the FUCKING hell is happening to me?!
The hallway around me twisted like a fever dream. My legs were jelly, every step a herculean task. Just the thought of walking sent needles of pain through my nerves.
Seconds.
That's all it took.
Just a few seconds and I was living inside hell.
But I couldn't stop now.
I had to see it.
What the boy was doing.
What he was about to do.
He had entered that room—and every fiber in me screamed not to follow.
Which, of course, meant I had to.
"Urgh..." I groaned, slamming my shoulder against the wall to keep myself upright. My hand dragged across the concrete, leaving a smear of crimson behind me. My breathing got worse—erratic, desperate.
Something didn't want me to go any further.
Something knew.
"Aghh!"
I roared, sheer anger pushing me forward. I ignored the blood pouring from my wounds. I ignored the mind-twisting pain, Ignored the tremble in my knees. I summoned everything I had left and ran.
BAM!
The door burst open. My momentum threw me forward, and I crashed to the floor.
And then—
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
A scream.
High-pitched.
Agonizing.
I looked up. My vision spinning, I was losing consciousness, fast, but I saw them. Silhouettes, a bit blurr, but still there.
The boy.
Standing with a knife dripping with a liquid I could only guess what it was.
"Why...?! What have you done?!"
The woman's voice tore through the room, raw and panicked. I turned slowly. She was on her knees, holding—
Wait.
A child.
She was cradling a child.
So small.
Too still.
No...
I shifted my gaze back to the boy. I couldn't see his face, not really. But I didn't need to.
That grin—
Twisted. Wild.
I saw his teeth.
Probably the only thing I could see on his face.
And that grin to.
It stretched across his face like something painted on by a demon.
"You... you monster!"
Her voice cracked, and she clutched the child tighter, her entire body trembling.
I could see everything—every broken shard of glass, every splatter of blood—yet I couldn't see faces.
Why?
Why could I see everything but that?
Something is wrong.
Very wrong.
"You killed him... You killed your own brother!" she screamed.
My spine stiffened. Her grief poured out in waves so strong, I felt it.
I felt it.
The kind of hatred that doesn't just come from betrayal—
It comes from a pain so deep to imagine.
And then he spoke.
"Hehehe... Brother?"
The boy laughed.
Not the laugh of a child.
Not even the laugh of a madman.
Something worse.
"He's not my brother. He's my enemy. One of them. They killed me, once. I remember now. I remember everything."
He held his head and laughed harder.
"They used me. Controlled me. Made me a pawn. But not this time. I've seen it all, it all happened before. I won't let it happen again."
What the hell was he saying?!
Who was this boy?
Why did he feel so—
"SHUT UP!!!"
The woman shrieked, dropping the limp body and lunging at him. A shattered bottle in her hand.
She moved fast—
But not fast enough.
CRACK!
She hit the wall like a ragdoll. Smashed through a glass table.
Blood sprayed across the floor.
A knife protruded from her chest.
The boy stood still. Hand outstretched. His body shimmered with a sickening purple glow. His hair burned white-hot, flames licking the edges of his face.
She coughed. Blood poured from her mouth.
"I curse you... I curse the day I birthed you!"
Her voice—
That voice...
No.
No no no no no.
"Mom?" I choked.
Tears streamed down my cheeks. My body was frozen.
This isn't possible.
She died. She died in the earthquake.
That's what they told me.
That's what the cops said—
"Even you, Mom," the boy growled.
"You're just like the rest. You only ever saw me as a tool."
His eyes glowed, burning through the darkness.
Purple.
"Don't worry," he said.
"I've finally achieved it. I cracked the code. At the final moment when you all thought you won, I altered the timeline. This time, I will win. I'll erase every last one of you."
And then—
That grin again.
And I knew.
Please. No.
Don't tell me—
The boy turned.
His gaze fell on me.
I saw it.
His face.
It was—
Me.
"Remember," he said, voice heavy,
"The one you trust the most... will be your doom."
---
"HAAAAAAAAH!"
I jolted upright, gasping, heart hammering against my ribs.
Where—?
Where the hell was I?!
I looked around, panic still clutching at my lungs.
"Finally," a voice said behind me.
"Any longer and I'd have slapped you awake myself."
I turned.
And saw him.
Leon.
"You?!"
Oh no.
Not him.
"Hello... again," he grinned.
Goddamn it.
Of all the people—of all the things I could've seen—why him?
I sighed. "Where the hell is this place?"
He raised an eyebrow. "You seriously don't know? Huh. And here I thought you woild know what this mystic world is."
I was still trying to pull myself out of whatever that vision was.
I didn't have the energy for this fucker's mind games.
"Just tell me."
"Fine." He shrugged.
"This world you're in now—this realm—it's tied to the Adenai."
My eyes narrowed. "The Elder Gods?"
"Ding ding ding," Leon said with a smirk.
"Specifically one of their followers. Velzareth—the god of dreams."
I felt sick.
"This world is built upon one law he carries," he continued.
"What law?" I asked.
Leon grinned. "Come on. You've already lived it. Take a wild guess."
The images hit me again—
The blood.
The screams.
That grin.
My breath caught.
"…Nightmares."