There was no pain in death.
Only silence.
No wind.
No fire.
No screams.
No burning curse twisting inside her body.
Nothing.
Then, slowly, the blackness around her began to pulse—
as if the darkness itself breathed.
Alex felt her consciousness returning, piece by jagged piece,
floating in a void so deep it seemed endless.
She remembered the girl's scream.
The blood.
Her own useless body collapsing under the curse.
Her hand reaching… and failing.
A failure repeated.
A failure forced upon her.
Her teeth clenched.
The void shivered.
A soft glow appeared in the distance, like a candle lit in infinite night.
With every heartbeat, it grew brighter, until the void cracked open in white light.
Seraphielle stepped forward.
Her form was blinding—skin glowing like carved marble, long white hair drifting weightlessly behind her, her pale blue eyes shimmering with ancient calm. The same serene smile touched her lips… the same smile Alex hated from the first moment.
"Alexandra Winston," Seraphielle said softly, voice echoing through the emptiness.
"Death has claimed you once again."
Alex glared up at her, breath trembling with fury.
The goddess folded her hands in front of her, as if delivering news of mild importance.
"This is the third time you perish. The pattern remains unchanged. Violence follows your every rebirth. Suffering follows your every choice."
Alex rose to her feet—
not because the void gave her strength…
but because hate did.
Her voice came out low, cold, shaking with something far beyond rage.
"You did this to me."
Seraphielle's expression didn't change.
"You chose violence. You rejected redemption. I offered you mercy, and you—"
"Don't. Don't you dare speak of mercy."
Alex stepped closer, eyes burning.
"That little girl died because of YOU. Because you threw me into a cursed body that couldn't fight. You made me watch it happen."
Seraphielle sighed, almost sadly.
"You misunderstand the nature of your punishment. It is not my hand that kills—"
"LIAR!"
The void trembled violently around them.
"You want me to beg."
Alex's voice cracked into something feral.
"You want me to kneel. To break. To crawl for forgiveness I don't want."
Light flickered behind Seraphielle, as if her composure strained for the first time.
"But listen carefully, goddess," Alex whispered.
"I will NEVER ask. I will NEVER bend."
Her hands curled into fists.
Hatred pulsed through her veins like fire—
but not the curse's fire.
Something older… darker… heavier.
Seraphielle tilted her head.
"Your hatred grows louder each time we meet," she murmured.
"It clings to your soul like shadow. If you continue like this, Alexandra… there may come a point even I cannot save you."
Alex smiled.
A slow, eerie smile that didn't belong to the girl who once begged for help beside Liz's dying body.
"Good."
For the first time, Seraphielle's expression hardened.
"You walk a path toward damnation."
"Then stop sending me back!" Alex snapped.
"Let me stay dead. Let it END."
"You know I cannot," Seraphielle replied softly. even I can't stopped
"The cycle continues until you seek forgiveness."
"Then enjoy watching me die," Alex hissed.
"I'll make sure every life you give me ends in blood."
The goddess whispered, almost too quietly to hear:
"…That is what I fear."
A silence followed.
But not an empty silence.
Something in the darkness shifted behind Alex—
a cold ripple, like a presence exhaling.
A shadow that watched.
Waited.
Hungered.
Seraphielle's gaze flicked past Alex for the briefest moment.
Her expression tightened—very subtly.
Alex felt it too.
A whisper at the edge of her mind:
Mine…
But when she spun around—
nothing was there.
Seraphielle lifted her hand, and the void beneath Alex cracked open like shattering glass.
"It is time," the goddess said.
"Your next life awaits."
Alex laughed without humor.
"Good. Let's see how many times you can kill me before YOU break."
Seraphielle's voice followed her as she fell back into darkness:
"Alexandra…
every cycle you resist…
every life you refuse to change…
something else grows within you."
Alex fell.
Smiling.
And the darkness welcomed her back.