The One Who Answers
Chapter 28
"Haaa... haa..."
Eidolon's breathing grew ragged-loud, uneven, desperate. Each breath scraped his throat as though his lungs were tearing themselves apart from the inside.
"W-what... what the hell just happened...?"
His voice shook.
"Why is everything like the-"
Before he could finish-
A flood crashed into his mind.
Not memories.
Not visions.
Something foreign.
"GAAAAAAAAA!!"
Eidolon screamed, clutching his head as agony tore through his skull. Veins bulged grotesquely along his temples, pulsing violently as if they might burst at any second. His body convulsed against the blood-soaked stone, nails scraping helplessly as his teeth clenched so hard they threatened to shatter.
Scenes flashed before his eyes.
Death.
Ruins.
Worlds collapsing into ash.
Himself-standing atop mountains of corpses, eyes hollow, shadow swallowing the sky.
The pain came as suddenly as it had arrived-
And then-
It stopped.
Just like that.
No echo.
No lingering ache.
Eidolon lay there, gasping, sweat pouring down his face.
Something had happened.
He could feel it.
He understood now.
Why the Elder had asked that question.
Why his presence had felt so wrong.
Why fear-not hatred-had filled their eyes.
The image of himself lingered in his mind.
And it terrified him.
A soft sound drifted through the frozen air.
♪ Hmmm... hmm... ♪
A melody.
Eidolon froze.
His head snapped forward toward the source.
That's... strange...
But what terrified him wasn't the sound-
It was recognition.
He knew the song.
No.
That's not possible.
"THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!" Eidolon shouted, his voice cracking.
"That song-! That's the one my mom used to hum to me... How-how can anyone here know that?!"
His hands trembled.
"Stop it... stop it, stop it..."
He shook his head violently.
"It's not real. Snap out of it."
A hollow laugh escaped his throat.
"Y-yeah... maybe it's a dream... haha..."
He laughed again-sharp, broken-like someone already halfway gone.
"Pathetic."
The voice came from behind him.
Eidolon stiffened.
Slowly-reluctantly-he turned his head, every instinct screaming for him not to.
But he did.
And he saw it.
Not a man.
Not a monster.
A presence.
It stood where the world itself seemed to bow inward-its form wrapped in shifting darkness, neither solid nor void. Horn-like shadows curved upward, not grown but declared, as if reality had agreed they should exist. Its eyes burned-not with fire-but with ancient knowing, the kind that has watched countless civilizations beg, scream, and rot.
The air around it reeked of endings.
A crown of unseen weight pressed down on the coliseum.
Eidolon's lips moved on their own.
Words escaped him without permission.
"...The Sovereign of Ruin."
"...The One Who Sits Beneath All Sin."
"...The First Shadow Cast When Light Was Born."
His voice dropped to a whisper.
"The Abyssal Father."
The being smiled.
And the world trembled.
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