The whispers crawled at the back of my skull, threading through my thoughts. My body decided before I did. I shoved myself to a direction, away from the chaos. I stumbled hard, my feet simply cannot keep up anymore, each step started getting heavier than the last. I barely felt the ground.
I looked back. The creature crashed into the railing. Its roar tore through the air. Then it turned fast and charged. I snapped my head forward—
—and my foot found nothing.
The floor under me vanished, and suddenly I found myself falling. The wind lashed through my face. I leaned forward, locking my elbow, bracing myself for impact.
And then—impact.
I landed hard, not on stone, not on anything solid, but something soft—flesh, warm, moving. The impact forced the air out of my lungs. I opened my eyes. I slammed against the creature's back. The force folded me awkwardly before hurling me sideways. My body bounced across its back like a ragdoll. My shoulder clipped on something hard. Then I rolled again before skidding off to the side and hit the ground.
Strangely enough, it didn't hurt as much as I thought. Well, it still left a mark though. The edges of my vision smeared, lights splitting as my eyes struggled to catch up, colors bled into one another, the world warping. I blinked slow, hard, once, twice, forcing my focus back into a place. I tried picking myself up,
Her eyes met mine for a brief second.
Her figure was slim and well-proportioned. Short, pale hair, a few loose strands framing her face and softening its sharp features without dulling them. Smooth skin. Her expression remained composed, almost detached in a sense, as if seeing me barely registered.
Then she moved.
There was no warning. No shift of weight, no breath drawn, or any signs. One moment she stood before me. The next, an afterimage rushed straight at my face. The world snapped. Stone exploded beside my head as something punched up through the ground. A black tendril tore through the ground inches away from my eye, dust and gravel spraying across my cheek.
What happened barely registered. I was yanked sideways. I shakily glanced at the spot where my body had been a heartbeat ago, the tendril hissed in the air at the same spot. Only then did it register through my head. Only then did I realize, I was saved by her. She already moved to save me before I even knew I needed it.
She crouched down, lowering herself until our eyes met. The world had shrunk to just the two us. The world around us faded into the distance. In that moment, despite everything, her eyes told me—everything's going to be fine.
"S… he… ct… ou…" She mumbled something.
Her lips moved softly. I leaned forward to catch the words. All I could hear were broken syllables slipping past me. I didn't understand a single word. However, I trusted it. I couldn't explain why. I didn't question it. I simply... trusted it. She stood up, straightening herself, letting the air settle. I was left with nothing but a stare.
The creature's recoiled, shrieking as her blade bit into its flesh. She forced it back. Its claw swung past her, cutting through the air where she had stood previously. Another strike drove it off balance, it staggered. It let out a howl.
I scrambled back. All I could do was back away and watch. The ground trembled with each heavy step the creature took. She pivoted, sidestepping with a fluid precision.
Then, almost casually, she flipped over its back, landing on her feet like it was nothing. The monster roared in frustration, turning to strike again. She drove her weapon forward. It collapsed at her feet, shaking the platform as it fell. I didn't see the strike at all. One moment, she drove forward. The next, it tumbled, crashing hard against the platform.
Before I could fully register everything, the body of the creature was being drawn inward, sucked toward some unknown force. Its thrashing slowed, arms flailing, until all that remained was the dagger. After the body was sucked away, only the blade remained, lodged deep in the orb. An explicable sharp hiss radiated through the blade.
Her gaze finally lifted and settled on me.
For a second, neither of us moved.
Something moved.
Not just fast—sudden.
A second tendril tore out of the ground, slick and violent, and punched into her right side, barely dodging it. The sound wasn't loud, just a wet, brutal thud. She grabbed my arms, and pulled me with her as the tendril snapped free. Her jaw clenched as blood ran between her fingers as she pressed a hand to her stomach.
Her fingers dug into my arm, tightening as her body jolted forward.
The world rushed back in all at once.
And the safety I'd felt—shattered.
I felt it. Heat surged through my limbs, drowning out the pain, the noise, everything. I shoved her away.
She stumbled backward. The creature lunged between us in a blur of flesh and movement. It ripped through between us, close enough that the air scorched, also close enough that something grazed my shoulder, sending sparks of pain down my arm.
The floor between us exploded. I skidded across the ground, breath tearing out of me, while she caught herself a few steps away, foot scraping, already turning back toward the threat. Too close. Way too close. If I was millisecond late that would hit us.
She moved again. Blood bloomed along her side, pooling beneath her hand and clothes, nonetheless, she charged anyway. Her blade met the creature's strike. Once. Twice. Each impact shuddering through the air. Her footing wavered, just for a fraction.
That was enough.
The next blow hit harder. The clash went wide. Her sword flew loose in the air, spinning end over end before skidding to a stop at my feet.
The creature's fist connected. The sound was dull. Her head snapped sideways, and collapsed, sliding across the ground before it closed in. The tendrils wrapped tight around, her arms, her torso, before hauling her up like a broken doll.
Her feet scrabbling uselessly against the floor, not even making an attempt to break free. Then it started hammering her against the floor, over.. and over... and over... again. Each impact shook the platform, rattling the broken bits in the floor. Her cry was cut short each time, crushed by the force of the blows.
And I was standing there, just watching it all unfold before my very eyes.
My feet wouldn't move at all, might as well nail them to the ground. Even if I will them to, they refused to listen. Just a few steps and I would be there. Yet a single step stretched into a mile, and it became impossibly far.
Why am I here?
My chest tightened so violently I thought it might explode.
Why can't I?
I crouched down. My fingers closed around the hilt. The dagger dragged my arm down. I staggered, shoulder jolting, teeth grinding as I forced the blade up with both hands. The hilt bit into my palms. My arms trembled. It wasn't just weight. It pulled at me, demanded everything I had just to keep it raised.
I glanced at blade, my face reflected back. Something inside me screamed back, something feral, raw, desperate. And in that unbearable stillness, I realized. Had I given up?
No.
I gave up long, long before. I gave up on everything.
I'm just a sickly, pessimistic loser who had achieved nothing in life. Mad at the world. Jealous of everyone. While everyone moved, I stayed behind and complained, and it was nothing more than a pitiful excuse, blaming everything on my misfortune.
Yet in reality, I had watched others struggle and still stand back up. I had watched them reach out, fight, try. Or accept and lived with it, and squeeze every bit of what's left. And what I had done? I learned how to disappear. How to convince myself that staying still was safer than moving and failing again.
I wanted to tear this feeling out of me, throw it away. However, it clung stronger the more I resisted. I wasn't frozen in fear because I was afraid, but believed in myself that deep down my presence didn't matter. The outcome wouldn't change, whether I help or not. I am not someone who moved pieces on the board.
You don't change anything.
You simply exist...
The sound of her voice, weak and pained, cutting through my thought.
My face crumpled, brows furrowed, mouth hung open, searching for a word that wouldn't come. I gritted my teeth, biting my lips until it bled.
One step.
That step alone almost took everything from me.
And in that silence, something shifted.
Not hope.
The realization. The awareness.
"I can't keep doing this..." My voice came out broken. "The outcome would be the same..."
Even if my legs trembled. Even if my voice cracked. Even if I'm weak. Even if this was for me. Even if it was not for her. I had to move, not simply because I need to, but I had to. It was exhausting. I'm tired of everything. I'm tired of this goddamn forsaken world moving without me.
The realization didn't feel heroic. It felt ugly.
I wasn't trying to prove anything. I wasn't trying to be brave. Not to redeem myself. Because for once, I was just done.
Then I moved.
It hurts. Each step felt heavy, like someone dragging me down. Every nerve in my body protested. Every doubt clawed back to the surface. But the distance shrank, just a little.
The world snapped back altogether as I lunged forward, the dagger pressed tight against my waist. I jumped barely, driving it forward. The blade went in with a wet, sickening resistance. I drove it straight into one of its eyes.
The creature shrieked, a sound that rattled my skull. Its body twisted, trying to shake me loose, but I clung on, teeth clenched. I raised my right arm and slammed my fist into it. Then my punch sank in deeper. Heat and pressure closed around my wrist, sticky and alive.
I tried to pull back.
It didn't let go. I let go of the dagger, trying to get myself out. My eyes widened as the realization crept in, whatever I had just touched was pulling me.
My arm vanished past the elbow, then my shoulder, the world tearing away in jerks of motion and breath. Sound collapsed into a dull roar, like being dragged underwater. Light smeared, then snapped shut.
The coldness swallowed me whole, and thick and absolute darkness pressed in from every side.