Why?
The question echoed through the darkness.
Why had they betrayed me?
Pain tore through my existence.
A sharp, unbearable pain.
Not the pain of flesh.
Not the pain of broken bones.
Something deeper.
Something far worse.
A faint cracking sound echoed around me.
Crack.
I froze.
The sound hadn't come from the darkness.
It had come from me.
A thin fracture spread across my spiritual form like a crack in glass.
I stared at it in horror.
Why?
Crack.
The fracture widened.
Another appeared beside it.
Tiny fragments of pale light drifted away from me before disappearing into the endless darkness.
Panic gripped me.
What was happening?
Was I dying?
Again?
No answer came.
Only silence.
The Void was silent in a way that felt unnatural.
There was no wind.
No air.
No heartbeat.
No sound.
No light.
Nothing.
There was no sky above me.
No ground beneath me.
No sense of direction.
I drifted endlessly through a sea of darkness that stretched beyond imagination.
Time didn't seem to exist here.
There was no sunrise.
No sunset.
No hunger.
No exhaustion.
No way to measure the passing of moments.
For all I knew, I had been here for minutes.
Or centuries.
The thought frightened me.
Then something caught my attention.
A light.
Far away.
Tiny.
Faint.
I focused on it.
Another appeared.
Then another.
Countless lights drifted through the darkness.
Souls.
At least, I thought they were souls.
Some glowed brightly.
Others flickered weakly.
Most drifted slowly in a single direction.
Toward somewhere.
Toward something.
I didn't know what.
Yet no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't follow them.
I remained where I was.
Alone.
Watching them disappear one by one.
That was when I finally understood.
They were moving on.
I wasn't.
The realization sent a chill through my existence.
I wasn't following whatever path awaited the dead.
I wasn't crossing over.
I wasn't reincarnating.
I wasn't going anywhere.
I had become.
Lost.
Forgotten.
Abandoned.
The thought should have terrified me.
Instead, all I felt was anger.
Leon had made his reasons clear.
He wanted my power.
Dante wanted conquest.
Elvnia wanted to return to her homeland.
I could understand greed.
I could understand ambition.
I could even understand selfishness.
But somehow...
None of it felt like enough.
Was power really worth murdering someone who had fought beside you for years?
Was a kingdom truly worth betraying a friend?
Was returning home worth standing by while an innocent man was executed?
No.
No matter how many times I thought about it, the explanation felt incomplete.
Like I was missing a piece of the puzzle.
Something important.
Something hidden.
There had to be more.
There had to be.
Otherwise everything we had shared together meant nothing.
Every battle.
Every laugh.
Every sacrifice.
Every promise.
Had all of it really been so worthless that they could throw it away without hesitation?
The thought made another crack spread across my soul.
CRACK.
Pain surged through me.
Yet it wasn't the pain of the fracture that hurt most.
It was the possibility that their reasons truly were that simple.
That all those years together had meant nothing at all.
Then there was Tina.
The image of her tear-stained face refused to leave me.
Even now.
Even here.
I could still see her.
Still hear her crying.
Still remember the dagger buried in my chest.
Why?
The question returned once more.
Why didn't she tell me?
Why didn't she trust me?
Whatever Leon was threatening her with, we could have faced it together.
Unless...
Another thought entered my mind.
What if she couldn't?
What if there was something Leon held over her that she truly believed she couldn't escape?
The possibility should have eased my anger.
Instead, it only made the confusion worse.
Because if that were true...
Why didn't she ask for my help?
Why didn't she believe in me?
Why did she choose silence?
Why did she choose him?
CRACK.
Another piece of my soul broke away into the darkness.
For a brief moment, I thought I heard something.
A Voice.
Soft.
Distant.
Patient.
Not cruel.
Not mocking.
As though something ancient had been watching me from the darkness.
Waiting.
Observing.
The sound vanished.
Leaving me alone once more.
Or so I thought.