********Harper
The air in the mansion felt suffocating. Silence pressed against my ears, heavy and unbearable. I couldn't take it anymore. My legs carried me on their own until I reached the winding staircase, climbing and climbing until I stood at the very top of the house.
The window stretched open before me, the night breeze rushing in, cool and sharp against my skin. From this height, the ground looked merciful—like an escape waiting for me. My heart pounded, not from fear, but from a desperate longing for release.
"I don't want this," I whispered to the night. My hands tightened against the window frame. "I can't keep living like this."
I stepped onto the ledge. The world below was dark, quiet, endless. My pulse slowed as if my body had already accepted what I was about to do. For one fragile moment, I closed my eyes and breathed in deeply.
Then—
"Harper!"
Kael's voice cut through the wind, desperate, raw. I felt the heat of his presence behind me, his hand stretching out, so close to grabbing me.
But before he could reach, I leaned forward and let go.
"Nooooo!" Kael's scream tore through the air as I plummeted downwards, the night swallowing me whole.
---
**********
Far away, Vaelthor stood with his hands trembling over the half-finished spell circle. Strange markings glowed, pulsing violently. He gritted his teeth as thunder cracked across the sky, shaking the earth beneath them.
Natalie staggered, her eyes wide. "What's happening?!"
Vaelthor's voice was filled with fury and dread. "She's done it again… Harper has already altered the system itself."
The ground split open, light and shadow colliding as the spell shattered. With no time to react, both Vaelthor and Natalie were pulled downward, screaming, as the world around them collapsed into the void once more.
---
************Harper
Darkness. Then breath.
My eyes snapped open. My chest heaved as I gasped for air, my body trembling. No pain. No broken bones. No death.
Instead, I found myself lying on solid ground in another place entirely. Another realm.
My heart dropped into a pit of horror. "No… no, no, no."
I scrambled up, staring at the unfamiliar sky above, its colors twisting unnaturally like a canvas painted wrong. Every nerve in me shook as realization clawed its way in.
I hadn't escaped. I hadn't ended anything.
I was still alive. Still trapped.
And now—I was in yet another realm.
******Author's POV
The air in the new realm shimmered like fractured glass, bending reality in ways that made even the bravest soul uneasy. The sky stretched endlessly above, neither day nor night, but a blend of both—a twilight realm drenched in silver light. Somewhere within that vast strangeness, a figure materialized. The towering figure emerged from a rip in space, his cloak dragging shadows that devoured the fractured ground beneath his feet.
His eyes glowed like burning coals, scanning the horizon with sharp precision. Harper was here—he could feel it. The system had recorded her reckless actions, her unending attempts to end her own life. She was more than a nuisance now. She had become an anomaly. And anomalies threatened balance.
With each step he took, the realm seemed to bend and twist, obeying his command. He did not walk so much as glide, a force of control incarnate. His voice rumbled low, though no one was near to hear it.
"She thinks she can break the system… but she cannot escape me."
*****
Far away, in another part of the fractured void, Vaelthor was trembling with fury. He slammed his palm against a cracked altar, the spell he had been weaving collapsing into nothingness. Glowing runes flickered and died as the ground beneath him quaked violently.
"This… this wretched girl!" he snarled, his crimson eyes burning hotter than fire.
Natalie, ever calm, leaned casually against a jagged stone pillar. Her lips curved into a faint smirk as she watched Vaelthor's frustration grow.
"You were almost done with your little soul-binding spell, weren't you?" she said smoothly, brushing nonexistent dust off her cloak. "But Harper—sweet, broken Harper—changed the system again."
Vaelthor growled. "She's not supposed to have this much influence! She's ruining everything."
Natalie tilted her head, her golden hair glowing faintly under the fractured sky. "Ruining everything? Or rewriting everything? Don't tell me you've lost your patience, Vaelthor. After all, you're supposed to be the mastermind here."
"I don't need patience," he hissed. His clawed hand clenched tight. "I need results. If she wishes to throw herself into death over and over, then let her. This time… this time, I'll use it. Her self-destruction will be the very weapon I wield to claim her soul."
Natalie's smirk widened, her eyes glinting. "So you do have a plan."
Vaelthor's voice was like thunder. "Yes. Let her kill herself again. Let her plunge into despair. Every cut, every fall, every scream—will only bring her closer to me."
---
********Harper
I didn't know how long I had been walking in this realm, nor did I care. My feet dragged across the uneven ground, though it hardly mattered if there was ground at all. Everything here felt unreal—like a dream stitched together from my nightmares.
The air was heavy, suffocating. My body felt drained, but the weight pressing against my chest wasn't from exhaustion. It was despair.
I didn't belong here. I didn't belong anywhere.
The system kept pulling me into new missions, new lives, as if I were a puppet meant to dance until I broke. My friends… gone. My family… shattered. Aliya's face still haunted me, her last apology echoing in my ears before she died.
It was my fault. It was always my fault.
I clutched the knife in my trembling hand, the metal cold and sharp against my skin. The moment I had found it lying on a crooked stone table, I knew what I was going to do.
This time, I would end it. For good.
"Harper."
The voice was low but commanding, and it froze me in place. My breath caught in my throat as I spun around, my heart racing.
The figure standing before me was unlike anyone I'd seen before. Tall. Cloaked in shadows. His eyes glowed like embers in the dark. Every step he took toward me pressed down on my chest like an invisible hand.
Kael.
"I've been watching you," he said, his voice both terrifying and calm, like a predator speaking to its prey. "Again and again, you throw yourself into death's embrace. Do you think you can escape this world that way?"
I clenched the knife tighter, glaring through the tears in my eyes. "Stay away from me."
"You misunderstand," he said smoothly. "I am not here to harm you. I am here to save you from yourself."
"Save me?" My voice cracked with a bitter laugh. "You're part of this system. You're the reason I'm suffering. Don't pretend you care."
His expression didn't change. If anything, the shadows around him grew deeper. "You think death is your freedom. But you're wrong. You are not like the others anymore, Harper. You are… special."
"Special?" My hand shook violently, but I still raised the knife toward my chest. "All I am is broken."
His eyes glowed brighter. "Then let me fix you."
I didn't wait for him to come closer. With a scream torn from the deepest part of my soul, I drove the knife straight into myself.