Even though I screamed until my throat burned, and cried until my eyes ran dry… it felt like none of it mattered here.That absolute void — no ground, no sky, no echo — swallowed everything. It was like screaming underwater.My own voice died before it could even reach my ears.
I was alone.Or at least, I thought I was.
Until, as if born from the absence of light itself, she appeared again.
Death.
She floated gently, like thick mist that whimsically decided to take on a human form. Her abyssal eyes watched me with the tranquil coldness of someone who had seen everything — and forgotten it all.
"Well, you have your answer," she said, her voice as soft as a caress… and sharp as freshly broken ice.
I took a deep breath. My throat still burned, but something else was burning inside me too. One last question.
"Can I ask for something else?"
She raised an invisible eyebrow beneath her hood.
"Ask for something?"
"Yes... I want to know if I can restore my mana channels here. To fight, you know..."
For a moment, the silence returned. I thought she might vanish again, but her eyes narrowed — almost curious.
"Are you afraid the other you might do things you won't?"
What...?
"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.
"I heard the conversation," she replied, slowly circling me without ever touching the ground."I hear everything here. I know things I shouldn't... and I have a question for you."
I swallowed hard.
"Go on."
"When your mother said you had to defeat your other self… what did you think she meant?"
I looked at the non-existent floor beneath me.
"I thought… I had to fight her. Win a battle."
Death sighed. The sound was hollow, like wind passing through an ancient crypt.
"Why is it that you humans, made to preserve life, always think about fighting? Why don't you try… making peace with yourself?"
...Make peace?
My mind filled with memories I'd spent years trying to bury.My mother's face… the blood… the knife.The drugs. The day the police station burned.The screams.The lives I took without hesitation, justifying it by saying I was "protecting someone"... when in truth, I just wanted to justify my anger. My pain.
It was a weight.A burden so heavy that my shoulders bent beneath it, even in the emptiness.Even dead, I couldn't stand straight.
"Don't take it the wrong way..." Death continued, with a touch of almost human compassion."It takes fighting to survive. But that's not the only path. And to answer your question... yes. I'll let you fight here."
Then she vanished, as if she'd never existed.I was alone again — but now with a decision to make.
I breathed deeply. The Latin words were carved into my mind like a magical scar left by my mother.
"Ad liberandam potentiam meam clausam, contra me ipsum pugnare oportet."
A dry heat rose up my spine.It felt like part of my soul was being ripped from me and shaped into something physical.
And then, there — like a distorted mirror — He appeared.
The other me.
Wearing the same clothes. Wearing the same expression I had that night… the first time I sniffed.That blend of rage, emptiness, and sick euphoria.Eyes burning with hatred. Fists clenched.Ready to kill. Ready to die.
"Wait!" I shouted, raising my hands. "Let's talk!"
But he didn't care.
He hurled a bolt of mana straight at my chest.I dodged just in time, the explosion ripping through the nothingness behind me.I instinctively drew my sword, deflecting the following attacks — but I didn't strike.I didn't want to fight him. I just wanted to… talk.
"JOHN, WAIT!"
But he wasn't just my reflection.He was my shadow.
And shadows... don't listen.
Yet in between one strike and the next, something unexpected happened.He... spoke.
"This is what you wanted, right?"
Panting, I looked up.
"What?"
"Power. Power to do whatever you want. I know you want it. After all... I am you."
Without warning, everything changed.The void became memory.
The scene of my mother — kneeling, crying — and then, the dull sound of my father's blade piercing her chest.I felt my heart collapse inward.I dropped to my knees, breathless.
"I was there when we watched her die," he whispered, venom in every syllable."I know what you thought. 'Why didn't I get there in time? Why wasn't I strong enough?'."
"I..."
But there was no time.
Everything shifted again.We were in the forest. The bandit's body crushed beneath my feet.The blood still fresh. The smile… my smile.
"Remember?" he said."How we felt when we killed him? We were happy. We felt... powerful."
"I..."
The next image cut deeper than any blade.
Ciny.Lying still.Me, above her, consumed by desire.
"And here, John..." he continued."What did we want? To have that body all to ourselves. To make her... our property. I know your feelings. I am you."
I couldn't speak.
My darker self returned to the void and held out his hand.
"Come," he said with a smile."Let's take the whole world in our hands."
For a moment, I thought about taking his hand.But instead...
I stepped forward and… hugged him.
He froze. Surprised.
"Yes..." I whispered. "We'll take the world in our hands... but not like this."
He trembled.Then smiled — a sad, gentle smile.And disappeared, like smoke in the wind.
Silence.
Until a soft voice filled the void once more.
"Making peace with yourself... is harder than any duel."
Death was there again.With that same knowing gaze.
"You're not kidding," I muttered, rubbing my face. "I almost died."
She laughed.And I... laughed too.
Even though I was already dead.