The ground was soaked in blood.
When my eyes opened, it was as if I had been dragged back into the world—not into life, but into death itself. My lungs filled with air that carried the weight of old memories, the kind that made the heart ache before it could even beat. The cold reality pressed in from all sides, suffocating, heavy... unrelenting.
I stood there, unmoving.
It didn't feel like I was seeing through my own eyes. It was as if I were hovering far above, a hollow shadow staring down at what was left of the camp. Detached. Empty. A ghost forced to witness the living turn into the dead.
Everywhere I looked… corpses.
Not strangers. Not nameless soldiers. But friends.
People I had eaten with, fought beside, and laughed with. And now they lay before me—twisted, torn apart, their bodies mangled beyond recognition.
Their eyes remained open.
And in their glassy, lifeless stare, I heard it—
Why you? Why are you still breathing while we are not?
The air was thick with smoke, the ash drifting like the slow fall of cursed snow. The bitter stench of death clawed its way down my throat, lodging itself deep where no breath could dislodge it. My fingers trembled with the urge to move, but my legs… my legs would not obey. My chest felt like it had been cored out, leaving nothing but a hollow echo where my heart should have been.
And then—It struck again.That crushing weight I thought was gone.The past colliding with the present.A Women scream—raw, piercing, unmistakable.
Not calling my name. Not calling for anyone. It wasn't a scream for help—it was something else entirely.
She was the kind who gave without expecting. The kind who smiled even when she was tired. The kind who reached out to help, even if the hand she pulled from the mud would one day stab her in the back. Too kind for the world she lived in. Too kind for the fate that awaited her.
The Wardens came to the town.
Once hailed as saviors, Protectors of humanity—slayers of demons—they were symbolized by the very people they would one day betray. Power, once left unchecked, had soured into something vile. They demanded food. Money. Obedience. And when the town had nothing left to give… they threatened to Burn it to the ground.
She stepped forward.She thought she could reason with them. Bargain with them. Save us. She promised to take on any task, no matter how cruel. They accepted.And then they broke her. Bound her in chains, robbed her of dignity, and worked her until her body collapsed under unending labor. They fed her only enough to keep her suffering. The voice that once carried warmth through an entire village was reduced to ragged whispers that barely scraped the air.
I saw it all.
I was there.
And I… did nothing.
I hid. Pressed against the cold stone, listening as her screams tore holes into my soul. My legs wouldn't move. My hands wouldn't lift a weapon.
Her final cry still echoes inside me.
It wasn't for mercy.
It wasn't for help.
It was goodbye.
They killed her before the eyes of the whole town. Her blood pooled beneath her feet, seeping into the cracks of the stone, and still—no one moved. Not a single voice was raised.
And I was one of them.
I could have tried. I could have tried saving her. I could have done something... anything!
But I didn't.
And now, years later, I was standing in another sea of the dead. Different place. Different faces. Same story.
Same silence...
Same regret...
My friends were gone. My allies… gone. All slaughtered. And once again—once again—I was the one who lived.
Why?
Why them?! Why not me?!
The same cold rose inside me, the very one that had devoured me years ago. Not the bite of winter, nor death's damp caress. No—this was the frost of cowardice… of guilt… of abandonment.
My breath shook. My heart screamed in my chest. And still, all I could think was—
What's my purpose? Why am I alive? Why did this happen again…?
Then—footsteps.Deliberate. Crushing. Each one tearing the silence apart like the swing of an executioner's blade.I turned.He was there—the demon who had slaughtered my friends.My body screamed at me to run.I lurched forward, desperate, but managed only two steps before his shadow engulfed me. In the next instant, he was upon me—too swift, too close. His strike slammed into my chest. Pain struck hard, and the world crumbled. I hit the ground, swallowed by dirt, blood, and the ash of those who'd fallen before me.
The demon leaned forward, his voice curling with mockery.
"Running already, are we? Don't you want to join them? I'm sure they miss you."
His grin stretched wide."Coward. You can't even look me in the eyes."
My body refused to move. My thoughts spiraled. Why can't I
move…? Am I really this afraid? Is this why I couldn't save them…?
I looked up at the demon—tall, its muscles powerful enough to bend steel. It had the shape of a man, but its skin was pale and dark, as if every drop of blood had been drained away. Thorns jutted from its neck, and its clothes were so black they seemed to devour the light. A faint, pulsing mark glowed where its heart should be.
The demon chuckled—a low, vile sound—as he crouched before me."Tell me," he murmured, "do you remember that day?"
My breath hitched.
"The day your precious heroes executed your friend," he went on. "Must've been agony, watching your closest friend die."
My eyes snapped to his. "How… how do you know about that?"
He laughed—sharp, jagged, like broken glass."How? Because I sent them. I gave the order. The Wardens killed her because of me."
The air collapsed in my lungs. "W-Why…?"
He tilted his head, almost amused."Why? For fun, of course. And I let you live—just long enough to enjoy this. To watch you unravel before I tear you apart… piece by piece… drowning in your own misery."
Hearing him say all that made me feel something deep within myself... anger? No, it's much more than just anger. Something inside me… snapped.
Before I realized what was happening, something red and thick began to seep from my palms—slow at first, like tar bleeding through cracks. It shimmered faintly under the dying light, not quite liquid, not quite blood. And then, as if it had a will of its own, it surged forward.
The crimson mass writhed mid-air—vines of living blood coiling and weaving togetherA wet slash tore through the silence, and his arm was gone.
His scream shattered the air—raw, inhuman, echoing against the area until it felt like the whole world was screaming with him. I staggered back, heart pounding, but the thing didn't stop. It coiled tighter around my hands, pulsing like it fed on my heartbeat.
Another spike formed—longer, heavier.I barely had time to blink before it shot forward, driving straight through his chest.
The demon's eyes widened. He tried to speak, but all that came out was a gurgle of blood.He stumbled, collapsing onto his knees, .
A voice slipped through the chaos—soft, cold, almost satisfied."...Well done," the demon rasped, blood spilling from his lips. "He's become exactly as you suspected."
The words hung in the air, fading into a silence that felt endless.
I couldn't move.Couldn't breathe.
The creature's body hit the ground with a dull thud, sending a faint tremor through the floor. The crimson substance began to fade from my hands, sinking back into my skin as if it had never existed.
All that remained was the smell of blood—and the sound of my own ragged breathing.My hands were shaking uncontrollably, my chest rising and falling like I'd just crawled out of a nightmare.
The next moment, darkness rushed in from all sides.
As I fell, I heard footsteps approaching.
Another demon…? The thought flickered in my fading mind. I tried to open my eyes, to see. But before I could, the footsteps reached me—close enough to touch—and my vision went black.