Rio woke up in a room of darkness.
Or… was it even a room?
It felt as if he were standing in the middle of nothing, suspended in a vast void. Then, suddenly, he saw something — no, someone. A figure.
He began walking toward it, the darkness swallowing every step. The ground beneath him was invisible, as though he were walking through the inside of a black hole.
As he came closer, the shape grew clearer.
It was Filip.
Rio broke into a run, unsure of what he was stepping on, unsure if anything even existed beneath his feet. None of it mattered. His best friend was lying motionless on the ground.
He dropped to his knees beside him, panic rising in his chest.
Then he heard it — the familiar mumbling of his strange, always-half-asleep friend.
"Thank… thank goodness I'm not alone at the end of the world," Filip muttered.
After checking that Filip was breathing and unhurt, Rio looked around again.
Was he dreaming?
Or was this some new VR game?
Think.
Think.
Think.
What's the last thing you remember, Rio?
"We were exploring a temple…" Rio whispered. "Filip found—"
"The amulet," Filip finished weakly. "We were going to examine it, and then everything went black."
Rio felt his chest tighten. "If that's true… where are we now? And what brought us here?"
Before Filip could answer, a beautiful laugh echoed through the darkness, coming from nowhere and everywhere.
Both boys went rigid, turning in circles, searching for the owner of the voice.
They found no one.
Rio felt his knees weaken. He would have collapsed completely if Filip hadn't been beside him.
Filip, more steady than Rio, raised his voice. "Who's there? Show yourself!"
Silence.
Then the voice returned — calm, melodic, almost enchanting:
"I have no name, and yet we can speak.
I have no body, and yet I can be heard.
What am I, if not a god?"
Filip coughed. "A god? Right. And why should I believe a voice like yours?"
"You may believe whatever you wish," the voice replied. "But I am the reason you are here. And for that… I am sorry."
Rio, having gathered just enough courage to speak, asked timidly,
"If it's true… can you send us back? Back to the temple?"
A long silence followed.
Then the voice said softly,
"That is impossible. You died when you touched the amulet."
Rio fell to the ground, struck numb by the words.
"Dead?" Filip shouted. "That can't be right! We're here — I feel alive!"
The voice continued gently, almost mournfully:
"The amulet was an ancient ritual tool used by my followers to reach the dead. But every ritual came at a cost… a living sacrifice. You are the first humans to be taken instead of an animal."
"So we were sacrificed to you? Without even knowing?" Filip said, trying desperately to calm Rio, who now trembled and fought tears.
Filip swallowed. "Then… what happens now?"
"Your souls," the voice said, "are too powerful to return to the world you came from. But I can offer you two paths:
I can erase your memories and allow you to be reborn…
or I can take you into a new world — one filled with magic and mysteries."
But Filip did not answer.
He couldn't.
Rio was breaking down beside him, sobbing for a home he could never return to.
All Filip could do was wait…
Wait for his friend to recover from the truth.