Looking at a jar full of insects, I feel something… indescribable as they kill each other.
It's impossible for me to understand this unfamiliar feeling.
It's never been there before — a sensation as if I'm witnessing something fascinating, something so captivating that I can't help but give it my full attention.
Watching these creatures fight fills me with that unknown feeling… one I can't name.
I only snap out of it when I notice there's just one spider left.
Now that my dad's gone, my experiments can begin.
Carefully extracting the spider, I take a moment to observe its albino body. It's quite unique — most spiders are black to camouflage, but this one is pure white.
Stopping my observations, I use my enchantment ability to give it something all animals crave: intelligence.
The moment I cast the enchantment, my energy drains rapidly from my body. It feels as if I haven't slept in two days. My vision blurs, my limbs grow heavy, and I collapse to the floor, consciousness slipping away.
When I awaken, I find myself in a void-like world — all I can see is darkness.
Looking around, I feel no panic.
In fact, I feel nothing at all.
It's as though every emotion has been drained from my body.
Then, I hear a monotone voice call out to me.
Suddenly, the world around me distorts and reshapes into a memory that isn't my own.
I'm in a bedroom.
A black-haired girl sits in front of a TV, playing a video game I don't recognize.
Then she speaks — the same monotone voice I heard in the darkness.
"Do you feel empathy?" the black-haired girl asks.
"Well, of course you do," she continues, her tone flat, almost detached — as if she isn't talking to me at all, but to herself.
I try to respond, but I can't move.
I can't speak.
All I can do is watch and listen as she continues her monologue.
"What if I told you… you weren't supposed to feel empathy?"
"What if I told you that feeling empathy at all is an anathema to your very nature?"
"Of course, you wouldn't believe me. You've been taught your whole life that hurting others, lashing out, or killing is wrong. You've been told you should feel empathy toward others."
"You might want to deny me — to never believe that you could be such a terrible person."
"Well, I'm here to prove you wrong. In fact, you've already felt what it's like to be a bad person."
"That feeling you had while watching those creatures die…"
"It was pleasure."
Her words cut deep.
"You may think your sense of justice, your empathy, makes you good. But look at your friend Emma — she betrayed you, and she got everything you ever wanted."
I stare at the black-haired girl in disbelief.
I don't know if she's a manifestation of my psyche, a mental projection, or something else entirely.
All I know is that, deep down, I want to deny everything she's saying.
But somewhere in the deepest corners of my mind… I know she's right.
I am a monster.
I just refuse to admit it — because if I do, there'll be no turning back.
My disbelief shatters as a flood of unfamiliar memories surges through my mind — memories filled with boredom, cruelty, and sadism.
I dive into one of the brightest among them…
And see a white-haired girl.