Ren's breath shuddered as tears streamed down, his chest rising and falling in shattered, uneven gasps for air. His fingers twitched in the pool of cold blood, gripping at something solid—something real.
'I should be dead.'
The thought pulsed in his head, over and over again, but his body refused to accept it.
He had felt himself die.
He felt teeth pierce his flesh, bones splinter under crushing jaws. How his body was torn apart. His mind had been shattered by the sheer torture of it, the unbearable suffering.
And yet, he was whole.
His body was fully intact, his skin unbroken.
Even the clothes he wore were restored.
"No…it's not real. It isn't," He muttered. "This is just—just another pain episode…Another hallucination…I've had them before. That's all this is…"
His thoughts scrambled for something—anything—that made sense.
This couldn't be real.
Ren pressed a trembling hand to his chest, feeling the slow, steady rhythm beneath his palm.
The pain was gone. All of it.
And his body felt wrong, foreign even.
Swallowing hard, his breath quickened.
"Yeah…that's it. The pain hit too hard again. My brain's just—just filling in the blanks."
He couldn't stay here.
With a shaky inhale, Ren planted his palms against the ground and pushed himself upright.
His legs struggled beneath him.
"But why? Why can't I wake up?" He clenched his fists, frustration breaking through his fear. "Why isn't anything changing? It should be over by now…"
Then—
A gust of wind tore through the forest.
Cold air rushed through his matted grey hair, slipped beneath his cloak, scraped across his skin.
"No…"
The ground beneath his feet was solid and undeniable.
The scent of ash and decay filled his lungs.
This wasn't just another episode.
This wasn't a hallucination.
Panic surged. Ren staggered back, then turned and broke into a run.
His legs screamed in protest, weak and unsteady, but he didn't stop.
"It's not fair!" His voice cracked, raw with exhaustion. "Why do I have to keep living?!"
Then a thought.
'There's nowhere to go...'
It slithered into his mind, soft and motherly, settling there like it belonged.
'You're alone...'
The steps became harder to press down.
'Just lie down...'
The weight of the words pressed on.
'Just stop…'
Tears burned at his eyes as fear twisted within his heart. That voice made surrender feel natural. Like it was his own choice.
His pace faltered. Ren bent forward, hands braced on his knees, chest heaving. He squeezed his eyes shut, focusing on the rhythm of his breathing. In…and out. He had to steady himself.
"This…this isn't real," He muttered, shaking his head.
Then—
A groan came from behind him.
Slowly, Ren turned to see a corpse hung from a blackened tree.
Its neck bent at an impossible angle, body swaying gently in an unseen wind.
The tree beside it held another, and another, and another.
Ren's eyes widened as the forest revealed itself.
Bodies—dozens, hundreds—lined the trees. Some hung limp and lifeless. Others twitched. Their chests rose and fell in weak gasps. Fingers scraped uselessly in the air. Mouths opened in silent screams that would never be heard. His vision swam as he staggered back.
"What…what is this…"
Ren shook his head, forcing himself to turn.
As he took a step forward—
A voice spoke, soft and weak.
'Help me…'
It was a girl's voice—desperate and pleading.
Ren looked to his side, where the voice seemed to come from. But there was nothing.
The forest groaned around him, filled with utter suffering.
But beneath it all, he heard it.
'Help…help…help…'
Every instinct screamed for him to run.
And so he did.
He ran as the dread clawed at his chest. The pain, the voices, the weight of it all.
He couldn't face it yet. And his throat burned with words he couldn't keep inside.
"I'm sorry. I can't help you." He whispered to the emptiness, knowing fully that the girl could not even hear him. "But I promise…even if you're just a voice in my head…I'll come back for you..."
It wasn't his time yet. He couldn't save others if he couldn't save himself first. Cold air scraped against his pale skin, whipping through the tattered edges of his cloak. His breath came short, but he didn't stop. It didn't seem this place would let him rest so easily. And that soft, motherly voice crept back into his mind.
'Why run…Rest…Be at ease…Little soul…'
Ren squeezed his eyes shut, but the voice persisted—almost amused by his struggle.
When Ren opened his eyes again, the world around him had changed.
The trees were blurred, their shapes stretching unnaturally as if pulled out by unseen hands. The path ahead of him twisted and collapsed in on itself, folding in at impossible angles. The ground was unstable beneath his feet. He wasn't running forward anymore. He was running nowhere.
No matter how hard he tried to focus, the world bled together.
Dark forest and crimson skies smeared into a shapeless void.
His sense of direction slipped away completely.
Then, as if nothing had happened, the forest reset. The trees straightened. The opening was reformed. The world settled back into place.
And that's when he saw a figure lurched in the distance.