Jack felt the sword's power flow from his hand into his body like sacred fire—burning away fear, awakening something long asleep within him.
And the creature... stepped back slightly, as if it hadn't expected resistance.
Jack (softly, with anger):
"You're a remnant of something already dead... and I am a living will."
The creature roared and lunged with its long limbs, but Jack was faster now.
He sliced off two arms, dodged the third, and plunged the sword into the creature's chest.
The creature (retching black liquid):
"You have no idea who we are... You will not survive."
Suddenly, the ground beneath them cracked... and swallowed them both.
Jack plummeted through a whirlpool of shadows, unable to tell up from down, until he slammed into a stone wall and fell into a massive hall
The hall lit itself, as if its walls burned with an inner fire.
In the center stood a towering throne made from interlocked bones.
And upon it sat... an old man with a white beard, a semi-transparent body, and eyes devoid of pupils.
The Old Man (with a deep, calm voice):
"Welcome, Jack... You've finally arrived."
Jack (slowly getting up, panting):
"Who are you? What do you people want from me?!"
The Man (smiling):
"I was the beginning... and I will be the end. You are now at the core—where decisions are forged, and curses are born."
Jack:
"What does that mean?"
The Man (rising from the throne, walking toward Jack):
"You're the heir to a legacy you don't yet understand. And Sindo... the one they believed was exiled, has returned."
Jack stepped back, still holding the sword tightly.
Jack:
"Who is Sindo? Why is everyone so afraid of him?"
The Man (placing a hand on Jack's shoulder):
"Sindo is your other face... the part created from you, to rule over a place that should never exist.
And now… he's free."
A heavy silence fell.
Jack (whispers):
"Is... is he me?"
The Man:
"You are one half of the story, Jack. The other half... is about to awaken."
Suddenly, the ground trembled, and a sound—harsh and fast—grew closer... A distorted laugh and the metallic clanging of footsteps echoed across the stones.
The Old Man (his voice tense now):
"He's here... and we're not ready!"
Jack (shouting):
"Who's here?!"
The Voice (from the shadows):
"The one you kept running from...
Sindo is no longer in exile."
And then...
A massive body emerged, wrapped in burning chains.
Its face was a fusion of Jack and a demon, its voice tearing through the air like a blade.
The Creature:
"You're late, Jack... and curses wait for no one."
Jack stood at the center of the bone hall, his heart pounding like war drums. The air around him grew heavier, thick with something beyond human comprehension. The earth echoed with the voice of the mutated being—half fire, half shadow—approaching with steps that shattered the stone floor.
Taking a defensive stance, Jack looked like a sacred warrior entering a battlefield with no return. He stepped back, then gripped the sword tightly with both hands.
Suddenly, the sword burst into flames—an unholy blaze igniting on its own, racing along the blade as if it already knew who it would strike. From the depths of Jack's soul came a cry of defiance:
Jack (voice rumbling through the chamber):
"If I am Sindo… then I will kill you and end this nightmare now!"
The creature laughed, a sound that made the very walls tremble and the air snap back like a slap.
The Creature (with terrifying mockery):
"How dare you… compare me to that pathetic failure?
Sindo? Just a shadow.
And me? I'm the origin.
I am hunger… I am death… I am the one who will turn your existence into a dull joke in the Book of Curses!"
Without waiting, the creature lunged—faster than a scream.
Its monstrous hand pierced Jack's chest in a single brutal thrust!
A muffled scream escaped Jack's lips. His eyes widened as time seemed to stop. Blood poured from his mouth, and his body slowly rose into the air—impaled in the creature's grip like a puppet strung by death.
The Creature (grinning, spitting blood):
"Curses aren't defeated… light never wins… and truth? No one survives it."
But before it could finish him—A massive hand burst out of nowhere.
Black, cracked, and oozing threads of grey like veins of a dying world, the hand pierced the creature from behind with terrifying ease—grabbing its still-beating heart.
A hidden voice, deep and rough, like magma boiling beneath a volcano:
Unknown Voice:
"How dare you speak of Sindo… like that?"
The creature let out a monstrous gasp, and the hand ripped its heart out like plucking a rotten fruit—then devoured it in one bite.
The body didn't even appear… only that hand ruled the world for one terrible moment.
An infernal fire exploded.
The entire hall was consumed by flames.
The creature's corpse burned like dry straw, turning into weightless ash.
The Voice (from behind the black gate where the hand vanished):
"I'll see you in the underworld… wretch."
Everything vanished.
The hand… the voice… the fire.
And Jack remained—Suspended in the air, a lifeless corpse.
His eyes wide open, staring into a ceiling that could no longer be seen.
His sword extinguished… along with his hope.
A heavy silence cloaked the chamber, broken only by the faint clinking of ash falling from Jack's dangling body.
But… this was no ordinary death.
A small green bubble formed in the air, right above the gaping wound in his chest. Then another… and a third…
Until a dark, slimy green mass began to take shape.
It slithered, alive, creeping gently across Jack's body.
It began to consume him—
First the skin, then the flesh—like it knew the path by heart.
Jack didn't scream.
He didn't move.
But his face…
It watched his fate, even after death.
Within moments, nothing remained but a brittle skeleton, scorched with green rot.
As if his soul itself had decayed.
Then—Everything disappeared.
The room was soaked in an eerie, artificial calm.
The glossy walls pulsed with strange carvings that shifted every few seconds.
The bed was perfectly made—
as if no one had been slaughtered in it just two days ago.
A maid— a silent young woman with faded features and coal-black braided hair—moved quietly around the room.
With mechanical precision, she dusted the shelves, rearranged the books, and folded old clothes.
But one thing caught her eye.
A leather-bound notebook placed neatly on the small table beside the bed.
On its cover, a single name: Jack Smith.
She opened it…
Jack's inner voice (from the journal):
"We lost everything that night.
They vanished—all of them.
My mother, my father, my little sister… even the dog was never found.
No blood. No bodies.
Only a strange scent that lingered in the air for days,
and a mysterious symbol that appeared on the kitchen wall… then vanished as quickly as it came."
The maid raised one eyebrow coolly.
The pages flipped through her hands like she was watching a forbidden film.
Jack's voice (continued):
"I was alone… until that name appeared for the first time.
Sindo."
Her eyes widened for a moment.
She whispered slowly:
"Sindo… So that's how it all began."
She placed the journal gently against her chest,
and whispered as if speaking to someone beyond the walls:
"Master… the harvest has begun.
I believe Sindo has found the final key."
Then she looked at the bed… and smiled.