Lucas stood at the edge of the portal.
The swirling light shimmered like a living storm violet and gold, pulsing in rhythm with his heartbeat. It wasn't warm. It wasn't inviting. But it was the only thing in the world that looked like it wanted him.
Behind him, the massive black cat licked its paw lazily, then flicked its eyes toward him.
He asked with a scared and amused voice. "what is that."
"Her domain. She heard your cry. She doesn't usually answer... but you're a fun exception," the cat said, tail flicking with amusement. "Step in. Or don't. Die or live. Not my problem."
Lucas clenched his jaw.
He had nothing to lose.
He stepped forward into the light.
The feeling was indescribable.
He fell without falling. Sank without weight. Time bent and warped until he no longer knew if his eyes were open or closed.
When the sensation stopped, he was standing in a place that didn't belong in any reality.
A throne room if it could even be called that —suspended in an endless black void. The floor was made of transparent glass, beneath which stretched an infinite sea of stars. Massive pillars floated above and around him, shattered and spinning slowly in place. The very air shimmered with glowing symbols, as if the laws of reality were being rewritten in front of him.
And then he saw her.
The Goddess.
She sat with one leg crossed over the other on a throne of bone and gold, her posture elegant, her eyes ancient. Her dress shimmered like flowing stardust, each movement bending the space around her. She smiled not kindly, not wickedly just curious.
"So," she said, her voice smooth and echoing, "you're the little mortal who dared to curse my name."
Lucas stared.
She didn't look like a god.
She looked like a girl his age but every second he looked at her, his instincts screamed that she was something far beyond his comprehension.
"Are you... God?"
The Goddess laughed softly. "Please. Don't insult me. God is what humans call something they don't understand. I am what lies beyond even that."
She stood, and the stars themselves seemed to bow as she moved.
"You asked for meaning. For justice. You wanted to know why the world hates you. Why you were born just to suffer. Why the only person who loved you was taken."
Lucas's hands trembled at his sides.
"Will you answer me?"
The Goddess tilted her head, her glowing eyes narrowing.
"No."
"Because the truth is simple."
"Life is not fair."
Lucas felt something inside him crack.
She walked in slow circles around him now, like a lion studying its prey.
"But I admire your rage. Your grief. It's... delicious."
She paused in front of him.
"So I'm going to give you a chance. A game."
"A game?"
"One wish. Anything you want. Your mother. A new life. Revenge. Power. All yours."
"But you'll have to earn it."
Lucas stared into her glowing eyes. "How?"
Her smile widened.
"You will suffer through thirty sins."
"Not as a witness... but as the victim."
The words echoed in his chest like a war drum.
"You want me to relive the worst things people have done... as if they happened to me?"
The cat chuckled from a floating platform nearby.
"Exactly. Thirty acts. Thirty memories. Thirty deaths, maybe."
"You can quit at any time."
"But if you do... the wish disappears. Forever."
Lucas stood frozen.
This wasn't a trial.
It was torture.
"Why would you make anyone do this?"
The Goddess leaned in, whispering just above his breath.
"Because you asked for a miracle. And miracles are not cheap."
Lucas clenched his fists.
"And if I do it... I survive... I finish all thirty..."
"Then your wish is yours," she said. "No tricks. No riddles."
A long silence stretched between them.
Then Lucas breathed in through his nose, eyes hard.
"I'll do it."
The Goddess paused, as if slightly surprised — or maybe amused.
"Very well."
She raised her hand—and snapped her fingers.
Pain exploded behind Lucas's eyes.
He screamed as fire tore through his skull, like a thousand needles piercing his thoughts. The world around him shattered like glass, the stars blinking out one by one.
His body twisted, falling, breaking
Then:
Blackness.