The reset tried to start again.
The gates.The crown.The cheers.
But this time, the voices stuttered.The smiles cracked.The script bled through like a dying engine.
---
The king held out the crown, but his voice broke apart.
"He…lp…"
The word didn't belong.It wasn't the script.
---
The crowd froze.Every head snapped toward me.Eyes rolled white.Mouths opened too wide.
A chorus of layered voices poured out,not the cheerful chant,but something desperate.
"Save us."
---
My stomach twisted.I staggered back.
They weren't cheering.They were begging.
---
The sky shattered.
The ground split, glowing like shards of broken glass.The whole city fractured around me.
The baker reached toward me,tears cutting through her smile,her voice cracked and broken.
"Please… don't leave us here."
---
The world collapsed.
The crowd dissolved into dust,their voices screaming, overlapping,until it was nothing but static in my ears.
---
I fell into the darkness,shards of the kingdom spiraling with me.
The void swallowed everything—until one shard of glass drifted close.
On its surface,I saw my own reflection.
Not smiling.Not hollow.
But cracked.
---
My chest tightened.I reached out—
And the reflection moved on its own.
Its lips curled into a grin.
"Welcome to the labyrinth."
---
The shard shattered in my hand.The darkness swallowed me whole.