As my consciousness drowned in endless darkness, I felt a presence—not of an angel or a divine being, but of a mortal. It was the distinct presence of someone far stronger than me. Do people in the afterlife fight, too? I thought, realizing how dumb the question was even as I asked it.
Remembering Curse Weaver's instruction, and figuring it didn't matter anymore since I was probably dead, I tried to force my domain expansion with every shred of power I had left—not out of a desperate will to survive, but just to see if this dead space had an end.
No echo answered. Instead, a sharp, stabbing pain spiked through my chest like a sudden heart attack. The foreign presence vanished, but its heavy, lingering aura remained trapped in the surrounding void.
If I am dead, how can I feel anything at all? And if I'm not, why are none of my senses working?
I wandered through the darkness for hours, finding nothing. It was absurd enough to make me chuckle. So this was the death everyone feared—just human emptiness. A constant void that people spend their whole lives trying to fill with fleeting desires, all of it ultimately in vain.
I kept walking. It was a waste of time, and I wasn't getting anywhere, but it was what I always did when I was overthinking. Or maybe I just didn't know how to stop.
After what felt like ages, a stunning sensation pierced the numbness—a warmth I had craved for a decade. It felt like someone touching a cold corpse, perhaps my family finally collecting what was left of me. I couldn't speak, answer, or even listen, so I didn't bother trying.
For a mere glimpse, a single frame of reality cut through the dark: a flash of fire mixed with crimson light and roaring thunder. But what did reality matter if I was already gone?
As I wrestled with the thought, a voice rushed inside, echoing like the murmur of someone I knew, filling the absolute void of silence:
"He wasn't a human, neither a demon... Just an outsider, one of those who knew the ending and the beginning, yet wanted to change it for once to see what he desired..."
What was this? Was my soul stuck between life and the afterlife?
The voice continued, sounding less like a prophecy and more like lines from a fable or a novel:
"An ending that is happy—an ending where his favorite character can live. A fable he reads and lives like a life he wasn't able to enjoy. The day everything changes, the day stories start to maneuver reality, the distinct stars curve their gaze just to witness the birth and death of a human... it's just a dream, I thought. An old, forgotten dream."
It was words of echo that all I was able to listens
Why couldn't I focus on it? The murmurs blurred together. Forget about this. I should complete my previous one first... ah, why can't I select one? Should I read the new one or finish the old one?
The gibberish monologue of a girl struggling to decide what to read blended into the background until a final, distinct sigh broke through:
"Hope this dumbass wakes up fast. I had told him to wait till 30%, but he's got some kind of insect inside his brain that just makes him run straight into a suicidal fight like it's some grand display of bravery. If this so-called Ryn manages to stand on his own two feet right now, I'd beat his ass myself."
A pause followed, filled with a heavy, exasperated breath.
"Alas, I should sleep. He ain't going to wake up anytime soon."