Haruto rushed down the street, his mind spinning as he tried to make sense of what was happening. Was he really back? How could that be? The world around him seemed both familiar and alien, the streets he had once known now bathed in a surreal light. Panic gripped him, and he urgently approached a woman on the street, hoping for answers. But she recoiled, brushing him off with a look of disgust as if he were some kind of deranged pervert.
Confusion gnawed at him. "How could I be back?" he whispered to himself, his heart racing. By all accounts, he was supposed to be dead in this world. But then, a desperate thought struck him—I need to go home.
Without a second thought, he started running. As he picked up speed, he felt the familiar pull of the wind element coursing through him. "Holy shit, do I have my magic here!?" he exclaimed, disbelief and exhilaration mingling in his voice. He sped down the street, the wind whipping around him as people quickly stepped aside, their expressions a mix of shock and awe at the spectacle.
When he arrived at his childhood home, he paused, noticing subtle differences. The house looked almost the same, but there was something off, something that he couldn't quite place. Hesitating at the door, he took a deep breath, steeling himself for what he might find on the other side. Finally, he opened the door and stepped inside.
"Anyone home?" Haruto called out cautiously, his voice trembling with a mix of hope and fear.
A familiar voice responded, almost bringing tears to his eyes. "Oh, Haruto, you're home early. That's unexpected."
Haruto rounded the corner, and there was his father, sitting on the sofa, scrolling through his phone and checking emails. The sight overwhelmed him, and he rushed forward, unable to contain the flood of emotions. "DAD!!" he cried, tears threatening to spill over.
His father looked up, startled by the sudden outburst. "Hey, hey, calm down. Is everything okay?" he asked, concern etched on his face.
"I've just missed you so much," Haruto choked out, unable to hold back the tears any longer.
His father frowned, confused by Haruto's behavior. "What's the matter with you? I swear, ever since you fell off that cliff, you've become quite the brat!"
The words hit Haruto like a sledgehammer. He recoiled, his mind reeling. 'What just happened?' he thought, the shock paralyzing him. As he looked up, his breath caught in his throat. His father was standing now, and to Haruto's horror, lightning crackled and flowed freely around his hands.
Something was horribly wrong. The walls around him seemed to breathe, pulsing with a dark energy that made his skin crawl. The room was bathed in a sickly, distorted light that warped the edges of everything it touched. It was the living room he remembered, but twisted, as if seen through a nightmare lens.
Heavy, deliberate footsteps echoed from the hallway. Haruto turned, dread pooling in his stomach, as his mother emerged from the shadows. But she was not the loving figure he remembered. Her face was pale and gaunt, her eyes hollow voids that seemed to suck the warmth from the room. Her movements were slow and unnatural, like a marionette on broken strings.
"Haruto," his mother said, her voice a low, chilling whisper that seemed to echo with a hundred other voices. "Why did you survive?"
Before he could react, her foot, engulfed in flames, slammed into his stomach, sending him flying across the room. The impact was brutal, and Haruto coughed up bile, struggling to comprehend what was happening.
"You should have been with us," his father added, his tone filled with icy disdain. "What makes you so special? What makes you worth saving?" He grabbed Haruto by the collar and tossed him across the room like a ragdoll, crashing him into the wall.
Haruto's heart pounded in his chest as he struggled to find his voice. "I... I didn't want this. I never wanted to be the one who lived," he gasped, trying to stand, confusion and terror gripping him. But what shocked him even more was the realization—how were his parents using his abilities?
His mother tilted her head, her hollow eyes narrowing as if studying him. "Is that why you waste your life? Why you do nothing? Because deep down, you know you should have died too?"
Haruto felt his chest constrict. The words stung because they echoed his deepest fears—thoughts he had buried so deeply he hadn't even realized they were there. "I didn't... I didn't mean to waste anything," he stammered, but the words felt hollow, even to him.
His father stepped closer, his face contorting into a sneer. "You're nothing, Haruto. You always were. We achieved so much, and look at you—just a shadow, a failure. We were proud, successful... and yet you're the one who survived. The universe's cruel joke. Now look at you. You have these abilities, and you're afraid to use them!" His father struck with a vicious uppercut, his fist cloaked in water. "You can't even succeed when a god gives you a hand. How pathetic."
Haruto recoiled, but the words sank deep, latching onto the resentment he hadn't even known was festering inside him. "Stop it," he whispered, his voice cracking. "Please, just stop."
"But it's true, isn't it?" his mother continued, her voice dripping with venom. "You hate yourself because you know you're not worthy. You're weak, Haruto. You've always been weak. And now, you're nothing without us. How does it feel to see us freely use these gifts better than you, with little effort?"
Tears welled up in Haruto's eyes, blurring the nightmare vision of his parents. "I didn't ask for this," he choked out. "I didn't ask to survive."
"But you did," his father spat, his tone cold and unforgiving. "And now you live with the knowledge that you were never good enough to live up to us, yet here you are, breathing while we rot away. Tell me, how do you sleep at night, knowing that?"
Haruto dropped to his knees, his hands clutching at his head as if trying to block out their words. "I don't... I don't know why I survived!" he cried, his voice thick with anguish. "I wish it had been me instead! I wish I could have taken your place!"
His mother knelt beside him, her voice now a soft, insidious whisper in his ear. "But you didn't. And now you're left with nothing but the knowledge that you're a failure, a disappointment... the son who lived when he shouldn't have."
Haruto's tears flowed freely, the self-loathing and guilt that had been buried deep within him now fully unleashed. "I'm sorry," he whispered, his voice barely audible. "I'm so sorry..."
The room seemed to close in around him, the air thickening as the manifestations of his parents loomed over him, their cold eyes watching, judging.
"You will never be free of this, Haruto," his father said, his voice fading into a haunting echo. "You can live as a god. We can show you how—just admit it. Just admit you're nothing, and we will give you everything you've ever hoped for. Someone worthy of being our son."
Haruto, broken and on the brink of despair, found himself contemplating their offer. The weight of their words crushed him. The realization that the resentment he held wasn't just towards the world, or fate, but towards himself, hung over him like a dark cloud. He had survived, but at what cost? He just wanted a chance to make them proud, to show he had accomplished something.
"What's the matter? Now you're indecisive? You weren't when you decided to end your miserable life," his mother sneered, her fist encased in a fiery stone as she prepared to strike.
'Only you can do this. The fate of two worlds is in your hands.' Dimitri's words suddenly rang out in his mind, cutting through the despair like a blade. "NO!" Haruto screamed, his voice filled with newfound determination. "I survived for a reason, and you will not make me feel bad for that. I have a chance to save what I lost. You two are imposters."
As his mother's fist came down, Haruto intercepted the blow, his hands now crackling with lightning. In one swift motion, he drove his electrified hand through her chest, the energy surging through him with righteous fury.
"You ungrateful brat!" his father roared, lunging at Haruto with fire raging at his feet.
"Enough of your nonsense!" Haruto shouted, slamming his hands to the ground. "Earth Magic: Seal of Gaia!" The floor morphed and grabbed hold of his father's hands and feet, rendering him immobile. Haruto stared into the twisted face of the man who had once been his father. "You could never be my father." With a final, decisive movement, Haruto set his father's head ablaze, the flames consuming the nightmare before him.
As their forms began to dissolve into the shadows, Haruto was left alone. The weight of their words that had been crushing him now felt lighter. He had faced the darkest parts of himself and emerged victorious. The resentment he held wasn't just towards the world or fate, but towards himself—but now he had beaten it.
Suddenly, a door appeared in the darkness. Haruto stood, his resolve unshaken, and confidently walked through it, leaving the nightmare behind.