Kris looked at me, his eyes filled with a pain I couldn't begin to fathom. "You don't have to be sorry, Kathy," he whispered, his voice gentle but weighed down with sorrow. "When you feel alone, remember I'm always there for you, even if I'm not by your side. I've longed for you for years and will continue to do so, even if it takes a thousand more."
His words echoed in my mind, but they made no sense. Before life? After life? What is he talking about? A deep sense of dread clawed at me. Everything felt wrong—like I was standing on the edge of a truth too dark to comprehend. How could I be the one who created all of this? The one who caused him so much pain? My chest tightened, and I suddenly felt sick.
"I—" My voice cracked, unable to form a response. I wasn't sure what to say, how to react. This can't be real. "I need to understand—" I stammered, but the words fell away as the reality of what Kris had just said began to settle in. How could I have done this? How could I have created the very world that imprisoned him?
The room seemed to tilt around me, spinning slowly, suffocating me in its dizziness. My vision blurred with unshed tears.
The NPC stepped closer, his face softening. "It's time for you to leave, Kathy," he whispered, his tone so final, it made my heart ache. "They'll be here soon."
"No—wait!" I felt a sharp stab of panic. There were so many questions left unanswered. "I still don't understand! I still—"
Kris gave me a sad, patient smile. It was the kind of smile that said he knew I'd need time, maybe years, to make sense of this. "It's okay, Kathy, if you don't believe me now. I just needed to tell you, for me. Maybe for you too." His eyes softened with unshed tears. "I wanted to be selfish, even if just for a moment. To see you, be with you... in this memory."
The room seemed to grow colder, like all the warmth was being drained from it, and I realized it was because he was leaving. Kris took one step back toward the glitching corner of the room, his body flickering with the broken pixels. His form began to fade into the distortion, but before he left, he glanced back at me, and in that moment, I saw the tears fall. He was smiling, but it was a smile wrapped in sorrow.
"Kris—" My voice was barely above a whisper.
"I'll love you always," he said, his voice quivering with emotion. "I just hope we get another life. A real one, where we can be together."
Then, he was gone.
The glitch took him. I watched, helpless, as the world around me started to break apart. The walls flickered, the floor began to distort, and the once-familiar room dissolved into chaos.
Panic surged through me, but I couldn't move. My mind was racing, screaming to hold onto something, to stop this from happening, but I was paralyzed. I can't lose him. Not like this. The world crumbled faster now, unraveling like a thread pulled from the fabric of a dream.
Then I heard them. The assassins.
They had arrived.