The sound of soft music sounded out, a girl stood at the side looking around.
This girl could be described as the epitome of beauty and grace; she wore a sky-blue dress matching her blue eyes as she twirled a glass of red wine around her fingers, in a glittering soiree held amidst opulence and extravagance, Emma found herself standing amidst dazzling lights.
Her heart was heavy with a mix of emotions, the room was alive with laughter, clinking glasses, and the rustle of elegant gowns, but none of it could fill the void that had settled within her.
Her eyes involuntarily searched the crowd for him, Ethan, the man who had once held the key to her heart.
Their love bloomed like a rare flower, intense and beautiful, but like petals falling in the wind, it had withered under the weight of betrayal.
Tonight was supposed to be a celebration of wealth and success but for Emma, it was a stark reminder of her pain, the glittering chandeliers illuminated the room, but they only highlighted her heartache, as she moved through the crowd, hushed whispers reached her ears.
"Is that her?"
"Yes, I think it is."
"I can't believe she did something like that."
"What a bitch, where's she going?"
"Wait I saw Ethan earlier, it can't be."
The rumor mill had spun its web and the truth was out. "This isn't possible."
Emma thought as she stared on with dazed eyes, there he was, her once beloved Ethan standing closely with her own sister Lily, their laughter echoed through the hall like a haunting melody.
Emma's heart sank, as their closeness confirmed her worst fears, the betrayal felt like a knife twisting in her chest, summoning the courage she didn't know she had, Emma approached them, her steps feeling heavy with each heartbeat.
As their eyes met the air grew heavy with unspoken words, in that moment her pain, love, and disappointment merged into an overpowering emotion that threatened to consume her.
"Emma I…" Ethan began his voice faltering as he saw the raw pain in her eyes, but he pinched his fist at his own weakness.
How he could love this devil of a woman, he had no idea, how truly blind he was.
"Get out of my sight, I..." But before he could finish a mocking laughter erupted from the crowd.
Faces turned to see the spectacle, a once idyllic love now shattered, the famous and confident Emma, the heir of the raindrop family now reduced to nothing but a heartbroken woman.
Just a few months ago people would try to get on her good side at all costs but now that she had lost her grandfather's favor she was useless and the only thing extraordinary about her was that she had contracted a treat level eight demon, but who in this room wasn't a Contractor?
Emma's sister Lily smirked a triumphant glint in her eyes, the betrayal of not only her lover but her own flesh and blood had shattered Emma's heart beyond repair, the tears she had fought so hard to hold back spilled over, tracing paths down her cheeks.
With the weight of humiliation bearing down on her Emma turned away from the heartless duo, her strides determined as she made her exit, she wouldn't give them the satisfaction of witnessing her complete breakdown.
As she left the lavish party, she carried with her not only the pain of lost love but also the haunting echoes of laughter and ridicule that had tarnished the memory of what was.
At a corner in the distance was a white-haired man and a short-haired woman, if Bruce was here he would have recognized this pair immediately, this was Vincent and Mary.
Vincent laughed with his friends about the small scenario of just now.
They flew over here in an expensive aircraft for this once-in-a-lifetime banquet, but Mary wasn't smiling, "is this how Aiden would have felt if he found out I was cheating with this man?" she couldn't help but ponder.
**********
"Gulp, Gulp," Bruce drank from his bottle of water.
For the past half a month he had applied for a gym membership and followed a strict training regimen, he lifted weights, sprinted up steep inclines, and practiced beginner boxing with unwavering determination.
He could be seen in the gym as soon as it opened, and would work out until eight in the evening when the gym closed, he just worked out nonstop not even taking a break.
His behavior startled the trainers and instructors at the gym, the instructors at the gym had even warned him at some point that what he was doing was unhealthy but he ignored them.
Soon it became normal to see Bruce working out every day.
Of course, he wasn't just doing it for any reason, with every heavy object he lifted or every mile he ran he could feel the cells in his body getting excited, and he could feel his body getting stronger.
Presently it was eight thirty and Bruce was heading home, thinking about the selections next year he got excited, he would surely get into the Silence, after all these years "I will achieve this for both of us," Bruce thought.
Of course, there was another way to join the Silence, he could have just come clean that the demon that triggered the alarm made a contract with him but he didn't want to join the Silence that way, he wanted to join the right way.
"Whoosh," he punched thin air and a loud whoosh sounded out.
His fist tore through the air at impressive speeds forming a small gale.
From this the might of that punch was evident, a red glow not even visible to the human eye could be seen around his arm.
A normal man would never be able to deliver such a blow.
**********
Aiden opened his eyes as he found himself in that familiar cave where he lay on the warm floors just staring blankly at the ceiling, his eyes were a bit shaky, as that feeling of dread was still fresh in his mind.
"Get yourself together," a voice sounded out in his head, but Aiden didn't answer he just kept staring blankly at the ceiling.
"So what if you died, there are no rewards without risks, just think about it, if you pass this test you could obtain boundless power, you want revenge, don't you? You want to show all those who looked down on you what you've got, don't you? Then you should pursue strength if you have enough strength then those horrible things you saw will not happen, no they wouldn't dare to happen."
Hearing those words of encouragement the flames of determination gradually reignited in Aiden's eyes he stood up and said "your right, but this time I have to make it count."
Glancing towards the place where you should have seen nine states only one statue remained.
This means Aiden had died eight more times, in all his battles with this demon Aiden noticed something.
Though this demon had the power to end him instantly it chose to torture him first which he could use to his advantage.
But all that depended on one thing and that was if he could exploit the demon's one weakness.
Walking towards his cave Aiden glanced at the book on the table at some point he had managed to open the next page, but to his disappointment it was blank.
And not only that, the moment he opened that page the whole book began to go blank almost as if nobody had written on it in the first place.
He was a bit disappointed but there was no crying over spilled milk, the ship had sailed and there was no going back, Aiden had killed every demon in this godforsaken place, all he had to do was kill one more.
Walking towards the pile of bones Aiden smiled, he had gathered them from his battles and it was time to put them to use, after cleaning the bones thoroughly Aiden began cutting out shapes using sharp rocks.
First, he cut out something that looked like a cone, the process was long but after a while, the bone was starting to take shape.
It was a throwing knife and Aiden made sure to carve it as thin as possible after all it was meant to act as a concealed weapon.
Picking up more bones Aiden carved out two similar Knives, the next step was polishing and sharpening.
Aiden used a rock that worked more like sandpaper for this, polishing the middle but leaving the sides to achieve a smoother composition and avoid air resistance.
But he wasn't done.
Using another sharp rock Aiden started carving out a downward-facing zigzag pattern at the edge.
"Owch," Aiden uttered a short wince of pain as he cut himself.
After finishing the process he now had three thin throwing knives, their zigzag patterns made it so that if these knives pierced you it wasn't coming out without causing more damage.
After putting away the three throwing knives Aiden picked up his makeshift blade, the blade he had used to kill the demon lady, it was the best weapon to use against the demon due to its durability and size but there were two problems.
This blade was now a bit blunt and Aiden couldn't get a good grip on it since the weapon had no handle.
But Aiden quickly fixed that he carved out the bottom and polished it using his newfound skills to make a handle as for the bluntness that could be fixed by a little sharpening.
Aiden didn't wait any longer, the longer he waited the more he was most likely to lose; there was no food or water in this place, and his one food source the floating orbs that appeared after he killed demons had run out.
Crawling through the narrow passageway Aiden walked outside, it didn't take long for him to find his way toward the tower after all it was quite the obvious landmark, the time of reckoning had arrived and Aiden meant business.
He walked instead of sprinting wanting to use less stamina than he usually would, and in a few hours, he had already reached the tower range.
He could spot the demon standing at the tower's entrance, the air was thick and the tension was high.
But that was only true for Aiden the demon seemed as cool as water, senseing Aiden the demon turned to him its hallow eye set on him trying to pierce through him and break his mental defenses but Aiden stood his ground.
This time Aiden lunged forward taking the initiative, the battle had commenced but something strange happened halfway through his sprint.
He felt a splitting headache as thousands of visions flashed in his mind at the same time horrible visions that shouldn't be explained.
These visions slowed Aiden down and the demon didn't let such an opportunity slip.
"Whoosh!"
Aiden felt the air tearing and his instincts kicked in amidst his confusion, "Tang," a short clash sounded out, and Aiden was shot backward falling on his back and rolling quite a bit.
Normally Aiden would have been able to withstand a hit like that but he wasn't prepared and the strike was sudden, quickly Aiden got on his feet but something was wrong, the demon wasn't in its original position.
Aiden spotted something from the corner of his eyes and his body moved leaning backwards.
"Swoosh!"
A claw swung past him, Aiden didn't even bother to look at the attacker swinging his blade towards it with all his strength.
"Whoosh!"
His blade hit nothing but air, as the demon dodged, "how is that possible? The distance was so close," he thought.
But Aiden didn't have time to think he felt the air tearing again "Tang," a formidable force collided with his blade but Aiden was able to handle it this time.
Feeling the force behind that attack Aiden frowned, "This demon is playing with me." He thought.
"Tang, Tang, Tang," the demon struck Aiden from a different position but Aiden could tell the demon wasn't taking him seriously.
That wouldn't happen for long though, removing one of the throwing knives from under his sleeves Aiden prepared to block another attack "Tang," claw and blade collided and Aiden used the rebound as an opportunity.
"Swoosh!"
He threw his throwing knife toward the demon, they were in close range, but even before Aiden threw the demon already ducked, Aiden wasn't surprised he anticipated it.
This abomination seemed to know his every move before he even did it, it's moves and attack patterns were eerily in sync with his.
Aiden had long since found out why in one of his battles with this demon, at that time he had traded his life for a fatal wound, but the demon didn't bleed, it just reformed as if it was made of mist.
This led Aiden to believe that there was another mastermind, what he was fighting wasn't the demon's true form, he might have known that but he couldn't do anything, this fake wouldn't let him rest.
Aiden didn't know what to do all he needed was a gap, and he just got it, that duck would slow the demon down and that was Aiden's goal all along.
Turning around Aiden slipped the second dagger out of his sleeve, he heard the sound of wind tearing behind him, but he ignored the demon was coming for him.
Aiden grunted as he threw the knife in his hand with every fiber of muscle he had in him.
"Whoosh!"
The dagger flew like a bullet towards Aiden's target.
He watched as the blade arced through the air slicing through the darkness it pierced a vague round object in the sky.
"Screech!"
A sickening screech so loud that Aiden felt his eardrums vibrate filled the air, the demon that was just behind him stopped as if frozen in time, its claws were only a hahairreath away from Aiden's neck.
In an explosion of dark energy the demon let out one final agonizing cry before dissipating into nothingness.
"Bam!"
Something fell from the sky landing not too far from Aiden as it hit the ground with a thud.
The thing looked like a big eyeball with bat-like wings extending from its side, this eyeball was currently impaled by Aiden's throwing knives as it trembled slightly.
Although it trembled the eye wasn't dead yet, Aiden knew this because he couldn't see the floating orb that signified his victory.
Walking towards the eye Aiden wanted to finish it off, but visions assaulted him, more terrifying than before.
Aiden didn't falter this time; this was his only chance.
"Bam!"
He stomped on the eye properly crushing it with his feet and finally, he could see a huge floating orb flow out from the corpse.
This orb had a darkish glow, and it was much different from the regular milky white color.
Its aroma was also quite different but Aiden didn't mind, without hesitation, he threw it in his mouth, and as soon as he did that he trembled in pleasure so much so that his back arched, he didn't know how to say it but he felt himself connect with the world around him, his point of view changed and he could see himself from above.
The world around him was a world of chotic strings, yes strings there were floating around this realm like a tangled yarn; no the best way to describe it was an intricate web, and just like that the feeling ended and Aiden opened his eyes, "what was that?"Aiden muttered.
"Badump!"
"Badump!"
His heart was beating with excitement and his breath was a little hurried, it was as if his body was congratulating him, "I can't believe it, you did it," a voice sounded out in his head.
"This is where the last participant lost but you did it," the voice continued.
Hearing this Aiden chuckled slightly, "I was lucky," he thought, the victory today had taught him a lot.
He had confronted his fears a vastly different feeling than suppressing them, and so far it seemed to be the path to real strength and self-discovery.
Now there was another bridge to cross and that seemed to be the final one, he turned back staring at this strange world, a scary purple moon hung in the air giving a purple radiance to this weird and terrifying world.
As he stepped into the tower he couldn't help but miss this place but it was time to go home.