(Alaric's PoV)
'this is it, then? This… nothingness. I thought death would have more to it—a light, a reckoning, a whisper of understanding. But no, it's just... empty. Cold. Silent.'
'I can't even feel my body anymore. No heartbeat, no breath. Just this suffocating stillness wrapping itself around me. It's like the universe forgot I ever existed. Like I never mattered at all.'
'And maybe I didn't. Maybe that's the truth I've been avoiding all along. All those dreams I clung to, all those promises I made to myself—I thought I'd have time to fulfill them. Time to prove that my life was worth something. But now I'm here, staring into this abyss, and all I can think about is everything I didn't do.'
'I always thought I'd have time. 'Tomorrow,' I told myself. Tomorrow I'll try harder. Tomorrow I'll tell them how I feel. Tomorrow I'll be brave. But there's no tomorrow here. There's no time, no second chances. Just me and the weight of my failures.'
'I wasted so much. So many moments I can never get back. How many times did I sit there, staring at the clock, letting the hours slip through my fingers like sand? How many words did I leave unspoken, too scared or too stubborn to say them out loud? How many times did I turn away from the things I really wanted because it was easier to stay where I was—comfortable, safe, stagnant?'
'It wasn't supposed to end like this. I was supposed to have more time. I was supposed to matter. But now… it's too late.'
(A pause. The silence grows heavier, and the void seems to press closer around him.)
"No. No, I can't accept this. I won't accept this. This emptiness, this... nothing—it can't be all there is. There has to be more. There has to be something beyond this void. And if I ever—if I ever—get the chance to find it, I swear I won't waste it."
"Do you hear me? Whatever forces govern this existence, whatever cruel design led me here—I refuse to let this be the end. I will fight. I will claw my way out of this nothingness, and if I make it back, I will live. Not just exist, not just stumble through the days—I will live. I will burn so brightly that no shadow, no void, could ever touch me again."
(He begins to speak more forcefully, as if willing himself to rise above the void.)
"I'll never procrastinate again. I won't put off the things that matter. Every second will count, every moment will have meaning. No more waiting for the 'right time,' no more hiding behind excuses. Life is too short, too precious, to waste even a single heartbeat."
"And I won't let regret weigh me down. I've carried enough of it already—every missed opportunity, every 'what if,' every chance I didn't take. They're like chains around my soul, dragging me deeper into this abyss. But no more. I'll face my fears head-on, even if it breaks me, because I'd rather live with scars than regrets."
"And addiction—whether to comfort, to distraction, to fear—I won't let it control me. I won't let it sap the life from me, the way it has so many times before. I'll be free. Free to live, free to love, free to chase the things that set my soul on fire. Free to become the person I was always meant to be."
(The void begins to shift, as if reacting to the intensity of his words. He can feel the faintest flicker of light in the distance, but his voice grows more desperate.)
"But I'm afraid. Do you hear me? I'm afraid. This void—it's everything I feared in life and worse. The silence, the emptiness, the sense that nothing I ever did mattered. It's crushing me. It's swallowing me whole. And the worst part is... I can't fight it. I can't push it away or fill it with distractions like I did when I was alive. It's just here, all around me, inside me, and I hate it."
"I don't want to die. I don't want to fade into nothing. Please, if there's anything out there—any power, any force, any god—give me one more chance. Just one. I'll make it count. I swear on everything I am, everything I could be, that I'll make it count."
(The flicker of light grows stronger, but so does the pull of the void. He struggles against it, pouring everything he has into his vow.)
"If I return, I'll make sure no one else has to feel this. I'll share my fire, my strength, my will to live, with everyone I meet. I'll make sure they know how fleeting life is, how important it is to seize every moment, to love deeply, to dream boldly. I'll live not just for myself but for everyone who couldn't."
"I don't know if anyone can hear me. Maybe these words are just echoes in the dark. But if there's even the slightest chance that they matter, then let them be my anchor. Let them pull me out of this void and back into the light."
(His voice drops to a whisper, trembling with both fear and resolve.)
'I'm not ready to die. Not like this. Not with so much left undone, unsaid, unlived. I don't care what it takes, or how much it hurts—I'll find a way back. And if I do, I'll never forget this. The fear, the emptiness, the suffocating weight of it all—I'll carry it with me as a reminder. A reminder that life is precious, that time is fleeting, and that the void... is always waiting.'
(The flicker of light becomes a blaze, and the void begins to fracture. Alaric takes one final, shuddering breath—)
'I will never come back here. Never.'
(And then, everything explodes into light.)
-----
{AN:-
~Words from this Kind Author;
"Death is the final truth, a silent force that neither judges nor forgives. Regret is its shadow, a reminder that the most powerful mysteries of existence are not in dying, but in the moments we let slip away. In the face of death, only those who have lived without fear of the unknown can stand unbroken."}