[OnlReOG.V.CaSav.]
My voice whispered the twisted chant, but the words didn't feel like mine.
The sounds, the meanings—they clawed at my sanity with jagged, fractured edges.
I looked at my own lips moving, watched myself slipping further from reality.
Beyond this wall separating my conscious from reality, my body was chanting words that weren't mine.
Each crack in my sanity deepened, spreading through me, shaking the core of who I was.
I felt the wall between my last shred of awareness and my body thinning.
Then, it appeared—dark, corrupted words, disjointed and flickering, began taking form in front of the huge, majestic wall.
[RealityIsGonBre.EveSouWiBSacr.]
The words moved as though alive, pressing against the wall that separated my conscious mind from my body.
[NoCaSavAn.EveWiDi.EvGWilNBeSpa.]
A shiver crawled down my spine as the words attacked, clawing, banging against the wall, desperate to break through.
-Thud. Thud. Thud.
Each clash resonated, a heavy, hollow sound like metal against glass.
Relentless, the words battered the wall, but still, no scratch appeared.
The silence deepened, stretching longer.
-... Thud.
Finally, the words paused, as if hesitating, contemplating their next move.
Then, something darker crept forward.
A black mist oozed from the corrupted words, flowing toward the barrier.
It spread slowly, seeping into the wall, corrupting it, as the surface began to weaken.
-Crackle… Crackle…
Tiny fissures appeared in the wall, spreading like poison veins.
A fracture appeared.
Then another.
And another.
The wall that separated me from utter corruption began to crumble, fragment by fragment, until it finally shattered in an eruption of countless pieces.
When the wall finally shattered, the black mist surged forward, and the words resumed their attack.
-Crash!
Each broken piece fell away until there was nothing left between me and the chanting words.
-Swish!
My breath caught as the words poured through the opening, surging toward me before I could comprehend what was happening.
[WBecoOn.EMeE.]
They reached me.
In an instant, they dissolved, slipping into my consciousness, searing into the very fabric of my being.
[WeArOn.WArOne.]
The words echoed within, deep, resonant, as though they were engraving themselves in the marrow of my soul.
A pain like nothing I'd ever felt flared through me.
[ARRRHHHHHHHH! It hurts. It fucking hurts.]
The agony was unbearable, searing through me, raw, relentless.
I screamed, my voice lost in the void, feeling as if my soul was being ripped apart.
Tears poured down, but the words continued, hammering into me, bending my will.
[YoMe.WeArOne.]
My sanity wavered, slipping with each repeated chant.
I could feel the corruption spreading, sinking into my last fragment of self-awareness.
The darkness was consuming me.
I was… crumbling.
I could feel my consciousness crumbling, giving way to the madness.
And still, the words twisted from my mouth, of their own accord.
[YoAnI.WArOne.WorWiBDeSoo.NoEvCaStI.]
The words echoed in the void, breaking what little remained.
In the end, there was nothing left but the chant.
[OnlReOG.V.CaSav.]
Mindless, I repeated the chant, words spilling from me without thought, without will.
My sense of self disappeared, leaving only the hollow sounds.
Even corrupted, I was trapped outside of reality, seeing nothing but darkness, feeling nothing but emptiness.
Time stretched, meaningless in the void, an eternity lost to darkness.
The chanting never ceased.
[YoAnI.WArOne.WorWiBDeSoo.NoEvCaStI.OnlReOG.V.CaSav.]
I never ceased.
Then… light.
A golden glow pierced through the mist, sudden and blinding.
Before me, a book floated, its pages flapping as if caught in an invisible wind.
[The Fallen Worlds.]
The title burned with a fierce brightness, the same book I had absorbed before… yet different.
Its pages turned faster, each one casting a warm, golden light into the darkness, spreading outward.
The golden light expanded, erasing the black mist around me, cleansing every inch it touched, erasing its corrupting influence.
For a moment, I watched, feeling my corruption fade, but the chant still lingered, as if engraved within my soul.
The book closed, its pages stilled, as the glow dimmed, softening into a faint, steady light.
Then, it drifted toward me, pressing into my hands.
Golden light washed over me, enveloping my form, coursing through the depths of my soul like a flood, cleansing each word, each taint, each echo of the chant engraved upon my soul.
Bit by bit, the words faded, the corrupted chant slipping away, leaving me silent.
The pain ebbed.
The chanting stopped.
The awareness returned.
I opened my eyes.
My mind was clear.
In my hands, the golden book rested, ordinary and still, as if it had never glowed at all.
[The Fallen Worlds.]
A strange urge took hold—I wanted to read it.
But exhaustion overtook me, my eyelids heavy.
The void around me began to fracture, reality slipping away.
As if... blinking my eyes.
Another scene shortly greeted my eyes. It was oddly familiar.
[Perhaps... a dead body?]
It felt like I wasn't supposed to forget it... Like it should have been carved into my flesh and bones.
It was strange. Very, very strange.
What was in front of me now was a body. I didn't know much, but from its appearance, it looked like the dead body of a girl.
Her face—I was able to see it, yet I couldn't make out the features. It was as if a blur.
Her pale, dead body was inside what was supposed to be a coffin. Her body was adorned with a beautiful red dress, and her hands grasped a bouquet of black roses.
Seeing her, only one thought crossed my mind.
[You were beautiful...so beautiful, like a single red peony.]
It felt like I knew who she was.
Aah... Strangely, my body started to tremble.
Why, I wonder?
My heart, as if it was being clenched with force, started to hurt.
-Thud.
I fell to my knees. My breathing started to roughen.
[Breathe... I need to breathe.]
Haaaaa haaaaa
Aah—
As if there wasn't enough air, my nose started to grasp for more.
My lips got dry. I felt the need to drink water.
[No, stop. Stop. Stop. Stop.]
I needed to get my breath under control.
Deep breaths.
It was slowly but definitely helping. My breathing was getting more stable. Until...
The girl lying in the coffin suddenly smiled. An eerie feeling crept over me.
A sense of helplessness conjured within me.
It wasn't fear. It was partially that, but it was something more than that.
It was... anger and regret.
But why?
I didn't even know her.
My lips grew drier, and my hands were soaked with sweat. My body trembled vigorously.
Then suddenly, the scene changed.