The sky was painted with fire, the earth trembling under our feet as the last of the monsters fell.
I thought we'd won.
I thought we could finally rest.
But I was wrong.
The war didn't end that day—it only began again in a way none of us could have imagined.
————
It was a long war.
A lot of people were born into the war and died in the middle of it.
It was harsh for children, adults, and even for strong people like me—like us.
It all started when the monsters discovered our world—a young and healthy planet.
They wanted it. They felt the need to kill and take what was ours.
And the young planet had nothing to protect itself—nothing to protect us.
Until one day, something changed.
We found something we could fight with.
People called it "a miracle" or "a blessing"
but… for me, it was "a curse".
To make it simple, my power was reading minds—and more specifically, controlling them.
I could hear people, animals, and even the monsters' internal thoughts.
Over time, I learned to use it to destroy others' minds.
Like a bug in a system, I could make them falter at critical moments or control weak minds to extract information.
It sounds powerful—and it is—but it wasn't easy at the start.
It took practice, effort, and years of hardship before I could do the things I just described.
The real curse, though, was the fact that I could read minds.
Trust me—no one wants to know their mother's inner feelings.
Even so, I did my best. I fought. I killed. I did everything I could to survive.
And it worked.
The monsters died at our hands. We survived the war. We won.
But it wasn't the end.
The leaders of the enemy weren't the only threat—there was something behind them.
I tried to warn our leaders, but they didn't listen.
Blinded by victory, they refused to believe me—or my power.
Only my team believed me. I'm thankful for that. At least if anything happened, my team and my family would be ready.
I was tired. Exhausted. But I couldn't give up now. I had come too far to stop fighting.
As always, though, nothing went according to plan.
I was right.
Those things didn't give up.
They didn't retreat.
They waited for us to relax.
I knew it. I knew it!
They should have listened to me!
Sht, sht! Sh*t!!
Why did this happen? Why? WHY??!!??
Why did those fools survive, but not my teammates? Not me? Not my friends?
…why.
…why did they betray us?
They betrayed humanity—our world.
Why didn't I see it coming?
…
I trusted them. I believed they were like me. I thought they loved our world.
But they chose the enemy over us.
They gave up and chose to become slaves to the monsters.
They believed we could never win against those things.
So they chose this path to survive.
And because we were a threat to them, they killed us.
————
I never took off the headphones—unless I wanted to drown in the chaos of voices: the thoughts, the screams, the secrets of everyone around me.
It had been a blessing once, my power, but over time, it became a curse.
The headphones gave me peace—a sanctuary in my own mind.
I relied on them too much.
That night, they were still on, muffling the world around me, shielding me from the noise.
I didn't hear it coming.
None of us did.
The safe zone, reinforced with layers of defenses, was supposed to be impenetrable.
But they'd outsmarted us.
Those things—whatever they were—found a way in.
They came from underground, burrowing through the earth like shadows, silent and unseen.
Someone had helped them.
Traitors among us, guiding the monsters to their mark.
To me.
By the time I felt the faint vibration through the ground, it was too late.
The monster was already there, ripping through walls, tearing apart everything I loved.
My team fought back—brave and unyielding—but it wasn't enough.
I reached for my headphones, ready to tear them off, to let the voices flood in and find some way to fight back.
But the monster was too fast.
My family. My friends.
Gone in an instant.
And me?
I fought.
I fought with everything I had.
But I was deaf to the warnings. Blind to the betrayal.
My sanctuary had become my downfall.
The last thing I heard was silence.
And then… I was gone.
————
And like that, I died.
We died.
None of my friends or family survived.
But maybe, because I was pitiful…
Our planet did something for me. For us.
I'm glad. And sorry.
But mostly, I'm thankful.
The planet spoke to me in a voice I'd never heard before—soft, trembling, yet filled with deep warmth.
"I am sorry," it said.
"Sorry that I was too young, too weak to protect you. But I have watched you—all of you—and I see now what it means to fight. To love. To hope."
Its words broke something in me—something I hadn't let myself feel through all the years of war.
I knelt on the crumbling ground, my heart heavy, as the world continued.
"I will give you another chance," it said.
"You and the ones you hold dear. My core will shatter, but it will be enough to send you to a new place—a place where you can live again."
Tears streamed down my face as I whispered,
"Why? Why sacrifice yourself for us?"
It paused, as if searching for the words.
"Because you fought for me, even when I could do nothing for you. This is my gift to you."
The ground beneath me began to hum, and I felt a strange warmth wrap around me.
My time was up.
I bowed low, pressing my hands to the earth one last time.
"To the very end," I said softly.
"I love my dear world."
————
'I did it. I finally did something for my people.'
That was the last thought of the unnamed world before its core shattered and flooded into the vast universe.
Maybe it would find its happiness someday.
Somehow.
Or… not.