"A girl will die. Will you save her… or let her die?"
Lukas's body ached. His limbs felt like lead, and his breath came in ragged gasps. The weight of the boy leaning against him only added to the strain. His muscles burned, his energy draining with every step.
"I can't." The thought echoed in his mind, filled with frustration and exhaustion. "I'm barely holding on. I can't carry another person. I can't—"
Then, through the storm's howling winds, he heard it.
A scream.
A desperate, terrified plea for help.
His chest tightened. He knew that voice.
Ruby.
The girl who constantly mocked him, who never missed a chance to tease him, was now crying out for her life.
Lukas froze. His mind screamed at him to move, but his legs refused. Why am I hesitating?
The boy beside him noticed his sudden stillness. "What's wrong?" he asked, his voice weak from exhaustion.
Lukas clenched his fists. He was at his limit—he could barely make it down with the weight he was already carrying. Going back up was reckless.
And yet…
"Why the hell am I doing this?" His thoughts spiraled as he felt his body moving before his mind caught up. "I don't know Ruby that well. She's annoying. She teases me. I shouldn't care. So why? Why am I so desperate to save her?"
His jaw tightened. "Is it because I know her? Because she's not just some random stranger? Or… is it because that voice told me she would die? That if I walk away now, I'll have to live with the knowledge that I could've done something—but didn't?"
The answer didn't matter.
His body had already made the decision.
Lukas lowered the boy under the shelter of a boulder. "Stay here," he ordered, his tone leaving no room for argument. "I have to help someone else."
The boy hesitated but nodded. Lukas barely waited for a response before turning and sprinting back up.
Every muscle in his body screamed at him to stop, but he pushed harder. The muddy ground sucked at his shoes, the wind slammed against him, but he ignored it all.
This isn't me. I don't do this.
I don't play the hero.
Then why…
Why did it feel like he had to?
As he reached the cliffside, his breath caught.
There, barely clinging to the jagged rocks, was Ruby. Her fingers, pale and trembling, struggled to keep their grip. Her usual sharp, mocking expression was gone—replaced by pure, unfiltered terror.
"Lukas!" she gasped, eyes wild with panic. "Please!"
Something inside him twisted.
Without hesitation, he lunged forward, gripping her arms. Rainwater dripped down their faces, their hands slick with mud. His muscles burned as he pulled with everything he had.
"Hold on!" he gritted out.
Ruby's grip slipped for a terrifying second. Lukas's heart slammed against his ribs, but he refused to let go. With a final, desperate pull, he yanked her over the edge.
She collapsed onto the ground beside him, gasping for air. Her soaked hair clung to her face, her body shaking from fear and exhaustion.
For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Only the storm filled the silence.
Lukas sat back, breathless, his hands shaking.
Ruby turned her head, staring at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. Then, barely above a whisper, she muttered, "...Why?"
Lukas wiped the rain from his face, his golden eyes burning with exhaustion.
"Go down the way I came," he said, his voice firm but tired. "It's the shortest way back to the base."
She hesitated, watching him as if trying to understand something.
Then, she nodded. Without another word, she turned and ran, disappearing into the rain.
Lukas, exhausted from the sudden rescues, collapsed onto the damp ground, gasping for breath. The rain, which had once poured like an unforgiving torrent, now softened to a mist, as if the storm itself had finally exhaled. He wiped his forehead, his soaked uniform clinging to his skin, his body trembling with exhaustion.
"That voice... How did it know where they were?"
His mind swirled with questions, but he barely had time to think before a deep, rumbling crack split the air beneath him.
The ground trembled.
Then—
It gave way.
Lukas barely had a second to react before he was plummeting. His stomach lurched as gravity yanked him downward. Instinct kicked in, and his fingers clawed at the crumbling rock, catching a jagged edge just in time.
His body slammed against the cliffside.
Pain exploded through his arm as he dangled over the abyss, his legs swinging in empty space. A gust of wind howled past, sending bits of loose dirt tumbling into the endless void below.
"No… No, no, no—"
Lukas's breaths came in sharp gasps. His grip trembled against the cold, wet stone, fingers already aching from strain. He didn't dare look down, but he could feel the void beneath him—an endless chasm waiting to swallow him whole.
"Am I... going to die?"
Images flashed through his mind in rapid bursts. His uncle's warm laughter. The quiet moments reading alone in his room. The teasing from Ruby, the endless debates with Alex, the life he had built in a world that never quite felt like home.
Was this really how it ended?
"LUKAS!"
His breath caught. That voice—
Not the eerie whisper. Not the presence that had haunted him all day.
Alex.
"Alex! I'm here!" Lukas yelled, his voice hoarse with desperation.
Alex appeared at the cliff's edge, his wide eyes filled with sheer terror. Without hesitation, he threw himself down, reaching for Lukas.
"Hold on, I got you!" Alex gritted his teeth, stretching his arm as far as it would go.
Lukas reached up, barely managing to clasp Alex's wrist. A spark of relief shot through him. He wasn't alone. Alex was here. He was going to be okay.
Then, the voice returned.
"If he pulls, the ground will collapse."
Lukas's breath hitched. He looked up at Alex, then at the cracks spreading beneath his friend's knees. The soil crumbled, pebbles and dirt slipping into the abyss.
"If he puts any more tension on the ground, it'll break… and you'll both fall."
A sickening realization clawed at his chest.
"One of you must fall. The ground can't hold both of you. The rescue squad is coming in a few minutes. You have two choices. Push him down and live... or let go and die."
Lukas's heartbeat pounded in his ears. His fingers ached. His body screamed at him to hold on, to survive.
But at what cost?
Alex's grip tightened. "I won't let you go!" His voice wavered, filled with sheer determination. "You hear me, Lukas?! I'm not letting you die!"
Lukas swallowed hard, his throat burning. "Alex… If you pull—"
"I DON'T CARE!" Alex shouted, his eyes shining with desperation. "I'd rather fall with you than leave you here!"
The ground beneath Alex groaned. More dirt crumbled.
Lukas felt his fingers slipping.
His mind raced. No, not like this. I can't let him die. I won't let him die.
He took a shuddering breath. His entire body trembled as he forced himself to make a decision.
"Alex..." Lukas's voice softened. His golden eyes met Alex's, filled with something unreadable.
"You were a great friend."
Alex's eyes widened. "Wait—what—?"
Lukas clenched his jaw, took one last deep breath—
And let go.
For a fleeting second, he saw Alex's horrified face, his outstretched hand grabbing at nothing but air.
Then—
The wind roared in Lukas's ears.
His body plunged into the abyss.
As he plummeted, the wind roared in his ears, but his thoughts were even louder.
Did I make the right choice?
His mind spiraled faster than his body. The terror of freefall should've consumed him, but instead, a deeper fear clawed at his chest. Uncle… His uncle's face flashed in his mind—the kind eyes, the reassuring presence that had been his anchor in this dull world.
Will he be okay when he hears about me?
The thought of his uncle waking up to the news—of finding out that Lukas was gone—sent a sharp pain through his chest, one far worse than the abyss swallowing him whole.
What will he do once I'm gone?
Would he grieve? Would he blame himself? Or would life simply go on, unchanged, as if Lukas had never really mattered?
The wind howled past, drowning out everything—except for the voice.
A deep, resonant voice that cut through the storm and the void itself.
"You impressed me, kid."