Sami ran everywhere, with a frantic speed, searching earnestly, furious, repressed… but also brimming with hope.
The single thread of hope he had waited for over two years, he had finally seized it.
Houses lay shattered everywhere.
Bolts of lightning cascaded behind him, tornadoes swept through his surroundings, and houses flew through the air as if made of paper. Above him, waves of energy collided in the sky, the earth groaned, the heavens wept, and the winds screamed.
And in the midst of this hell, Sami's eyes were ablaze, overflowing with a wild desire and an irrepressible hope.
He ran without hesitation, ignoring everything.
Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck the house next to him. The building exploded, unleashing a powerful shockwave that threw Sami to the ground, burying him under debris.
Sami summoned his power, and with a flash, he pushed the rubble away and emerged, covered in blood.
He summoned his sword, which materialized in his hands, and kept running, leaving a long, red trail of his own blood on the road.
He ran madly, heedless of everything, not even noticing the corpses that filled the place.
Children cried, women shrieked, and everything around him bled.
Suddenly, he collided with a child clutching a severed man's head—the head was mutilated, its eyes extinguished, glowing red.
The child fell from the force of the impact but, ignoring his own injuries, picked up the head again and continued fleeing.
Sami stopped.
For the first time, he grasped the true horror of what was happening around him.
He realized he was in a merciless hell, and that the only right decision now was to flee.
He trembled, wiped the blood from his face, and kept running...
His desire to reach that "Entity" was stronger than anything else.
"I have to find him again... I won't let him slip away.
Where is he?
Where should I go?
Where could he be?
Damn it... It doesn't matter. I'll keep running and I'll find him...
I'll find him no matter the cost.
Once I find him, it will all be over.
I'll be freed from this damn dream...
I'll go back..."
He kept running, despite the bleeding and the repeated explosions.
That Entity was all that occupied his mind.
Finally, he reached the heart of the clan... its palace.
It was utterly destroyed, ablaze, reduced to ashes.
He approached it, filled with a mixture of anxiety and anticipation.
But suddenly, he saw something he never expected to see...
Amidst the debris, amidst the corpses and blood...
A forty-year-old man in black, blood-stained attire, holding a gray sniper rifle that gleamed under the moonlight and firelight.
He was bald, with a short beard, and on his face was a crazed smile.
"The Water Turtle."
He was laughing, laughing hysterically, like a madman.
Sami was stunned.
He gripped his sword with both hands and launched a swift slash toward him.
But the Water Turtle opened his arms, as if welcoming him.
Sami hesitated for a moment.
He lowered his sword slightly, inflicting a deep wound on the man's leg, yet he continued laughing.
Sami approached him, in complete turmoil.
"Is this the same old man I knew?
The calm, lazy old man with the gloomy eyes?"
Maybe he hadn't known him for more than a day...
But it was hard to believe this transformation.
He sheathed his sword, turned, and started to walk away.
The "Water Turtle" was toying with his rifle, in a strange euphoria.
Sami said in a firm voice:
"I didn't expect you to be like this... On second thought, you don't look so great with a rifle!"
He continued walking, but suddenly felt a burning pain...
A bullet pierced his foot.
"Bang!"
He fell to the ground, the pain exploding within him.
The old man said in his usual calm voice:
"Oh... It's you. That boy.
What bad luck... I didn't expect you to be one of the ghouls."
He placed a hand on his face:
"You really are an unlucky boy."
Sami writhed in pain.
The Water Turtle approached, the rifle still aimed at him.
The Water Turtle's smile widened, his happiness genuine, not feigned.
He came closer, and Sami was helpless.
The distance between them was only two meters.
Sami sat up, slowly reaching his hand toward his sword...
A shot separated him from his weapon.
He withdrew his hand, his looks of hatred intensifying.
He tried to defuse the situation:
"Why are you doing this?
You're not this kind of person... you're a good man, I know you.
Please... stop."
The Water Turtle laughed and said with an even bigger smile:
"Stop acting all righteous.
Do you think this weak dialogue will affect me?"
Sami scowled, retreated backward, and a massive, distant explosion lit up beside him.
"I didn't expect this..." he said angrily.
Both of them were in the midst of the destroyed palace.
The flames consumed everything, and blood stained their faces.
Sami... angry, burning from within.
The Water Turtle... smiling insanely, his face smeared with blood.
Around them, the corpses of the servants and palace residents, lifeless, charred.
And in this scene, Sami asked himself:
"Is this my life now?
Is this what I'll live from now on?
What did I do to deserve this?
I never asked for any of this..."
And suddenly...
Behind the Water Turtle, a misty Entity appeared, in its symbolic, ugly robe.
Sami's eyes ignited again, but the old feeling returned... the suppression, the paralysis.
He focused on it intensely, to the point of losing the ability to move.
The pain tore through him, his mind stopped, his senses failed.
His vision narrowed, the Entity drew closer.
Its eyes blazed red, its face misty and distorted, but Sami saw the mocking smile...
Then... everything went black.
Sami lost consciousness.
He drowned in sorrow, in weakness, in darkness...
It was a burning, painful, and ugly feeling.
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