Twelfth awakening
Lin Moyan awoke with the black dagger clenched in his fist, its hilt crusted with dried ichor. Xiao Lan's voice lingered in his mind like a ghost:
"Stab the eyes."
He pushed himself up, legs trembling but resolute. The corridor was darker now, lit only by the pulsing veins of bioluminescent fungus, casting the walls in a sickly violet hue.
At the archway, fresh blood carved words into the stone beneath the screaming faces:
--YOUR 11TH FAILURE.
The letters wept crimson, dripping onto the flagstones. Lin's stomach twisted. Eleven deaths. Eleven loops. Each one carved deeper into his soul.
He tightened his grip on the dagger. No beast waited this time—only silence, thick and mocking.
He stepped forward.
--First Attempt
The statue loomed ahead... a marble monk, robes frozen in an unseen wind, onyx eyes gleaming. Lin didn't hesitate. He drove the dagger into its left eye socket.
Crack.
The statue shuddered. A geyser of black ichor erupted, painting the walls in oily darkness. Then
The ceiling collapsed.
Stone crushed him before he could scream.
Thirteenth awakening
He woke with the dagger already in hand. This time, he moved faster.
Sprinting to the statue, he dodged the falling debris, rolled low, and plunged the blade into its right eye.
The marble head exploded.
Shards of stone sliced his chest as he skidded across the floor. The tunnel trembled, rubble sealing the path ahead.
Xiao Lan's voice sighed from the void:
"Five."
Lin coughed dust. The statues fought back harder each time.
Brutality wouldn't win this.
Fourteenth awakening
He knelt on unbroken stone, dagger sharp in his grip. Ahead, the corridor opened into a circular chamber.
Seven statues stood in a ring, each carved in a different agony. Black tears streamed from their onyx eyes, pooling like ink at their feet.
The shadow beast leaned against a pillar, grinning.
"Pick one."
Lin's pulse hammered. He closed his eyes, recalling Xiao Lan's words, and pointed to the center statue.
Its jaw unhinged.
Marble fangs gleamed.
Then it lunged
Fifteenth awakening
He woke face-down in a pool of black fluid, the dagger floating beside him.
Gritting his teeth, he stabbed each statue's left eye in rapid succession.
One by one, they dissolved into the ink-dark pool.
The liquid stilled.
Then it pulled him under.
The Core Revealed
Memories flickered in the abyss -- 999 versions of himself, each dying in endless loops. The weight of failure pressed down, suffocating.
Then light.
A mirror at the lake's bottom. His reflection stared back, hollow-eyed and twisted.
Xiao Lan pressed her palms against the glass from the other side.
"Break it," she mouthed.
Lin hurled the dagger.
The mirror shattered.
Seventeenth awakening
He vomited black bile onto the stone floor. The dungeon entrance was sealed, its surface carved with names in dripping blood:
Lin Moyan – Cycle 1
Lin Moyan – Cycle 2
...
Lin Moyan – Cycle 998
Ahead, rows of statues stood with their backs turned.
Each one was him.
His dagger hand shook.
He approached the newest statue... unblemished, waiting. Instead of striking, he pressed a palm to its shoulder.
The marble warmed.
The statue's face blurred into flesh, lips parting. A voice... his own, broken... whispered:
"I remember you."
Across the chamber, 999 statues turned.
Black tears streamed from their eyes.
The air thrummed with memory.
Then...
A chorus of voices, rising as one:
"WE REMEMBER."
The floor split. A river of black blood surged, and from its depths, Xiao Lan emerged, dripping, fierce.
She seized his wrist.
"Now you see," she said, her voice echoing through the cathedral of flesh. "This isn't your tomb."
The blood rose, writing on the walls in jagged strokes:
IT'S YOUR BIRTH.
Above them, the fetal god screamed...
And the world burned white