Eighteenth awakening
Lin Moyan gasped awake on slick, pulsing flesh. He screamed into his hands... the sound swallowed by the tunnel's wet walls. The fetal god's wail echoed in his skull, a hymn of hunger.
No archway. No stone. Only living tissue, breathing around him. The air reeked of iron and rot.
Xiao Lan shimmered ahead, eyes wide. "Run," she breathed. "It remembers you now."
The walls convulsed. Lin ran.
First Attempt
The tunnel contracted, forcing him into a vaulted chamber. Thousands of fangs hung from the ceiling, dripping black saliva that burned the floor.
The shadow beast lounged on a throne of shattered statues...his past selves.
"You met Him," it purred. "Bad idea."
Fangs rained down. Lin rolled, but dozens tore through his robes. He lunged for the throne, dagger raised...
The blade struck marble. Black blood geysered. The world collapsed beneath him.
Nineteenth awakening
Lin woke running. The chamber was silent now, fangs retracted.
Xiao Lan's warning echoed: "Touch nothing."
Eyes stared up from the floor...stepping stones of flesh. He moved carefully, left-right-center...
An eye blinked.
The ceiling fell.
Twentieth awakening
He studied the pattern this time. Each correct step made the fangs retreat.
The domed chamber awaited. A giant statue of himself loomed, cobbled from broken sentinels. A hole gaped in its chest.
The god's voice boomed: "FEED ME."
Seven statues surged forward...
Fists punched through his ribs.
21st awakening
Lin died instantly. A mercy.
He woke beneath the throne. No hesitation he drove the dagger into its heart.
Black blood erupted. The tunnel screamed.
He fell~
And landed before the fetal god once more.
The Second Visit
Umbilical cords reknit like roots. The god's skin pulsed.
Xiao Lan whispered: "Cut one."
The blade severed a cord.
The god shrieked. Lin's skin peeled away in strips.
One cord remained. The god's eyes pleaded.
22nd awakening
Lin woke missing two fingers. The throne room festered statues rotted, walls weeping.
The beast loomed over the final pedestal: "Lin Moyan – Cycle 999."
"Last one," it rasped.
They collided.
Both fell broken.
23rd awakening
Silence. A single iron door, blood-smeared: YOUR SISTER'S ROOM.
Inside, Xiao Lan lay cold. Her skeletal hands found his throat. "You never listened."
He woke in the hall.
The dagger plunged into the door. Flames roared.
Smoke curled into words: "SHE DIES FIRST IN EVERY WORLD."
Xiao Lan emerged from the fire. "Now you understand," she said. "This is His grief."
The Choice
The dungeon melted away.
The god floated before him grown, powerful, eyes full of stars.
"You are the 1,000th," it whispered. "The cycle ends with you."
Two options glowed in the void:
Replace Him.
Kill Him.
Xiao Lan gripped his wrist.
The dagger hovered at his heart.
The world held its breath.
FADE TO WHITE.