A thick darkness devoured everything, hungry like the mouth of a forgotten abyss.
The walls, the floor... even the air seemed woven with the very essence of shadows, dense and almost tangible, like a black velvet cloak that could tear between trembling fingers, leaving traces of emptiness on the fingertips.
Only one sound embroidered the canvas of that suffocating blackness: a heel.
Increasingly strange, more foreign.
It was losing its voice with each step, like tears that evaporate before touching the ground, resonating like the last sigh of a memory that fades in a cavern without beginning or end, where echo is the only company of the forgotten.
Wait!
It's not getting weaker.
It's moving away!
In the midst of that hungry darkness, a weak thread of light filtered from some indeterminate point, trembling and flickering like the flame of a candle fighting against the cold breath of death.
The air smelled of melted wax... and bitter cake.
There, at the back, among shadows that twisted like jealous lovers... was Rinn.
She walked slowly, turning her back to me, gliding as if floating on an ocean of liquid nightmares, each step weaving distance between us.
—Rinn! —I shouted, but my voice came out distorted, muffled, as if born from the bottom of a pond.
It didn't bounce off any wall; it was devoured by darkness before finding a surface.
Only silence. A silence so dense and cold that it embedded itself in the throat.
I ran toward her... or tried to.
My legs were molten lead. Each muscle fought against invisible chains that anchored me to nothingness.
The ground stretched, as if the abyss mocked my desperation.
And she... kept moving away, like the last light of day fleeing from the relentless advance of night.
I felt the cold crawling up my calves, slithering under the skin like ice fingers.
—Rinn, wait! Please! —My plea came out as a torn cry, born from a dripping heart, vanishing into nothingness like a shooting star that no one watches.
Then, a shadow slid between us.
Darker than the absence of light.
A black that made the deepest night seem bright.
It didn't walk. It floated. With perverse grace. Like a living stain. An eclipse with its own will.
Rinn stopped.
The shadow surrounded her like a jealous lover, like poisonous fog caressing her skin.
And she... opened her arms. Receiving it with familiarity.
A warm embrace, like the last bonfire of winter. Intimate. Reciprocal.
Too cruel to be imagined. Too perfect not to shatter my soul.
I stopped dead. My heart turned to stone. My feet, rooted in a ground I no longer recognized as real.
I saw the distance between us. It was no longer just space. It was an ocean of impossibles. An allegory written in ink of abandonment. A poem of loss that only I could read.
She was no longer in my arms, where her heart once beat against mine.
And for her... I... was no longer her brother.
Just a stranger, exiled from her universe. A memory that fades like a wound that heals without a scar.
My name... would no longer be pronounced with love.
A shiver ran down my back. My skin bristled. The air became denser.
—No... —I murmured. With the word escaping like a wounded bird.
She turned slowly, as if she knew I was watching her.
Like a doll possessed by invisible hands. Each movement... a cruel parody of the grace she once had.
Her face, bathed in shadows. A canvas stained with night. Only her eyes shone: Her pink, once bright, now darkened.
Her smile was impossible. Grotesque. A crack in reality.
Her lips formed a word that crossed the void, reaching my ears like a whiplash of truth:
—Goodbye, liar. —she clarified, and with that... my world stopped.
Around me, everything collapsed. The universe crumbled upon itself. Stars and planets turned to dust of broken dreams. The walls melted like rotten flesh.
The smell of dampness and ruined sweetness filled my lungs... like a sweet poison that promised eternal oblivion.
I woke up, soaked in cold sweat.
The sheets stuck to my body.
I rubbed my eyes, they burned.
My throat dry, rough,
and a bitter taste danced on my tongue.
—Rinn... —her name escaped my lips, like a lament.
I turned to look at my trembling hands.
—Was it just a dream?
The trembling wouldn't stop. I sighed. My body begged to lie down again. Maybe... I hadn't fully awakened yet.
I took the remote control from the nightstand. I turned on the television with the faint hope of finding some news. The screen illuminated the room with a blue flash. A female voice emerged from the silence:
—Breaking news. The fearsome villain Blasfem continues to sow chaos. The authorities have failed to contain him. And our great hero, Ergos... seems to have abandoned us. The city needs him more than ever. Ergos, if you're listening... please, come back.
I kept watching until the end. But there was no mention of Rinn.
—Shit... —I muttered, hitting the table.
The impact made my phone vibrate, falling to the floor with a dull thud.
I picked it up with trembling hands. As I turned it, the screen lit up. Several unread messages.
One... caught my attention:
Mian:
"Marl, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have helped my father, it was all my fault, when you told us that Rinn escaped from home, Lee and I went out to look for her, we separated but... when we couldn't find her... I found him very seriously injured.
Please, come see him. He's at Central Hospital. I'm sorry."
A shiver ran down my back. As if an ice cube descended down my spine.
My heart pounded in my ears. I put on a sweater over last night's wrinkled t-shirt. The rough fabric brushed against my sweaty skin. I opened the door of my apartment...
...and what I saw left me breathless.
The city was in ruins.
The air smelled of soot and burnt plastic. Buildings covered in ash. The streets... chaos of debris and overturned vehicles.
Gunshots in the distance. Cries for help among wobbling structures. The wind dragged papers, ash... and the echo of sirens.
It seemed that all the villains had come out of their hiding places after learning of Ergos' absence.
I swallowed. The burning tore at my throat. The bitter taste of guilt... mixed with fear. My hands trembled. The danger out there was real. And I was afraid.
But I couldn't leave Lee.
With decision lodged in my throat, and tense muscles, I took a step forward.