The cold didn't hurt anymore.
At some point, pain just… stops mattering.
I lay there, half-buried under shattered stone, staring at the sky I could barely see through the dust. My chest rose slowly, unevenly. Every breath felt heavier than the last, like my body had already decided it was done.
Footsteps echoed around me.
Familiar ones.
I tried to turn my head, but my body refused. Still, I knew who they were. I didn't need to see them.
After all… I had trusted them with my life.
"Is he dead?"
That voice. Calm. Careless.
A small pause.
"Not yet."
Another voice answered. Colder. Distant. Like I was already nothing.
For a second, I thought I heard regret in them.
I was wrong.
A boot pressed against my shoulder, forcing me onto my back. My vision blurred, but I managed to make out their faces.
People I had laughed with. Fought beside. Bled for.
My team.
No… not anymore.
"Why…?" The word barely left my lips. It felt strange, asking something I didn't even want the answer to.
One of them sighed, almost annoyed.
"Don't make it harder than it needs to be."
Harder?
I almost laughed, but it came out as a broken cough. Blood filled my mouth, warm and metallic.
"I trusted you."
This time, no one replied.
That silence said everything.
Another step forward. A shadow loomed over me.
"You were never meant to reach this far," he said quietly. "You should've stayed where you belonged."
Where I belonged?
I closed my eyes for a moment.
Memories flashed — nights around the fire, stupid arguments, promises we made without thinking.
All of it felt distant now. Like it belonged to someone else.
Maybe it did.
Maybe that version of me died the moment they decided I was no longer useful.
A faint glow began to form near my chest.
At first, I thought it was just my vision fading.
But then… it grew stronger.
"What is that?"
There was a hint of panic now.
Good.
For the first time since they arrived… I smiled.
"You're too late," I whispered.
I didn't even know what I meant.
But something inside me did.
The glow pulsed once. Then again.
And suddenly—
Everything went silent.
No wind. No sound. No pain.
Just darkness.
And within that darkness…
A voice.
Not loud. Not soft. Just… there.
"Do you wish to live?"
I didn't hesitate.
"Yes."
A pause.
Then—
"Then abandon what you were."
Something inside me cracked.
Not my bones. Not my body.
Something deeper.
"Accept what you are becoming."
The warmth spread through me, replacing the cold.
Filling the emptiness.
Changing it.
I didn't feel human anymore.
I didn't feel weak.
I didn't feel anything… except clarity.
The voice spoke one last time.
"Rise."
My eyes opened.
The sky was the same.
The ruins were the same.
But everything else… wasn't.
The weight on my body was gone.
The pain was gone.
Even the fear was gone.
I slowly stood up.
They were still there.
Frozen.
Staring at me like they had just seen something impossible.
"Y-you were—"
"Dead?" I finished for him.
My voice sounded different.
Colder.
Calmer.
Like it didn't belong to the same person.
I looked at them.
Really looked.
And for the first time…
I felt nothing.
No anger.
No sadness.
No betrayal.
Just… distance.
Like they didn't matter anymore.
"I understand now," I said quietly.
They tensed.
"Understand what?"
I tilted my head slightly.
"Why people like you survive."
A step forward.
Instinctively, they stepped back.
That told me everything.
A faint smile formed on my lips.
Not warm.
Not kind.
Something else.
"Because people like me… were too soft."
The air around us shifted.
Heavy.
Oppressive.
Unfamiliar.
One of them drew his weapon.
Too late.
I raised my hand.
And for the first time in my life—
Power answered.