The air had barely settled when his body hit the ground.
The impact was bone-shattering. A loud "KRAKK" echoed through the empty street.
Pain tore through him like a storm, coursing into every joint, every fiber of his being. Blood seeped, staining his clothes and the cold concrete beneath him.
Yet, through it all, Aliver's eyes remained open.
"So this is death…"
Each heartbeat was agony. Every breath was fire. The world felt impossibly heavy, the darkness creeping closer with every second.
And then—
Slowly, his vision began to blacken at the edges.
The city, the street, the sound of his own bones breaking… all faded.
A deep, bone-deep void consumed him.
And then… nothing.
Aliver opened his eyes.
White sheets.
The soft light of early morning.
A bed he didn't remember climbing into.
Everything was intact.
Every scratch gone.
Every drop of blood vanished.
It was as if nothing had happened at all.
He flexed his fingers, moved his limbs.
No pain. No lingering ache.
No reminder that his body had just been shattered moments ago.
"…What?"
He sat up slowly, heart still racing, mind spinning.
The memory of the fall—the impact, the pain—was vivid. Yet his body… refused to obey the rules he had just experienced.
He rose from the bed, staring at his reflection.
Pale. Unmarked. Entirely… normal.
And in that unsettling calm, a single thought emerged:
"Death… is not what I thought it was.
Or perhaps… I am not meant to die at all."
Aliver Wast had crossed the boundary.
He had touched the end.
And yet, somehow, the end did not touch him back.
The city outside waited, unchanged.
The world continued, oblivious to the experiment he had just performed.
And for the first time in a long while, Aliver allowed himself a faint smirk.
Curiosity… isn't nearly finished yet.