I thought… no, I swore deep within myself that this time, I had truly died.
That old man was not an opponent to be underestimated. He wasn't merely a frail elder leaning on his cane and hiding behind lifeless soldiers. He was a decaying entity standing on the edge of death for a long time, yet still clinging to life the way a corpse clings to damp soil. As for his soldiers… those dead ones were not truly soldiers as much as they were a silent reminder that even death itself could be enslaved.
I remember the clattering of bones more than the clash of swords.
Then… darkness.
A dense darkness, without color or sound, as if I had been squeezed into an endless womb. And yet… there was something pulsing. Something small, stubborn, refusing to go out. My consciousness.
I could feel it, like a distant spark in an ocean of black. And as my thoughts slowly began to gather, they returned to me piece by piece until I realized that awakening was near.
And it happened as I expected.
The darkness split apart.
It wasn't a blinding light, but a faint glow seeping through a partially intact ceiling, riddled with cracks like old scars in a stone skull. The smell of dampness… blood… and faint rot. The air was heavy, as though the room itself was dying.
I tried to lift my head, but my neck wouldn't respond. I settled for moving my eyes.
Faces.
Many of them.
Surrounding me in an incomplete circle. Some were normal pale and exhausted, bearing the weary features of humans. And some… were not.
I saw faces fused to their owners' chests, as though they had found no better place to grow. Eyes too large, swollen, glimmering with a cold curiosity. Narrow mouths without lips. The horror was not just in their appearance… but in their gaze. A gaze that held neither open hatred nor mercy… only anticipation.
I was lying on a cold surface. And when I tried to move my hand, I realized something was piercing my skin.
Tubes?
No… not tubes.
Threads.
Thin as hair, yet in overwhelming numbers. They burrowed into my chest, my arms, my neck pulsing slowly, carrying a dark fluid through my veins. I tried to trace their source with my trembling eyes.
And that's when I saw her.
A woman standing slightly behind me, her back partially turned. From her back… those threads emerged. Dozens, perhaps hundreds. Moving with an unsettling independence, as if each one possessed a mind of its own. Some burrowed into my body, some withdrew slowly, and others twisted through the air searching for a new place.
She was not beautiful. Nor was she ugly. She was something in between… something not meant to be judged by human standards.
Then… our eyes met.
And in that very moment, I felt that all the other faces had noticed as well. Their gazes converged on me like cold arrows.
And for some reason… they did not kill me.
She spoke in a calm voice, yet one that carried undeniable authority: "Stranger… it seems you've finally awakened from your long slumber."
She paused for a moment, then continued without taking her eyes off me: "You, my brothers… go and tend to yourselves. Who knows what might happen in a moment when our eyes are not fixed on the doors."
No one objected. No one hesitated. They dispersed quickly, as if they had been waiting for permission to flee. And I remained… entirely at her mercy.
My body? A warm corpse, nothing more. I couldn't move a finger I wasn't even sure if this body was truly mine.
I swallowed with difficulty. "What is happening here…? And why are you keeping me alive after I killed your leader?"
One of the threads inside my chest trembled, and then she said coldly: "Honestly… he wouldn't have lived much longer anyway. His life had been hanging at the threshold of death for a long time. Even I wonder… how death didn't pierce him all that time."
She paused, as if recalling something bitter. "But he died. And I suppose… we need someone strong. At the very least, to help us protect this place we call home."
Their home?
I smiled faintly. "What if I were from the temple…?"
A sharp glint flashed in her eyes. "If you were from the temple… we would have killed you without hesitation."
She stepped a little closer, and the threads behind her swelled like muscles on the verge of striking. "But that damned old man knew you as a slave there. In fact, you fought each other. And the god…"
She fell silent for a moment, then whispered: "I think the god has finally awakened."
My eyes narrowed. "Don't you think I might have deceived you? That I'm here to do something…?"
She let out a faint, mocking laugh. "Don't be ridiculous. In his youth, he was someone to be reckoned with. The temple saw him as a good source of offerings. As for my brothers…"
She glanced around her. "They are nothing but victims of experiments that turned them into cursed abominations, clinging to life because they do not know how to die."
At that moment, the threads inside my body tightened. I felt them press against my organs, examining me from within. They were sorrowful… but their sorrow was not gentle.
"You may be the one who ruined our lives… but now I hold power over yours. So tell me."
Her face drew closer until I could almost feel her breath.
"Did that damned temple truly succeed?"
"Wonderful. I wake up to find myself a hostage. A helpless body, at the mercy of a woman who can crush my bones with a single thread. Is this the karma they talk about?"
"??? Enough nonsense!" she screamed, and the threads suddenly contracted.
I felt my body lift off the surface, as if the air itself had vanished. A tremendous pressure began crushing me. My bones… one after another, as though they were being pierced by slow needles.
"Answer honestly. Did they succeed or not?"
I screamed, "I told you… stop! They didn't succeed in the literal sense!"
The pain intensified.
"But they created a being… a tyrant. Its existence is greater than giants, and its power… beyond comprehension."
The threads trembled.
"Did they succeed?"
"The temple was destroyed!" I shouted with everything I had left. "It served its purpose and ended! It no longer exists!"
Suddenly… I fell.
The pressure vanished. The pain vanished. As if nothing had happened.
I breathed with difficulty, my heart pounding against my chest like a prisoner trying to escape.
"Sorry. I had to study the changes in your body… to make sure you were telling the truth."
She withdrew most of her threads from my body. The pain they left behind felt like a cold emptiness. She kept only a few, continuing the treatment in silence.
"So… the vile temple that tormented our people has vanished. And the god has risen…"
She closed her eyes for a moment. "Perhaps… this is what they call relief."
I watched the remaining threads. Strong… precise… almost alive. What kind of experiment had turned her into this?
But there was a more important question. A question that had been gnawing at me since my birth.
"I may sound insane… but this world… what brought it to this ruin? I… am not truly from here. I was created."
She didn't seem shocked.
"I understand that. I've seen your kind before. You were led like slaughtered cattle. You are the result of a failed experiment."
She looked directly at me.
"You… carry the souls of my brothers."
The blood in my veins froze.
'Damn. I'm in danger.'
But she continued with strange calmness, "Don't worry. That is not your fault. All that happened… is that we wanted something to believe in. Something to place all our hopes upon. Because the darkness…."
She looked up at the cracked ceiling, as if seeing beyond it.
"The darkness spread. It did not settle for devouring cities… it devoured the minds we relied on. People began to hear whispers with no source. They saw shadows moving within them. Then they began to believe that salvation could only come through a greater sacrifice… through a new god."
One of the threads tightened its grip inside my chest.
"And the temple promised them that."
The room fell silent.
I could hear nothing but my breathing.
I raised my gaze to her and said slowly, "Tell me everything… how the world fell. How it reached this ruin."
She looked at me for a long time.
And in her eyes… I did not see a monster. But a survivor. A survivor of a world that no longer wanted to be saved.
She let out a long sigh, but it was not a sigh of relief.
"I… did not live through those rosy days sung about in our legends."
Her voice was low, but not weak. It was like the voice of someone delivering a death sentence.
"I never saw the sky clear as they say. I never walked through streets lit by golden torches. I never knew cities built of pure stone, nor the laughter of children untouched by screams."
She moved one of her threads through the air, as if wiping away the dust of a memory that wasn't hers.
"But I heard."
She came a little closer and sat across from me, her threads writhing behind her like silent serpents.
"I heard from the ancestors… that this world was once ruled by kingdoms that covered every corner of the land. Banners of countless colors. Armies marching over paved roads that did not sink into mud. Cities whose towers rose to touch the clouds."
She smiled… a smile devoid of warmth.
"People were… normal."
She paused at the word, as if it felt foreign on her tongue.
"Humans with a single face. Two eyes. A heart that did not beat outside their chests. They fought, yes. There were meaningless conflicts. Wars over borders… over resources… over trivial pride."
She tilted her head slightly.
"But the world… did not know this cruelty."
She fell silent for a moment, then said in a lower voice:
"Because the gods… were still watching."
Some of her threads trembled.
"They believed the gods protected them. That there was a balance. That there was a limit that could not be crossed."
Then her eyes narrowed.
"But humans… knew no limit."
Her voice rose slightly not in anger, but in contempt.
"They shed each other's blood for ideas that do not last. They consumed the lives of every creature on this planet to satisfy their twisted, savage, perverse desires. They cut down forests, dried up rivers, slaughtered even what they did not need."
One of the threads extended toward my chest, but did not touch me.
"They thought the gods would remain… no matter what they did."
Silence.
A heavy silence.
"But the gods… had enough."
There was no awe in her voice only a cold truth.
"They left this loathsome world. They did not destroy it. They did not punish it. They simply… turned their backs."
She closed her eyes for a moment.
"And when their gaze vanished… the darkness began to spread."
It was not a metaphor.
I felt something in the air change as she spoke.
"It was not a darkness that was only seen… but heard, smelled, thought. People began to hear whispers at night. They saw shadows standing behind them that did not disappear with the light."
She looked at me directly.
"Every night… some would lose their minds."
She smiled a pale smile.
"You wake up in the morning… and find that your brother is no longer your brother. That your mother stares at you with eyes that do not know you. That your husband… no longer remembers his own name."
Her threads moved slowly, as if mimicking a transformation.
"They turn into beings… with no relation to humanity. Bodies twisting, bones growing in the wrong places, mouths multiplying, eyes sprouting on their backs."
Her voice dropped even lower.
"Even what was once prey… became a predator."
"Cows ate their owners. Dogs tore children apart. Birds… no longer flew, but struck at the eyes first."
A chill ran through my skin.
"People began to long for those days when their gods protected them… the gods who abandoned them."
She let out a short, dry laugh.
"They prayed to a silent sky. They offered sacrifices… to emptiness."
She slowly raised her hand.
"All that remained… was magic."
She looked into the air, as if seeing something invisible.
"Magic was everywhere. In the air. In the water. In our blood. But it was no longer pure."
Her expression hardened.
"It was tainted by the darkness. Magic itself became… another cause of madness."
She leaned closer and whispered:
"You use it… and it devours you. You try to control it… and it shows you things no mind should ever see."
She placed her hand on her chest.
"Magic became like masochistic torture. You suffer… but you cannot stop. Because without it… you are too weak to survive."
She fell silent for a moment.
"Then food began to diminish."
A simple word… yet it came out like a final verdict.
"The land was corrupted. The livestock were deformed. The fields grew things that could not be eaten… or things that would eat you if you were not careful."
"And human need… did not shrink."
It grew.
"His hunger increased. His greed increased. His attachment to small things grew stronger… a piece of bread, a sip of water, the warmth of a single night."
She looked around at the cracked walls.
"And in the end… we arrived at what we are today."
She extended her hand, pointing to herself… and to the threads pulsing from her back.
"The only thing we possessed… were the Creatures of Greed."
At the mention of the name, the threads tightened slightly.
"They rarely appear. They do not come to those who deserve them… but to those who have despaired enough."
"They heal us… sometimes. Grant us gifts and abilities only to mock us when we achieve survival."
She came closer, until I could feel the warmth of her breath.
"But they give nothing without a price."
She pointed at the thin threads still embedded in my body.
"This… is the Blessing of Greed."
Then, in a voice devoid of any compassion:
"It devoured my ribcage. My spine. My lungs."
She placed her hand behind her back.
"It lives in their place."
The threads moved slowly, as if confirming her words.
"It is capable of killing you… in an instant. Not because it wants to but because it revels in it."
She fell silent.
Then she looked at me… but this time, it was not the gaze of a doctor, nor a leader, nor a survivor.
It was the gaze of a judge.
She raised her hand and pointed at my back.
"Knight…"
The word was heavy.
"I heard you earlier. In your delirium. You were speaking about building an empire."
She tilted her head slightly.
"An empire… in a broken world."
She leaned closer, until our foreheads almost touched.
"Are you ready… to offer something beyond your life?"
Her voice became a dark whisper.
"Beyond your soul?"
The threads behind her lifted slightly.
"Beyond your entire existence…"
She paused for a moment.
Then finished, with deadly slowness
"For the sake of a goal… that holds no meaning in a ruined world?"