It pressed against him like a weight, a suffocating tide that swallowed air and sound. Zero opened his eyes—or thought he did—but nothing changed. He floated in a void where direction meant nothing. His breath echoed too loudly in the silence, as though he had been dropped into the hollow chest of the world.
And then, faintly, came the sound.
Not cruel, not mocking. The laughter of children—bright, fleeting, filled with the warmth of days long past. It rang through the void like glass bells, cutting through the dark. Zero's chest constricted. He knew those voices. Every note was etched into him as clearly as if carved into bone.
"No…" His whisper cracked. "Not here. Not again."
The void rippled. The darkness peeled away to reveal stone—cold, jagged, damp with the scent of moss and blood. The cave.
Zero's knees nearly buckled. His body remembered this place in a way his mind could never forget. Every shadow, every drip of water, every groan of the earth was the same. It was the place where his childhood ended, where laughter had turned to screams.
Shapes moved ahead of him. Small figures, hazy at first, then clearer as though painted by memory itself. Faces he knew better than his own reflected back at him—his friends. Their smiles lit the cavern, their eyes bright, carefree.
"Zero, come on!" one of them called, waving for him. "You're too slow!"
Another laughed, tugging at his arm. "You're always behind, Zero. Hurry up!"
Their voices were exactly as they had been. Joyful. Innocent. Alive.
Zero staggered forward, his hand reaching out helplessly. "Wait—don't… don't go further. Please." His voice broke, desperation clawing through every word.
But they didn't hear him. They ran deeper into the cave, shadows stretching long against the jagged walls. The laughter echoed, blending into the sound of dripping water—until it warped. The laughter twisted into shrieks.
The sound ripped into him, raw and familiar—the screams of his friends as they died. He turned sharply, his heart pounding, and saw it unfold again. Bodies torn, blood splattering against the rocks. Limbs ripped apart like toys in the hands of a cruel child. Their eyes wide, filled with terror, filled with betrayal.
"No!" Zero's voice tore from his throat, raw and desperate. "Stop it! Don't make me see this again!"
But the vision would not stop. The cave demanded he witness. Each scream stabbed deeper, each drop of blood seared hotter. His friends reached toward him, their faces contorted in horror.
A voice. Smooth. Mocking. Poisonous.
Xalvar stepped out of the shadows, his form half-shrouded in smoke. His eyes burned like embers in the dark, cruel and bright. His smile split the silence, sharp as a blade.
"It was you, Zero. You were the reason they had to die."
Zero's chest heaved. "Shut up."
"You led them here." Xalvar's tone was gentle, almost conversational, but every word dripped with venom. "They followed you. They trusted you. And look what became of them."
The shadows of his friends' broken bodies surrounded him now, sprawled across the ground in grotesque stillness. Blood pooled beneath them, soaking into the earth until it rose around Zero's ankles, warm and sticky.
"They screamed your name, did you hear?" Xalvar tilted his head, his smile widening. "In their last moments, when their flesh was torn apart, do you know who they cried for? You. You, Zero. Their blood is yours to carry."
Zero's hands shook violently. He wanted to deny it, to scream back, but the words caught in his throat. Because he had heard it. He had heard them cry for him. Pleading. Screaming. Their voices had haunted him every night since.
He sank to his knees, blood rising higher around him, tears burning down his face. "I… I tried. I tried to save them…"
"You failed." Xalvar's voice cut like a blade. "You were weak. Helpless. A burden even then."
The devil stepped closer, the shadows twisting like chains around him. "Tell me, Zero—how many more will die because of you? How many more will bleed while you stand shaking, drowning in your own guilt? You are cursed, and those near you will always fall."
The figures of his friends stirred. Their corpses twitched, their heads turning toward him. Eyes once warm and kind now glowed pale, accusing.
"Zero…" they whispered in unison, voices hollow and echoing. "Why didn't you save us?"
He clutched his head, sobbing, his nails digging into his scalp. "I tried! I wasn't strong enough—I wasn't… I—"
Their whispers rose, overlapping, louder and louder, until it became a chorus of agony. "Why didn't you save us? Why? Why?"
Xalvar's laughter wove through the cries, a low, sickening sound that vibrated in Zero's chest.
"You cannot escape this truth," Xalvar said. "This is who you are. Weak. Cursed. Death follows in your shadow. And one day, even she—" His eyes gleamed, and his smile grew sharper. "—will die because of you."
Zero's head snapped up, his tears blurring his vision. "Don't—"
"Lilith." The name rolled off Xalvar's tongue like a curse. "Her blood will stain your hands too. Just as theirs did. Just as all will."
Something inside Zero broke. The cave spun, the blood rose higher, and the faces of his friends closed in on him, their whispers now screams of rage.
He screamed back, his voice cracking, a sound ripped from the depths of his soul. The shadows surged, the blood boiled, the cave collapsing in on itself as if the weight of his guilt could no longer be contained.
And through it all, Xalvar stood untouched, his laughter echoing as the world fell apart.
"You will never escape me, Zero. You were born to fail. Born to bury those who trust you."
Zero's scream tore his throat raw. His vision went white, then black, then nothing at all.
The cave dissolved into silence.
And Zero was left floating once more in the void—broken, alone, with the echoes of his past still clinging to him like chains.