Nothing would ever get better, ever change. The world would keep pushing and pushing me further towards my breaking point, one that I had already passed so long ago.
I killed Vesperus. Why can’t this all be over? He started everything. Created who I was, destroyed a life I could have had. And the curse... what if I didn’t truly need to break it? He wanted me to kill my own mother to complete it, so what if the curse couldn’t affect me unless I performed that supposed ritual?”
Something nagged at me, a persistent thought that the reason I couldn’t fully harness my powers was because the curse was draining my energy. I wondered if I’d ever truly reach my full potential. The idea that killing Vesperus might not have been enough lingered in my mind. Could it be that the curse needed something more, something specific to be truly broken?
All of this crossed my mind as I walked through the trees. Their towering forms and the rocky terrain now almost feeling normal to me. What had once seemed foreign was becoming familiar.
A growl came—not from some creature, but from my own stomach. Days had passed since I’d last eaten, and I could feel the toll it had taken. Nausea washed over me, accompanied by a deep, aching sensation in my belly. With no experience in hunting or foraging what chance did I have to find sustenance?
I slowed my pace and took a deep breath. Everything around me seemed to smear and blur, as if my vision was growing impaired or a glossy film had settled over my eyes.
“Agh—mm,” I groaned in pain, collapsing against the tree for support. “What... the fuck?” I gasped, struggling to understand what was happening.
“Alaric,” Odessa’s voice called out, making me jerk my head to the right. There was no answer, and instead, my vision deteriorated further.
“What have you become?” Dunstan’s voice rang out, echoing through the forest.
I pushed away from the tree; my steps unsteady as I wobbled toward the direction of his voice. “D—Dunstan?” I called out softly, but once again, there was no response.
A laugh, grating on my nerves and all too familiar, came from behind me. “How you have fallen,” Gunnar snarled, and from the tone, I could tell he was smiling.
“Fuck you,” I spat bitterly, spinning around. He wasn’t there, but the sudden movement made me lose my balance. I tumbled to the ground, catching myself with my hands. The impact sent a sharp jolt of pain through my wrists, and I rolled onto my back. “Shit... shit!” I gasped, the pain overwhelming me.
“Huh... you’re even more of a failure than I thought... and now you’re a monster,” Avelina’s voice echoed, as cold as I remembered.
“This isn’t real... y-you aren’t... none of you are here... it’s... i-it’s not...” I stumbled over my words, trying to reassure myself. I curled into a ball. This couldn’t be happening.
I took another deep breath, holding it for a few seconds before letting it out slowly. Breaking free from my tense stance, I opened my eyes. My vision cleared, and the voices vanished. I shivered slightly, muttering to myself, “I’m going mad.”
I stared at the grass for what felt like an eternity, trying to calm myself. I watched as tiny bugs, insignificant and oblivious, scurried between the blades of dark green grass. Dirt, tightly packed beneath the surface, spurted up as they moved.
“You need to keep going,” a woman’s voice said, soft and smooth, like honey dripping from a spoon.
Shakily, I looked up. The sunlight blinded me at first, but after a few blinks, my vision cleared, revealing a face I knew all too well. My mother. Her round, older features were unchanged by time. “I don’t know you,” I mumbled, struggling to reconcile the image before me, “I never knew you.”
She crouched down and placed a hand on my face. It felt so real—warm and soft. Her hair fell around her, blocking out the blinding sunlight. “You don’t have long,” she murmured. “He’s held me captive for so long...” She managed a weak smile. “Don’t give up now.”
“But I don’t... I don’t know—” I started, but as I sat up, she was gone, as if she had vanished into thin air. “Mom?” I called out, the word slipping from my lips with a hesitancy I had rarely felt before.
“Right...” I mumbled quietly, swallowing hard. “Suck it up, man... come on.” I climbed to my feet, lifting my chest and gazing at the sky for a moment before beginning to walk. I couldn’t afford to stall any longer. I couldn’t let myself go mad.
For Odessa, but mostly, for myself.
ns 15.158.61.12da2
