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Darkness.

Infinite darkness.

Once again, I was back at this spine-shivering place; floating aimlessly, staring back at the abyss. Yet instead of being scared for not seeing anything, the absence of light ironically calmed my nerves. The comfort it enveloped me was like that of a warm embrace by a loving mother and a gentle pat of encouragement by a supportive father—a complete sense of security.

How long was I here?

An hour? Two or three?

A day, perhaps?

Ah, none of that mattered, anyway.

I'd rather be here. Just here.

"For how long were you planning to hole up here?"

My solitude shattered with those few words.

I smiled weakly at the mysterious voices again. The same ones tirelessly urging me to wake up my slumbering state outside this dark place. The culprit why I had to live another day yet again. But this time . . . This time . . .

"I c-can't help them," I rasped out the words, grimacing at my parched throat. "How can someone like me help them?"

"But—"

I swiftly cut the voices off, growing irked at the recollection of their surreal words earlier—the very reason why I was brought in such a place. In a place supposedly only existing beyond one's wild imagination. But it wasn't.

Had I didn't really saw it with my two eyes . . . Had those shimmering veils didn't materialize out of nowhere before me, I might shrug it off, labeling them as crazy as me—even fervently deny my situation.

I fell from the sky. I crossed a dimension through that shimmering veil.

"Why can't you just let me be?" I squeaked out, eyes stinging with utter frustration. "How could I help them if I need saving back there as well? How could a measly me help them uplift their despondent state if I, too, has hit beyond rock bottom? C-can't you see the problem here? A suicidal can't lift someone's morale if he can't do it to himself!"

"We chose you for a reason."

There it is again, I thought bitterly.

The warping . . .

The crossing over an entirely different realm . . .

I'd begrudgingly accepted that after mauling over it for so long.

But to help them?

How could I if I can't even help myself? I had enough baggage to carry—more than enough that I wasn't able to carry it on my shoulders anymore and throw the towel.

That was why if I wasn't dead yet, I would just rather sleep for eternity than wake up again and face reality.

Yes, I wholeheartedly admitted my cowardly ass. But before I did throw the towel, I'd tried everything . . . yet those people were too adept fucking up my sliver of hope over and over again, leaving me in the dirt once I no longer had a purpose. I tried like anyone else . . . Thousand times. But everything had a limit, and after a long winding journey, I finally reached the end of my rope.

Giving up wasn't easy . . . until they smothered my last glimmer of hope and will to live.

Until I was left with only death as a choice.

I bitterly chuckled at that. "You chose a suicidal maniac without any future ahead just so you can turn me into a marionette playing your schemes, and discard me right away when I already served my purpose?" I choked on my spit. Anger swelling at my chest as I spat, "Just like them. All of you'd be just like them!"

"Please help them," the voices begged for the umpteenth time, completely ignoring all I'd said.

I tutted. "Why can't you understand me? Why can't you just find someone else?" I yelled, tugging my hair in utmost frustration. "Can't you just freakin' leave me alone, for goodness sake? For the last time, I can't help them! I can't and I won't, so back off already!"

Why couldn't they get it? Why did it seem like I had to always exert every bit of me for everyone's stead? How about me? Didn't I deserve it? I was so sick of it!

For a moment, the voices went silent with their usual plea. I thought they'd finally left me alone. I thought they'd finally seen it clearly—understood me—after all those yelling.

Boy, I was so wrong.

"Forgive us. You left us with no choice."

I shivered at their ominous statement.

Before I could open my quivering lips, a foreign sensation seemed to chip in into my system, crashing down at me in a harsh fall, eliciting a sharp gasp and fit of cough from me. I clutched my chest, feeling the wild palpitation of my heart against the palm of my hand. Startled at the sudden invasion, all I could do was open my mouth, achingly gasping for air, as I tried to figure out what on earth was happening to me. But even such a task was arduous as a painful wave of nausea hit me in crippling series of punches, knocking me down, rendering me breathless. My mouth closed and opened, mimicking a fish, grasping for even the slightest air I could put on my constricting lungs . . . yet it was futile. It was as though it deliberately cutting off my oxygen. Sheer panic assaulted my system as the foreign sensation swirled around inside my body, sizing me up, getting used to it, and getting scorchingly hot as it continued its pace around my mid-body.

"S-stop . . . ah!" A blood-curdling scream tore my lips at the piercing pain in my chest, relentlessly stabbing me back and forth as if a real dagger really did it. "Please, stop!" I cried out, tears breaking out my eyes. "Stop it, please!"

But none of my pleas were heard. I fought to keep the unknown force from merging with me. I tried but to no avail.

The heavyweight in my chest gradually subsided. Along it was the settling down of the force. Then there was no more. It was as though my whimpers were a mere product of a nightmare—nonexistent.

Warm. A startling warmth spread through my body, yet it didn't reach the ice-cold depths of my withering heart.

For the last time, before I succumbed to the lulling sensation the foreboding force had brought me, the voices spoke again. No emotion. No hint of little remorse. None of those pleading tones.

"The will is done. Welcome to the realm of fate-determined individuals, Vessel of the Fourth Croux."

A heavy weight settled on my chest.

"Your sacrifice won't be in vain."

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