---
I stayed curled up for what felt like an eternity, lost in the void. Time was meaningless. That's when I noticed,I was fading. My energy, what was like my current lifeforce was draining fast. My doom was near.
As the last embers of my strength flickered, a voice called out. I turned toward it,and there was light.
Hope.
I shot forward. Nothing else mattered. If I could just reach it, maybe just maybe I would be saved.
The light beckoned, and I followed. It was beautiful,more than anything I'd ever seen. But then, something changed. I slowed. Fear crept back in. I tried to push past it, but I had to look.
And I saw it.
I was disappearing.
Panic surged through me, and I moved faster, a fatal mistake. The more I pushed, the more I faded and slowed. My body started crumbling. I reached out my hand only to see it crumble.The light was close,so close, but unreachable.
I stopped. Just one second, that's all I needed.
The haze that remained of me started breaking apart. My fingers dissolved. My limbs vanished. Everything was lost. My doom had come.
Then, the light flared brighter.
And it reached for me.
---
I opened my eyes, but the light forced them shut again. Instinct took over, and I raised my hand to block it. That's when I felt the weight. My body. My flesh.
Real.
I bolted upright, touching every part of myself. It was solid. I was whole. Relief crashed over me like a storm.
I laughed, overwhelmed. I was alive.
Then, I saw her.
She was beautiful. That was the first thought that entered my mind. Cloaked in a gown darker than the abyss itself, yet glowing, like something beyond human comprehension. Her pale skin contrasted against the fabric, standing out in a way that was impossible to ignore.
I opened my mouth, but nothing came out.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" she said.
I felt my face heat up and turned away.
"That's not what I want." She waved her hand, and a screen appeared.
My breath hitched.
It showed me in my lowest moment, trapped, broken, fading away in despair.
I dropped to my knees.
Memories rushed in, ripping through me. The pain, the suffering, I had wanted to forget, all of it, flooding back.
I screamed. Pain, rage, hopelessness. I slammed my head into the floor again and again, until red clouded my vision.
I turned to ask why, why she was showing me this, but then I saw her face.
That smile.
Twisted. Menacing. Euphoric.
She was enjoying this.
I froze.
"You humans are so interesting," she mused, eyes gleaming. "Especially you. You really thought they'd change, right? You clung to that hope till the very last second. What kind of fool are you? They didn't change while you were alive. What makes you think death would do anything different?"
Her words hit me like a hammer, shattering whatever was left of me.
"You really are a delicacy," she continued, voice dripping with amusement. "Don't worry, I'll savor you fully. How do you feel about living again? I'm granting you life, but you'll be with them. Your family. And I will wait. I will watch as they do it all over again."
My breathing slowed. My heartbeat thundered in my ears. The memories surged again, the ones I had buried, clawing back to the surface.
Fear. The old, familiar fear. The fear of not being wanted. Of not being loved.
Then, I saw it.
A single, flickering memory.
At the very end.
Someone had loved me.
Someone still wanted me.
Something snapped.
I rose to my feet.
She gasped in delight. "Yes! Yes! Suffer more!" She trembled, consumed by bliss.
I walked forward. Staggering, step by step. Until I was in front of her throne.
She didn't realize what was happening.
And then, she was on the ground.
Her eyes were bloodshot. Wide. Desperate for air.
I had pounced on her.
I was strangling her with everything I had.
And I smiled.
A smile that made the divine tremble.
I bent close, whispering, "If I will suffer and perish regardless… then I have nothing to lose. I am already dead, so nothing matters anymore." My grip tightened. "From this moment on, I will do only what I want. And right now? I don't like you."
I leaned in further.
"So Die."
The goddess's body shuddered. She went pale.
In one last frantic act, she used her power.
And teleported me away.
---
I awoke in a new world.
And I had unfinished business.
"That's right," I murmured. "This time, I'm doing whatever I want."
And first,was taking care of my loving family.