Leon's eyes snapped open. "Ugh," he groaned, sitting up fast. "What was that dream?" He shook his head, trying to grab onto the blurry images. "Nah, doesn't matter." He pushed it away.
Then, his thoughts turned heavy. "My life." he mumbled, staring at his hands. "All those big plans? Leading people, making things better felt so real once." He gave a short, bitter laugh. "Now? Feels like someone played a bad joke on me."
"I wanted to be someone," Leon said to the empty room. "Make a real change." He sighed. "But this... this magic world... it just grabbed me. Twisted me all around. Now... now I'm not even the same guy."
He hugged himself. "Broken. That's what I am." His voice was low. "Ghosts everywhere. All the bad things I did... all the times I messed up." He swallowed hard. "Lost her... lost what I wanted to do... lost everything."
"Just floating now," Leon whispered. "Like my old life crashed and burned, and I'm just stuck in the pieces." A shiver ran down his spine. "Waiting for her. Mistress Para." He squeezed his eyes shut. "She's coming for me. For what happened to her daughter."
He opened his eyes again, and they looked lost. "It's too much," he said, his voice cracking. "All the dreams gone. This awful guilt. And knowing she's out there..." He shook his head slowly. "No way out for me. No good future. Just darkness."
Then, the horrible pictures flashed in his mind. "Lena." he breathed. He saw her eyes, so cold. "Like a hunter." He saw her move, quick and deadly. "So fast."
He could almost hear the screams. "People crying out.." He closed his ears with his hands. "Then, nothing. Just quiet." He felt a heavy weight on his chest. "Their lives it's like I'm carrying them now."
"It's my fault too," Leon whispered. "I loved her. I trusted her. I thought she was good." He shook his head sadly. "And she lied. She changed into something awful right in front of me." He bit his lip. "I was blind. Stupid. Because I didn't see it, I'm part of it all."
Her voice, cold and sharp, cut through his thoughts. "You did this, Leon," it hissed in his head. "You let it happen." He flinched. "She's coming," he whispered. "I know she is. And she'll be right to punish me."
He hung his head. "I deserve it," he mumbled. "For everything. For being so blind. For what happened to her daughter."
Leon looked around the room, his eyes empty. "No way out," he said quietly. "Just this heavy feeling all the time. Like everything I did was wrong. Like everything I lost is still right here, just out of reach." He sighed, a long, shaky breath. "What's the point anymore? No hope. No good future waiting."
A dark idea started to grow in his mind. "Maybe." he said slowly, looking up. "Maybe I can stop this." He thought about Mistress Para. "She's coming to end me anyway." A strange look came over his face. "But maybe I can do it first."
He stood up, a new kind of determination in his eyes. "I won't just hide and wait." His voice was low but firm. "I'll choose how this ends. My way." He nodded to himself. "One last thing I can control." A grim smile touched his lips. "I'll meet her on my own terms. I'll choose death."
The darkness inside Leon was deep, like a never-ending hole. Losing Lily had ripped a piece of him away. But losing Lena that was different. She wasn't just gone; she'd become something terrible, something that had crushed his heart into dust. And now, Mistress Para was coming. He could feel it, like a storm gathering on the horizon, ready to destroy him – and maybe everything else too.
He knew Mistress Para. He knew about the old power inside her, the kind that could shake the world. He knew how much she must be hurting for Lena, and how angry that would make her. But he also knew something else. A tiny spark flickered in the darkness of his despair. Her revenge wouldn't stop with him. She wouldn't just cry for her daughter; she'd want to replace her. And that meant power.
He remembered the sirens, how they needed something from humans to live here. Lena had shown that in a horrible way – they needed human energy. Mistress Para, coming to this world, would need that too. She wouldn't see people. She'd see food, a power source for her and her kind.
That thought, cold and sharp, woke something up inside Leon. He was broken, lost in his sadness, but he wasn't a coward. He used to lead people, to protect them. He'd failed Lena, couldn't save her from herself. But he wouldn't fail everyone else. He wouldn't just stand there while Mistress Para turned humans into slaves.
The thought of ending it all disappeared like smoke. Now there was something else, something to fight for. He wouldn't take his own life. He'd fight. He'd fight Mistress Para, not for himself, but for everyone else. He'd use what he knew about their world, about sirens, about what he could do himself, to stand against the dark.
He knew it was probably the end for him. Mistress Para was strong, old, connected to something powerful. "The Water Torrent..." he murmured.
But he'd faced her before, even if he hadn't stood right in front of her. He'd felt her power, that cold feeling. And deep down, he thought he had a tiny chance. Maybe he couldn't beat her, but he could slow her down, give people time to get ready, to fight back themselves.
"If I die," he said, his voice stronger now, "I'll die fighting." He'd die protecting the human world, the one he used to dream of leading. "I'll be a warrior, not just someone waiting to die." He'd face Mistress Para's anger, not with sadness, but with fire in his eyes. "I won't just whimper. I'll roar."
Now that he'd decided, a strange calmness came over him. The heavy sadness was gone, replaced by something hard and steady. He wasn't just waiting to die anymore. He was getting ready for a fight. He'd face Mistress Para, not as a broken man wanting to disappear, but as someone who would protect others, a shield against the coming storm.
He knew time was short. Mistress Para was close; he could feel it. The air felt different, a coldness underneath, like something ancient was getting closer. He had to get ready, find anything that could help, make a plan, even if it was a long shot.
Leon's mind raced. "Human and siren," he muttered. "That's me. Always felt like trouble, but maybe... maybe it can help now." He thought about having a foot in both worlds. "I know their secrets, and I know ours."
He remembered the powerful magic in the other place. "The Water Torrent," he whispered. "She controls that." He'd seen it destroy things. "Too strong for me to fight head-on." He frowned. "But maybe I can mess with it somehow. Break the connection?"
Then he thought about the human world. "We're tough," he said to himself. "We can figure things out. And we don't give up easy." He knew if people understood what was coming, they'd fight. "I just need to give them that chance. Buy them some time."
He started looking around his place. "Those old books..." he mumbled, grabbing dusty scrolls. "Anything about siren weaknesses anything to give me an edge." He also started talking to people in secret. "You saw those weird deaths, right?" he'd ask, his voice low. "It's not just a curse. There's something else."
Some people looked at him like he was crazy. "He's just sad about Lena," they probably thought. But others listened, their eyes getting wide. "We felt it," they'd say. "Something dark came here." They were scared, but they also looked like they were ready to fight. "Tell us what to do."
Even though Leon was still hurting and knew the odds were bad, something new had sparked inside him. "I'm not just Leon anymore," he said quietly. "Not just the guy who lost everything." He stood a little straighter. "I'm going to protect them. I'm going to fight her." He knew he might not win. "But I'm fighting for everyone." He was ready to face Mistress Para, not hoping to win, but with the brave heart of someone fighting for something bigger than himself. "For humanity," he thought fiercely.