I stood—
not in a world,
not in a dream,
but in the belly of my own collapsing mind.
No light.
No shadow.
No memory.
Just a silence so cruel, it tore apart the fragments of my soul.
Then it appeared.
Not a man.
Not a god.
Not a reaper cloaked in myth.
It was formless.
Colorless.
A void that did not speak, but existed as judgment itself.
It pulsed—
not with sound,
but with the pressure of a million lives screaming in reverse.
And when it spoke,
its voice was a weapon.
Not spoken.
Not heard.
Felt.
As if rusted blades were being pushed into my heart with each word.
"You… are pathetic."
My breath seized.
My body collapsed within itself.
"You, once born of the stars beyond stars—
have become this?"
"You cling to grief like it's a crown.
You wear your regrets like they're holy robes."
"You think this pain is noble?
That this curse is fate?
That your suffering makes you meaningful?"
Its words dug deeper than bone.
They reached into the forgotten chambers of who I once was.
And shattered them.
"Once… you were more than divine.
You were a force that consumed divinity.
You silenced realms.
You ended eons with a thought."
"Your soul didn't live in darkness—
it birthed it."
"You were beyond the reach of gods.
And now you beg to die."
I fell.
No, I broke.
Collapsed into myself.
"You weep for peace?
You, who once obliterated paradise?
You speak of love?
You, who tore it from existence?"
"This isn't a curse.
This is cowardice.
This is you."
I trembled, hollow.
The tears didn't fall from sorrow.
They came because there was nothing left to hold them in.
"You had the power to end fate itself.
But you submitted to it.
You made pain your master."
"You, who consumed all creation,
now kneel to memories.
Memories you let define you."
"You are not eternal.
You are not cursed.
You are a shadow,
too afraid to remember its light."
"Do you even remember your name?"
I whispered,
"Who… am I?"
"You are the soul who shattered the very laws of existence.
The devourer of gods.
The one who consumed death and spat out time."
"You left that behind.
For what?
To feel?
To love?
To suffer?"
"You gave up omnipotence for guilt.
You're not fallen.
You're forsaken."
I collapsed.
Not from exhaustion.
But because my soul no longer knew how to stand.
"You're not even a monster.
Monsters have purpose.
You… are nothing."
"I waited.
I watched.
I believed you would return.
That the one who ended eternity would rise again."
"But you are just a mortal now.
A prisoner of your own misery.
Eternal only in suffering."
"I no longer recognize you.
Even my voice rejects your presence."
"Go.
Fade.
You are not worthy of the name you buried."
The orb dimmed.
The void vanished.
And I was left in the only place crueler than oblivion:
Truth.
I was once something vast,
something uncontainable,
something feared by the gods.
Now?
I am forgotten.
By death.
By time.
By myself.
And the cruelest part?
I chose this.