Embers of the Past
The scene shifted rapidly once more, for the millionth and five hundredth time! He found himself screaming as he fell from the sky toward the ground, at tremendous speed! The only thing he managed to perceive after all this pointless suffering was that the duration of his impact with the ground diminished with each repetition. Suddenly, he collided violently with the earth!! His tortured insides exploded like floating stars in the sky, and his hot blood flowed like a raging river. His flesh fibers tore apart, his bones shattered, and his limbs were scattered! As he sank into a sea of torment, the fires of pain ignited in every cell of his body! His screams tore through the sky. In the embrace of this intense pain, he released a cry that filled the void, consuming everything around him, until everything faded away…
He continued to endure this torment repeatedly, spiraling in that bitter vortex. But suddenly! This time he found himself suspended in mid-air! Only a few meters separated him from the ground! He froze in the air like a statue! After all those long years of repeating this horrific dream, his only desire was to change the suffering; it didn't matter if it was more brutal, he just wanted a shift in the pattern of pain! He could no longer bear to repeat this scene again...
His thoughts were interrupted by the sudden appearance of a mysterious figure from nowhere! The figure materialized, resembling a dark thirty-something, wearing black glasses that reflected his obscurity, and clad in a black suit that enveloped his entire body, with long folds flowing smoothly. Additionally, his left ear was missing, making him look eerie and enigmatic. "Hazel" quickly realized that the figure before him was the enigmatic "Scath" once again!!!
"Scath" slowly approached "Hazel," then, without a word, took "Hazel's" hand and said: "It was necessary for you to enter this void loop! Now, if you wish to escape from here, you must shake hands!"
"Hazel" was bewildered by his words as "Scath" held his hand, rendering him unable to control his body completely, as if he had been paralyzed! He was frozen, unable to move in the air, and had no other choice or chance to resist!
Suddenly! "Scath" produced another hand from nowhere—an isolated hand, without a body, just a mere hand! He then made "Hazel's" hand shake the severed hand. Instantly, in the blink of an eye, everything vanished quickly…
"Hazel" opened his eyes after waking from this terrifying dream! He found himself in the sewers!
He was extremely terrified! As he gasped for breath, trying to comprehend what had happened, he quickly remembered the box! He rushed to find it and quickly spotted it nearby, just as he had left it! It was filled with sedatives. Then he recalled that day when he had entered here! He remembered something strange—he had fallen asleep without taking one of those sedatives, even though he had exerted himself greatly to obtain them. In the end, he had succumbed to exhaustion without consuming them, leading to his entrapment in telepathy once again, caught in a prison of an endless loop!
He extended his left arm to lie on the ground! And suddenly! He screamed with all his might, a powerful scream. Wasn't his left arm severed? Hadn't it been cut off due to that car accident?!! He quickly adjusted his posture and stood up to examine his left arm.
It was a very old prosthetic arm, made of bronze, its shiny brown color giving it a terrifying and strange appearance. He could control it freely, as if it were his old arm! He felt an immense joy, and while savoring this feeling, a barrage of thoughts hit him like a hammer. Who had done this? Who had implanted this old prosthetic arm here? Why? When? … He plunged into a sea of questions, with the sole answer and suspect in his case being "Scath," the only one capable of such acts, or perhaps that disorganized madman who had tried to kill him!
He disregarded all these thoughts, casting them aside! Then he decided to shake off this exhaustion he felt by taking a walk in nature to breathe some fresh air! And that's what he did after hiding the box in a black bag and covering it. Before leaving his spot, he took a few sedatives with him, just in case he fell asleep on the way!
He felt a great sense of relief and ecstasy. Despite all the problems surrounding him, the fresh air he inhaled brought him a moment of calm and serenity. During this time, he decided to head to his university!
As he walked, memories of his university years flooded back. He felt as though they had been a waste of time; he had made no progress, achieved no goals, and earned no money, which he desperately needed to support his mother! But it was too late now; everyone was gone, and he was left alone in this life. Where would he find money now? Having been absent from the university for so long, he might have already been expelled!
…