The Agony's Embrace
Zami stood motionless as the souls of Forsaken Hollow closed in on him, their wailing cries filling the air. His body was battered, his spirit tested by the ceaseless torment that the Silent Agony had unleashed upon him. The creature, a vessel of endless suffering, should have been vanquished by now. Zami had already killed it twice in different forms. The first time when the Silent Agony was a mere shadow of its true self, and the second when he confronted its monstrous, true form. Yet here it was, still lingering like a dark stain on the very fabric of this forsaken place.
"I should have killed you three times by now," Zami muttered under his breath, his voice hoarse from the strain. His silver eyes flicked around as the masses of souls and agonized phantoms surged closer, a tidal wave of pain and anguish crashing into him. The tendrils of the Silent Agony were everywhere, wrapping around his legs, twisting around his arms, pulling him deeper into the abyss of despair.
Each breath Zami took seemed heavier than the last, the weight of countless souls pressing down on his chest. The whispers, the voices of those who once lived in the colony, filled his mind with endless suffering. It was as if every tortured soul in Forsaken Hollow had converged upon him, trying to drag him into their never-ending nightmare.
But Zami wasn't the one to be dragged down.
He was a survivor. He always had been.
A cold, determined expression crossed his face as he remembered the words Karesh had spoken before he left for the Forsaken Hollow.
_"Silent Agony feeds off the pain and anguish of the colony,"_ Karesh had said, his voice heavy with the weight of knowledge. _"To truly destroy it, you must sever its lifeblood—those souls, their suffering. Only when you erase the source of its power will it die... for good."_
The realization hit Zami like a crushing blow. Silent Agony wasn't just an entity to be defeated—it was an organism fueled by the agony of the living, the suffering of the dead. The endless cycle of pain was what kept it alive, sustained its power, and forced it to endure death again and again.
Zami clenched his fists, blood trickling from his worn palms as the souls continued to pull at him.
"I see," he whispered to himself. "You don't want to die. You want to feed. You live off this suffering, this torment."
He narrowed his eyes, looking at the countless wandering souls pressing closer, their bodies twisted and contorted in grotesque forms. The masses of agony were swirling around him like an unstoppable storm. Silent Agony was drawing them in, using them to fuel its eternal existence.
"Karesh," Zami spoke aloud, his voice cold but resolute. "Do I have to kill all of them? Every soul in this forsaken hollow to destroy Silent Agony completely?"
The question hung in the air as the souls began to press against him, some phantoms reaching out with elongated hands, their cries growing louder, more desperate. It felt as if the weight of the entire forsaken colony was crashing down on him.
Suddenly, a low rumble filled the air, like a distant thunderstorm, and Zami felt the ground tremble beneath his feet. His heart beat heavily in his chest, a sensation that was all too familiar: the agony was growing stronger.
The voice of Silent Agony echoed around him, distorted and full of contempt, filling his head with images of death and despair. "You are nothing but another puppet, Zami Agatoru. All of you are mere toys for my amusement. You think you can stop me? You think you can erase this pain? The souls will never cease... as long as I breathe, as long as they live, you will never be free."
Zami didn't flinch.
He had learned to embrace pain. To face it head-on. It had made him stronger. And now, it would make him stronger again.
He gripped the shards tightly in his hands, feeling their pulsing power, and took a deep breath. With his mind clear and his resolve steady, he turned toward the mass of agonized souls surrounding him. He would not give in. He would not allow them to consume him.
He would break the cycle.