Samsara

As I stepped outside, something in my mind shifted. Memories blurred, pieces of my life vanished. My mother, my family—gone, replaced by unfamiliar figures. Someone had stolen them from my heart. The only things I knew for certain: I was a writer. My name was Kael Asher.

The castle loomed above me—tall, carved from stone, its walls embedded with the skulls of the fallen. I was dragged before the king.

"Who will you choose? Who dies before you?"

I looked around, confused, fear gripping my throat.

Then he laughed.

"Haha… such a small world, isn't it? You never thought you'd end up here, and yet... here you are."

His voice dripped with mockery.

"You tried everything, said everything, but in the end, you arrived at this moment all the same. So… who will it be? Your mother? Or your sister?"

Wrath of Wratvlad, the king, leaned forward on his throne, his crimson eyes alight with sadistic pleasure. He was colossal, a presence that suffocated. My knees dug into the cold stone floor, chains biting into my wrists. The air thickened. Blood pooled beneath me—but it wasn't mine. Not yet.

My mother and sister knelt beside me, bound, silent, their fate dangling from the lips of a tyrant.

"Take me instead!" I begged. "Kill me, but let them go! They've done nothing wrong! I'm the one who defied you—"

The words felt familiar, as if I had spoken them before. My eyes met my mother's—eyes filled with terror, unwilling to witness either of her children perish. Her red hair, her eyes that shone both sky-blue and life-green. My sister—filthy, wearing the same clothes for two days—never before had I seen her so afraid. Her black hair, soft, her sapphire eyes still longing to hear another story from my lips.

And suddenly, I was no longer afraid.

"I'm the one who wanted to change this cursed world!" My voice cracked under the weight of my despair. "A world where we step over corpses daily! Where a king is nothing but an executioner! Where 'protecting your kingdom' means leaving mothers in foreign lands to weep for their starving children! In this world, to be good is to be a demon!"

Wrath grinned, savoring my anguish.

"Kael… Kael, Kael." He stepped closer, seizing my face in his hand. "I love that look in your eyes. It doesn't say much, but it knows."

He turned to my family, his toxic smile twisting. I pulled at my chains, desperate.

"You were such a useful tool for me. Just like your father."

A mystery. His fate had never been told to me. I had never found him.

"Ah, your father…" Wrath sat back, lounging on his throne. "I watched him slaughter anyone in his way and, in the end, he died for the same people who once demanded his head. And do you know who killed him?"

I held my breath.

No. No, it's not possible—

"Me."

His laughter still curses me.

"I used him like a pawn. Because in this world, there can only be one king. And now… say goodbye to whatever remains of your family."

Wrath gestured lazily.

"Let the blades fall."

My world shattered.

My mother's voice, gentle even now, whispered, "Kael… Take care of yourself. I will love you for eternity. Live for me, and please… seek forgiveness, not revenge."

The blade descended.

And my sister, holding back tears, smiled.

"Kael… one day, we'll play together again. With Mother and Father."

I wept, unable to speak. She turned away in the last moment.

"Until then… be safe. I'll wait for you. Always."

I struggled against my chains.

"No! Nooo! Why is this happening?!"

Then—the blades fell.

Blood splattered across the stone floor.

Their heads rolled.

The silence that followed was unbearable.

My hands trembled, soaked in my family's blood.

Something inside me broke. Irreparably.

"I will kill this world."

I swore to the heavens.

"I will kill them all."

Madness took root in my soul.

Wrath laughed.

"Such beautiful words. Your mother's final plea nearly brought me to tears." He mimicked her last words, mocking. "And your sister's goodbye was simply adorable. But it's a shame, really…" He smirked.

"Because you, Kael, won't live long enough to keep your promise."

The knights approached, blades raised.

From his throne, Wrath commanded:

"Now… take his head."

I closed my eyes, a final farewell.

"This story ends with me… and only me."

A flash of steel.

A sky drenched in blood.

Then—nothing.

Cold. Silent. Absolute.

I gasped, air burning into my lungs.

But I was no longer in Wratvlad.

The air here was ancient, heavy, as if time itself had stopped.

Trembling, I stood.

A vast field stretched endlessly, swallowed in gray mist and forgotten whispers.

"Where… am I? Where is my family? Is this Heaven… or something else?"

I clenched my fists.

Revenge still burned inside me.

In the distance, a lone tree reached toward the sky, its branches unmoving.

Beneath it, a girl stood, dressed in white, bathed in moonlight. She watched me.

Her expression was unreadable, but her eyes… her eyes bore the weight of infinite stories.

I staggered toward her, gripping my knees.

"Hey! You… Do you know what this place is?"

I needed answers.

"Where am I?"

She studied me for a long moment before speaking.

"Welcome, Kael."

She knew my name.

"This is the realm of your reality," she said. "A place where death has a beginning… but no end."

My fists clenched.

"I don't understand. And I don't care. I need to go back. I have unfinished business."

She nodded, as if expecting this.

"If that is your wish, then so be it."

She lifted a sword from beside her and offered it to me.

Then, she placed a book in my hands.

My brow furrowed.

"What is this book? And… why are you giving me a sword?"

Her smile was faint.

The last words I heard before darkness swallowed me once again:

—

I jolted awake.

Sunlight poured through my window.

My bed. My room.

But my heart pounded like a war drum.

"A dream…?"

I curled my fingers.

Something was there.

A book.

My breath caught when I read the title:

"Samsara."

And beneath it, written in bleeding ink:

"Title: Samsara. Author: Kael Asher."

My name.

I flipped through the pages, hands shaking.

Every detail of my life was written here.

My mother's execution.

My sister's goodbye.

My death.

But the book never revealed what came after.

I reached the final page.

One question was written there:

"I am you, and you are me. So… who am I?"

I shut the book, mind spiraling.

"Is this real?"

Or something else entirely?

Whatever it was…

I had to find out.

And I had to make sure that history would not repeat itself.

A flash of lightning tore the sky.

And somewhere, beyond the veil of existence, the girl beneath the tree smiled.