7 :Confronting the shrine(2)

Ren's hands shook as he lay rigid in bed, the aroma of incense lingering in the air. His racing heartbeat rang through his ears as he grappled with what had transpired at the shrine. He had finally left his mark—something had altered. But what was its meaning?

He pulled the blanket off and got up, pacing around his room. His thoughts ran wild with possibilities. Was this a sign that he was finally breaking the cycle? Or was it something else? 

He had to test it out more.

Resolute, Ren made a decision to go back to the shrine as quickly as possible. He shrugged into his jacket and trudged through the frozen, deserted streets, every step driven by an insistent despair. The shrine towered before him in the moonlight, its weathered wooden frame seeming to hold an aura that ran a shiver down his neck.

He walked through the torii gate, the pressure of unseeing eyes upon him. Nearing the honden, he paused for only an instant before extending his hand to strike the bell. The sonorous, booming chime rang out in the stillness, shattering the heavy atmosphere of tension that hung in the air.

And then—

A whisper, soft but indubitable.

You finally came back.

The voice was neither man nor woman, both far and near, seeping into his bones. Ren's breath caught as he spun around, but no one was there.

Who…?

His sight reeled, the world blurring like a loose dream. His body was yanked forward, light and yet heavy, his head racing towards something unscramble-able. The shrine, the trees, even the night vanished into thin air.

He was no longer in his own world.

Instead, he was standing in an infinite nothingness, darker than the darkest pit. And out of that nothingness, something coalesced—an unformed thing, an existence beyond human understanding. It reached out to him, its presence neither threatening nor reassuring, but simply unavoidable.

Ren balled his fists, his mind screaming at him to flee, but his body locked in place.

"What do you desire?" the being queried, its voice echoing through space.

Ren had his mouth open, but before he could reply, a swift vibration dragged him back. The environment distorted turbulently, and in the blink of an eye, he was pulled from the blackness—

Back into his room.

Gulping, he sat up in bed, his whole body soaked in sweat. His heart continued to thud from the experience, his mind reeling at what had occurred. Had it been a dream? A vision? Or something even more real?

Before he could even try to make sense of it, his phone buzzed on the nightstand. The screen glowed with a notification.

1 New Message.

A boring, normal thing. But the moment his eyes landed on the name of the sender, his breath stuck in his throat.

Kira.

His hand numbed. The name should not be there. It could not be there.

He used a trembling hand to unlock his phone and read the message.

"Good morning, dear."

The words were simple, affectionate—harmless under any other circumstance. But to Ren, they were more terrifying than anything he had encountered so far.

Kira was gone. Kira should not exist in this time.

Yet, here was her message.

Ren's stomach twisted as an unsettling realization settled deep within him.

Reality was changing.