Silence...

  Kael couldn’t hear anything.No screams.No breath.Even his own heartbeat seemed... suspended.

  It was there.Right there.Still, in the middle of the corpses.Like a statue dropped into a battlefield.

  Impossible to grasp.Impossible to endure.

  Is it real? Yes… I think so… But it feels like my mind refuses to accept it.

  Its shape shifted at the edges.Every prolonged gnce sent a cold shiver crawling down his spine.Bded limbs.Insect-like curves.Scraps of raw flesh.

  It was breathing…But not like something alive.Its sides pulsed inward, wrong.Its chest unfolded like a dead flower.

  And its movements...

  Each gesture was an equation.Too precise.Too clean.

  Don’t move. Don’t breathe. Become invisible. Forget you exist…

  But then, the thing turned its head.All at once.At a perfect, unnatural angle.

  It looked at him.

  Kael felt his stomach twist, folding in on itself.It wasn’t fear.It was something deeper.Something more essential.

  As if some ancient part of him recognized a higher being.

  A groan.A whimper.Something was crawling through the dust.One of the monsters — broken, barely alive.

  The creature turned its head slowly toward it.Then, back to Kael.And… stepped aside.

  A simple gesture.Almost deliberate.

  Is it... giving it to me?

  Kael stood.Unsteady.His breath shallow.

  I can do this. I have to. This time... it’ll be me.

  He stepped forward.One foot after the other.Weapon in hand.Fingers slick with sweat.

  He raised the bar.

  Strike, Kael. Now.

  CLACK.

  A sharp vibration.Something sliced the air.The bar flew from his hands, crashing across the ground.

  It was there.Between him and the target.Already.

  Kael stumbled back, heart hammering.

  “What…? No… no…”

  He staggered.Then spotted another monster.Still breathing. Further away.

  Maybe... if I’m fast enough…

  He ran.

  CLACK.Again.It was already there.Always faster.Always ahead.

  It was reading him.Owning him.

  Kael gasped, struggling for breath.

  “Why?!”

  Nothing.

  It just stood there.Perfect.Motionless.Cold.

  He saw a third one, farther away.He lunged for it, without thinking.

  CLACK.Stop.

  Another.CLACK.Stop.

  Again.Again.

  Always her.Always that presence.Always that refusal.

  Kael broke.

  “LET ME! JUST ONCE!”

  He swung at the air.Then the dirt.Then his chest.His head.

  He screamed.

  “What are you?! You want me to kneel?! Is that it?! IS THAT WHAT YOU’RE WAITING FOR?!”

  He colpsed to his knees.Panting.Shaking.

  Tears cut through the grime on his face.His fists beat the ground.

  “Is that it? You want me broken? That’s your fucking game?!”

  He smmed the dirt.Again.Again.

  His forehead hit the dust.

  I’m nothing but a rat in a maze…

  He looked up.It was still there.Right there.Unmoving.Silent.

  Kael screamed one st time.

  “THEN KILL ME!”

  His cry vanished into the still air.Swallowed.

  And the thing...…didn’t move.

  It stayed.Facing him.Watching.Still.

  No strike.No answer.

  Just that weight.That crushing gaze.

  Kael was trembling.On the ground.Empty.Tears sliding down his cheeks.

  The thing took a step.Just one.And stopped.

  Closer.Too close.

  Kael didn’t dare breathe.The whole universe seemed to hold its breath with him.

  While that fucking loading bar kept crawling up...90%...