Even unconscious, the darkness didn't leave me alone.
It never does.
Instead, it gives me memories.
As far back as I can remember, I've been running.
We were running that night too. Not from rain. Not from beasts.
From something worse.
The village burned behind us, flames devouring wood and flesh alike. Screams twisted through the air, mixing with the crackle of fire and the stench of smoke. My father's hand gripped mine so tightly it hurt, but I didn't complain.
I was too afraid to speak.
"Don't look back," he said.
His voice was steady.
But I heard the fear buried underneath.
I looked back anyway.
Through smoke and falling embers, I saw it.
A demon.
Tall. Wrong. Its body seemed wrapped in living shadow, as if darkness clung to it willingly. Smoke coiled around its limbs like it was breathing it. Its eyes burned like dying suns.
It wasn't running.
It was walking.
Slowly.
Like everything already belonged to it.
My father pushed me behind him and stepped forward.
I remember shouting his name. I remember my voice breaking.
The demon moved.
One moment it stood several paces away.
The next, it had my father in its grip as if he weighed nothing at all.
My mother let go of my hand.
She ran toward them without hesitation.
I tried to grab her wrist.
My fingers closed around empty air.
She wasn't afraid.
Or maybe she was — but it didn't matter.
She ran into the jungle as the demon dragged my father deeper into the dark. I followed, stumbling over roots and stones, crying, begging them to stop.
I heard my father shout once.
Just once.
Then silence.
Branches snapped somewhere ahead.
And then even that stopped.
My mother halted for a brief second and turned toward me.
Her eyes weren't filled with fear.
They were burning.
Fierce. Decided.
As if something inside her had already accepted the ending.
"Try," she said.
Her voice trembled — but not from weakness.
"Try until you die. Fight until you die."
Then she turned.
And the jungle swallowed her.
I never saw them again.
The memory shattered. I shouted "Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"
I jolted awake, the word tearing from my throat before I understood where I was.
"Mother!"
Pain returned all at once.
My shoulder throbbed violently. My chest felt like it was splitting open again. Cold stone pressed against my back.
The ruins.
The air was still.
Heavy.
There was no rain here. No roars. No monsters.
Just silence.
Too much silence.
I clenched my jaw and forced myself to breathe slowly.
Her words echoed inside my skull, louder than the storm ever was.
Try until you die. Fight until you die.
If I was still breathing…
Then I hadn't reached that limit yet.
And that meant—
I wasn't done.