The blood wouldn't stop.
It soaked the ground beneath him, mixing with ash and dust, steaming slightly in the cold evening air. Aster could hardly move now, the weight of his own body foreign, disconnected. Heavy rain pelted down around him, but it couldn't wash away the warmth seeping from his chest. His vision blurred, red and gold halos flickering at the edges.
He laughed—sharp, breathless. Of all the ways he'd imagined dying, it wasn't this.
Not like this.Not by him.
Aster turned his head with effort, catching sight of the figure standing just beyond the ruins. The cracked visor of a power-armor helmet reflected the fire eating through the camp they had built together. His—his brother. Or at least, the one he used to call brother.
"You..." His voice was raw, barely audible over the wind. "You really did it."
No denial. No apology. Just a quiet tilt of the head.
"It was always going to be you," Aster whispered, coughing blood. "I was just too stupid to see it."
He'd survived ten years in this hell. Ten years of monsters, betrayal, the grind of power, and loss. He had fought through swarms of zombies, scavenged ancient cities, killed kings with nothing but raw power and instinct.
And it was all for nothing.
The system interface flickered weakly before his eyes, a glowing window only he could see.
[SYSTEM CRITICAL: Life signs failing][Final protocol initializing…][Do you wish to activate—]
His breathing hitched. He could feel the code whispering to him, ancient and strange, woven into the marrow of his bones. Aster tried to raise a hand, but it dropped limply into the dirt.
He stared up at the sky instead—clouds bruised and roiling with energy, just like the day it all began.
Maybe this was fate. Maybe this was his punishment for living too long, trusting too much, loving the wrong people.
Then he heard it—his voice, soft and low, like a funeral bell.
"You were always too powerful, Aster. You made the world revolve around you, and I was tired of living in your shadow."
Aster didn't flinch. "Then rot in it," he rasped, smiling with cracked lips. "You'll never be more than a footnote in my story."
The figure hesitated. For a moment, Aster thought he saw regret. But it didn't matter anymore.
His heart slowed. His vision tunneled. And just as the dark closed in—
[Confirmed. Rewind protocol complete.][Returning to checkpoint: 274 days before global collapse.][Good luck, User Aster.]
Aster's body went still.
And somewhere in the void between life and death, a voice answered:This time, he would not forgive.This time, he would be ready.