"The body collapses, but the will still crawls. As long as there's a spark of breath, the step can — and must — be taken."
⸻
A scream tore through the void.
It had no direction, no echo. Just a groan ripped from a being being slaughtered, a cry of bone rubbed against oblivion.
— Help me... please... heal me...
Rays' voice escaped from his cracked lips, raspy, fever-ridden. Each word burned his lungs. He spoke like one who bleeds. His breath struggled to crawl from his chest, like a fire trapped inside a drowned skull.
Voice: nothing. Not even a shadow. A pure void. An absence so dense it swallowed the groans, the thoughts, the time.
And yet, something responded.
— I can dull the pain. Not save you. The final step approaches: acceptance.
— No... wait... he murmured, crawling like a worm, covered in living scabs. Just... just let my wounds heal... please...
Silence. Then:
— Request accepted. For this clarity... I grant you a reward.
A presence crossed the air. Something stronger than pain. A warmth. A vibration.
Barking.
Rays jolted. His heart skipped a beat. Then another.
— Rex...?
Paws scraped the invisible ground. And suddenly: the weight of a familiar body. A warm, living, loving mass. Unchanging.
The dog leapt on him, tongue hanging, barking frantically while licking the ravaged cheeks of his master.
— Stop, you fool... my wounds will get infected...
He smiled. A real smile. Lips cracked. Teeth full of blood. And despite the pain, a spark. A stubborn life.
Rex whimpered in happiness.
Rays embraced him. The fur was thicker. The dog had grown. His muscles were strong. But it was him. Always him.
Then the world wavered.
Rays fell violently. His skull hit the void like a solid ground. He stifled a cry.
— Vital unit in freefall. Imminent death. Intervention refused.
— Partial sacrifice request: half of future rewards.
— Request validated. Intervention initiated.
⸻
Six Months Later
Darkness. Again. But without the burn.
Rays woke, trapped in a cocoon of bandages. His body was a chrysalis of cotton and steel. Every muscle creaked like a rusty door being forced open.
A breath. A voice.
— Welcome back among us, Rays.
He groaned.
— Damn... it wasn't a dream...
A leap. An immediate warmth.
Rex. Still there.
He jumped onto the bed, growling in joy, rubbing his snout against the bandages, as though he had waited for this moment forever.
— I missed you, old monster. You've taken care of me all this time?
The dog barked, as if answering. Rays laughed. A real laugh. Raspy. Rare. He petted him, rediscovering the weight of reality. Each hair was a victory over death.
— You've grown... you're the master now.
But the voice returned. Cold. Mathematical. Strangely compassionate.
— The final stage begins. Prepare to enter the Labyrinth of Temptations.
The room fragmented.
The walls exploded into translucent crystals. The floor bent. The air squealed. The sterile whiteness shattered like a shell. Reality unraveled.
And the space twisted.
⸻
The Labyrinth
It was an inverted cathedral. A spiraling descent into something older than time. Living arches, lined with veins. The columns pulsed like arteries. White, dense drops fell in rhythm. It smelled like corrupted milk. Fossilized placenta.
The floor: a checkerboard of human faces frozen in fear, embedded like tiles. Some opened their eyes. Others seemed to cry silently.
Each wall breathed slowly, like a sleeping beast.
At the center: an opening. Gaping. Alive. Irregular. A tunnel of throbbing flesh.
— This place is built from your lacks. It will whisper what you've never heard. It will show you what you've never dared touch. Getting lost here means death. Or worse: remembering.
Rays stepped back. His heel sank into a spongy ground. A texture of flesh. Of wet ash.
Rex growled.
The dog sensed what he couldn't see. The poison. The illusion.
And in the tunnel... murmurs.
— Rays... come... — You can see here... you're no longer blind... — We love you. We've always loved you... — Look at me. Just once.
He felt his arms tremble. A shiver. Nostalgia seeped in like a drug. It was familiar. Too familiar.
He took a step back.
Then the voice boomed one last time:
— The Labyrinth of Temptations is open. Enter... or let your scars rot in oblivion.
Rex gently placed his head against his master's leg. He wasn't growling anymore. He waited.
The answer was simple.
They would go together.