"I escaped… didn't I?"
"Oh?" The voice let out a low, unsettling chuckle.
"Leaving a piece of yourself behind is not escaping, No. 28." The scrutiny in its tone felt invasive, "Of all possible choices… You had to enter the 'IT'S' Domain?"
The laughter that followed was hollow and cruel. "Hahaha… how amusing. How endlessly amusing it is to watch the iterations that were always meant to meet it, no matter how they struggle… hahaha."
Aether stood frozen, staring blankly into the endless void. "What do you mean by that?"
"Haven't you felt it yet?"
"Huh?" Aether muttered, confusion flickering across his face as he tried to understand what it was referring to.
"Your missing hand… feel it."
Aether blinked and slowly looked down at his severed arm, stopping at the cut near his elbow. He stared at it in silence, for sensation, for anything at all… but there was nothing-
"SHIT!"
