The figure before me—Ashen Crimson—stood silently for a moment, his crimson eyes scanning my ghostly form with an unnerving intensity. Then he spoke, his voice low and distant, like a whisper echoing from the bottom of a well.
"As you already know my name," he began, "let me tell you who I really am."
He turned his back, as if gazing into a past only he could see, a past painted in blood and regret.
"I was once like you… a human. A man of ambition, intelligence, drive. I had everything—love that could move mountains, power that could shatter kingdoms, wealth that could buy the stars. Everything people crave. But I was a fool, blinded by my own brilliance."
His fists clenched at his sides, the memory of his own folly a fresh wound.
"Everyone I cared about died—either because of my stupidity… or by my own hands. I was the villain of my world, a world called Zerawell. I could've chosen differently. I could've been their shield, their champion. But instead… I chose myself. I chose power. I chose destruction."
He looked at me with those empty, crimson eyes. "I made a pact with the Fallen Gods—beings of twisted light and screaming shadow—to gain strength. To create chaos. They peeled away my humanity layer by layer, replacing it with a cold, insatiable hunger for more. And every time I fought the Champion of Zerawell, a hero chosen by the light to oppose me, I lost. Once… twice… eight times. Each defeat was a fresh humiliation, a new log on the pyre of my hatred and desperation."
His voice grew bitter, laced with the venom of centuries of regret. "So I begged. I crawled to more Fallen Gods, from other realms. I offered them my soul, my sanity, my very being. In return, they gave me power… and slowly, I lost myself. My humanity dissolved like salt in water. I killed everyone who stood in my way. For revenge. For ego. For power."
He laughed—a broken, hollow sound that echoed in the silent void.
"Even the gods of Zerawell themselves descended to stop me. But by then, it was too late. I had surpassed them. I had reached a stage beyond immortality, a state of being where pain, love, and sorrow were nothing but distant memories. I couldn't feel anything. Not even guilt. Not even myself."
He raised his hand, staring at his palm as if it held the weight of a thousand massacred worlds.
"I became unstoppable. And when there was nothing left to fight… I destroyed my world." The sky burned crimson, the seas boiled to dust, and the last sound was the echo of my own hollow laughter. "I betrayed everyone who once stood by me. And when the dust settled, I stood alone on a dead planet, cursing the monster I had become."
He looked at me, his voice trembling now—finally human. "I wanted to die. But death… was no longer an option."
He took a slow, shuddering breath.
"In time, I hunted down the very Fallen Gods who had corrupted me. I absorbed their powers, their essence, their very being. I surpassed every deity that stood above me. I became something beyond gods."
"You might ask—why? Why would I keep going? Why chase more power?"
He stepped forward, and his eyes locked with mine.
"Because I wanted to change my fate."
He paused, the silence stretching, filled with a desperate, burning hope.
"I made a deal. With ancient gods from other realms, beings who exist outside of time and space. I would annihilate the evil gods that plagued the multiverse… and in return, they would grant me a chance. One chance—to regress, to return to the beginning of my story, and make it right."
"But when the time came… the regression failed."
He clenched his jaw, the muscle twitching in his perfect face. "Why? Because my soul was no longer just powerful—it was cursed, fragmented, chaotic… monstrous. My very existence was a paradox that threatened to unravel reality. Even the gods trembled before it."
He looked away, his shoulders slumping with the weight of his final failure. "With no choice left, they devised a final plan—to find a soul from another world. A pure soul. One powerful enough to carry my burden… to lift the curse. To change the ending I could not."
He turned back to me, his gaze piercing, hopeful, and terrifying.
"That soul… is you."
My mind reeled, the ghostly form I inhabited flickering like a dying flame. "Why me?" I asked, my voice barely a whisper. "Why should I help you? I've suffered more in my life than you can imagine. I've already lost everyone I ever cared about. And to be honest… I don't care anymore. I just want to die in peace."
He chuckled darkly, a sound that held no humor, only the bitter taste of irony. "Hah. The goddess told me you were a genius… but maybe she chose the wrong man."
His smile twisted. "You ask what's in it for you. I don't know. But what I do know… is that if you refuse—death will not come to you peacefully. I will make sure your afterlife is a pain worse than hell."
I gulped. His aura, even weakened and spectral, sent chills crawling down my translucent spine. But fear wasn't enough to break me. Not anymore.
I was Kai. And I have survived a life worse than death. If this man thought he could threaten me… he was underestimating the resilience of a broken soul.
I stood straighter, my form solidifying with newfound resolve. "Fine," I said. "But you said you won't return to the past yourself. So why bother? You won't even be able to see those people again—the ones you cared about."
He smiled for the first time—not with cruelty, but with something… softer. A genuine, heartbreaking warmth.
"You wouldn't understand," he said. "Even if I can't see them with these eyes, even if I never hear their voices again… the thought that they can live, that they can be saved—that alone is enough to bring me peace."
I didn't respond. Part of me still thought this was a dream, a elaborate hallucination before the final darkness. But something in his words struck a chord deep within me, an echo of my own mother's final, selfless act. Was this monster, this world-destroyer, capable of the same pure love?
I looked at him, my spectral form wavering. "How are you so sure I'll succeed? I'm not strong. Not like you."
He chuckled, the sound lighter this time. "Because you don't understand true strength yet. It doesn't come from muscle or magic—it comes from here."
He pointed to his head.
"The goddess searched your memories… and out of quintillions of souls across universes, you were chosen. That's no coincidence."
He raised his hand, and a complex, swirling glyph of golden light materialized in the air, a fusion of ancient runes and cosmic geometry. It pulsed with a life of its own. "Besides… I'll be helping you. A fragment of me—my familiar—will be embedded into your soul. It'll act as your guide… a system that leads you on the right path."
The light didn't just head for my chest; it tore through the void, a comet of pure energy. When it struck, it wasn't just pain. It was an avalanche of memories, emotions, and power. A billion lifetimes of rage, sorrow, and regret crashed into my soul. I saw faces I'd never known, felt love for people who never existed in my world, and wielded power that could shatter stars.
The world around us didn't just shake; it fractured, the golden light cracking like glass as reality itself buckled under the strain of our merging.
"You won't be alone, Kai. But remember…"
His voice echoed into my fading consciousness as the golden void shattered around me.
"…the path ahead is painful. And the burden is heavy. But if anyone can rewrite fate…"
"…it's you."