The dust slowly began to settle, the air thick with the scent of fire and ruin.
Kim was panting, his burning eyes shifting between the three figures before him.
Kim (nervously): Who are you really? And why are you chasing me?!
Mank (with a cold smile): We didn't come to hunt you… but to end a mistake. You.
Dairos (interrupting): Enough, Mank. He won't understand now.
Kim (shouting): A mistake?! I'm not a mistake! You're the ones invading my life!
The tall woman stepped forward, her violet eyes gleaming in the smoke's glow.
Woman: Kim… your blood does not lie. You're not human. You're of the Athom lineage.
Kim staggered backward, confusion flooding his face.
Kim: That's nonsense… I… I'm human!
Dairos (in a deadly calm): No. You're an open gate… and that's why it must be closed.
Suddenly, the scene shifted. A whispering voice echoed in the air — strange words, followed by another woman speaking in a cryptic tone:
Priestess Vany (hesitant voice): Stop trying… Vany was speaking with me. I am a priestess, and I too have a skill. I can nullify any enemy's power… for five minutes.
Kim (with sorrow): I want to ask you something… Can I bring someone back to life, by any way… any means? Please!
Vany snapped sharply: What are you saying, cursed one? A person has only one life! How dare you?!
Another voice cut in, harsh: Cast this wretch down, Dairos. Don't waste time.
A look of despair crossed Dairos's face. Kim glanced at him uncertainly — and then came the betrayal. A sudden stab from behind.
Kim (choking): What…?! What did you do?!
The pain of the blade tore through his chest, blood spilling to the ground. Dairos whispered coldly:
"Everything I saw in you… was the same as those who burned my village."
With a shove, Dairos hurled him toward a shattered gate — the wound in his chest deep, blood flowing endlessly.
Kim (weakly): Am I… going to die? What are you saying?
Silence. Then, in the solitude of death, Kim's thoughts weren't of power or glory.
He wished only… that his story wouldn't end here.
He wished to return — even at a terrible cost.
–– Kim fell into the gate, its depth endless.
The stab tore my chest apart, cold swallowing my final breath.
I collapsed to the ground, eyes fixed on the stormy sky.
In that moment of death… I didn't think of power, nor of glory.
I only wished my story wouldn't end.
I wished to return… even at a heavy price.
Then, something else began to beat inside me.
An ancient curse awakened, as if it had waited for this wish to be freed.
Suddenly, my chest ignited with black flames, the wound closing slowly.
I came back to life… but not as before.
I was reborn with a curse — the Curse of Resurrection.
---
Curse of Resurrection
Activation condition: A final wish, born at the edge of death.
Advantage: Return to life with greater physical and mental strength (faster speed, higher endurance).
Price: Not the loss of power, but the loss of fragments of humanity — tender emotions, compassion, precious memories that dissolve one by one. In their place grows greed for strength, and a desperate terror of death that drives the bearer to seize everything before it can be taken again.
---
System Activation — A Message in the Void
When his heart began to beat again, Kim heard a voice whisper within:
> [Resurrection System Activated.]
Before him, in the void, a black panel appeared, red symbols dripping like blood.
He understood nothing… except for one sentence etched coldly in the center:
"Power or Oblivion — Choose."
That choice marked the beginning of a new path:
To cling to what remains of his humanity and pay the cost… or to sink into shadow and become a heartless weapon of vengeance.
Kim lay on the ground, black flames burning in his chest… knowing the world had changed.
And that when he rose again… he would never be the same.