Kim stood before the small spark.
A faint flicker…
breathing with difficulty.
But it had not gone out.
The deep voice echoed in the void:
"Once you begin… you will not turn back."
Kim did not ask again.
He did not think of the rulers.
He did not think of the war.
He thought of only one moment…
Nir's smile as he said:
"You really are my friend."
He closed his eyes.
Then—
he extended his hand to his chest.
Not to pull out his heart.
But to pull out what had bound him to life from the beginning.
Something black and transparent slowly emerged from within him.
It was not a soul.
It was not energy.
It was eternity.
It was not only a curse…
it was a network stretching through his bones, through his blood, through time itself.
As it began to separate—
his entire being trembled.
The black veins faded one after another.
The darkness that coiled around him… began to unravel.
The voice said:
"You are emptying yourself of eternal certainty."
Kim replied in a tired voice:
"I never asked for it."
He pulled eternity out completely.
His skin cracked.
He bled.
He bled… real blood.
And for the first time in immeasurable time—
he felt pain… without healing.
He fell to one knee.
His breathing grew heavy.
The voice declared:
"The price has been accepted."
Eternity turned into shards of light.
They merged into the small spark.
The spark trembled.
It grew.
It glowed.
Then—
The Abyss of Eternity exploded in silent white light.
Second Birth
Within the light…
a body began to form.
Bones first.
Then flesh.
Then skin.
A weak breath.
A trembling of fingers.
Then—
a cough.
Air entering lungs for the first time again.
Kim slowly raised his head.
Before his eyes…
Nir.
Not a ghost.
Not a trace.
A real body.
Exhausted.
Pale.
But alive.
Nir slowly opened his eyes.
He saw him.
A long silence between them.
Then he said in a broken voice:
"…Kim… you cried. What did you do?"
Kim did not smile.
He only said:
"I did nothing."
Nir tried to stand—
and staggered.
Kim caught him.
His hand… warm.
Not cold like before.
Nir froze slightly.
"Your body…"
Kim interrupted:
"I am no longer eternal."
Silence.
Nir looked at him in shock.
"What did you do?"
He answered calmly:
"I chose to die one day."
Outside the Abyss of Eternity
The moment Kim stepped out—
the world trembled.
The rulers felt it instantly.
Inside Kim
There was no longer a whisper of eternity.
Wounds no longer healed instantly.
Death was no longer a powerless enemy.
It became a real possibility.
The end became possible.
And Kim…
for the first time…
felt the weight of time.
Nir looked at him with concern:
"Do we go back?"
Kim looked at the sky.
He no longer saw himself as a god.
Nor as chaos.
He said in a calm voice:
"No."
"Now… the war truly begins."
Then he looked at Nir.
"And this time… if I die."
He paused.
Then continued:
"I will not return."