-----
Thanatos' bones regenerated with rapid force as he stepped backward, his empty eye sockets fixed on the flower that reflected his wife's face. The soft glow of the bloom seemed to mock him, stirring emotions he had long buried beneath layers of death and ambition.
"E-Eleanora…! I… I am your husband! I never stopped being myself… I… I…!"
He turned toward a giant mirror and stared at his own reflection, his skeletal form trembling in deep disbelief. The hollow sockets of his skull seemed to search for answers that refused to come.
"Am I… really… him…?"
After so much time had passed, he began to realize, or perhaps fear, what he might truly be. The weight of centuries pressed down on him, and the line between the man he once was and the monster he had become grew thinner with every passing moment.
Yet his madness acted like a living monster of its own, steadily consuming what remained of his reason. It whispered and pushed, refusing to let doubt take root for long.
