"YOU!"
Ashren's eyes were bloodshot, his entire mind and reasoning blinded by uncontrollable rage and anguish as he looked at the abomination standing before him.
It was one of the same creatures that slaughtered his entire village, the same one that killed Snow, the same one that also killed him.
The creature was an endless mass of limbs sprouting from its central torso, which no longer remembered which species it belonged to.
Dozens of arms, legs, and appendages jutted from every direction, some skeletal, some infantile, some ending in hands with too many fingers. In its center is a hollow, womb-like cavity, pulsing faintly, dripping amniotic black fluid that smells like rust and old blood.
Its skull is half shattered, revealing a glowing red eye nested within the brain cavity, an eye that constantly weeps blood as thick as tar.
When it moves, its limbs drag and fold over one another in a deafening cacophony of cracking joints.
This creature that looks like it crawled out of someone's nightmare stood a few meters away from Ashren, looking at him with its one red glowing eye with a hint of mockery.
Its mouth, filled to the brim with teeth, constantly clicked and snapped, letting out a whirring sound like it was laughing that sent cold shivers down one's spine.
Ashren's body was visibly shaking, his hands were so tightly clenched that his nails dug into his flesh, drawing out blood. His mind was clouded with rage, his heart beating loudly like a drum, his bloodshot eyes thick with intense killing intent.
"It...was you. It was you that did this...I will kill you. I will decimate you all!"
The creature tilted its head, as if mocking Ashren's very existence. A low, guttural sound rumbled from its throat, a hideous croak that resembled laughter, wet and broken.
Ashren felt his blood boiling; the heat in his chest spread through every nerve like wildfire. He didn't think; he couldn't even think.
All that remained within him was a single, overwhelming instinct.
Kill.
His feet pounded against the black water beneath him, sending ripples that bled crimson under the fractured moons. The sound echoed through the endless void as he dashed forward, his fist clenched so tightly that his knuckles split open.
Before he could even reach the creature, it moved.
It was fast... too fast for the ordinary eye to catch its movements.
A blur of sinew and limbs that seemed to bend reality itself as its shadow stretched like liquid smoke. Its single crimson eye flickered, leaving trails of light as if it were everywhere at once.
Ashren's punch hit nothing.
His fist tore through the air, shattering only silence. Then pain, sharp, wet, immediate, exploded through his body.
A jagged limb slammed into his ribs. The impact sent him sprawling backward, bones cracking like splintered wood. He hit the ground hard, sliding across the rippling surface of the black water, his blood painting streaks of red in the void.
Before he could gasp for breath, another strike came.
WHAM!
One of the creature's arms snapped around like a whip, smashing into his shoulder and sending him tumbling again. He tasted iron; blood filled his mouth as agony blurred his vision.
Through the haze, he spotted the monster looming before him, its body undulating like molten flesh. The creature's red eye blinked slowly, almost as if it was amused.
"You..." Ashren spat blood, his voice hoarse. "You think this is over?"
He pushed himself up, trembling, every muscle in his body protesting against the effort. His breaths came in ragged gasps, each inhale slicing through his lungs like shards of glass. Yet his eyes were still burning with overwhelming rage like crimson orbs that refused to falter.
With a surge of determination, he charged forward again. His fists swung wildly, one after another, reckless and desperate, driven by rage that burned hotter than pain. Each strike met only air and shadow.
The creature danced around him effortlessly, its limbs shifting and reforming in the darkness.
Sometimes they appeared as arms; other times as claws or tongues of flesh that lashed through the air with bone-cracking speed.
Then came the blow he never saw coming. A spiked appendage tore through his abdomen. His breath caught in his throat as convulsions wracked his body while the creature lifted him effortlessly into the air. He could feel the flesh twisting inside him.
Then... Rip.
He was thrown aside like a rag doll, crashing into the black water with a splash and sinking beneath its surface. There was no light down there, only silence and the slow pulsing glow of the red moons above, distorted through the dark liquid.
For just a heartbeat, he felt the surroundings become silent and peaceful. His consciousness blurred, sinking into darkness.
Then, his lungs screamed for air. He gasped, choking on thick water as he clawed upward, desperate for breath that didn't exist in this place. When he broke the surface, his first breath erupted as a scream.
Confusion washed over him. He had died; he felt it. He had sensed his body being torn apart, watched his vision fade away, felt his heart stop beating.
Yet, here he was again, kneeling in that same black sea under those same cracked moons, a recurring nightmare.
The creature was still in the same place, waiting; it looked like it hadn't moved an inch. Its red eye was fixed on him with patient mockery.
Ashren's pupils trembled, panic began to fracture his mind at its edges.
"What is this...?" he whispered. "Didn't I die? Am I dreaming? Or have I... never truly woken up?"
He looked down and touched his body; it was whole. All the wounds were gone, but he could still feel the pain wrecking through his body. But beneath all that pain lurked something colder... fear, not just any fear but one that reminded him of his mortality.
Suddenly, the creature lunged forward without warning.
Ashren barely had any time to react. He raised his arms instinctively to defend, but felt shockwaves ripple through him upon impact, dislocating one wrist instantly. The second blow snapped his collarbone while the third crushed his ribs like dry wood beneath its weight.
He let out a bone-chilling scream, blood pouring from his mouth. Then there was silence again, darkness enveloped him.
He had died... again.
When he opened his eyes, he was standing at the same place once more. The same black ocean stretched before him. The same moons hung in the void. The same nightmare loomed.
He looked down at his body; it was whole again. No blood, just the usual pain wrecking in his body.
His voice trembled as he spoke, "I died... again." He raised his hand, which shook uncontrollably. "But I'm still here."
Ashren's mind snapped back to reality, his eyes burned with fury. He bared his teeth and charged forward once more, disregarding logic and pain alike.
He kicked, punched, and roared... but each time, he met a brutal end.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Impaled. Torn in half. Crushed beneath its limbs. Drowned in his own blood.
Each death felt worse than the last.
He screamed until his voice broke, until even his soul felt raw with torment. With every resurrection, his body shivered harder, each breath became shorter, but still he fought on.
Time lost all meaning. Minutes? Centuries? He couldn't tell anymore. The moons above bled endlessly while the black ocean rippled with the blood of his failures.
Then, for the first time, doubt crept into his rage. He swung his fists again but missed; the creature's limb pierced through his chest instead. He coughed as tremors wracked his body, but instead of anger, laughter bubbled up within him.
A hollow, broken laugh escaped him. As life faded from his eyes once more, he fell to his knees.
And again, when he opened his eyes, he was standing before the creature, but this time he didn't recklessly charge forward. Instead, he stared at it from a distance, panting and shaking under the weight of despair that settled heavily on him. Confusion swirled in his mind alongside pain and disbelief.
Kneeling down into the black water, he whispered softly to himself, "What...what is the point of this?" T
he creature tilted its head slightly; a sickening grin stretched across its grotesque face in response. Ashren's reflection stared back at him from the dark surface: bloodstreaked eyes; trembling hands; a spirit shattered by relentless torment.
"I keep dying," he murmured to himself. "I keep coming back."
Then something flickered beneath him; a memory stirred within him.
An old man's voice echoed softly through time, "It's the mind, Ashren. It's all about trusting your instincts and your mind. Your heart knows what the eyes can't see. And with that comes achievement."
His breath hitched sharply as realization dawned on him, heartbeat slowing as clarity seeped in like light breaking through the darkness. He lifted his head, narrowing his eyes.
The rage still simmered within him, but it began to shift, refining, compressing, and sharpening into something more focused. He stood up once again, this time taking measured steps.
The creature shifted, sensing the change in his demeanor. Its red glow faintly illuminated the darkness as it looked deeply at Ashren. Ashren exhaled slowly, his gaze tracking every movement: the twitch of its limbs, the rhythm of its breathing, the faint glimmer in its single red eye.
He let instinct guide him. Suddenly, the creature lunged at him. He sidestepped just in time. Its limb grazed his shoulder, but he used that momentum to drive his elbow into the creature's joint. There was a slight crack, enough to make it recoil. His mind began to clear; his blood cooled.
For the first time, he wasn't merely reacting. He was observing. Ashren stood amidst a sea of blood, his heart heavy and breath shallow, with a fire igniting within his soul. He had faced death countless times before.
But somewhere between pain and despair, he had started to understand. The creature remained across from him, still waiting and still mocking. Yet this time, for the first time since entering the Samsara Realm, Ashren smiled.