Tonight… it was strangely quiet.
No sounds in the corridors…
No footsteps…
Not even whispers.
It was as if the palace… had forgotten to breathe.
He walked alone.
The same quiet steps…
The same unseen shadow.
But this time…
He was not as he once was.
"Get rid of him."
The King's words…
Still echoed in his mind.
But they did not wound him.
Rather…
They set him free.
He stopped before an old wooden door.
His room.
The only place that was "supposed" to be his.
He reached out his hand…
Then stopped.
He stared at his hand for a long time.
"Disappearance…"
He whispered it.
As if it were an idea… beginning to grow.
He entered the room.
He closed the door behind him.
The sound of the click was sharp…
Like the end of something.
Or the beginning of something else.
He sat on the floor.
Just as his mother used to sit.
The same corner.
The same silence.
"If you wish… you can disappear."
The voice returned.
Quiet… cold… close.
"How?"
For the first time…
He answered it.
Silence.
Then—
"Delete… your existence."
He froze.
A simple word.
But its meaning…
Was terrifying.
"Delete… myself?"
"From them."
"From their memories."
"From their world."
His heart began to race.
Not out of fear…
But…
Something resembling curiosity.
He stood up slowly.
He turned toward the mirror.
He looked at himself.
Long and hard.
"If I disappeared…"
"Would anything change?"
The silence…
Was the answer.
He smiled.
A small… hollow smile.
"No."
He raised his hand.
And for the first time…
He focused.
Not on the world…
But on a "moment."
Memories…
Faces…
Voices…
Glances of contempt…
Words heard a thousand times…
"The Mistake."
In that moment…
Something broke.
Time… stopped.
The sound vanished.
The room froze.
Even the air…
Did not move.
His eyes widened.
But he…
Did not retreat.
"I…"
He paused.
As if the words were vanishing.
Then he said it.
With a chilling calmness:
"I erase myself."
Something… shifted.
Not in the world…
But within him.
As if invisible threads…
Began to snap.
One…
After another.
Memories…
Vanishing.
Bonds…
Collapsing.
A distant scream…
As if from an unseen place.
Then—
Everything returned.
Time moved.
Sound came back.
The world… returned to how it was.
He stood there.
Breathing slowly.
Looking around.
Nothing had changed.
The room was the same.
The walls were the same.
"Did it… fail?"
Outside…
A servant passed by the door.
He stopped.
He looked inside for a moment.
He frowned.
"Is this room… empty?"
Then… he continued on his way.
He froze.
His eyes widened.
He approached the door slowly.
He opened it slightly.
He looked out.
A maid passed right by him.
She did not look at him.
She did not stop.
As if he were…
Air.
He took a step out.
Then two.
He stood before one of the guards.
No reaction.
No look.
No existence.
He raised his hand…
And placed it in front of the guard's face.
Nothing.
He stepped back.
Looking at his hand.
Trembling.
"I…"
"I've disappeared."
But…
In that same instant…
Something struck him.
Pain.
Sharp.
Sudden.
He placed his hand on his head.
His breathing grew heavy.
"What… is… this…?"
Images.
Vanishing.
Memories…
Fading.
He tried to hold onto them…
But they were slipping away.
"No…"
His mother's voice…
It was there.
Then—
It was gone.
He froze.
"…Who…?"
Silence.
He lowered his hand slowly.
His eyes… were empty.
He did not remember.
He did not know why…
But his heart…
Felt something shatter.
"This is the price."
The voice returned.
Colder than before.
"For every erasure…"
"There is a corresponding loss."
He stood there.
Alone.
Invisible.
Unknown.
Then…
He smiled.
A wider smile this time.
But it…
Was not human.
"It's alright."
"There was nothing… worth staying for."
He turned.
And walked.
For the first time in his life…
No one was looking at him.
And for the first time…
He did not exist.
And from that moment…
He was no longer "The Mistake"…
Instead, he became—
The Void.