[: Daniel POV :]
“Hey, Tess, do you think this will work?”
I remembered asking Tess in the alternate future, a moment when he had lost his sanity and become a mad genius driven solely by the desire to end the apocalypse with his technology.
He had looked at me with eyes devoid of light, his skin pallid, and then he had burst into hysterical laughter.
“Yes, this will definitely work,” he had proclaimed, his words filled with eerie conviction.
“And when it begins, everything will burn, and no monster or god can stand a chance.”
He laughed and the memory of that chilling moment still sent shivers down my spine.
“Just sit back and watch as all the monsters are going to die,”
Tess had said with eerie enthusiasm.
“This time, there’s nothing and no one that can stop me,”
He had declared while clutching a ‘Mother Box’—an alien technology capable of manipulating the living conditions of the world.
Tess had hoped that by using the Mother Box in conjunction with his own inventions, he could somehow alter the course of the Apocalypse.
But we had been wrong.
“Are you ready for this, Daniel?”
Tess had asked me with excitement. I had stood by his side, foolishly agreeing to his plan, completely unaware of the true horror that the Mother Box held.
“Good luck,”
I had encouraged him, having no idea that the Mother Box was, in fact, alive.
The moment he activated it, a colossal pillar of light had erupted, shooting up into the sky. 𝓁𝒾𝑟𝘢.𝘤𝘰𝑚
And then it had begun.
The Mother Box, indeed, had unleashed its destructive power, incinerating and annihilating all the monsters in its vicinity.
But, at the same time, it had absorbed their essence, birthing a new, horrifying life force.
However, this wasn’t just any monster.
It was an entity that defied all imagination—an existence that surpassed any known calamity.
“No, no, NOOOO!”
Tess had cried out in horror, his anguish echoing in the chaos.
Even I was gripped by terror, not solely because of what the Mother Box had done, but rather, due to the unimaginable monster it had unleashed upon the Earth.
The first being to emerge was an ancient dragon, a colossal creature with wings so vast they could blot out the sun—a being endowed with enough strength and power to obliterate the world itself.
Soon, more similar monstrosities emerged, and it became apparent that the Mother Box was a sentient supercomputer, capable of creating monstrous beings that humanity struggled to combat.
And now, these creatures were more formidable than ever.
“T-That thing, I can’t control it,”
Tess stammered, tears and panic in his eyes.
“Calm down and focus, sever all your connections with it!”
I shouted urgently, desperately trying to get him to disconnect from the Mother Box before its creations fully manifested.
“I-I can’t sever my connection with it!”
Tess declared, his expression one of sheer panic.
“This! What do we do!?”
I exclaimed in my own growing panic.
I had no answers, no solutions, and if the monsters the Mother Box was creating were unleashed upon the world, it would be utter devastation.
“Daniel! I have an idea!”
Tess suddenly cried out, his face lighting up as if he had just found a glimmer of hope.
“I’m listening!” I replied, willing to entertain any possibility.
“The Mother Box’s consciousness is linked to mine, and it’s using my connection to create those monsters”
”To stop all its functions, you have to…kill me!”
He declared a desperate plea in his eyes.
“What!? There’s no way I’m going to do that!”
I shouted, rejecting the horrifying idea that taking Tess’s life might be the only way out of this nightmarish situation.
“Daniel, we have no other choice! If we leave it as it is, the world will truly perish!”
Tess implored.
“No! There must be another way, Tess! I won’t let you die!”
I vehemently protested.
“Daniel…this is the only way, and if we delay any longer, none of us will survive,”
Tess replied, his voice taking on a softer, more comforting tone.
After years of killing monsters and witnessing the deaths of my comrades, I had grown numb to the pain of losing loved ones.
But at this moment, my lips quivered with emotion.
I didn’t know what else to do, and even though I wanted to deny it, the truth was that this appeared to be our only option, with no alternative.
“Daniel…if all of us die…there will be no one left to avenge us,”
Tess added, his words carrying a heavy weight of responsibility.
Suddenly, something clicked in my mind, and I looked at Tess with a newfound clarity.
“It’s better for me to die than for all of us because at least, you could avenge me and the others who have fallen, especially your mother,” he added.
He was right.
I had survived this long because of my burning desire for vengeance, but the idea of Tess sacrificing himself didn’t sit well with me.
I lacked the courage and resolve to kill him.
We had been through so much together, and despite my reluctance, I couldn’t bring myself to let him continue to suffer and sacrifice himself.
With a deep breath, I pulled out a dagger.
“T-Tess… I-I can’t,”
I stammered, tears welling up in my eyes.
“Don’t worry, Daniel. I won’t blame you, and I don’t want to be the cause of everyone’s death”
”So please… would you do me the honour of ending this? I think it’s even better than being killed by a monster,”
He said laughter tinged with sorrow in his voice.
My hands trembled as I clutched the dagger, acutely aware that time was running out, and I had to end this before the Mother Box’s creations became unstoppable.
After a few agonizing seconds, I finally made up my mind.
“AAAAAHHHH!”
I screamed with a mixture of rage and sorrow, tears streaming down my face as I aimed the dagger at Tess and thrust it into his heart.
Blood gushed forth as I withdrew the dagger from his chest.
“T…Thank you, Daniel…”
Tess managed to say, a weak smile on his lips, blood spilling from his mouth.
I embraced him tightly, my own tears mingling with his.
“I-I’m sorry for not being strong enough and for letting you die…but I promise that I will avenge you and everybody else,”
I choked out through my tears.
“Please forgive me, and thank you…thank you for being my friend and brother…thank you for everything,”
I whispered, my voice breaking as I thanked him.
He continued to smile as we hugged, his life force slipping away.
“Daniel…if…you…can…can…you… fulfil…a…regret…of…mine?”
He questioned, each word a struggle as his life slowly faded, and I knew that it was impossible to save him.
“I will fulfil it at any cost, so please tell me,”
I vowed, my voice filled with resolution.
I couldn’t do anything more for him except grant his final wish.
“In…my…hometown…although…I don’t know…whether it has been…razed…by monsters…can…you bury…my body…beside my…sister…Jessy?”
He asked with each word a struggle to utter.
“Yes…I will,”
I assured him with a solemn promise.
After I gave my answer, he closed his eyes and slipped into eternal slumber.
I wept for hours, my tears mingling with his blood, as the Mother Box shut down, and all the monsters it had created ceased to exist.
Once again, I had lost someone dear to me, and this time, I had been forced to take their life with my own hands.
The weight of that fact alone left my heart and mind numb.
It was a cruel twist of fate that destiny had played on me, and after that fateful day, I returned to Tess’s hometown.
I made a tombstone for him right beside his sister, Jessy, fulfilling his final wish.
I never could have imagined that one day my hands would be stained with the blood of my own brother.
It was a sin I was willing to carry, even if Tess were alive before me now.
It served as a constant reminder to me, a testament to the sacrifices made for a greater cause.
Tess’s lifelong goal had been to resurrect his sister, and I was determined to see it through in his honour.
Nevertheless, my hands remained forever tainted, and that was something I could never forget.
As I recalled the tragic and gruesome past, a cold sweat broke out, and the atmosphere around me suddenly grew colder.
“Young master, are you alright?”
Fara’s concerned voice shook me out of the daze, and I realized that my hands had gone clammy.
“You suddenly turned pale and were spacing out. You okay?”
“It’s nothing, just got something on my mind,” I assured him.
Fortunately, Fara and the others hadn’t noticed the depths of my turmoil, and they didn’t press the matter further.