Girl in the Garden of Blood

I don't remember the sound of my screams. 
Maybe I stopped screaming when my third rib broke on the rocks. Or maybe when my back hit the metal root that protruded like a spear, tearing off a piece of my flesh, and my life dangled by a thread. I don't know. When you fall tens of meters into absolute darkness, your body stops feeling, and only one thing remains: silence. 
But the pain— 
It was nothing compared to the emptiness that froze in my chest. 
From the collapsing ceiling above, I crashed into another world.The world beneath the world. 
And what welcomed me... was a garden. 
A garden that should not exist. 
Not inside a dungeon. 
Not on the lowest floor. 
Not amidst the ruins of dead gods and chained demons. 
Flowers bloomed in colors not meant for the upper world— 
Deep crimson like freshly torn hearts, pale blue like frozen corpses, and a poisonous violet that seduced and killed in equal measure. 
They sprouted from a ground that wasn’t earth, but something like hardened flesh, veined with thick arteries pulsing slowly beneath. 
The air reeked of metal—sweet, like fresh blood, and bitter, like death. 
At the garden’s center stood a fountain, but it did not pour water. 
Only thick black liquid dripping slowly…like the world itself was weeping. 
There was no wind. 
And yet, the flowers swayed. 
Moved by something unseen. 
Something that breathed behind the soil. 
Something vast. 
Something sleeping. 
Something... waiting. 
And I, a dying boy from Japan who should never have been here, was an unwelcome guest. 
“Aghh—!” I choked on blood. 
It tasted like swallowing knives. 
My body… no longer felt like mine.Pain came in waves— 
From old wounds. 
From the brutal descent. 
From the monster’s claws that had almost torn me apart above. 
The burning sting of poison. 
The sharp ache of dislocated bones. 
The crushing weight of lost hope. 
Why am I still alive…? 
A question that sounded more like mockery than prayer. 
And as if to answer my despair, that sound returned. 
A growl. 
I knew that sound. 
I hated it. 
I feared it. 
Buffalo King 
That thing. 
That grotesque giant with bulging muscles and a skull-like bull’s head. 
It must have fallen too. 
Or maybe… it had chased me all the way here. 
Now, it rose again. 
Its leg was limp. 
But its eyes still burned. 
It looked at me as prey that couldn’t run.And I— 
I couldn’t even move. 
One more step, and I would— 
CRAAACK. 
Something opened. 
A stone coffin at the edge of the garden cracked, then slowly swung wide. 
The sound echoed like a spirit’s wail. 
The scent of sour wine and ancient incense flooded the air. 
From within that coffin… she rose. 
Her. 
Someone I had never known, and yet felt like someone who had waited for me my entire life. 
A girl. 
With hair white as heavenly ash. 
Eyes red like a bleeding moon. 
Skin so pale, it was almost translucent. 
But within her beauty… there was something terrifying. 
Not her face— 
But her stillness. 
She stepped forward. 
And just as the monster lunged— 
—its neck twisted 180 degrees. 
I didn’t even see her move. 
The monster crumpled. 
Headless. 
Silent. 
Blood sprayed, staining her pure white dress. 
But she didn’t flinch. 
Each drop of blood only made her more divine— 
Like roses blooming on snow. 
Like sin dancing atop a holy altar. 
I stared at her. 
Gasping. 
Half-dead. 
Half-alive. 
And for the first time… my eyes met hers. 
She walked toward me. 
Slowly. 
Her wings unfolded. 
One white. 
One black. 
An angel who had fallen. 
Or a demon who once loved. 
She knelt beside me, gently brushing my cheek with a cold but tender finger. 
A touch like the first snow— hiding eternal wounds beneath its silence. 
I wanted to speak. 
But my lips trembled. 
She looked into my eyes, and smiled. 
“At last… you’ve come.” 
Her voice was a hymn rising from the bottom of the world. 
Soft. 
Deep. 
Tragic. 
“I’ve waited so long for you, my destined beloved. I was born only for today. For this moment.” 
I looked at her face. 
My breath caught. 
My heart was dying— 
But beating louder than ever. 
“Are you… an angel?” 
“No,” she whispered, placing her hand over my chest. 
“I am your prison and your protector. I am your sin and your salvation. I am yours… and you are mine.” 
I swallowed, bitter blood in my throat. 
But my heart— 
—my frozen heart— 
—felt something unfamiliar. 
Warmth. 
And beauty. 
“Is this… fate?” 
She leaned closer, her face just inches from mine. 
A drop of blood slipped from her chin to my cheek. 
But I didn’t feel tainted.I felt… accepted. 
“Fate?” she said softly, lips nearly brushing my ear. 
“No, my love… this is the most beautiful curse there ever was.” 
And in that whisper… 
…I knew my life would never be the same again.