The Betrayal

I squeezed my eyes shut.

I remained like that for a while. 

And then… they opened on their own.
Darkness. Not the golden-lit celebration hall. Not my bed.

Did I just die?!

The question struck first, panic chasing its tail in my chest. No breath, no pain... only stillness. I couldn't even feel my own heartbeat.

I stared at the blackened chamber. Walls like obsidian, air still and heavy. That place again.

I noticed a familiar silhouette. The broadcast unit.

It lit up before my face... going live again.

Only then did I realize, it wasn't not only me. It was 'we' again, somehow. That same feeling of being inside yet outside myself.

"To those who didn’t go sane, as promised, I have come again.
The clock is almost striking down to Zero."

That voice. Same one from one year ago.
Calm as still water, terrifying in its serenity.

I had no control. Again.
No breath, no words. Just presence.
Watching from behind the eyes of someone... I never knew.
Standing in a world I didn't belong.

Was I dead?
Was I him again?
Or was I neither?

My senses burned, screaming at me.

"I know that six hours isn’t enough to fulfill a life’s dreams," He continued, "But I hope you used the time to the fullest. As there won't be any second chance."

He straightened, tone rising ever so slightly.

"First, let me properly introduce us. 
We are The Sons Of Absolute Zero.
I am their prophet—Marlik Tuwed, being honored to make your acquaintance."

He then stepped aside. The curtains rose.

Behind them… it loomed.

A titanic abomination of glass and metal. Its body twisted in black strings and veins of crimson light. It pulsed, not like a machine, but like a beast breathing. A sleeping demon shackled in threads.

Many squares blinked across its face. Letters danced across its surface. Alive, twitching, distorted, like parasites whispering truths too vast for language. Letters I never knew, still recognized as warnings.

It was a like a mind. Too massive to even understand or read.

A cathedral of finality.

He gestured toward the grotesque machine.

"This is our mercy. Our key to salvation.
The sacred object that will grant all of us mercy.
Once triggered, twenty-five hundred artificial satellites will fall from orbit circling around Earth.
Each will strike the major cities all around the world, wiping out a hundred square kilometers.
This will annihilate most of us. Humanity will be reduced to a final breath. 
And the leftovers will be gone within the next new year."

He called it a sacred object... a supercomputer.

But to me, it was a mechanical altar for death.
A grave engine, humming with the power to erase civilizations.

"Only five more minutes remained to live.
And as the one who birthed this vision, it’s only fitting we begin here. Where it all started.
The first city… will be this one.
Our cradle. Our grave."

A cold laugh broke out. Villainous, yet soothing in its own. Yearning to fly. I felt a deep desire within me surfacing. It was not mine, but it did not bother me at all.

He then rested his hands on the rod, slightly bent upward, getting wider before his face, catching his voice all this time... a microphone.

His pitch got more higher, sounding like a yell for the Gods to hear:
"Behold this final step.
Watch. Watch as I attain peace.
Watch as we are freed from this pitiful, cursed life.
Breaking the endless cycle...
...in our own way."

A clock continued ticking away like a final breath, in front of him. It depicted the current time—11.57 pm. 

He just stood still. Waiting.

And that’s when it hit me.

My instincts were clawing at me now.

Bloodlust. Danger. It wasn’t from him. Not even from the machine.

It came from behind.

Two of the three.

Their auras changed. Their silence grew heavier. Tighter.

Even from some of the audience below. Hooded, devout.
Some of them were fidgeting.

Tension hung like frost in the air.

Their murderous intent is high enough to detect them from a fare distance.
Why is this body not doing anything?!
Why don't it take any countermeasure?!
Why is it standing without motion?!
Can't it feel them?!

And the worst of all...
Even after knowing what is coming, I couldn't move.
All I did was just remained there for the inevitable to come.

Bang!

Pain tore through the back of our skull. Everything spun.

Blood spilled freely, coating both hands as they reflexively reached up. Red ran between the fingers, dripping onto the polished floor.

The body turned, already collapsing.

My senses pointed out those two, the one to the left and the middle one.

They did not flee. Instead one whispered, "Forgive me, Marlik Tuwed!"

The third man stood frozen. His eyes were wide, shaking. Words stuck in his throat, Fell into knees.

And then chaos erupted, a great deal of commotion. Shouting. Screams from the crowd.

Panic spread through the hall like wildfire. Lights shattered. Explosions rumbled in the distance. Machines cracked. Sparks flew.

Everything fell apart. And the whole world served as the witness.

I felt a regret, a rage of betrayal... lingering deep inside me. It was faint, but it was there.

Then—

His consciousness slipped. I could feel it unspooling, unraveling.
And with it… mine.

The darkness kept darkening.

I floated in that endless void.

Am I finally dead?!
I can't feel my anything anymore... I guess this is it.

My consciousness kept trying to fade. But somehow I held it there.
Hoping to find a faint light to finally set free.

And there it was—a gleaming brightness.

What?!
Not AGAIN!

I looked at that same sheep-kin midwife, cradling me.

I was Basalin, but a baby again. Not just a baby, but the zero-year old one.