Day 0

Unknown voices echo in the darkness.
A man and a woman speak, yet their faces remain hidden—
blurred silhouettes, like figures trapped inside a fading dream.

“Don’t cry… please.”
“Let me help you.”
“Don’t worry about me. Make sure you protect them… they’ll need your support,” the man murmured, his voice faint, his gaze drifting into the void.

“Why would you say something like that?” the woman asked, trembling, clinging to his hand.

“I finally understand… so many things. And I know there’s something I must do… something I still don’t fully grasp,” he whispered with a sorrow heavy enough to drag his soul downward.

I woke up again to that vision.
It always appears just when I’m about to put an end to all this suffering…
as if it were trying to stop me.

Though, if I’m honest, I don’t hate those visions.
They fill me with a strange blend of sadness and nostalgia…
but also with a peace I’ve rarely felt in this short life.

A peace that, for a moment, makes me forget everything.

The loneliness.
The rejection.
The isolation.

All of it weighs on me.
Sometimes I feel like this world is rotten.
Sometimes I think God no longer exists here.
Or perhaps… He never did.

The night wind cuts through the silence.
Zick stands at the edge of a tall building.
The cold air brushes his face, though he barely registers it.
Beneath him, the city lights flicker, as if watching from below.

He closes his eyes.
Takes a step.
And jumps.

As he falls, he thinks only of those he couldn’t save.
Of the faces he left behind.
Of how useless he felt, unable to carve his own path.

His life had amounted to nothing.
There was nothing left tying him to this world.

The impact comes like thunder.
His body crashes against the pavement, severing the final thread binding him to reality.

The world reacts too late.
Some scream.
Others simply raise their phones.
Recording.
Taking pictures.

Another display of the world’s indifference.

And then… a light envelops everything.
Warm.
Silent.
Endless.

And Zick… awakens.