The sky stretched endlessly above, a vast sea of darkness. It felt unnatural, as though something unknowable slumbered far beyond sight. Despite the eerie feeling, a strange sense of peace that lingered in the silence.
The city below had been completely consumed by shadow. Empty streets were abandoned and silent, while a cold wind drifted through, carrying whispers that seemed to vanish before they could be heard. Perched atop the edge of a towering building sat a lone boy. His gaze remained fixed on the endless sky above.
"I'm cold…" A chill crept down his spine. He lowered his gaze and rubbed his arms in a futile attempt to warm himself.
He lowered his gaze down to the ground, hidden in the void as if it was trying to pull him inside, it felt nauseous.
His trembling hands fumbled through his pocket before finding a small pack of candy. The wrapper crinkled loudly as he ripped it open, and dropped it in his mouth. Savoring the sweet flavor.
Yet somehow, it tasted bitter too.
A hollow laugh escaped him, "So this is it. My *last* snack."
He rolled the candy around in his mouth, staring into the darkness.
"Even prisoners on death row get a better final meal. Hah. Guess it doesn't matter anymore."
The wind howled around him. Slowly, he rose to his feet. For a brief moment, he stood at the edge of the building and looked out across the lifeless city.
No one was watching.
No one was there to stop him.
He closed his eyes and stepped forward. The air exploded around his body as he plunged toward the ground. With every passing second, his speed increased, dragging him faster into the abyss below. His heart hammered against his ribs. The darkness rushed upward to meet him.
He opened his eyes one final time and watched the distant ground rapidly grow larger.
"How unfair is this worl—"
The question left unfinished.
He went silent. Everything went silent.
The roaring wind vanished. The rushing sensation disappeared. Even time itself seemed to hesitate, as if the entire world had paused for a single, eternal moment. It was oppressive and suffocating. Amid the infinite emptiness, a floating small black sphere—a lifeless core suspended in the vacuum. Untouched by fear, pain, or desire.
Only a quiet, hollow existence, weightless and detached from everything that once made it alive.
Suddenly, something changed.
At first, it was subtle. A faint disturbance rippling through the fabric of existence itself. Space began to wrap itself and twist, its curvature behind through further as though an invisible force was pulling reality apart. The distortion speed at an impossible rate, sending waves through the continuum and space-time.
The darkness shuddered.
Then it emerged.
A colossal black mass burst forth from the abyss without warning. Its form resembled a vast, endless tentacle, yet it was unlike any living thing that could be described by mortal understanding. It surged through the void in complete silence, moving at a speed so incomprehensible that no human measure could define it.
This was so overwhelming for the energy to radiate. The space-time seemed to be put in a complete halt. As it closed around the black core, darkness condensed and hardened into a cold, ominous shell. The surface appeared unnatural, carrying an unsettling presence that felt as though it had existed long before the universe itself.