Twisted Destiny

Pain. Faint and distant, like a needle piercing through a thick haze.

Was I alive?

Darkness wrapped around me, dense and suffocating. It pressed against me like a smothering blanket, trapping me in limbo. My thoughts were fragmented, slippery as smoke. I had no sense of time, no memory of who I was or how I’d ended up here. Only the void, cold and unyielding, pulling at the edges of my awareness.

A voice whispered through the silence, soft and tempting.

Let go. Sleep eternal. Let go.

The words coiled around me, sweet and insistent, promising relief. I wanted to obey, to drift into the nothingness, but a gnawing ache in my chest pulled me back.

The pain sharpened, red-hot and relentless. It spread through me, tearing at my awareness.

Tearing at me. What...? I tried to think, to grasp the slippery threads of understanding, but my thoughts were sluggish, each one a fragile whisper. All I could do was feel.

There was a tug—a sharp, sickening pull—and then the unmistakable sensation of something warm spilling out of me. The sound followed: a thick, wet slurping noise, grotesque and nauseating.

The fog in my mind lifted, and I wished it hadn’t. The horror clawed at the edges of my vision, forcing me awake.

Shapes swam before me, blurry and shifting in dim light. My vision cleared slowly, dragging me back into a world I didn’t want to see.

The sound hit me first. The low, guttural slurp of something feeding. Flesh tearing. The gnawing sensation deep in my stomach, sharper now, made my breath hitch.

My eyes drifted down, and my body froze.

Crunch, slurp

The creature was a nightmare made flesh: emaciated, its mottled skin stretched tight over bones that jutted at unnatural angles. Its maw gaped wide, jagged teeth gleaming as it tore into my abdomen with feral hunger. Blood—my blood—pooled beneath me, soaking the ground.

Its claws dug deep into my torn flesh, pulling at the shredded remains of my insides. I felt the wet heat of my own blood pooling around me, soaking into the ground.

My chest heaved, but I couldn’t scream. My limbs wouldn’t move. The creature feasted on me, oblivious to my horror, each bite sending a fresh wave of cold, burning agony through my broken body. Each pull sent another wave of cold, burning agony through my body, but I was too weak to scream

The voice whispered again, faint and alluring.

Why fight? Let go and sleep peacefully.

I wanted to listen. Wanted to surrender to the comforting pull of the void. The sensation of being eaten alive should have been unbearable, but there was only a dull, distant throb and it dragged me back to reality, sharper and more insistent with every passing moment.

As I started regaining my senses the smell hit me next, iron and bile, thick in the air, mingling with the stench of decay. I could taste it in the back of my throat, the rancid odor of death and rot, mingled with the coppery tang of my own blood. I wanted to gag, but I couldn’t even manage that. My body refused to obey, paralyzed by fear and weakness.

The creature paused, lifting its head. Blood dripped from its maw as its hollow, yellow eyes locked onto mine.

It didn’t see a person. To it, I was just meat. There was no recognition in that gaze. No malice. No thought. Just raw, primal hunger.

Move. My mind screamed commands, but my body refused. I was frozen, helpless as it leaned back down, teeth sinking into me again with a sickening crunch.

I was dying. Slowly. Painfully.

Maybe I should just let go.

The thought whispered through me, tempting and persistent. The voice in my mind urged surrender, sweet and relentless.

Let go… Let it end.

But as the sweet voice called to me, something else stirred.

A flicker of light. A memory.

A boy stood before me. His face pale, streaked with blood and dirt, chest heaving with ragged breaths. He was terrified. His wide eyes, filled with desperation, stared into mine.

I felt his fear as if it were my own, a sickening knot twisting in my gut.

And then—pierced.

The boy's chest exploded, a dark bony monstrous hand plunging through his ribcage. Claws wrapped around his heart, still beating frantically like a caged animal. Blood gushed, splattering the ground.

His lips parted in a silent cry. His terrified eyes dulled, losing the light of life in a heartbeat. His body crumpled like a broken doll as the monster yanked its hand free, holding the heart aloft like a twisted prize.

No!

The weight of the memory crushed me, grief and guilt tearing through my chest. I knew that boy. Knew him deeply, though his name was lost in the haze of my broken mind. All I could feel was the unbearable ache of his death.

I knew that boy. I knew him. But... who was he? Why did his loss feel like it was ripping me apart?

The monster tore into me again, but the pain seemed distant now, overshadowed by the memory. The boy’s lifeless body, the monstrous hand gripping his heart like a trophy—it burned behind my eyes, an image I couldn’t escape. My mind spun, unraveling, grasping for something–anything–that could explain why his death struck me so deeply, why my heart felt like it was shattering.

Why? The word echoed through the hollow spaces of my mind, unanswered.

Who was he? Why am I crying for him?

I couldn't let go. Not now. Not yet. There was something I needed to remember, something vital my heart clung to with its final beats. The voice urging me to let go was wrong.

I couldn't–not until I…

The question pounded in my skull, louder, demanding an answer. But the memory was slipping away, dissolving like mist, leaving only fragments–his face, the claws, the blood-soaked ground. I tried to hold on, but the details blurred, darkness creeping at the edges of my vision.

No. I have to remember. I have to.

The voice in my mind–the one urging me to let go–was still there, but different now. Softer, sweeter, trying to comfort me.

It's better to let go... to sleep... it whispered. You don't need to remember. You don't need to feel this pain. Just let go, and it will all end...

My heart thundered, each beat sending waves of heat and anger through me.

Fragments of memory flickered–faces, names, flashes of light and shadow.

Mom... Aria... Aunt Nora... Each sent a jolt through me, but they weren't enough. I needed more. I needed to remember everything. My heart pounded faster, refusing to give in.

Who am I? Why can’t I remember…aghhhh!

Edward.

The name struck me like lightning, sharp and painful, searing through the fog. Edward–my friend. His face flashed before me, vivid and clear, as if he stood right there. I saw him laughing, messy hair falling into his eyes, that mischievous grin.

And then... blood. His chest was torn open, a monstrous hand gripping his heart before ripping it free. I had watched him die.

As that grief built, so did something else. It swelled within me, a powerful presence refusing to be silenced.

The memory of Edward's death shattered, falling away like broken glass. In its place, a new memory surged forward, burning bright.

The sky... shattering.

I could see it so clearly now like I was living it all over again. The world above me cracked, the sky itself splitting apart like fragile glass, and beyond it… an eye.

A titanic, monstrous eye, so vast that it seemed to swallow the heavens. It peered down at me, unblinking, its gaze freezing everything in its path.

The air grew heavy, the ground trembled, and the world itself seemed to hold its breath under the weight of that gaze…

It wasn’t just a look, it was a judgment, an all-consuming stare that pierced through flesh and bone, straight to the core of my being.

But along with the terror came a name.

Alexis.

My name.

Alexis Artoria Drakesier.

The moment I remembered, The floodgates opened. Memories surged forward, chaotic and overwhelming. Faces and voices.

Mom... Ari... Aunt Nora... Edward... Alice...Their names burned into me, each one a spark in the suffocating void.

Edward is dead.

The grief threatened to consume me, but from its depths, something else rose. A seething, violent hatred.

My eyes snapped to the monster still tearing into my flesh, its maw smeared with my blood.

The world around me trembled. The air crackled with energy, heavy and suffocating as if reality itself bent under the weight of my fury. The monster froze, claws still buried in me, its hollow eyes locking onto mine.

It sensed the change, the power building around me. For the first time, I saw hesitation flicker across its grotesque face.

But it was too late.

The rage erupted, exploding outward in a violent wave. The ground shook, and the monster was flattened by the surge, reduced to nothing but flesh and blood.

The power EXIRA as I remembered faded as quickly as it had come, leaving me drained, empty. My vision blurred, and I could feel my body collapsing, the strength leaving me as quickly as it had come. I hit the ground hard, my limbs numb, my mind spinning. Darkness crept in at the edges of my vision, pulling me down into the void once more.

But this time, I didn’t fight it. As the world slipped away, The last thing I thought before the darkness claimed me was their names, whispered like a prayer.

Mom… Ari… Edward…

As consciousness returned slowly, clawing its way through thick, suffocating darkness.

The smell hit me first—a heavy, metallic tang mixed with the sickly sweetness of decay. Blood and rotting flesh. The stench was so potent it turned my stomach, bile rising in my throat. I gagged, choking on the foul air, even with my eyes still closed.

Then it all came rushing back.

The monster.

Its claws tearing into my body. The grotesque sound of my own flesh being ripped apart. The unbearable agony as it feasted on me.

But I was alive. Somehow.

How?

My mind braced for the pain as I forced my eyes open. My vision adjusted slowly, revealing jagged cave walls painted in an eerie green glow. The light seeped from patches of moss, casting the cavern in shifting shadows that writhed like living things.

I sucked in a breath—a mistake. The stench of iron and rot slammed into me again, making me gag. My stomach churned, but something else stopped me cold.

There was no pain.

My fingers trembled as I dragged them over my stomach, expecting to find torn flesh, slick blood, and open wounds. But I found only smooth, unbroken skin.

what?….how?…

Dried blood clung to me, staining the remnants of my tattered clothes. The faint stickiness was all that remained of my injuries. My insides felt whole, untouched.

I blinked, struggling to process what I was or wasn't–feeling. I was healed. My breath hitched, But there was nothing–only the faint stickiness of dried blood on my skin and the wet, tattered remnants of my clothes clinging to me.

What the hell...?

I should have been dead.

Slowly, I pushed myself upright, every movement stiff and deliberate, half-expecting the agony to come rushing back. But it didn’t. My back pressed against the cold, damp stone, and I stared at my trembling hands.

Every movement was slow, and deliberate, as if any sudden shift would bring the pain crashing back. Thankfully the pain never came.

The memory of the monster resurfaced: its claws, its teeth, the moment my body gave out as it devoured me alive.

My head spun, confusion swirling like fog in my mind. None of this made sense. My memory was fuzzy.

What had happened? How did I end up here?

And then…

I glanced to the side.

The creature’s corpse lay crumpled nearby, flattened into a grotesque heap of twisted limbs and congealed blood. Its jaw hung slack, its mottled flesh still smeared with my blood.

…I did that.

I remembered the rage, the surge of power—wild and untamed—that had erupted from somewhere deep inside me. The memory of that power, that Exira, was as terrifying as the monster itself. I didn’t understand it, didn’t know how I had summoned it, but it had saved me.

The cave was silent, save for the faint drip of water echoing in the distance. Shadows danced across the jagged walls, their movement unnerving, almost alive. I closed my eyes and focused on my breathing, drawing in slow, deliberate breaths.

I need to think. To breathe.

The foul air burned my lungs, but it didn’t matter. I needed to think, to make sense of what had happened.

I tried to piece it together, but my thoughts were a chaotic mess. My thoughts were a whirlwind of confusion and fragments.

Without thinking, I shifted into a more comfortable position, back pressed against the cold, damp stone. I focused on my breathing, drawing in slow, steady breaths.

Meditation.

The thought flickered in my mind, surprising me. I knew how to do this. My body remembered, even if my mind was still swimming in fragments of forgotten memories. Was it muscle memory? instincts? I wasn't sure, but I didn't care.

It was something to hold onto, something to ground me in this nightmare.

haaa….fuu…

As I breathed in and out, the noise of the world around me–the distant drip of water, the hollow silence of the cave–began to fade. My mind, still fractured and chaotic, started to calm. The frantic beat of my heart slowed, and the tension in my muscles loosened.

For the first time since waking, I felt a sense of stillness. I focused on that feeling, letting it wash over me. My thoughts stopped racing.

Maybe I didn't understand what was happening. Maybe I was still lost in the dark, surrounded by death and monsters and memories that didn't make sense. But for these few moments, I had control. I was alive.

I was breathing. I took another breath, feeling the cold air fill my lungs.

The trembling had stopped. My hands were steady now, my heart no longer thundering.

I opened my eyes and stared into the dim glow of the cave. The shadows no longer seemed so suffocating, and the oppressive weight of the darkness had lifted, even if only slightly. I had control again. Maybe not over everything, but I had control of myself. And that was something.

I started to piece it together, breaking down events in my mind, step by step, trying to make sense of it all.

I had woken up here, in this cave, and a fucking monster had been feasting on me. I was too weak to even resist. I remembered the pain–or rather, the absence of it–the numbness that had crept in as my life slipped away. But there was something else. Something more important.

I dragged my fingers through my hair, the strands sticky with blood and sweat, and focused on what I did know.

My memories.

They were fragmented and incomplete. But they were there, just out of reach. As I lay there, dying, I didn't know who I was. No name. No past. It was like a piece of me had been taken, ripped away, leaving me hollow.

I shuddered at the thought. What kind of power could do that? What force could bury someone's entire identity, leave them drifting in the dark without any sense of self?

I almost gave in. Almost let myself go.

That voice... sweet, soft, lulling. It had been so tempting, whispering to me, telling me to stop fighting, to let go. It promised peace, an end to pain, and an end to the struggle. And for a moment, I believed it. I wanted to give in, to stop resisting, to just... disappear.

But then there was the shock.

My name.

I remembered my name.

The name grounded me, anchoring me to some semblance of identity. It was the first shard of memory that had pierced through the haze. But there were others.

And there were others.

Mom. Aunt Nora. Ari.

Aunt Nora–her sharp smile, the way she laughed, always teasing. Ari... My breath caught at the memory of her. I couldn't see her clearly, but I knew her. I felt her–the warmth, the closeness. Like a sister. Like family.

Their names whispered in my mind, each one a lifeline in the darkness. I could feel their presence like echoes from another life. Warmth. Familiarity.

But there were gaps—gaping holes where the rest of my memories should have been. Every time I reached for them, they slipped away, leaving only frustration in their wake.

I clenched my fists, nails biting into my palms. The anger flared, sharp and hot, as I slammed my hand against the ground. The sound echoed in the cavern, a sharp contrast to the oppressive silence.

Why couldn’t I remember? What had happened to me?

A sudden chill raced up my spine, pulling me from my thoughts. My hand instinctively went to my ear, brushing against the small, cold.

An earring.

The dragon-shaped metal was smooth, biting against my skin with its chill.

And then, like a dam breaking, the memories surged.

It came in flashes, fast and disjointed, like flipping through pages too quickly to grasp details but leaving behind feelings. The emotions hit me first.

Laughter. Joy.

We were sitting on a blanket spread over soft grass, the sun warm on our faces. Alice's smile was radiant, her laughter like music as she sipped wine. Edward was beside me, enjoying his pizza and the sweet lullaby of music from our phones. The three of us together, happy. The kind of happiness that felt endless, eternal.

The memory shifted.

… The earth shook.

I remembered the ground trembling beneath us, cups and plates on the picnic blanket rattling violently as if the world itself were tearing apart. We jumped to our feet, laughter gone in an instant. The sky... the sky was wrong. Dark clouds gathered, swirling violently as thunder cracked overhead. A sound like ripping fabric echoed through the air, followed by a deep, guttural roar.

Something was coming.

The memory shifted. … Monsters.

They poured out of the sky like nightmares made flesh, emerging from a tear in the very fabric of the heavens, grotesque shapes with claws, fangs, and malice. We fought back, weapons in hand, but it wasn’t enough. They overwhelmed us, their savage brutality unrelenting.

The memory shifted again. … Edward. I saw him, caught in the grip of something monstrous–a devil-like creature with wings of shadow and a twisted, grotesque smile. Its clawed hand pierced through his chest, fingers wrapping around his heart. I screamed. I tried to move, to reach him, but I couldn't. All I could do was watch as Edward's eyes widened in shock, his mouth opening in a soundless gasp as life drained from him.

The creature ripped his heart from his chest.

Another shift. … I was on my knees, sobbing, hands pressed to my face as the world crumbled around me. Thunder crashed in the distance, and the sky continued to tear, reality unraveling. I screamed, voice hoarse, calling out Edward's name, but it was drowned by the deafening roar of the storm and the monstrous wails of creatures swarming around us.

The memory shifted once more. …

And then, I saw it.

My gaze was drawn upward, past the chaos, past the storm, to the tear in the sky. Through that tear, staring down with malevolent intent was an eye. A titanic eye, impossibly large, gazing from some dark, otherworldly place. It was pure evil, its gaze sending a wave of dread crashing over me, suffocating me in its presence. I couldn't look away. My body froze as that eye bore into my soul, and for a moment, everything stopped.

The world went dark.

The memory slipped away as quickly as it had come, leaving me breathless, and heart pounding. I touched the earring again, fingers trembling as I tried to ground myself, but the weight of the past pressed down like a crushing wave.

Edward. …

His name echoed in my mind. And that eye... another memory came, this time a poem.

*When the sky is torn asunder,

And shadows stretch with growing thunder,

The Eye of Devour peers below,

Bringing forth eternal woe.

Beware the gaze that sees your soul,

For no mercy will it know.

Its hunger vast, its darkness deep,

In its stare, your end shall creep.

Turn away, do not defy,

For beneath its watch, all must die.

A fate far worse than death awaits,

Where hope is lost and time abates.

When the heavens break and tremble,

And the world begins to crumble,

Seek no answers in the skies—

The Eye devours, and never lies. *