Apocalypse: The echoes of Madness

When Zane turned his head, the world seemed to stop. His breath caught in his throat as he saw the stone monster gripping Yuri in its massive jaws. Her body hung limply, blood dripping from its mouth and staining the ground below. The sight seared itself into his mind—a horrific image he could never unsee.

His hands clenched into fists, trembling with helpless fury. His body was battered, his strength drained from the relentless fight, but his heart screamed at him to move, to do something, anything.

A sharp, desperate voice shattered the suffocating silence.Cale's cry jolted him back to reality, but before Zane could even process the words, a beam of torchlight flashed across the battlefield. It struck the shadow monster, and the creature recoiled, screeching in agony.

The sound was deafening, its pain palpable, but Zane's focus shifted to Cale, who had already started running toward the hill's edge.

"What are you doing?!" Zane roared, his voice raw and filled with panic.

Cale glanced back, his face a mix of determination and sorrow. "This time, I am not the loser; you are."

he said simply, his lips curving into a faint, bittersweet smile. His face was streaked with cuts, blood trickling from his temple, but his eyes—those eyes held a strange aura.

Zane screamed, his voice echoing across the desolate battlefield. "CALE, STOP!"

But Cale didn't stop.

He ran.

Zane pushed himself forward, his legs trembling with exhaustion and pain, blood dripping from countless wounds. "CALE! NO!" His voice cracked with desperation as he watched Cale sprint toward the edge of the hill.

Cale didn't falter. The shadow monster roared in rage behind him, its massive form chasing him relentlessly, and the stone beast lumbered after, blood still dripping from its maw.

With one final look back at Zane, Cale whispered to himself, "Loser." Then he leapt.

The two monsters plunged over the edge with him.

The world seemed to fall silent as Cale disappeared over the edge.

Zane froze, his knees buckling as he collapsed onto the blood-soaked ground. His breath hitched, chest heaving as the weight of what just happened crushed him.

Tears streamed down his face, mixing with the dirt and blood on his skin. His fists clenched tightly, nails digging into his palms until they bled. He slammed his fist against the ground, a choked scream tearing from his throat. "YOU IDIOT!"

The faint echoes of the monsters' roars faded completely, leaving an unbearable stillness. Zane raised his head, his vision blurred by tears, and saw them.

The villagers.

They stood in eerie silence, unmoving, their expressions blank yet haunting. Their hollow eyes bore into him, lifeless and cold. They looked like statues carved from despair, their presence suffocating.

Then suddenly, their bodies twisted like zombies and began running toward Zane.

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[3 seconds remaining until Lily's sacrifice...]

Everything fell into an eerie silence. Cale's lifeless body tumbled, an empty shell, his fall slow as the world seemed to hold its breath. Suddenly, the snow began to fall, delicate flakes drifting under the cold gaze of the full moon, a cruel contrast to the horror unfolding.

[2 seconds remaining until Lily's sacrifice...]

Zane's body crumpled, his strength spent, falling limp against the mountain's cruel edge. The snow settled gently on him, a blanket of white over the broken warrior, as if even nature wept for what was lost.

[1 second remaining until Lily's sacrifice...]

Arthur and James, their bodies unmoving, lay sprawled on the cold stone floor before the sacrificial room. Their breath was still, their eyes closed forever to the world they had fought so hard to protect.The rooftop of the temple was shattered, jagged edges framing the gaping hole above. Through it, the moonlight poured down, silvery and cold, illuminating the carnage below.The snow, now thick, fell over them, blanketing their fallen forms, as the bitter wind whispered the finality of their sacrifice.

Rose's status screen flickered ominously, its red warning flashing like a heartbeat in the void, each pulse a cruel reminder of the lives lost. Her breath came in shallow gasps, her hands shaking as the screen relentlessly updated, showing the unbearable truth.

[Yuri is dead.]

[Cale is dead.]

[Zane is dead.]

[Emily is dead.]

[Arthur is dead.]

[James is dead.]

Each name was a jagged wound in her heart, each line a confirmation of the irrevocable loss that tore through her. The silence was deafening, the weight of their absence suffocating, as if the very air around her had thickened with the grief of their deaths. The world around her seemed to spin, each moment stretched into eternity.

Her fingers gripped the edge of the stone cold altar, her knuckles white, trembling—not from fear, but from the crushing weight of sorrow. The temple around her seemed to hum with a malicious energy, feeding off her pain, and yet, the only thing that mattered was the warning flashing before her eyes.

They're all gone.

The entire temple began to shake, the tremors so violent it felt as if the very foundation of the mountain was collapsing. The walls groaned and cracked, dust and debris falling from above like an impending doom. A low, menacing rumble echoed through the sacred halls, and the door to the sacrificial room slowly creaked open.

The Mountain God had arrived.

Rose sat motionless, her eyes void of life, as if every ounce of her spirit had been drained away. Her body remained frozen, as if time itself had stopped, the weight of the world pressing down on her.

The Mountain God loomed before her, a dark aura swirling around her, suffocating the very air. Her eyes glinted with malicious satisfaction as she smirked at Rose, a twisted grin curling on her lips.

"You were always meant to be the sacrifice," the Mountain God's voice was soft, cold as ice, yet it sent a chill that pierced through Rose's very soul. "In reality, all of you were simply pawns for my feast. Your souls, so pure, so strong—your powers, they were never meant to be merely taken. No, I needed all of you. For you were the real prize."

Rose's fingers trembled as the Mountain God grabbed her hand, lifting it as though it were weightless, as if Rose were nothing more than a broken doll. The god's grip was suffocating, and yet Rose did not fight. She had nothing left.

The Mountain God retrieved a ceremonial dress from the shadows, its fabric shimmering with an eerie, unnatural light. "This dress has been prepared for you," she whispered, her voice dripping with dark delight. "You were always meant to wear it."

With unnatural grace, the god dressed Rose, her movements deliberate, as though savoring the moment. The dress was cold against Rose's skin, as if it had been soaked in the very essence of death itself. As the fabric settled over her body, Rose's eyes glazed over, and she felt as though she were no longer in control of her own limbs.

She caught a final glimpse of Lily, lying unconscious beside her, her body fragile and lifeless. The last flicker of hope within Rose seemed to wither, consumed by the darkness that surrounded her. The weight of her world had crushed her.

But even in the face of this horror, a whisper of defiance flickered within Rose's heart. It was weak, barely a spark, but it was there.

Her world had ended. The sacrifices had been made. And yet, the story wasn't over.

Rose gave mountain god a faint smile,her voice barely wishper but it carried the weight of her shattered hope. "You were my hope... but you turned it into a nightmare."

The Mountain God's smirk was cold, devoid of any empathy. "You are already dead inside. Let me finish it."

With a cruel laugh, she drove the dagger into Rose's heart.

Rose's body crumpled to the ground, the last breath escaping her lips as the screen flickered.

[Congratulations]

[you have gained one memory]

[You have gained 500 coins]

Fuck off, Rose thought in her fading consciousness, her body numb with the weight of everything she had lost. She collapsed into the void.

But with a sudden,jarring scream,she shot awake.Gasping for breathe, her eyes snapped open and she saw the screen again.The words on the screen burned into her heart:

[Yuri is dead.]

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Each name felt like a dagger to her soul, their loss echoing in her chest like an unbearable weight. The void in her heart was endless.

"Rose looked at the door and thought, 'Nothing is more tragic than the strong fading into weakness, while the weak steal strength just to endure.'"

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(To be continued)

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