GODGEAR - JOURNEY TO SAVE EDEN

The battle rages on, my sword clashing against the Tower Boss commander with a rhythm of pain and persistence. Every strike feels heavier, as though the weight of the world itself presses down on me. The demon before me is no mere beast—his movements are calculated, precise. Every swing of his war axe threatens to tear through my defenses. But I can't afford to falter. Not now. Not with everything on the line.

Then, suddenly, the ground beneath me begins to tremble, a deep rumble that shakes the air. I glance around, eyes scanning the horizon, searching for the source of the disturbance. The demons stop their movements, unease spreading through their ranks. The air feels thick with something primal, something far more dangerous than the monsters I've fought before.

A deafening roar shatters the silence.

Before I can react, the earth cracks open. Something massive, something ancient, rises from the depths. A Titan. A behemoth of stone and fury, towering over the city, its presence casting a shadow so vast that it blots out the sun. The ground shakes violently with each step it takes, the force of its movements causing entire buildings to crumble into dust. Its eyes, burning with fire, lock onto me with a predatory gaze. I know instinctively—this monster is no mere force of nature. It's hunting me.

Before I can make sense of what's happening, its colossal arm swings through the air. A shockwave rips through the city, and I'm thrown into the air as if I were weightless. The impact of its blow sends me hurtling through the air, my body slamming into the crumbling stone wall of the city with such force that I can feel the bones in my body scream in protest. The world goes dark around me as pain erupts in waves, my sword slipping from my grasp, its light flickering weakly in the distance.

The force of the blow has left me pinned beneath the wreckage, unable to move. My limbs are heavy, my body shattered, the world spinning wildly around me. Blood pours from the gash on my head, mixing with the dust and debris that coats my skin. I try to lift my arms, try to force my body to respond, but it's like trying to move through thick mud. I can't breathe properly. I can barely hear above the ringing in my ears.

And then, just as everything seems to blur into nothingness, I hear a voice. It cuts through the chaos, sharp and clear, like a beacon in the darkness.

"My son... JARETH."

The world stops. The words are a lifeline, pulling me from the brink of unconsciousness. My heart skips a beat as a flood of memories crashes into me. The voice… It's her. My mother.

Her face flashes before my eyes—her kind smile, her warmth, her gentle touch. The woman who had raised me, loved me, when there was no one else in this world. She died when I was eight. Cancer. That word had haunted me for years. I had been too young to understand what it meant back then. Too young to understand the finality of death, the way it took her from me. She had been everything—my mother, my protector, the only family I had ever known. My father… I never had the chance to meet him. He had died before I was born, fighting in some war. Both my parents were from the same orphanage, but I had no other relatives. She had been all I had. And now…

"Jareth," her voice calls again, louder this time. It reverberates through my very soul, shaking off the numbness that threatens to consume me.

I try to move, try to stand, but my body refuses to respond. My vision fades in and out. The pain in my chest is too much to bear. But her voice… Her voice is a tether, pulling me toward the light in the distance. I know this voice. I remember it like it was yesterday. Her love, her presence, it fills me up, even as everything else falls away.

I remember how she would hold me when the world felt too big. I remember the way she would soothe me with her gentle words, her warmth, as if nothing in the world could harm me as long as I was in her arms. But now… Now, she's gone. She's been gone for years. The memory of her is all I have left, but it's enough to give me the strength to fight, even when my body is broken.

The Titan's steps grow closer, the ground beneath me quaking with each movement. But the voice of my mother… It calls to me.

"You must rise, Jareth. You are not done."

I can't explain it. It's like a spark, a fire deep inside me, igniting with her words. My heart beats stronger now. A strange energy courses through my veins, something that feels ancient, something powerful. My mother's love is still here, somehow, still guiding me. I know that she's gone, that I will never see her again, but her voice is here, with me, urging me to rise.

With every ounce of strength I have left, I push against the rubble. My muscles scream, my body protests, but I won't stop. I can't stop. I won't let the Titan, or this world, take me down before I've had the chance to fulfill what I'm meant to do.

The ground shakes violently as the Titan looms overhead, its shadow swallowing me whole. My breath is ragged, my body on the edge of collapse, but I can feel the sword's pull again, stronger than ever.

But just before I can rise, just before I can strike back…

Everything goes black.

And in the darkness, I hear it again.

"My son… JARETH."

But this time, it's softer. Fainter. As if she's fading, just like everything else.

And then, nothing.