The light did not disappear all at once.
It faded.
Slowly.
So slowly that at first, he didn't notice it.
He was still lying where he had fallen, his body heavy against the black sand, his breathing shallow and uneven as the aftermath of whatever had happened inside him refused to settle. Every part of him ached, his chest tight, his limbs weak, as though something had been taken from him without permission.
The desert was silent.
But something about it felt… different.
His eyes opened slightly.
The sky above him had changed.
The dim, lifeless glow that had hung there since he arrived was weakening, thinning out like something being drained away, leaving behind a darkness that felt deeper than it should have been.
"…What now…"
His voice was barely a whisper.
He pushed himself up slowly, his body resisting the movement, his arm trembling as he forced himself into a sitting position.
The horizon had darkened.
The sand no longer reflected light.
Instead—It absorbed it.
The world was becoming darker.
Not naturally.
Wrong.
He frowned slightly, his gaze lifting upward.
The sky was empty.
No stars.
No moon.
Only a faint, distant glow hidden behind something unseen, as though something vast stood between this place and whatever should have been there.
"…There should be…"
The thought came suddenly.
Unfamiliar.
"…a moon…"
He froze.
The word lingered.
Moon.
For a moment— Something surfaced.
A sky.
Clear.
Dark.
A single pale light hanging above it.
Calm.
"…There was only one…"
His voice softened.
"…in my world…"
The memory slipped away almost immediately, leaving behind only the faintest trace of something he couldn't fully grasp.
His gaze lowered slowly.
"…Then this…"
This wasn't it.
This wasn't normal.
The wind shifted.
Cold.
Not like before.
It carried something with it.
A presence.
His body tensed instantly.
Not from sight— From instinct.
He turned.
There— Behind him.
Something stood.
He hadn't heard it approach.
Hadn't seen it arrive.
But it was there.
A shape.
Humanoid.
But wrong.
Its body wasn't solid.
It flickered.
Edges breaking apart and reforming, like something made of shadow struggling to maintain form, its outline unstable, shifting with the darkness around it.
It had no face.
And yet— It was looking at him.
His grip tightened around the sword.
"…What is that…"
The creature didn't move.
For a moment.
Then— It stepped forward.
The movement was silent.
Too silent.
The sand didn't shift beneath it.
Didn't react.
Like it didn't belong to the ground at all.
His body reacted.
He stood.
Barely steady.
The creature lunged.
Fast.
Faster than anything he had faced so far.
He swung.
The blade passed through it.
Like cutting through smoke.
"…What—"
Too late.
It struck.
Not physically.
But he felt it.
A sharp pressure against his chest, like something pushing inward without touching him, forcing a strained gasp from his throat as his body staggered backward.
His vision flickered.
The creature reformed instantly.
Unharmed.
Still coming.
"…It didn't—"
He moved again, swinging harder this time.
Same result.
Nothing.
The blade meant nothing here.
The creature closed in.
His breathing grew uneven.
His body weakened further.
"…I can't…"
His foot slipped.
The sand shifted.
He dropped to one knee.
The creature raised its arm.
About to strike again— And something inside him reacted.
That same pressure.
That same weight.
But this time— Different.
It didn't burst outward.
It resisted.
Held.
Compressed.
His breath hitched.
"…No…"
Not like before.
He forced it.
Not outward— Forward.
Toward it.
The space between them distorted.
Barely visible— But real.
The creature paused.
Just for a second.
Its form flickered.
Unstable.
Then— It pushed through.
The distortion collapsed.
His body gave out.
The pressure snapped back into him violently, forcing a sharp gasp from his throat as he fell fully into the sand, his strength gone, his chest burning as if something inside had cracked.
The creature loomed above him.
Unstopped.
Unharmed.
"…I'm going to die…"
The thought came clearly this time.
No panic.
No resistance.
Just truth.
The creature moved.
And the night closed in around him.