***
{Outside The Projection}
Just then, when Malik turned to face Jasmine, the projection had paused.
The moment that happened, the once silent hall broke out into chaos.
“Why—and I mean this from the depths of my soul—why the hell does it always cut off at the tensest part?!!!!”
“Stop with the fucking cliffhangers, Goddammit!”
“Is it some kind of sick joke?!”
“This is psychological warfare!”
“Is it not showing her face on purpose?!”
“I swear if I ever meet the Arcanist who designed this damn thing…”
“It’s her face!”
A younger voice piped up, their tone bordering on desperation.
“It has to be something about her face, right? Some twist? A reveal? Like—like she’s secretly—”
“Oh, shut up, kid.”
An older woman cut in, rolling her eyes so hard it was a miracle they didn’t fall out of her head.
“You’ve read too many novels. We’re not here for your wild theories!”
“Why don’t you shut up!”
The junior shot back, red-faced. Stay tuned to My Virtual Library Empire
“At least I’m thinking!”
A low buzz of frustration and speculation filled the room, people pacing, groaning, and muttering curses under their breath.
“Maybe it’s a glitch?”
Some random Magi suggested hesitantly, though they immediately regretted it when half the hall turned to glare at them.
“A glitch?”
The old man from before barked a laugh that held no humor.
“You think a Ten Commandment that survived God-knows-how-many centuries just glitches out? Get real son.”
Before the argument could escalate, a sudden flicker drew everyone’s attention back to the projection.
“It’s starting again!”
“About damn time.”
“Shut up, everyone!”
“Don’t miss anything!”
Nobody needed to be told twice.
Conversations died instantly, and all eyes locked on the flickering image like their lives depended on it.
Safira was the first of them.
Her green rubies stared unblinkingly at what was before her, blocking out everything else.
She already had a sinking feeling about what was coming next, and it brought her immense sadness.
She didn’t even realize tears were streaming down her face until one dripped off her chin.
“…I’m sorry.”
It wasn’t clear who she was apologizing to—Malik, Jasmine, or herself.
But that word carried the weight of a thousand regrets.
***
{Inside The Projection}
Malik blinked.
Then blinked again.
Nope. Still there.
Once more.
Still there.
Twice more.
Still.
Then rubbed his eyes so hard he swore he was going to see stars.
When he looked down again, he almost wished he hadn’t.
Same thing.
He turned away, focused on literally anything else—the cave walls, the floor, even his own damn hands—then slowly turned back.
Nothing changed.
‘Black… eyes?’
Right.
Jasmine’s right eye was fully black.
Yes, not just the iris, the whole thing.
Like someone had dipped her eyeball in ink.
His mind scrambled for some logical explanation, but no.
Just that unsettling void staring right back at him.
‘Okay… this is fine. I’m just seeing things.’
Malik lied to himself.
He could not have… that happen again.
So he blinked.
Maybe if he did it hard enough, it’d go back to normal.
…It didn’t.
If anything, it looked worse.
The black was… spreading?
Crawling, even. Alive.
Fine lines of black, like cracks forming in fragile porcelain
Panic kicked him square in the gut, forcing him to take a step back.
“Jasmine…”
His voice shook more than his heart did.
“What’s happening to you?”
“…”
She didn’t respond.
“Your, uh…”
“…”
Or maybe she couldn’t.
“Your eye, it’s, um—”
Yeah, no.
Words weren’t helping.
He just gestured wildly at his own face, hoping she’d catch on.
Jasmine didn’t.
Her body swayed slightly, her breaths shallow and uneven.
It seemed that she was out of it, unable to form the most basic of thoughts.
Malik didn’t waste another second, knowing he had wasted enough in his panic.
With a burst of speed, he scooped her up into his arms and bolted out of the cave.
Every step he took felt like thunder in his chest.
In no more than ten seconds, he ran past Safira, who still sat cross-legged, obliviously deep in cultivation.
Dirt and loose rocks flew as his boots pounded the ground, carrying him faster than he’d ever run before.
The starlight hit him as he burst out of the cave’s mouth, but he didn’t slow down.
Not yet. He needed to be as far away from that cursed graveyard as possible.
‘Keep going.’
‘Don’t stop.’
‘Don’t look back.’
Only when the Shams began to dim, and his legs wobbled, threatening to buckle beneath him, did he finally skid to a halt.
Panting hard, he looked down at the weight in his arms.
“Jasmine…”
Carefully, he knelt and lowered her to the ground, his hands trembling like leaves in a storm.
“No, no, no, this isn’t happening.”
He hovered over her, eyes locked on the black cracks now snaking across her skin, spreading with each breath.
“You gotta fight this.”
“…”
She showed no response…
Yet he didn’t stop.
“Whatever’s happening to you, push it back.”
“…”
Nothing.
“Use your Aether.”
“…”
“Focus on it.”
“…”
“You can do this.”
“…”
“Please.”
“…”
Still nothing.
Just her lying there, her chest rising and falling in shallow, uneven breaths.
It killed him seeing her like that, but it would’ve been preferable to what he saw next.
Her other eye started going black too.
“No, no, no, no, no!”
Desperate, Malik pressed his hand to her second heart and channeled his Aether into her.
The energy flowed into her body, but it was like throwing water onto a raging inferno.
It helped naught.
Rather, it only did the opposite, somehow fueling the chaos.
Her body jerked violently like it was being wrung out by some invisible force.
The black veins that webbed across her skin bulged, crawling up her arms, her neck, her face—spreading like wildfire.
And then… Jasmine screamed:
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
A sound so raw and agonizing it cut Malik to the bone.
“Jasmine, no—stay with me!”
Her back arched off the ground, bones popping in ways that should’ve been impossible.
Limbs stretched and contorted as black ichor seeped out the cracks like tar.
Then her body began to… shift.
Her figure melted into grotesque, misshapen bulges of flesh, riddled with black pulsing veins.
Her face morphed, features barely recognizable.
Her mouth split open into something alien.
…She had become something else entirely.
An ugly, grotesque glob of meat, skin, and black.
Then, after her transformation was complete…
“P-P-Ple… see … eee …”
Her mouth—if it could still be called that—struggled to form a single word.
“P-Please…”
It was a voice so broken—barely human.
Malik froze once he registered it.
His heart couldn’t take it anymore.
He dreaded this to the core, and yet it still happened.
The fact that her mind still lived haunted him.
It was all so sudden.
Everything seemed fine, but then…
“Kill me.”
Hell had arrived.
“I can’t… I can’t take it… anymore…”
She continued to beg, her words choking out between wrong-sounding sobs.
“M-Malik… please… “
The thing that had been Jasmine let out a shuddering gasp as black tears spilled from the corners of what seemed to be her eyes.
“I…”
Malik’s hand reached for his dagger.
The blade hissed against its sheath as he unsheathed it.
The weight of it—it felt unbearable.
His hands shook so hard he nearly dropped it.
“I can’t…”
He stared down at her.
No. It.
This… thing that wasn’t Jasmine anymore.
But her voice—her plea—it was still her.
Somewhere in there, she was still Jasmine.
“I can’t do this…”
His hands shook harder, his breaths rough.
“I can’t…”
He lowered the blade.
“I won’t allow this.”
And then he turned it on himself.
“Not again… don’t make me go through this again.”
The tip trembled as he pressed it against his own neck.
“NOT AGAIN!”
With that roar of anguish, he plunged the blade with all his strength.
Darkness.
Blink.