It is dark.
I am back... so I died again.
Why? Just... Why do I have to die again?
Can't there at least be a heaven?
No, not even a hell. Why do I have to end up here?
Just why?
I can feel the insanity creeping back into the corners of my mind, but this time, I don't feel the heavy weight.
Why am I so sane? I should be screaming in agony. Why does this place feel... calm?
Hah.
The first time I begged.
The second time I accepted.
I wondered which was worse.
For the first life I can remember, I was so close to actually starting my life. I had just gotten my first real job, only to die in a train accident. This time, I died at twelve—ten years younger. Following this pattern, in my next life, I'll probably die at two.
Hmm.
I don't even know if I'll escape this void again. Time here isn't something you can measure. When I first ended up in this place, it drove me insane. I don't fear death, but I fear this.
I look around. There is nothing in sight, nothing for any of my senses to grasp. But this time, I can feel them: there are other people here. None of them have a consciousness like mine, though. They are all drifting in a deep, endless sleep.
So why am I the only one awake? Why does this place try so hard to drive me insane?
What a shitty place. The origin of everything is just... nothing.
Shouldn't all these souls merge into one? Yet here they are, existing as individuals. The Void is so gentle with everyone else, so why is it so harsh on me?
I sigh—not physically, of course.
"As I float there, memories of that witch bleed back into my mind..."
That witch... her blood trick didn't work. The second that cocoon closed over my face, everything went dark. I guess my body couldn't even handle being saved.
The Void isn't so bad now. It's starting to feel like a terrible home away from home.
The first time it drove me nuts, but this time it feels like I've already crossed that line. Maybe that's why I'm so calm.
I wasn't afraid of the darkness anymore.
I was afraid of how familiar it felt.
Let's just rest and wait...
Soon, my body begins to disintegrate into particles of light.
Huu... Looks like my time has come. It's much faster than last time. By my count, I've only had enough time to replay my first life five times over.
__
In a dense, suffocating forest brimming with untamed vegetation and wild beasts—a primeval realm so dangerous even high elves refused to set foot here—a lone house was built into the branches of the world's largest tree.
Sunlight filtered through the thick canopy as the Witch lay back upon her bed.
Her long dark hair flowed like the midnight sky. Her eyes burned bright as stars within them. Too ethereal to be bound by mere words.
In that quiet isolation, she was entirely alone, yet somehow surrounded—a walking contradiction of existence.
She turned her gaze to her side.
Resting beside her was the essence stone. It no longer looked like a jewel; it was now shaped like a massive, pulse-filled egg.
She watched the stone as it suddenly began to tremble. At first it was a faint vibration only, but in seconds it was violent with the casing rattling against the wood.
"Quite a resilient one, aren't you?" she muttered under her breath. Bathing a soul in condensed essence was always a gamble—it was just as likely to erase a weak vessel as it was to reshape it.
Her eyes narrowed as she quietly traced a glowing magic circle into the air. If a Calamity-Class monster emerged from that shell, she would burn it to ash before it could draw a second breath. Even an apocalyptic beast wouldn't possess much power as a newborn.
If it's the boy who emerges... she mused, I might just take him as a servant. Having absorbed even a fraction of that essence, he'll live a very long time.
Elemental spirits floating around her room began to rustle nervously.
"Everyone, out," she commanded, her voice ringing with cold authority.
The spirits fled through the floorboards and windows, leaving her alone in the quiet tension as the egg began to disintegrate.
What took shape was not even what she expected.
