The Village of Ash and Dead Whispers
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The Village of Hope looked like a corpse adorned with garlands of poisoned light. The houses, built from the bones of mythical creatures, bent like old women under the weight of memories. Their windows, covered with the skins of dead butterflies, emitted a sorrowful whistle with every gust of wind. Golden ash still rained from the sky, clinging to bodies and soil like dust from suicidal stars.
In the middle of the square, where the Tree of Hope once stood as a symbol of salvation, only a charred stump remained, resembling a dead hand grasping a final secret.
"Jio" sat at the base of the stump, his left hand pressing against his chest, where the black seed pulsed. He could feel it growing—its thin roots creeping through his veins, mixing with his golden blood, turning it into a thick, black liquid. Breathing had become heavy, as if the air itself refused to enter his lungs without permission from ancient powers.
"Do you think planting it will bring them back?"
A faint voice trembled in his ear—not from outside, but inside his head. Lian Hua… or her ghost. Yet he didn't turn. His eyes were fixed on a pile of ash that kept shaping into Lang Xian's face every few seconds before crumbling away.
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First Encounter: The Stranger with Many Masks
As the black sun (which now rose in a color resembling rust) began to set, a strange woman entered the village carrying a leather bag full of muffled voices. She wore multiple masks stacked atop each other: a smiling child, a weeping elder, and a faceless beast with no eyes. Her cloak, made from the feathers of extinct birds, left behind a trail of sparkling dust that looked like dying stars.
The Stranger: (in a voice that shifted with each mask she removed)
"Black seeds bloom at midnight... but they devour the bearer before sprouting."
Jio didn't move. His eyes captured every detail: the masks weren't just carved faces... they were real, embalmed ones.
The Stranger: (removing the beast's mask, revealing a beautiful face marred with golden scars)
"I'm Sirin... the savior of the lost in the maze of universes."
But Jio knew the truth before she said it. The scent of ancient blood emanating from her matched exactly the scent of the slaughtered tribe implanted in his memory.
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Second Scene: The Forbidden Germination Ritual
Sirin pulled strange tools from her bag:
A scalpel made from the bone of a blue dragon, its blade whispering in a dead language.
A glass vial containing a miniature storm of darkness.
A thread of black light, moving like a hungry serpent.
"The thing in your chest isn't just a seed... it's an egg," she explained, her eyes glowing with the seed's hue.
Jio wanted to refuse, but the seed inside his chest jolted violently, its roots gripping his bones like shackles. Sirin laughed and began to draw a circle around him with powder made from golden children's bones.
Sirin: (while swirling the vial above his head)
"The creature inside you will emerge... and I shall be its surrogate mother."
But before she could finish, a burst of black light exploded from Jio's chest, shattering the bone circle. Sirin stumbled back, the child's mask on her face letting out a terrifying scream.
Jio: (standing for the first time, his eyes glowing in two opposing colors)
"I'm no incubator for your games... leave before I return you to the ash you crawled from."
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The Buried Memory: The Day the Lights Were Taken
As Sirin retreated into the shadows, Jio sank into a forced vision:
A six-year-old boy (him) playing in a field of flowers that looked like eyes.
Lang Xian appearing as a giant shadow, snatching the boy as the village burned.
A woman (his real mother?) running after them, her eyes melting into golden blood.
But this time, the details changed: in the woman's hand, a dagger bearing Jio's symbol. She wasn't trying to kill Lang Xian... she was trying to kill him.
The voice that had followed him from the beginning (the one he thought was Lian Hua) whispered:
"Everything you know is a lie... even you."
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Third Scene: The Village That Refuses to Forget
By morning, Jio discovered the village had changed again. The bony houses began to grow golden bark, and the streets paved with singing stones now moaned instead of playing melodies. The villagers gathered by the tainted well, their faces covered with a layer of golden mold.
Melia (the old priestess) stepped forward, her eyes now nothing but two black voids:
"The mark... it's spreading. Even the water fears us now."
Jio approached the well. The black water rose like a liquid arm, carrying the face of "Cassian" (the one-eyed stranger).
Cassian (from the water):
"The seed needs fresh blood... the blood Lang Xian betrayed."
Before he could respond, the villagers lunged at Jio, their primitive blades glowing with the same golden symbol.
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The Bloody Confrontation: Betrayal That Blooms in Darkness
The battle was chaos of golden and black blood:
Jio, trying to fend them off without using his power, afraid the seed would take over.
The villagers, screaming in an ancient tongue that rippled like time itself.
Melia, leading them like a puppet with strings of darkness, her empty eyes weeping black fluid.
But when one of them stabbed Jio in the shoulder, the seed exploded. Black roots burst from his chest, impaling the attackers and turning them into statues of golden ash.
Jio: (collapsing to his knees, the roots returning to his chest, now carrying the villagers' memories)
"I... I didn't want this..."
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Fourth Revelation: The Well That Cradles Hell
Jio decided to confront the secret within the well. He descended into the thick black waters, which turned into a tunnel filled with golden eyes watching him. At the bottom, he found:
A round chamber, its walls made of pulsing flesh showing scenes of the tribe's massacre.
A crystalline cage, inside it a child identical to him—but with a single golden eye.
A stone tablet engraved with: "The true heir is buried here... to awaken the damned."
The child in the cage opened his one eye and whispered:
"You are the replacement... I'm the original."
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The Final Collapse: The Choice Between Two
The seed's roots began forming two black hands around the child's neck. Sirin's voice echoed from the darkness:
"Kill him... and gain your freedom."
But another voice—Lang Xian's—whispered:
"Save him... for he is the reason behind it all."
Jio hesitated, his hands trembling. The seed in his chest pulsed like a mad heart, and the roots squeezed tighter...
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The Cry That Birthed a Universe
In the final moment, before he could decide, the crystal cage exploded. The child vanished, and the well collapsed over Jio.
When he awoke, he lay in a field of eye-shaped flowers, as golden rain fell from the sky—each drop holding the image of someone he'd lost.
The seed in his chest had bloomed... into a black flower, its petals shaped like the wings of dead butterflies.
Lian Hua's Voice (from the flower):
"Now... do you understand what it means to be hope?"
Jio didn't answer. He looked toward the horizon, where black butterflies formed a giant shadow of Lang Xian... smiling.