Here, hope does not exist. I have died countless times.
I have felt all kinds of pain: losing loved ones, being tortured, fighting to the death, betrayal, dying slowly.
All of it on a loop. At first, it was really hard to bear. In one life, I had a family — my wife and daughter were raped and tortured in front of me.
I knew it wasn't real, but since birth I had always been alone, until I met Joseph.
I couldn't even commit suicide — I had to suffer again and again.
And so, I lived through many more lives.
After more than two thousand lives, a memory reached me.
It was my chained self who sent it to me.
"Listen to me. To escape this illusion, you must make it feel less real — react less to your deaths — until the people in this illusion become aware..."
"...that they too are in an illusion. That's when things will get complicated — from that moment, they will all target you..."
"...and kill you again and again until you start believing this illusion is real again."
"That's why you are going to learn this Chaos Affinity Card."
"You have a hundred lives to master it. And remember, you are in a state of awareness and you want to break free. I'm sure when the time comes, you will see exactly what I mean."
The card appeared in my hand. A hundred lives to master it — sometimes I would die after just three months.
Might as well start now.
Fifty lives later, changes began to appear in the way they spoke.
Before, they always tried to make me comfortable, to make me forget the real world.
Now, they were questioning me, watching me. The moment when they would all try to kill me wasn't far off anymore.
But I had already mastered the Chaos Card. To do so, I had to sacrifice ten lives — the card tests its user.
I would still need time to use it properly.
Fifty more lives later
The moment had arrived. I would have to find a way to break this illusion.
When I stepped outside, more than fifty people were waiting for me, all armed.
I grabbed my sword of fire and lightning and launched myself at them.
They were all relatively weak, but they fought well.
Once I was done, I thought about it — I'm trapped inside my consciousness. To escape, I would need to...
That's when I understood why he gave me the Chaos Card.
My sword of fire and lightning disappeared. I would need to create a Chaos Sword — all while avoiding madness.
Thirty minutes later
I finally opened my eyes. In my hand was a black sword, but it felt as though I was gazing into a vast black lake in which I was immersed. I looked deeper into the lake — it was even darker.
But I felt more and more drawn to its depths. Destruction, chaos, misfortune — those were the only thoughts in my mind the more I gazed into the depths.
I bit my tongue hard and regained consciousness — the black sword was still in my hand, and I hadn't moved.
That black lake must represent the sword itself and the madness it can transmit to me. Since I was still floating on the surface, I must still be sane.
This sword is physical — it must have also appeared in the hand of my physical body.
"He's here, everyone, come!" — voices shouted outside.
It was time. I grabbed the black sword and used Lightning Slash on myself.
My body fell to the ground, cut into eight pieces.