"It is not by being broken that we change, but by discovering what pain has always tried to show us."
---
— Dry your tears.
The voice had returned.
But it had changed.
It was no longer the soft, enveloping voice he thought he'd heard last time.
It was cold, sharp, mechanical — as if a robot were trying to imitate a compassion it had never known.
Rays obeyed. By instinct. By fear. By habit. He wiped his cheeks, slowly, not understanding where he was, or what he was supposed to do.
— What are you? he murmured. Why am I here? I can't do anything… I'm blind…
The voice didn't react to the complaint. It hadn't been programmed for pity.
— Open your eyes.
Rays hesitated.
There was nothing to see. He knew that.
But he obeyed.
And for the first time since coming into the world, he saw.
---
Everything was white.
A perfect, pure, crystalline white.
There was no horizon, no shadow, no line.
Just an infinite sea of clarity — no dust, no trace. Not even a flaw to love.
It was… overwhelming.
Then, in front of him, a figure emerged.
Blurry at first, then clear: it was himself.
His tousled hair, his closed eyes, his gaunt face. He looked like an ordinary boy — fragile, almost invisible.
He stood still.
And disappointment struck him like a blade.
— …That's it? That's what I was? Nothing special. Nothing exceptional…
Regret swelled in his chest. An old, dense pain that had never been allowed to speak. He began to cry.
Again.
— Calm down, the voice ordered.
But the tears did not obey. They flowed. Quieter, deeper. Not like those of a child.
But like those of a man discovering what he had never had.
Then, without warning, the world changed.
---
He no longer saw white.
He saw everything.
First Paris. Then London. The rooftops of Tokyo in the rain.
The Chinese mountains at sunrise. India, with its thousand colors. The Grand Canyon. Polynesia. The fjords.
The details were so vivid he could almost feel the wind, smell the sea, hear the buzzing of markets.
Then came the stars:
The Moon — majestic.
The Sun — burning but magnificent.
Then the Galaxy — seen from afar, like an ocean of diamonds spinning in the cosmic void.
Rays was suffocating.
And then… the nightmare.
The voice showed him monsters: deformed, nightmarish, with abyssal eyes and mouths full of forgotten children.
Then it showed him a movie, on TV: a man losing everything. Slowly. Softly. And in the end, still thanking life.
And finally… the perfect moment.
The sunset, suspended in midair.
He was sitting in the void, and before him, the colors of the world twisted in a final cry of light before nightfall.
Shades he had never seen — and could never have dreamed of.
He whispered:
— …How did I live… without this…?
---
And suddenly: darkness.
Absolute. Brutal. Tearing.
The return to emptiness. To his world.
He screamed.
— You son of a bitch! Give it back!
The voice replied, dryly:
— What?
— My sight! he shouted. You just made me see! So keep going — lend it to me a bit longer, I'm begging you!
The voice remained silent.
So Rays screamed, fighting against the void:
— KEEP LENDING IT TO ME, PLEASE!
But the voice no longer listened.
— You have completed the First Stage of Regret.
— What is this bullshit?! ANSWER ME!
— Please… I… I can't live without it now…
He fell to his knees. Hands on the ground. Fingernails digging into the nothingness. His breath ragged.
He had tasted the light.
And could no longer live in the dark.
The voice, cold, resumed.
---
THE THREE STAGES OF ETERNAL REGRET
Goal: It is not to become strong.
It is to accept what you're willing to lose to become so.
For only those who have something to deeply regret can go through this process… without becoming monsters.
---
⚖️ 1. The Sacrifice
You lost your sight.
Others lost:
• Their voice.
• The memory of their mother.
• The ability to lie.
• Control over their own body.
• The right to be loved.
Sacrifice is the key.
Without it… you'll go nowhere.
---
🧠 2. The Doubt
You will soon enter the subconscious of the one who knows you best.
You'll see Rex, your dog.
You'll see what he thinks of you.
What he fears.
What he hides — even from you.
Doubt destroys some.
It purifies others.
---
🏰 3. The Trial of Acceptance
It will be a labyrinth.
Or a dungeon.
Filled with your temptations:
Love.
Vengeance.
Power.
If you survive: you'll pass.
---
Then the System will appear.
Welcome, Dreamer. You have crossed the Three Regrets.
You may now Kill, Take, Evolve.
---
Evolution Tiers:
1. Dreamer — survivors of the Three Stages.
2. Awakened — the first true tier.
3. Unbound — distorts reality.
4. Illumination — demigod, every thought a weapon.
5. Sacred — a city bows before them.
6. Divine — a living dream.
---
One last voice — more human this time — spoke to him. A superior's voice.
— This isn't a gift, Rays. It's a test. A pact. A cross on your back.
— The world of the Awakened kills. It steals. It manipulates to arm itself, to rise.
— This is not a game. It's a war — where the price is your soul.
Rays burst out laughing.
A dry, senseless, lost laugh.
— So that's it? Another punishment? For a crime I never committed?!
His laugh rose. And rose. Until it became a scream.
And in his tears, he saw it all again.
The sun.
The sunset.
The void.
And he laughed.
Again.
And again.