Haaah… Haaah… Haaah…
Gasping. Heaving. Choking.
His lungs burned as he sucked in deep, frantic gulps of air, his chest rising and falling violently like a man drowning on dry land.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Sweat poured like a broken dam, sliding down his temples, soaking his tattered clothes, pooling beneath him in an ever-growing puddle of fear.
And then—
A scream.
A scream so raw, so unhinged, it barely sounded human.
It tore through his throat, ripping from his very soul, filled with nothing but terror.
His entire body convulsed as he sat up, fingers digging into his chest, clawing at his hammering heart like he could physically tear out the unbearable fear.
He clutched his skin so hard—
Crack.
His nails sank into his flesh, breaking through, hot blood trickling down his ribs.
He was dying.
Even after waking up, the terror refused to leave.
His mind was still there.
Still in that abyss.
Still trapped beneath the gaze of that thing.
Shwet! Shwet!
A voice.
A sound.
It was distant, muffled, as if submerged under a thousand layers of water.
His body refused to react.
He couldn't move.
He couldn't hear.
He couldn't—
SLAP!
The force snapped his head sideways.
"Shwet! Look at me!"
His vision blurred, his ears rang, but through the fog of panic, he turned.
And his breath hitched.
"Mother?"
She stood before him.
Soft eyes. Familiar warmth. Gentle hands.
The face he had longed to see for so, so long.
"Yes, it's me. Your mother."
Her voice was soothing. Safe.
"You don't have to be scared anymore."
His lips trembled.
"Really? You're here, Mom? You're really here?"
She smiled, nodding.
"Yes, my son. You don't need to fear anything. I won't let anything harm you."
His chest tightened.
The dam inside him—one that had held for so many years—finally broke.
"Ma!"
He threw himself into her arms.
He clung to her, his fingers digging into her back, his body shaking like a child lost in a storm.
"It's too scary, Ma! Too scary!"
His voice cracked, breath hitching, sobbing, desperate.
"It's going to kill me, Ma! It's going to kill me! Save me! Please save me!"
She held him.
Her warmth—her presence—seeped into his frozen body.
She gently patted his head, soothing him, grounding him.
"Shwet… Calm down. Nothing is going to harm you here."
Her voice was soft but firm.
"Look around, it's completely safe. Nothing is reaching you here."
His body tensed.
His fingers dug harder into her clothes.
"No, I can't look." His breath hitched. "It will kill me. It will definitely kill me if I look."
She pulled back slightly, just enough to cup his face in her hands.
"No one is going to kill you, my child. No one can do anything as long as I'm here."
She stroked his hair gently.
"You are my brave son. That thing? It's nothing against you."
But he shook his head violently.
"No, Mother!" His voice was hoarse, broken.
"It is something! It's more than just something! Its eyes… its body…"
He shuddered violently.
"Too terrifying. I can't face it. I can't."
His mother held him tighter.
"Have you calmed down now?"
His breaths were still ragged, but—
"A bit."
"Then look around." She wiped the sweat from his forehead. "Nothing is here to harm you."
He hesitated.
And then, slowly, he looked up.
He blinked.
The place was… different.
Not the abyss.
Not the realm of serpents.
Not the place where he had stared into certain death.
Confusion struck like lightning.
Where… am I?
His head snapped toward her.
"Was I killed by that thing?"
His voice shook.
"Is this the afterlife? Is that why I'm seeing you?"
She simply smiled.
"What's this place, Mom?"
"It's a safe place where you don't have to worry about anything."
His throat clenched.
"I'm dead, right? That's why we're together?"
"No, my son."
Her voice was soft.
"You are still alive. And you have to keep on living."
A chill ran through him.
"Alive?" His voice cracked. "Then how am I talking to you? You left me a long time ago."
She smiled gently.
"You are talking to me the same way you were able to hunt serpents and use strange skills that you should have never been able to use."
Her expression softened.
"My son, you've been thrown into a difficult situation."
She touched his cheek.
"And it's not your fault at all. You were just dragged into it."
Her voice turned firm.
"But you still have to make it through. You have to push through. Like you always have."
He swallowed.
"Push through? Survive? Against that thing?"
His fists clenched.
"How? And for what? Just to run into something worse?"
She sighed.
"And so you'll give up entirely?"
His breath hitched.
"It's not about wanting to or not. I… I simply can't."
"You can."
Her grip tightened.
"You have to."
Her eyes gleamed with fierce determination.
"I didn't raise a boy who gives up. You have to prove that I didn't make a mistake when I named you Shwetansh."
His lips trembled.
"I can't imagine facing that monster again."
He shuddered.
"And what even is that place? How did I get there?"
She shook her head.
"That's for you to find out."
Her warmth began to fade.
His eyes widened.
"Mom?"
"I wanted to talk more, but… I'm running out of time."
His heart clenched.
"Time?! What time?!"
He reached for her.
But—
She was turning into light.
"No—wait!"
She spread her arms.
Her body shimmered, breaking apart into glowing fragments.
"Remember, my child."
Her voice echoed like a whisper in the wind.
"You are the indomitable light of the world. You cannot be consumed by darkness."
The light swirled, faded, vanished.
His fingers closed around empty air.
"No… No, no, no…!"
He collapsed, his breath shaky, his chest hollow.
And then—
The world sank again, the warmth was gone, the sense of safety disappeared. He opened his eyes, he was looking at 'it' again.