Happiness. Joy. Delight.
Pain. Sorrow. Despair.
They're nothing more than relative termsālabels we assign to the ever-changing conditions of life.
Every person has their moments. Moments when they feel they've reached the very peak of life, standing atop everything they've ever hoped to achieve.
And then, there are the moments when they plummet .. deep into the pitch-black pit of despair.
These highs and lows define the human experience. Fueled by the sheer weight of the emotions we carry.
But for most people, those momentsāwhether joyful or tragicāare fleeting.
They pass.
Sometimes they leave scars that never truly fade, but life, in one way or another, continues forward.
But what about thatā¦ anomaly?
That one rare, terrifying anomalyā
when life flips upside down the very moment you've reached your greatest joyā¦
and drags you, screaming, into the jaws of despair and death?
A nightmare most would never dare imagineā
let alone live.
But what if that nightmare became real?
And not just once.
Not twice.
But overā¦ and over again?
Seconds turned into minutes.
Minutes into hours.
Hours into days, and monthsā¦
And finallyāinto years.
Caught in a cycle that refused to end,
Frey Starlight found himself enduring hell itself.
Every time he reached the pinnacle of happiness, he was torn down violently into the depths of despair.
Then, his memories would vanish.
And the cycle would begin again.
And again.
At some point,
his soul grew weary.
Exhausted.
His tears had long since driedāso much so, he had often cried blood.
The memories faded, but the heart never forgot.
Frey lived with that void inside his chestā¦
a void that had grown so vast, it had become a black hole, devouring him from within.
Emotions clashedājoy and sorrow, hope and grief, laughter and mourning.
-Loop 100-
Frey Starlight stood, gazing upon the corpses of his family ..
for the hundredth time.
Torn apart.
Reduced to pieces.
Their blood soaked the room.
The stench of death clung to his senses.
The demon stood before him, smiling as always.
And Freyā¦
he smiled back.
Just faintly.
"You look different,"
the demon said with an amused grin.
For a moment, he wanted to askāWho are you?
Are you really Frey Starlight?
He looked young .. barely in his twenties.
But those sunken, lifeless eyes, and the dark circles beneath themā¦
He seemed more like a man who had lived far too long.
Someone tired of life itself.
His hair had turned stark white againā
but unlike before, when it was merely a symptom of the Frozen Heart Curse from the Moonlight bloodlineā¦
This time, it was age.
Frey had aged, loop after loop,
until the weight of it all was etched into his very soul.
He could no longer cry.
Lowering his head,
he stared at the bloodied ground with a weary smile.
"I understand now."
His voice was heavy.
"I finally understand what you want from me."
After being torn apart by endless psychological torture,
his fragmented soul unable to hold itself together, Frey began to realize the meaning behind it all.
The purpose of the never-ending suffering.
Why he had been forced to relive the same agony again and again.
But at this stage, even memory loss wasn't enough to protect him.
The simulations no longer brought joyāonly absolute despair.
"He wants me to get used to thisā¦"
Whoever was behind thisā
the blue-eyed oneā¦ or the Engineer, whoever he truly wasā
wanted Frey to become numb.
To be able to stand over the corpses of the ones he loved mostā¦
and feel nothing.
Overā¦ and overā¦ again.
"He wants me to watch them die a hundred timesā¦ a thousandā¦
without ever showing a reaction.
That's the level he wants me to reach."
Frey took slow, heavy stepsā
passing the demon without even acknowledging his presence,
as if he were nothing.
Kneeling before the bodies of his family,
Frey spoke again with that same broken, tired smile.
"All I have to doā¦ is get used to it."
His hand touched the blood, now coldā
a quiet confirmation that they were truly gone.
"It's easy, isn't it?"
I shouldn't grieve.
I shouldn't rage.
I shouldn't feel anything when they die.
If I can stay calm,
then I'll get through thisā¦
He continued smiling as he whispered to himself.
"It's easyā¦ right?"
That's all it took to end his suffering...
"Fascinating,"
the demon muttered, eyes fixed on Frey.
Frey had turned his back to the demon, who let out a sinister laugh.
"It's easy, Frey. You can do it... Right?"
The demon's voice echoed mockingly, and Frey's shoulders trembled.
To reach the point where their deaths no longer hurt ..
To remain calm, utterly unshaken, as you watch them torn apartā¦
as the scent of their blood fills your lungs,
and their bodies grow cold beneath your fingertips ..
Was he truly capable of that?
A dark pulse surged violently from within Frey's chest, shattering the stillness. He lifted his head to the sky and screamed with every ounce of strength he had:
"As if I could ever accept something like that!!!"
A wave of black aura burst outward, shaking the entire realm.
"How the hell do you expect me to get used to this?!"
BOOM!!
The world exploded as Frey charged toward the demon.
"Accept their deaths?"
BOOM!!
"Pretend it means nothing?!"
BOOOOM!!
In a merciless rage, Frey destroyed everything in sight ..
even what remained of his family's corpsesā
until all that remained intact was the ever-smiling demon.
Calmly, the demon extended his hand once more.
"Once more."
And time reset to zero.
But this timeā¦
Frey didn't resist.
As he tumbled through the spiraling tunnel of time, he remained still.
The scene reformed.
Even with his memories wiped,
his bodyāhis very soulāstill remembered.
-Loop 101-
His family died again.
"Father... Mother..."
How many times had he seen them die?
"You raised me to be the man you always wanted me to become."
Kneeling before them, Frey mourned in a broken voice.
"Look what I've becomeā¦
Look how far I've fallen."
Pointing to himself, he burst into hollow laughter.
"I think I'm losing my mind.
I can't think straight anymore.
God only knows how I'm even speaking coherently right now..."
So much had changed.
"I want to destroy everything.
This cursed world that chained me like thisāI want to tear it down.
I want to die.
I wantā¦
and I wantā¦
but I've received nothing."
"I've lost my mind."
Collapsed and unable to cry any longer,
darkness bloomed violently from Frey's chest again.
"But even in my madnessā¦ I still couldn't do it."
His voice trembled, swallowed by the shadows overtaking him.
"I couldn't get used to losing you.
No matter how hard I tried."
No amount of insanity could numb the pain.
"I love you."
And with that final thought,
the darkness devoured Frey completely,
launching him skyward.
"I love you more than anything in this world."
Those were his last words
before falling into complete madness,
destroying everything around him in a blind rampageā¦
ā¦yet still,
he couldn't touch the demon.
"Once more."
The cursed chant returned ..
as cruel and inevitable as death.