"You have made your choice," the voice spoke.
"What happens to my family?" Kiran asked.
"That is up to you to decide," the voice spoke.
"Then, can you bring them here?" Kiran asked.
"This is a journey you must traverse on your own," the voice spoke. "If you wish, I can delete their memories of you so that they may not miss you. I can also deal with the Specter in the city and protect them."
Kiran held his chest.
His family.
"I will never see them again?" he asked.
"No."
Sorrow entered Kiran's heart.
He regretted his choice.
Yet, that regret vanished quickly.
He wanted to help humanity, and he finally had the chance to do just that.
Tears appeared in Kiran's eyes.
"Please," he said with a shaking voice. "Delete their memories and protect them."
"It is done," the voice spoke. "Nobody remembers you anymore."
It hurt.
It hurt so much.
Kiran essentially lost his family.
But this was the choice he had made.
Now, he had to go through with it.
"I am ready," Kiran said after several minutes.
"I will now grant you a tiny fraction of my power," the voice spoke. "It will hurt. You will suffer. You will wish you were dead."
"But if you survive, you will be humanity's leader."
"Humanity's Emperor!"
Kiran took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"Go ahead."
Kiran didn't see it, but at that moment, Nick appeared beside him.
Nick stretched his arm to Kiran and used his Zephyx.
The next moment, Kiran collapsed, and his eyes widened in terror.
Nick used his own Nightmare's influence and summoned visions in Kiran's eyes.
Kiran forgot who he was and found himself in an unfamiliar city.
He had never seen this city before, and yet, he felt like he had lived here all his life.
Memories of an unfamiliar life flooded into him.
He was an adult.
He found a wife.
Then, one day, his wife was taken by a Specter.
Kiran asked the powerful people in the city to find her,but they just told him to stop bothering them.
The love of his life was gone, and he felt his life had broken apart.
He wished he were dead, but he never spoke the Sentence.
After two weeks of wallowing in self-pity, he decided to take revenge himself.
He climbed the corporate ladder, and eventually, he found out what really happened.
His wife had been kidnapped by humans to feed one of their Specters.
Over the next months, Kiran planned something.
And one day, he assaulted the person who gave the order with a makeshift gun.
He shot the person.
Yet, the bullet only bounced off the person's body.
"Oh? Seems like we have a volunteer," the person said with a grin.
Kiran was taken and fed to the same Specter his wife was fed to.
He had failed.
But he didn't regret his choice.
After dying a gruesome death, Kiran's memories reset again, and he found himself in a different city.
This time, he was the sole father of two daughters.
One day, one of his daughters was kidnapped by a human.
Her ravaged body was found several days later.
She had become unrecognizable, and the killer's fluids were found all over her.
His child had just been five years old!
Hatred threatened to consume him.
But for his other daughter, he decided to remain strong.
He would not take revenge.
After all, the perpetrator had a high status, and if he did anything, his remaining daughter would lose her only family.
It was difficult.
Every day, hatred and anger consumed him.
He couldn't forgive the person.
But he had to swallow all of it.
He had to eat all of his hatred for his remaining daughter.
When his daughter was finally old enough to live on her own, Kiran's reservations vanished.
He hatched a plot and eventually assassinated the perpetrator.
The city found out, and the family of the perpetrator bribed the city.
They wanted to torture him to death.
But Kiran didn't regret anything.
It was worth it.
That was until they brought in his other daughter.
Kiran watched in horror as they tortured his other daughter to death.
Kiran was powerless.
He was forced to watch everything.
When everything was over, he weakly collapsed.
All the purpose in his life was gone.
And then, the people killed Kiran.
Kiran went through eight more lives like this.
All of them were filled with suffering and tragedy, and all of them followed the same pattern.
Powerlessness.
If he just had more power, he could protect his loved ones and kill his enemies.
He needed power!
He needed power more than anything!
And then, the final life arrived.
In this life, he was not helpless.
In fact, he was the most powerful person.
Kiran was dedicating his life to growing more and more powerful.
During this time, he barely spent any time with his family.
Eventually, he came home.
But he wished he hadn't.
His wife had died of old age.
His children were strangers.
They didn't recognize him anymore.
And he didn't recognize them.
All the love and connections were gone.
This left an empty feeling in Kiran's chest, but he just kept growing more powerful.
A long time passed, and Kiran became unmatched.
Yet, as he looked at the world he controlled…
He just felt emptiness.
He had achieved his goal.
He was powerful.
And for what purpose?
He couldn't answer that question.
He just felt isolated…
Empty…
Purposeless…
Lonely…
There was nothing to live for.
He spent years doing nothing.
He was just sitting there.
He couldn't connect with anyone.
He couldn't love anyone.
His life was empty.
"I wish I were dead," he spoke.
And yet, Nurse Alice never came.
After all, he had already killed her.
Kiran knew that.
It was just a musing.
Kiran wouldn't die of old age, and he didn't have the energy to commit suicide.
So, he was just stuck in an eternity of emptiness.
He wanted to cry, but he couldn't.
He didn't know how to cry anymore.
He didn't know how to feel anymore.
"What's the point of all of this power if I have no one to share it with?" he mused, feeling nothing but emptiness.
And then, he woke up.
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