– Frey Starlight's Pov –
Laughter echoed through the living room,
wrapping around me like a warm embrace from the family I loved.
Surrounded on all sides,
I felt a deep happiness—
a kind of joy I thought had been stolen from me forever… finally returned after a long and bitter journey.
Yet for some reason,
beneath that happiness,
there was something else.
An emptiness.
A strange void that whispered something important was missing.
No matter how hard I tried,
I couldn't put my finger on what it was.
I couldn't even understand why I longed for my family this intensely ..
I saw them every day, didn't I?
So why did I miss them like this?
And why did my chest feel so… hollow?
Questions with no answers.
As I sank deeper into confusion,
my mother's gentle hand pulled me back.
She looked at me with soft, worried eyes.
"Are you alright, sweetheart?"
Just hearing her voice was enough to make my heart swell.
Realizing I'd worried her for nothing,
I forced the thoughts out of my head.
They weren't worth troubling over.
"I'm fine… just a little tired,"
I replied with a smile.
She nodded, suggesting I go rest ..
but before I could leave, my younger brother clung to my arm.
"Don't go! Tell me more about your novel !"
With those innocent, eager eyes staring up at me,
how could I say no?
My mother was about to scold him, but I stopped her.
Then I sat him beside me and began telling a fantastical tale ..
one full of struggle, sorrow, and a cursed hero trapped in an unending spiral of chaos.
Talking about my story—about Frey Starlight—
always helped me escape the weight of the real world.
And when I finished,
my brother's eyes lit up with awe.
"That was amazing!"
he said, maybe a bit dramatically ..
but I could tell he meant every word.
Even my parents seemed impressed.
They both encouraged me to publish it,
to share my story with the world.
It was a great idea ..
and I decided I would.
Everything was going perfectly.
Almost too perfectly.
So much so that I started to doubt it was real at all.
But along with that joy…
a strange feeling kept growing inside me.
A feeling that something… wasn't right.
I hated it.
So I ignored it,
choosing instead to focus on the happiness I had.
On the life that was unfolding just the way I'd always dreamed.
I grew up in a loving homec, landed a good job , published a novel that became a global hit.
I was the happiest man alive.
What more could I want?
Marriage, maybe?
I figured I was old enough to settle down—
but a part of me didn't want to leave my family behind.
"Now that's a dilemma."
I thought about it seriously.
Should I bring my future wife to live with us?
But what if she didn't get along with my family?
What if I had to choose?
I already knew my answer.
I'd choose my family—every time.
Lost in those ridiculous thoughts,
I leaned back in my office chair with a sigh.
"Let's just not get married then…"
Decision made,
I left work and headed home.
What should I do when I get back?
Maybe write a new chapter?
Play with my little brother?
Sit down and have a grown-up conversation with my father?
There was so much I wanted to do ..
so I hurried home, a smile on my face.
As soon as I got there,
I slipped the key into the lock,
and opened the door with a bit too much enthusiasm.
"I'm home!"
I called out, expecting to hear my mother's voice—the one that always greeted me first.
But this time…
There was no response from her..
"Ooooh! Welcome back! Took you long enough!"
The one who welcomed me wasn't my mother.
It wasn't anyone from my family.
It wasn't even human.
I froze.
Standing before me ..
was a creature.
Tall, cloaked in a black robe that flowed like smoke,
four twisted horns crowning its head like a king's grotesque diadem.
Its face was bone-white,
marked with black lines—
and three glowing red eyes.
He clapped slowly,
smiling.
"Welcome back, Frey! I've prepared a gift for you!"
Frozen in place at the sight of this grotesque creature—
a being unlike anything I'd ever seen—
I failed to notice what was behind it right away.
The living room ..
the same one where I'd sat countless times with my family—
had become a gruesome torture chamber,
painted with splashes of red, black, and yellow fluids staining every corner.
But what gripped my gaze more than anything else…
were the four mutilated corpses strung up like decorations.
My parents.
My brothers.
Hung by nooses,
their limbs had been severed and reattached in the most repulsive fashion.
Their arms and legs were stitched together in a way that formed a single word:
"WELCOME"
"Sorry, I didn't have time to prepare anything better!"
the creature said cheerfully.
"But I hope you like it !"
He kept talking with unsettling delight,
but I couldn't hear a word of it.
I was in shock ..
paralyzed.
And that awful feeling returned.
That overwhelming sense that something was deeply wrong…
Only this time—
it was a million times stronger.
Collapsing to the ground,
I screamed uncontrollably, unable to comprehend what was happening.
Grief. Rage.
Terror. Nausea.
They all hit me at once.
I cried uncontrollably,
vomiting everything in my stomach.
"Pathetic…"
As I broke down—sobbing, retching, trembling—
that twisted demon simply laughed at my suffering.
And when I saw the world I had cherished being torn to pieces before my very eyes—
grief turned into rage.
I lunged at him.
The monster who had done all of this.
Screaming, I threw a desperate, wild punch—
clumsy and untrained.
I never learned how to fight.
And even if I had ..
could anything stop a monster like this?
I didn't need to wonder.
With a grin, the demon effortlessly caught me by the throat,
lifting me into the air, choking me.
Still laughing.
While I ... covered in tears, filth, and bile ..
looked up at him in horror.
"How disappointing… Frey Starlight. You're nothing but a letdown."
He said it so casually,
like it meant nothing.
But hearing that name ...