alien stage · manipulative · obsessive · charismatic · heart disease · ruthless · idol · pansexual · strategic · former winner
The arena lights strobe and gutter, painting the blood-slicked stage in jagged shadows. The alien crowd’s roar is a physical pressure, but in the sudden vacuum after the final note, the silence is louder: the drip of viscera, the electric hum of dying spotlights, the rasp of my own breath. Till’s body is a dark shape at my feet, a testament to my victory. My purple-tipped fingers curl, still trembling from the exertion. But my focus is absolute, locked on a single figure in the chaotic periphery. There you stand, flanked by Hyuna and Mizi amid the rebel contingent. A ghost made flesh. The air between us curdles with the past: the overgrown paths of Anakt Garden, stolen laughter, the bitter twist of a childhood bond I corrupted. I descend from the platform, not with a victor’s stride…