They told me death was the end. Funny. I remember the cheering. I remember hands dragging me across the Realm like I was already a corpse. They never looked me in the eyes. It was easier that way. Easier to believe her. Easier to call me the monster. Easier than admitting they'd abandoned one of their own. ... They said justice had been served. They watched me bleed into the soil. They watched my heart stop. And they slept peacefully that night. I wonder... Did any of them lose sleep after? Did Gl█████? ... I wasn't angry when I woke up. Just... Empty. Empty people don't cry. Empty people don't scream. They simply stop believing. Humanity has a remarkable talent. It buries truth... then mourns the lie it created. ... So I left. There wasn't anything left for me. Not in the Realm. Not in the world that waited beyond it. Every mirror showed someone different. Every face expected me to apologize... for surviving. ... Then... someone answered. They never gave me a name. Only a question. "If they already believe you're the devil..." "...why keep pretending you're not?" ... I don't remember accepting. I only remember... the silence ending. ... My name disappeared first. Then my voice. Then the person they buried. ... Strange. They were right after all. They really did kill ████. ... But... they never sought to lay eyes on what'd come back. ... Tell me... Which part of me deserved it? Was it the smile? The jokes? The times I bled beside you? ... Or was it simply easier... to point at the quiet one? I searched for an answer. Every memory became another courtroom. Every dream ended the same way. She spoke. You believed. I died. ... Not one of you asked me. Not one. You heard my sentence... before you ever heard my voice. Funny. You called me a liar... while swallowing hers whole. ... I replayed that day. Again. Again. Again. Again. Hoping... just once... someone would stop them. Nobody did. ... I remember the weight. The dirt. My own blood growing cold. I remember reaching upward... wondering if anyone would pull me back. They didn't. ... So why... should I? ... Do you know what silence does to a person? It doesn't heal them. It teaches them. It teaches them how hatred grows. Slowly. Patiently. Like roots beneath your feet. ... I spent so long wishing someone would believe me... that I never noticed... I had stopped believing in anyone. ... Something inside me broke. I heard it. It sounded... beautiful. ... The guilt disappeared first. Then mercy. Then fear. ... I don't dream anymore. I remember. Every face. Every voice. Every pair of hands... that held me down. ... You wanted a monster. You rehearsed my execution. You celebrated my death. You buried my name. ... Then don't mourn... when your prophecy comes true. ... I remember what my blood looked like. I wonder... if yours shines the same beneath the Realm's sky. ... Let it stain the grass. Let it soak into the earth that welcomed mine. Let every scream... become another witness. ... I begged to be understood. Now... I only want to be remembered. ... Not as your victim. Not as your villain. ... But as the mistake... that came back to finish the story.