We stood there—silent, breathless, and trembling—not because of the cold, but because we finally understood.
There could be no more mistakes.
One scratch… that's all it would take. Just one cut, one wound, and it would carry over into the real world. This wasn't some game anymore. There were no respawns. No do-overs. No second chances. This was our final life—our final breath.
We were only fourteen. Just kids.
And yet we stood at the edge of Hell, facing an end most adults would never be prepared for.
I clenched my fists until my nails dug into my skin. I wanted to scream. I wanted to punch a rock again and again until it shattered—or until I did. But I couldn't. Hurting myself wouldn't fix anything. It wouldn't bring us safety, or hope. It wouldn't bring us home.
Everyone was lost in their own thoughts. The silence grew so heavy it was suffocating.
And then... she stood up.
Wisdom.
With her long staff in hand, her gaze fierce, she shouted, "We can't keep wasting time! If we're scared, then fine—but we train. We train harder than we've ever trained before. We train until our souls can't go any further. Until we're strong enough to kill that f****** demon!"
Without waiting for a reply, she spun her staff and launched herself into the jagged rocks nearby. Blow after blow, she struck them with blinding speed and accuracy. Stone shattered beneath her strikes as if it were paper. Her movements were elegant and wild—graceful yet filled with rage.
We watched in silence. Not because we didn't care—but because we were still clinging to fear.
And then…
Kindness stood up.
Then Faith.
And before I knew it, everyone was training—sparring, shouting, sweating, laughing—except for Fearlessness. He had fallen asleep again, sprawled out like none of this mattered.
Justice walked over to him with fire in his eyes, preparing to kick him awake, but I beat him to it. I grinned wildly, channeling all the tension inside me into a single, joyous strike.
My kick launched him straight into a burning pit.
We burst out laughing.
For a moment… we forgot everything.
The curse. The pain. The hopelessness. All of it.
We were just kids again—cracking jokes, sparring with demons way above our level, and laughing like we weren't in Hell.
Day after day, we fought. We laughed. We grew stronger. Time blurred into motion—until six months had passed.
Six months in Hell.
And somehow, we weren't afraid anymore.
But not all of us forgot.
Fearlessness hadn't laughed much. He hadn't trained like the rest of us. No. He trained harder. Deeper. In silence. Alone.
While we were running from our fears behind smiles, he was preparing to face them head-on.
And then one day, as we were packing up after another training session, preparing to retreat from the Border, Fearlessness stood still. He didn't move. He didn't follow.
"Fearlessness?" we called out, half-joking. "You gonna fall asleep again or what?"
He turned his head, wind blowing through his hair, and said only two words:
"I'm ready."
We all stopped.
Justice frowned. "Ready? Ready for what?"
He looked each of us in the eye, and there was something in his gaze—something so terrifyingly calm.
"You know what I mean," he said. "You've just forgotten."
Wisdom gasped. Her face fell. She knew.
She walked toward him slowly.
"Wait!" Kindness called out, panic rising in her voice. "Wisdom?! What are you doing? We need to stay together!"
Wisdom turned, her expression hard but her eyes filled with tears. "Stop hiding," she said. "We've all been hiding. But Fearlessness is right. It's time."
None of us said a word. Deep down, we had all known it too.
We just didn't want to admit it.
One by one, we stepped forward—toward Fearlessness, toward the Border.
I was the second-last to move. Only Justice remained, frozen.
Then… his knees gave out.
Tears fell from his eyes as he shouted, "WHY?! Why now?! We had so much fun! We trained, we laughed—we finally felt alive again! And now you're all just going to leave it behind and DIE?! Is that it?!"
No one answered.
We didn't have the strength.
He already knew the answer.
Minutes passed. Then, quietly, Justice rose to his feet and joined us.
Now we walked.
Each step forward was heavier than the last. Each step tore at our hearts.
Every step was closer to death!