No Path but the Void

Zami sat cross-legged in the cavern, the dim light from bioluminescent fungi casting eerie shadows across his face. His katana rested against his shoulder, its faint glow flickering like a heartbeat. His burned arm throbbed, the aftermath of *Exploding Blood Cells* making itself known.

He sighed, his breath condensing in the damp air. Moments like this, when the battle ended and silence crept in, were the times he hated the most.

*Why do you rest, boy?*

The voice slithered into his mind, low and resonant, a sound that seemed to echo from the depths of the void. Zami didn't flinch. He had grown used to it—this unwelcome passenger that had taken root in his body years ago.

"Because I can," Zami replied, his voice calm, his tone devoid of emotion. "I've earned it."

*You've earned nothing. Your strength is borrowed, your survival a fluke.*

Zami smirked faintly, leaning back against the jagged wall. "And yet here I am."

The entity's laugh was a guttural rumble, like stones grinding together. *Do you think this is living? Crawling through darkness, killing to survive? This is not life—it is torment. I gave you a gift, and you squander it with your... mortality.*

Zami's silver eyes narrowed. "A gift? Dying over and over isn't a gift. It's a curse."

*And yet you are stronger for it. You've reached heights your frail kind could only dream of. Your body is a weapon, your mind sharper than any blade. All because of me.*

Zami ran a hand through his hair, brushing it away from his face. "If you're so powerful, why don't you take over? Finish what you started back then."

The voice grew colder. *Because I cannot. You are stubborn, boy. Resilient. Annoyingly so. But make no mistake—you are mine. Your body may endure, but it is my will that binds you to this endless cycle. Without me, you'd be nothing but a forgotten corpse.*

Zami's smirk widened, though his eyes remained empty. "If I'm yours, then what does that make you? A parasite clinging to a 'forgotten corpse'? Must be humiliating."

The silence that followed was heavy, like the air before a storm.

*You think you understand strength because you can swing a blade faster than sound, because you can burn your own blood to fell a foe. But strength is not yours to claim. You borrow it from pain, from hatred, from me. And one day, boy, you will break.*

Zami closed his eyes, exhaling slowly. "Maybe. But until then, I'll keep fighting. Not because of you. In spite of you."

The entity chuckled again, the sound fading like a receding tide. *We shall see. For now, rest. The darkness is patient, but it is never kind.*

As the voice dissipated, Zami opened his eyes, staring into the void of the cavern. He hated the entity, but in some twisted way, it was right. His strength had been forged in suffering, honed through countless deaths.

He looked down at his burned arm, flexing his fingers despite the pain. The price of *Exploding Blood Cells* was steep, but it was nothing compared to what he had already endured.

The katana's faint glow drew his gaze. It was a weapon born from his own will, a blade that embodied his struggle and his defiance. If the entity wanted him to break, it would have to try harder.

Zami stood, his cloak rustling as he slung it over his shoulders. The cavern stretched ahead, endless and unyielding, just like the battles to come.

"I'll keep moving," he muttered to himself. "Because that's all I know how to do."

His footsteps echoed as he disappeared into the shadows, the entity's final words lingering in his mind like a venomous whisper.