Alone... crying... forgotten.
But then something began to move across the water as small ripples spreading outward like cautious footsteps.
Ting...
A step.
Ting...
Another.
Ting...
The black water shifted, parting gently with each movement as something... was walking across it.
The figure was made of shadow, a silhouette resembling a man.
Slowly, it reached the Apostle’s side.
The Apostle’s voice quivered as its massive form turned slightly, as much as its broken state allowed.
The figure of darkness did not reply.
It simply gazed at the Apostle’s shattered form.
Slowly, it began to kneel and gently caressed the Apostle’s pyramid-shaped head.
A broken voice echoed, as if it too had long been worn down by something unseen.
The Apostle’s body trembled faintly at those words.
The black water rippled outward as its murmured back.
Its voice cracked, heavy with guilt.
The dark figure remained still and just listen.
Its hand slowly brushed across the Apostle’s head, as one would comfort something wounded...something precious.
The voice came again... soft, yet firm.
The dark figure’s head tilted slightly upward, as if gazing beyond the abyss.
Beyond everything...toward the heaven.
The Apostle trembled slightly at the words.
The word fell gently, yet carried undeniable authority.
The Apostle’s trembling stilled, but it continued to cry out.
.bg-ssp-10081{margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;display:flex;justify-content:center;} But its desperate, broken cry was cut short as the Apostle’s massive body slowly sank beneath the black water.
First the limbs then the torso.
...Then the pyramid-shaped head which was still turned upward, its hand reaching for the light... as if grasping for something it could no longer hold.
The last fragments of its voice dissolved into silence.
And then... it was gone.
The surface closed over it without a trace... without any splash and disturbance.
Only a faint ripple that spread outward...
...and vanished.
The abyss returned to stillness.
But the words... they lingered.
The dark figure remained standing, unmoving.
It repeated softly.
Not in agreement nor in rejection but... as if tasting the weight of those words.
Then the black water beneath its feet trembled faintly.
A pause.
Then—
The water rippled.
But this time, the ripple did not fade, as if it were responding to the dark figure’s emotions.
It spread endlessly across the abyss, as if echoing something far deeper than sound.
The figure spread its arms, as if challenging the heavens themselves.
It shouted, and by the end, it sounded more like a sob... as it clutched its blurred face and sank to its knees.
Then the voice broke.
Not in rage... but in something far more fragile.
The abyss trembled.