Lamair didn’t answer imdiately. The question lingered in the empty expanse like a weight pressing against his thoughts.
’What do you beco after it?’
He tried...
"A soul."
The world flickered. He felt unravel again, this ti not into nothing, but into sothing thin, drifting, and incomplete. He could feel himself being pulled, stretched across sothing vast and unseen, like a thread caught in an endless current. It wasn’t gone, but he wasn’t alive either, nor whole. It was wrong. The sensation snapped.
...
"A mory."
He stood again, this ti watching people speak his na. There were stories of him, fragnts of his shared mories, laughter, and grief.
But the longer it went on, the more distorted it beca. His na changed. His deeds twisted. His existence reduced to sothing small, then smaller... then gone.
He had been erased not by death, but by ti.
...
"A continuation."
This ti, he beca sothing else entirely. A beast, a child, a stranger... pieces of him scattered across lives that had nothing to do with him. He had no identity and no continuity, just existence... recycled without aning.
...
Lamair exhaled slowly as the world stabilized again.
"None of them is right."
"No," Thanatos agreed.
Silence stretched for a longer ti. Then...
"You have failed."
Lamair didn’t flinch.
"Figured."
There was a pause after his statent.
"You have also passed."
That made him look up.
"What?"
The space in front of him rippled.
"For answering as Lamair," the voice continued calmly, "you have succeeded. For failing to answer as ..." The pressure deepened. "You have failed."
The contradiction sat there, heavy and absolute. Lamair let out a quiet breath through his nose.
"You’re annoying."
A low chuckle echoed.
"I’ve been called worse."
The space ahead of him tore open as sothing stepped out.
It wasn’t massive or incomprehensible. It was a man... tall, lean, muscular, and familiar.
Lamair’s eyes narrowed slightly.
"So that’s how you look."
The figure before him looked like him, but older.
Long black hair flowed down past his waist, reaching his thighs, swaying without the wind. His skin was pale... too pale. It was not sickly or weak... just devoid of warmth, like sothing that had long since forgotten what life felt like.
His eyes were a deep violet, calm and endless. They were old in a way that wasn’t cruel... just distant.
"You expected sothing grander?" the figure asked.
Lamair shrugged slightly.
"I expected sothing less... ."
The man smiled faintly.
"This is already a compromise. My true self is not sothing you should see... yet."
Lamair believed that instantly. There was sothing about this version alone that made the air feel... quieter. Like, even existence lowered its voice around him.
"Thanatos," Lamair said.
"Correct."
They stood facing each other—sa stance, sa presence, but with a different weight.
Thanatos tilted his head slightly.
"Tell , Lamair..."
His voice softened.
"Do you want to beco ?"
The question landed without force. There was no pressure or manipulation. It was just... offered.
Lamair didn’t answer imdiately. He studied him quietly. The stillness, the emptiness behind the calm. The way he stood like soone who had seen everything... and nothing mattered anymore.
"You’re strong," Lamair admitted.
Thanatos said nothing.
"You’re beyond strong, actually."
Still nothing.
Lamair scratched the back of his head.
"But that path of yours?"
He exhaled.
"It’s depressing as hell."
There was silence... a heavy one that made the world shudder from what was going to happen.
Thanatos blinked once, then twice, nd then... he laughed.
A deep, genuine sound that echoed through the empty space, completely out of place for soone like him.
Lamair raised a brow.
"Did I say sothing funny?"
Thanatos took a mont to compose himself, still smiling faintly.
"That is true," he said, voice lighter now. "It is... a very desolate path."
He looked at Lamair with sothing that almost resembled warmth.
"I’m glad I t you."
Lamair frowned slightly.
"You’re literally ."
"Not quite," Thanatos replied. "We are the sa... but we chose differently."
He turned slightly, looking out into the endless expanse.
"You chose to feel more. To hold on to things. To remain... alive in ways I no longer am."
Lamair crossed his arms.
"And you chose to be creepy."
Thanatos chuckled again.
"Among other things."
A quiet pause followed.
"After you leave here," Thanatos continued, "you will change. You already have. Your understanding has deepened."
He glanced back at him.
"But you will never beco ."
Lamair nodded once.
"Good."
That earned another small smile.
For a while, neither of them spoke.
Then Lamair broke the silence.
"So, do people always freak out when they see you?"
Thanatos raised a brow.
"Always."
Lamair snorted.
"Yeah, I can see that."
"They stop breathing sotis," Thanatos added casually. "So forget how to think entirely."
"You’re joking."
"I am not."
Lamair stared at him for a second.
"That’s ssed up."
"It is not intentional."
"Still ssed up."
Thanatos inclined his head slightly, as if accepting the judgnt.
Lamair looked around.
"So what now? More weird questions? More dying repeatedly?"
Thanatos shook his head.
"No."
He stepped closer.
For the first ti, the distance between them felt... real.
"There are things you should know."
Lamair’s expression shifted slightly, as Thanatos’ eyes deepened.
"Death is not an end. You already understand that. But what you do not yet understand is that it is also not neutral."
His voice lowered.
Lamair’s brows furrowed.
"Every death leaves sothing behind. Not just mory or consequence, but sothing deeper. Sothing that accumulates."
He tapped his own chest lightly.
"And people like us... We feel it more than others."
Lamair went quiet.
Thanatos continued.
"There will co a ti when you will stand in a place where death gathers."
A faint smile touched his lips.
"And when that happens... You will know what to do."
Lamair exhaled slowly.
"You really like being vague, don’t you?"
"It builds character."
"Or frustration."
"Both are useful."
Lamair shook his head, a faint smirk forming.
"You’re not as bad as I thought."
Thanatos looked at him for a mont. Then nodded slightly.
"And you are exactly as troubleso as I expected."
The space around them began to shift again.
The trial was ending.
Thanatos stepped back slightly.
"Go, Lamair."
Lamair adjusted his grip on his axes.
"Yeah."
He paused.
Then added...
"Try smiling more. You look less scary."
Thanatos’ lips curved faintly.
"I will consider it."
The world dissolved.
And Lamair was gone.
Left behind in the silence, Thanatos stood alone once more; still, calm, and unchanging.
But for just a mont, there was sothing lighter in his eyes.
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