Chapter 139: The Nightmare Vision

Smoke stung my eyes as I struggled to see through the chaos. The flames flickered and danced around me, casting eerie shadows on the ground.

Bodies lay everywhere, each one a familiar face, each one a fresh wound on my heart. I felt like I was drowning in a sea of my own failures.

“Is this what you wanted?” a voice hissed in my ear. It was the mastermind again, but now their voice was different—softer, almost gentle. “Is this what all your noble choices have led to?”

“No,” I croaked, my voice hoarse from the smoke and tears. “This isn’t real. It can’t be.”

“Oh, it’s very real, Sera. It’s the reality you’ve created with your decisions. You could have saved them, all of them, but instead, you let them burn.”

I wanted to scream, to shout back that it wasn’t true, but deep down, I knew they were right. Every choice I’d made, every sacrifice, every time I’d refused to compromise—it had all led to this moment, this nightmare.

What if I’d been wrong all along? What if my stubbornness, my r