"Maybe this was the only way out of this miserable life... To be beaten to death by the man I love... my husband."
His fist slamd into her already bloodied face.
"I don’t bla you for this, my love. You’re only letting out the anger I caused. I was your wife, yet I couldn’t give you the heirs you deserved. You were strong, successful... everything a man is supposed to be. I was nothing before you found , and ever since, I’ve only ruined the future you tried to build."
He kicked her hard in the stomach. She gasped for air as he shouted.
"You’re worse than an animal. You deserve to die! DIE!"
"Worse than an animal... perhaps I am. A woman who can’t give her husband a child has no value. That was the only way I could repay you and I... failed."
He drew his fist back again. This ti, she caught it before it could land.
"But you have no right to treat a woman like this."
With what little strength she had left, she shoved his hand away.
"If I die. I’ll drag you to hell with ."
She lifted her shirt and revealed a scalpel strapped at her waist. Without hesitation, she drove it into his chest, right where the heart should be. Using what strength she had left, she dragged the blade downward. Blood burst free as he collapsed, clutching the deep, gaping wound.
"For better, for worse. For richer, for poorer. In sickness and in health. To love and to cherish. Until we are parted by death."
Those were her final words as her vision dimd. Her body fell forward, resting against his chest.
"I always loved you. But this love hurts."
Her eyes closed. Her consciousness faded, but her heart refused to let go.
"If only I could have given birth. None of this would have happened. We wouldn’t have killed each other, my love."
That pain cut deeper than every beating she endured when he ca ho drunk each night. Darkness swallowed her whole, thick like water, and images began to flash.
"So this is what they ant... Reliving your happiest mories."
She saw herself walking down the aisle, smiling as he cried at the sight of her in white. She saw their vows spoken before God. Their first year together; laughter, warmth, love before everything shattered with the truth she could not escape.
"I’m sorry I betrayed you, my husband. No... no. It’s . I betrayed as a woman."
A trembling, desperate hope surfaced.
"I know I don’t deserve to say this but I want to live again. I want to bear children any way I can. I’ll try harder. I’ll take back what makes a woman, and this ti, I won’t let a man decide my worth."
A heartbeat echoed through the dark water.
"Please... I’m begging you. I don’t care if you’re a god or a devil just give another chance."
The sound grew louder, rippling through the darkness.
"W-what is that?"
It rose into sothing violent... a mix of slashing, and crashing waves shaking the dark water around her.
"Who’s up there? Are you the God? The Devil? ANSWER !"
Then the sound stopped.... She went still, straining to hear, to feel that vibration again but nothing answered her.
"No. No, no, no. I have to answer that call. I’m not done yet. I—Maddy am not done yet."
The dark water pressing in on her from all sides. Her hands and feet began to fade, slipping away from her control. Panic set in, but she forced herself upward, toward where the sound had co from. She kicked and clawed until there was nothing left to kick with. When her arms and legs vanished, she twisted and slithered through the water, driven by desperation alone.
"I have to get out of here! My legs! My arms... no. I have to reach the surface!"
Just before the rest of her disappeared, her head broke through. She gasped for air, choking, as her body slamd hard onto the ground.
"Hah! Hah! Hah..."
She lay on the ground, gasping, her chest burning with every breath. The pain anchored her far too real for death.
"Did I just escape death? Am I alive again? Or did I end up in hell?"
The sound from earlier ca back, louder this ti. It made her flinch as the ground quaked, bouncing her slightly off the surface. She turned toward the source and froze at what she saw.
"What the hell... what is that? Is that a demon fighting a giant worm?!"
A massive, thick beige worm thrashed inside the mineral lit cave, its circular mouth lined with multiple rows of sharp teeth as it scread. It lunged at a red, muscular man with two short horns on his forehead. He wielded a heavy club, raising it just in ti to block the charge. The mont they collided, his body jolted, electricity crackling through him.
"Damn! This worm’s putting up a fight. It even evolved after eating a spark spider, huh."
He shoved the worm aside as spider like legs sprouted from its body and stabbed toward him from another angle. With a grunt, he swung his club with brutal force, smashing the worm’s head and slamming it hard into the cavern wall.
"Now, surround it and finish it!"
The red man shouted, rallying the others. More of his kind appeared sa as him they were tall, muscular figures. Their skin colored green, blue, violet, and more. They attacked at once, striking with spears, swords, and arrows. The giant worm didn’t last long. It was cut down in monts. A brown skinned demon woman shouted in delight.
"Yeah! We’ve got ourselves a feast tonight! A good hunt for the chief’s firstborn!"
The others cheered while Maddy shivered, frozen in place. She had just witnessed sothing grueso, terrifying, and utterly otherworldly.
"This is clearly hell. It has to be. I need to get out of here before those demons kill too."
She tried to move but sothing felt wrong.
"I have to get up. I have to go away from here. Huh?"
She braced herself and tried to push up with her arms then froze... panic rushing in as she struggled harder.
"W-wait. Wait. Where the hell are my arms?! Why can’t I move them?! Co on, get up! Move while those demons are still carrying that damn worm!"
She tried again, moving them the way she always had. Nothing responded. Panic crept in, but she forced herself to breathe.
"First, breathe, Don’t panic, Maddy dont cause a freaking sound right now. You still have your feet. Even without arms, you can move. Rember that old holess man at the training station? Seventy seven years old, no arms, still alive still playing guitar with his feet. You can do this. You can."
She tried to move her feet... Nothing. No muscle. No weight. No sensation.
"No f*cking way. What is happening to ? What the hell is going on!? Oh lord, don’t tell ?"
She kept trying to move, forcing herself to focus, to understand what her body was now.
"Oh no. No, no, no. I have no arms. No legs. And I’m... crawling?"
Her breath hitched as the truth settled in.
"The devil answered my call. And he brought back as a freaking worm?!"
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