Chapter 10: Breaking

Levi’s eyes snapped open, his chest heaving, his lungs burning as if he had been suffocating. The world around him was a blur—dark clouds of smoke twisting above, the distant rumble of destruction echoing in the background. Everything felt wrong. His head throbbed, and his body ached, but the pain was distant, almost unreal.

His hands were trembling as he pushed himself up, dirt and debris falling from his skin. He blinked, trying to make sense of his surroundings, but all he could see were ruins—twisted metal, broken concrete, and fires burning out of control. The air was thick with ash, and the ground was littered with debris. It was like the city had been swallowed by some horrible catastrophe.

Levi stumbled to his feet, his breath coming in shallow gasps. His heart was racing, pounding in his chest like it wanted to break free. His thoughts were a jumbled mess, slipping away before he could hold on to them. What happened? He couldn’t remember. All he knew was that something terrible had occurred, and everything was… gone.

Before he could make sense of it, something else hit him—a force so powerful, so overwhelming, that he nearly collapsed.

The emotions.

They slammed into him like a tidal wave, drowning him, pulling him under. Fear. Pain. Terror. It was like the entire world had come crashing down in a single, violent instant, and Levi was caught in the middle of it. It wasn’t his fear. It wasn’t his pain. But it might as well have been.

His body convulsed, and he clutched his head, his fingers digging into his scalp as he screamed. The emotions were too much—too strong, too raw. They were everywhere, pressing down on him, suffocating him. Hundreds of thousands of people—all dying at once, their last moments imprinted on the world like a scar, and Levi was feeling all of it.

The terror, the disbelief, the agony. The sheer panic of knowing that death was inevitable, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.

Levi’s breath hitched, his vision blurring as the emotions tore through him. His chest ached, his heart pounding so hard he thought it might burst. He could feel their fear, the terror that had gripped them in their final moments, and it was suffocating him, strangling him.

“Stop…” Levi gasped, his voice hoarse as he stumbled forward, his hands pressed to his head. “Please… make it stop…”

But it wouldn’t stop.

The emotions kept coming, wave after wave, each one crashing into him harder than the last. He could feel every single death—the fear in their hearts, the pain in their bodies, the disbelief as their lives were snuffed out in an instant. It was too much. It was driving him mad.

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Levi broke into a run, his feet pounding against the broken pavement as he tried to escape the storm of emotions that raged inside him. His breath came in ragged gasps, his heart racing as he pushed himself faster, but no matter how far he ran, the emotions were there—in his mind, in his body, filling every inch of him until there was no room left for anything else.

The voices were screaming in his head—so many voices—all crying out at once, all desperate, all terrified. He could hear their thoughts, feel their final moments as they faced death. And the pain… the pain was unbearable. It was like fire burning through his veins, tearing through his body, leaving him raw and broken.

Levi’s legs shook beneath him as he stumbled over debris, but he couldn’t stop. He had to keep running, had to keep moving. If he stopped, if he let the emotions catch him, he knew he wouldn’t survive. But even as he ran, he knew it was hopeless. The emotions were inside him, suffocating him, pulling him apart piece by piece.

His breath came in short, shallow bursts, his chest heaving as he screamed again, his voice cracked and raw. “Stop! Please, stop!”

But the emotions didn’t listen. They pressed harder, growing louder, sharper. Levi could feel every single death—each one cutting into him like a knife, tearing at his mind until he thought he might break apart completely.

And then, something inside him snapped.

It was like the world tilted on its axis, and Levi’s mind fractured under the weight of it all. His thoughts shattered, slipping away like grains of sand through his fingers. The voices were too loud. The emotions were too strong. He couldn’t fight them anymore. He couldn’t hold on.

“No! No, no, no!” His screams echoed through the broken streets as he ran, his body trembling violently. He clutched his head, his nails digging into his scalp as if he could claw the emotions out of him, but they wouldn’t leave. They were inside him now, a part of him, and they were destroying him.

The emotions twisted through him, pulling him deeper into the darkness. He couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. All he could do was feel. The fear. The pain. The screaming. It was breaking him apart, shredding his mind until there was nothing left but raw, exposed nerves. He felt like he was coming undone, unraveling from the inside out.

“Please…” Levi gasped, his voice barely more than a whisper now. “Please… make it stop…”

But the emotions kept coming, tearing at his mind, pulling him down into madness. His thoughts were a mess of noise and fear, a chaotic storm of pain and panic that he couldn’t escape. He could feel the emotions swirling around him, pressing into him from all sides, and he was losing himself. Losing everything.

His breath came in desperate sobs, his chest heaving as he ran blindly through the ruins, his mind fractured and broken. He couldn’t think anymore. He couldn’t hold on to anything. The emotions were too loud, too intense, drowning out everything else.

Levi’s vision blurred with tears, his throat raw from screaming, but he couldn’t stop. He couldn’t let the emotions win. He had to keep running, had to keep moving, or he would fall apart completely. But no matter how fast he ran, no matter how far he went, the emotions were there—inside him, pulling him deeper into the chaos.

His body shook violently, his legs trembling as he stumbled over the broken ground, but he forced himself to keep going. The voices were screaming in his head, their fear and pain echoing in his mind, and it was driving him mad.

“Make it stop! Make it STOPPPPPP!” Levi’s voice cracked, his words lost in the storm of emotions that raged around him.

He was losing it. His sanity was slipping away, crumbling under the weight of all the death, all the pain. The emotions were breaking him, tearing him apart from the inside. He could feel his mind coming undone, piece by piece, until there was nothing left but the emptiness.

His chest heaved, his breath coming in shallow, ragged gasps as he ran faster, his heart racing in his chest. His thoughts were a blur, spinning out of control, slipping through his fingers as he screamed into the ruins, desperate for it to end.

But it wouldn’t stop.

It wouldn’t ever stop.

Levi’s body convulsed, his muscles spasming as he gasped for air, but he couldn’t stop. He couldn’t feel anymore. His mind was too broken, too shattered by the emotions that had flooded him. He couldn’t feel anything but the numbness—the cold, empty void where his sanity had once been.

The emotions still swirled around him, distant now, like an echo that never faded. He could sense them—their pain, their fear—but they didn’t touch him anymore. He was numb. Hollow. The emotions were there, but they couldn’t reach him.

Levi’s breath hitched, his body trembling as he continued to run, his mind lost in the storm. His voice cracked as he screamed into the smoke and ash, but he didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop.

He was broken.