Misunderstood Villain: Heroines Mourn My Death-Chapter 159: Bird Of Change

'Who am I?'

My 'body' jolted forward, almost causing me to 'fall.'

I 'balanced' myself while 'holding' onto the darkness for support.

The 'trembling' ceased, and I 'inhaled' heavily.

My upper body expanded slightly.

'Air' exited my 'mouth.'

Then my upper body returned to how it was before.

The process repeated itself.

Huff…

I tried to step forward, but my… 'feet' felt unfamiliar.

Stumbling once more, I found my 'back' against the 'dark.'

I could not go back... only 'forward.'

Huff… Huff…

My 'breathing' hitched as if I had walked an extremely long… 'hike.'

H-Huff…

Had I forgotten how to 'breathe?'

Huff… Huff… Huff… Huff…

I attempted to calm myself but to no avail.

Huff… Huff…

In a fit of rage at my pathetic state, my 'arms' surged and firmly clasped my 'neck.'

I had enough.

If I couldn't breathe, then, oh, 'Hell!' I'd rather end the need altogether!

Gasp!

My 'grip' was firm, and soon I grew suffocated.

Yet I didn't feel much different.

My 'head' grew dizzy, but that was about it.

I let go.

Gasp…

'Huh…'

That action caused my breathing to stabilize.

'Why?'

I tried to think...

A few conclusions came to mind.

Was it because my body prioritized learning it?

Was it due to my body's natural functions?

Or had it simply been a cause of 'time' passing?

I didn't know for sure, but it was likely related to that.

But I 'thought' of it no longer.

I had other things to worry about.

In front of me were 'white' patches…

They might've been called 'footsteps.'

I wasn't sure.

Anyhow, I felt the need to follow them.

Perhaps it'd lead me to my truth.

But before that, there was something I wanted to know...

I waddled forward, leaned down, and touched one.

Tap.

This footstep made a 'sound.'

Tap. Tap. Tap.

My fingers repeatedly knocked on it.

I was amused.

It truly made a sound in this soundless 'world.'

'Heh.'

It was entertaining.

My 'home' was 'black,' so they really stood out.

Though not enough to interest me for long.

My attention returned to what held me.

Seeking the truth.

I began to follow the footsteps, and somehow, they matched mine perfectly.

They seemed to be an exact copy of my own.

But the farther I went, the more 'wrong' they became.

At first, they simply 'twisted,' some 'parts' 'disintegrated,' but eventually, they ceased to exist.

I wasn't left alone, however.

They had led me to their intended destination.

There was a 'thing' extruding out of the 'void' before me.

A small white thing with quite a flowy design.

I pressed down on it.

It didn't move.

'Hmm…'

I pressed down even harder.

It didn't budge.

'Hmm…'

This thing appeared to be stuck in the darkness.

"Ah…"

I suddenly remembered... This 'object' was a 'key.'

My palm showed itself, and my fingers wrapped around the object.

It followed my movement.

Click!

It disappeared.

Shrugging my 'shoulders' I went forth.

Whoosh...

'Hm?'

I looked up, noticing a 'flying' object... no, an 'animal.'

It moved about in the air as if it were a 'bird.'

'What's that?'

Curious I chased after it.

My movement could only be considered scrambled at first, but with my insistent attempts, my legs learned.

I now knew how to breathe and walk!

Though… I might've always known how to breathe; it wouldn't make sense otherwise.

How could I have survived without 'oxygen?'

Or was it because I didn't need such a thing?

'Am I special?'

Ignoring that thought, I frowned, but the 'action' felt foreign.

A 'twitch' of muscle, a shallow 'crease'—but it didn't 'sit' right, like a 'mask' slipping on the wrong 'face.'

Everything did.

My body, my thoughts, my very sense of being—it was all unraveling and weaving itself into something unfamiliar.

Was I… something else?

A 'creature?'

A 'phantom?'

Some lost thing 'clawing' its way into existence?

No, that didn't feel right either.

It was like 'shedding' old, useless 'skin,' a layer of self that no longer belonged.

But what lay underneath?

Something greater?

Or something I would no longer recognize?

And yet, I knew nothing.

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.

My 'gaze' fixated on the thing ahead—the bird-like entity that flitted through the void.

It wasn't quite a bird, but it moved like one, its 'wings' cutting through the blackness as if gliding on unseen 'currents.'

Its form 'shimmered,' neither 'solid' nor 'light,' a thing caught between 'states.'

'Feathers' trailed off into 'wisps' at the edges, their tips 'unraveling' and 'reforming' in an endless 'cycle.'

A 'ghost' of something that once was. Or perhaps, a promise of something yet to be.

Drawn to it, I reached forward.

The closer I got, the more something deep within me trembled—not in 'fear,' but in 'anticipation.'

A distant part of me 'recognized' this 'moment,' as if I had done this before in a life I couldn't remember.

Then, as I extended my hand just a little further—

FLASH!

I understood.

The bird did not fly because it was free.

It flew because it knew how.

The darkness had no hold over me.

The air didn't dictate my breath.

'Gravity' didn't bind my feet.

These were 'chains' of my own making, shackles born from the flawed belief that I was still the same as before.

I had been 'trapped' in a 'prison' of my own assumptions.

But now, I saw it for what it was.

The bird, shifting between forms, was no mere creature—it was becoming.

A being that existed in the 'in-between,' neither 'bound' by the 'past' nor fully formed in the 'present.'

A 'symbol' of change, of 'transition,' of shedding the old to 'embrace' the 'unknown.'

And if it could do so, then so could I.

...So, I did.

...

Motivation.

An interesting word.

It was easier to gain it when one was an underdog.

They chased after their 'something' like rabid dogs.

Nothing was spared to achieve their ultimate goal.

No expectations burned them, which allowed them to go wild with effort.

Those who opposed them were quite the contrast.

The ones who had always won.

They had no fire in them, or rather, it was incomparable to the starved.

Some would ask, why?

Simply put, it was because there was no one to look at.

There was no goal.

Nothing to chase after.

It had to be created.

They who had reached the top had become lost.

Ones who were blind.

In an unending chase towards a goal that had yet to exist.

They had to evolve.

Become something more.

Reach the pinnacle above the pinnacle.

Malik didn't know either of these things.

He was neither an underdog nor an omnipotent genius.

His label was closer to that of an underdog, however…

One still couldn't classify him as such.

Malik was a smart man who had gone slightly insane.

And yes, he was a normal man.

But he no longer existed as such.

Malik had evolved into a new being, similar to those geniuses.

It was all due to the scars that twisted him to the extreme.

No longer a beggar, a tool, a shepherd…

A weakling.

That's right!

He was now on the final steps of becoming a Jinn!

MALIK! AWAKEN FROM THIS DARKNESS!