Lackey's Seducing Survival Odyssey

Chapter 1161: Mending the Broken Samsara: Part-1

After being pushed down by Mary, Aether was instantly consumed by the cycle of Samsara… the swirling purplish-black whirlpool.

The moment he entered, a biting chill wrapped around his body. His skin bristled, goosebumps rising across his arms. It felt just like real water—dense, heavy, and cold enough to sting—as if he had plunged into a freezing river.

The current dragged him downward, twisting his limbs helplessly. He tried to raise his hand, but the thick liquid coiled around him like a living water, clutching him tight, refusing to let go. A shiver rippled through his body as cold seeped deep into his bones.

Aether tumbled endlessly, his body swirling with the whirlpool. His face twitched with irritation, his brows furrowing as his head began to spin. A strange pressure built behind his eyes.

It wasn’t just dizziness—his mind felt like it was being cracked open. A sharp pain jabbed through his skull, as if someone were hammering it from the inside. His head shook uncontrollably, the ache growing unbearable. And then—he saw it. A flicker. A vague, distorted image of… himself.

Another Aether?

“ARRHH!!”

His voice tore from his throat in a desperate scream, but the torment didn’t stop. In fact, it was just beginning.

He wasn’t alone. Shadows moved around him—souls, countless of them, drifting, moaning, caught in the same current.

“N-NO!!”

Aether’s cry cracked as he thrashed in panic. Up ahead, a soul hurtled toward him, its mouth wide in a voiceless scream, eyes hollow and frantic. His heart dropped.

’Shit, not again…’

The last time he collided with one, he was forced to relive its agonising past—memories that weren’t his, but felt like they were carved into his soul. He didn’t want to endure that torment again.

He tried to move, to twist his body away, but the water clung tighter, like quicksand sucking him in. His limbs barely responded. He could only watch, helpless, as the soul drifted closer… until they collided.

Aether’s body passed straight through it.

!~Ding~!

A pulse of thought, pain, and memory invaded him.

The image slammed into his mind—clear, brutal. A woman. Vicious. Manipulative. She had cheated on her husband with no guilt, and when her betrayal was exposed, her enraged husband locked her and her lover inside a room and set them both on fire. He watched them burn.

Watched them scream.

“FUCK!!”

Aether groaned, staggering in the flow. He clenched his head, gritting his teeth, shaking off the image. His breath came in ragged gasps.

’Damn it… get a grip…’

He forced his eyes upward… and froze.

More souls. Dozens. Hundreds. An entire sea of twisted, screaming souls floated before him, some staring with hollow eyes, others writhing in pain. His stomach turned cold.

“Hehe… fuck this…”

He wasn’t going to let them drag him through their pain.

Instead of letting the current carry him toward another nightmare, Aether forced himself downward, diving deeper into the whirlpool like a torpedo.

The moment he plunged down, everything shifted.

The noise stopped. The screaming was silenced. The pressure in his head faded. His thoughts cleared. The pain dissolved like mist.

Aether’s body relaxed, floating gently now. The water around him turned eerily still.

His eyes opened wider.

He was deep below now, far beneath the chaos. Surrounded by a calm purplish-black ocean that stretched endlessly in all directions. The water glowed faintly, like ink swirling in moonlight. Above him, souls floated like silent jellyfish, unmoving… stuck.

Aether frowned. His lips parted slightly as he looked around in disbelief.

’So they can’t move any deeper… they’re just stuck there. Unlike me…’

A breath escaped his lips, his expression softening with realisation. He glanced around, scanning the silent water.

’Nyx… where is she? She fell too, didn’t she?’

His vision sharpened, unnaturally clear, like a high-resolution screen—every ripple, every glint in the water was visible. But even with such clarity, she was nowhere to be seen. His frown deepened… until something shimmered beneath him.

A tiny crack. Sparkling softly under the water.

Aether narrowed his eyes, swimming cautiously toward it. The light flickered strangely, like a cracked screen. He hovered in front of it, suspended in the still water.

’Is this what she meant…?’

He reached out, hand trembling slightly, and gently touched the glowing crack.

The moment his fingers brushed it—everything shattered.

He was yanked forward, the water folding and spiraling around him. The crack widened, pulling him through with a violent force.

Aether’s mind screamed again, his thoughts splintering as the pain returned. He was being swept by another current—faster, rougher, dragging him along tunnels beneath the sea, twisting and turning, no control, no direction.

He tumbled through the current like a ragdoll—

Splash!

Thud!

His body slammed onto wet ground, the impact shooting through his spine. He lay there, panting, surrounded by puddles of purplish water. He groaned and slowly pushed himself up with shaking arms.

He looked down at himself, confused. His clothes… they weren’t soaked. They looked completely dry. And yet, his skin was coated in a strange, cold wetness, as if the water had only touched his body, not his clothes.

This place was getting weirder by the second.

He looked around and realised he wasn’t underwater anymore.

He stood in a deep, shadowy place. No light. Just blackness pressing from every side.

His pupils dilated, trying to adapt. Slowly, the shapes beneath him came into view—a damp ground, soft and uneven, sprinkled with fine grey sand that clung to his boots.

Aether muttered under his breath.

“Where… am I?”

There was no answer. No sound. Just his voice echoing softly into the void.

“Hello? Is anybody here?”

Aether shouted into the empty blackness, his voice echoing in every direction. His boots slapped against the wet ground, the sound bouncing back at him like a lonely answer.

He kept walking, aimless, with no path to follow—just endless darkness stretching out around him. There was no horizon. No up or down. Just the cold ground beneath his feet and that overwhelming silence that pressed against his ears.

Each step felt heavier. The deeper he went, the more suffocating it felt. Aether frowned, frustration tightening his jaw. He couldn’t just keep walking like this forever.

If he had fallen into this place… then what happened to Nyx?

A faint chill of worry crept into his chest.

’That idiot! She just fucking jumped! I swear I’m going to smack her ass for real this time—damn reckless girl!’

His expression twisted in frustration, brows furrowed and eyes burning with concern. He kept moving forward like a man lost in a desert, stumbling across cracked ground, endlessly searching for something… anything.

And then—he saw it.

Hope.

A small flickering light. A purple flame, glowing faintly in the distance.

Aether exhaled sharply, a breath he hadn’t even realised he was holding. His shoulders loosened just a bit.

“Finally… something…”

Without wasting another second, he picked up his pace, water splashing beneath each hurried step. The flame grew clearer, brighter—until he reached it.

It wasn’t just a flame.

It was a feather.

A long, elegant feather, glowing with a soft purple hue, its surface wrapped in gentle violet flames that shimmered in the darkness. It radiated warmth—real warmth—in the freezing air, and its presence was… comforting.

Aether stared at it, breath fogging in the chilly air. His heart calmed. That warmth… it felt like hope was waiting for him.

He stepped closer. The heat kissed his skin, soothing the cold that had burrowed into his bones. He knelt slightly, eyes reflecting the firelight.

Then something shifted.

The purple flames flared brighter—and flickered.

Within the soft blaze, an image formed. Like a reflection on a pond.

A memory.

Aether blinked, his breath catching.

He saw… himself.

His life.

How he was born. How he was thrown away. How betrayal surrounded him like chains. Faces he had tried to forget flashed before him. Every smile that turned into a knife. Every warm hand that let go.

He raised his hand toward the feather, mesmerized. The images kept playing—then changed.

A flash—blood. A dark alley.

He saw how he was killed by some random, lowlife organ trafficker.

But then—

The feather shuddered. The flames flickered violently and began to distort. Darkness seeped in, smothering the light. The purple glow dimmed… then twisted.

New images surfaced.

Not from his life.

A young man… Standing tall in pitch-black armour. His back turned. His presence… cold. Terrifying.

Aether’s frown deepened.

That figure… that was the man who killed him in that strange house—the one with the twin girls.

’What’s going on…?’

Confusion surged through Aether’s mind. Why was that guy showing up in his memory? Why now?

Then—his blood ran cold.

The armored man was holding someone.

Nyx.

Her body hung limp in his arms. Bruises covered her skin. Blood dripped from her mouth, trailing down her chin. Her eyes fluttered, barely open, half-aware… and yet she was looking straight at Aether.

Her gaze held no fear.

Just emptiness.

Then—snap.

The young man smiled cruelly as he twisted her neck without a shred of hesitation.

“…”

Aether stood frozen. The image burned into his eyes.

Why?

Why did he kill her?

Why was he smiling?

What the hell was happening?

Before he could react—

“What are you doing here?”

A calm, indifferent voice echoed behind him, soft and chilling.

Aether flinched hard. He spun around.

Nyx stood there.

But she wasn’t whole.

Half of her body was pale and alive… the other half a skeletal husk, bones exposed and burned. Her face twisted in horror, her one remaining eye staring at him with disbelief and confusion.

“N-Nyx?” he stammered, his voice cracking.

“Yes?” she replied, her voice flat, emotionless—like it was both her… and not her at all.