Ashes

Chapter 20: The End of the World

The world had been reduced to a wasteland. Storms ravaged the skies, and the ground trembled with each passing day. Cities lay in ruins, swallowed by the relentless onslaught of nature's fury, which had been fueled by the unchecked powers of Phuwin and Pond. What was once a thriving world had become a desolate landscape of fear and despair.

Phuwin wandered through the devastation, a man lost in his own darkness. His powers, once a source of wonder, had become a curse that he could no longer control. The flames that danced around his fingertips were a constant reminder of the destruction he had caused, and the wind that swirled around him carried the echoes of the lives he had shattered.

Every step he took through the ruined landscape brought him closer to the inevitable confrontation. The pull of Pond's presence, familiar and toxic, drew him in like a moth to a flame. They were bound by something far stronger than mere circumstance—something that neither of them could escape.

For weeks, Phuwin had resisted the urge to seek Pond out, hoping against hope that he could find another way. But the world around him had left him with no choice. The survivors whispered his name with fear, calling him a harbinger of destruction, a man who had unleashed chaos upon the world. And in their eyes, he saw the truth: there was no redemption left for him. Not now.

As he neared the epicenter of the destruction, the pull of Pond's presence grew stronger. The ruins of what had once been Bangkok loomed before him, a shattered monument to their shared madness. The city was nothing more than rubble and ash now, its grand structures reduced to skeletal remains by the relentless forces of nature.

And in the heart of it all, Pond waited.

Phuwin found Pond standing at the edge of a broken tower, overlooking the ruined city. The air around him crackled with dark energy, and his eyes, once sharp and calculating, now gleamed with a twisted satisfaction. He had become a shadow of his former self, consumed by the power he had sought to control.

"You've come," Pond said, his voice a cold whisper that echoed through the empty streets. "I knew you would."

Phuwin approached slowly, his expression blank. "I didn't have a choice."

Pond turned to face him, his gaze filled with a mix of pride and possessiveness. "You and I are the same, Phuwin. We were destined for this. Look at what we've accomplished. The world is ours—broken, yes, but ours nonetheless."

Phuwin's fists clenched, flames flickering at his fingertips. "This isn't what I wanted, Pond. I never wanted this."

Pond stepped closer, his voice turning seductive, as it had so many times before. "But you embraced it. You embraced the power, the destruction. You can't deny it now. It's who you are, Phuwin—who we both are."

Phuwin felt the weight of those words, felt the truth in them. He had embraced the darkness, had allowed it to consume him. But now, standing on the edge of the world they had destroyed, he realized that there was only one way to end it.

"No," Phuwin said quietly, his voice firm. "This has to stop."

Pond's eyes narrowed, and the air around them grew tense. "Stop? You think you can just walk away from this? You think you can undo what's been done?"

Phuwin shook his head. "No. I can't undo it. But I can end it."

Pond's expression darkened, and the dark energy around him flared to life. "You can't end this, Phuwin. You're part of it—part of me. You won't survive without the darkness."

Phuwin looked at him, his eyes filled with a cold determination. "Maybe I won't. But if ending this means taking you down with me, then that's a price I'm willing to pay."