Waiter from Nowhere

Jay stood motionless, the weight of the demon's words pressing against him like an unrelenting storm. He could still feel the pulse of the shadows around him, thrumming in his very bones, reminding him that the ritual had irrevocably changed him. Immortal... The word echoed in his mind, but it brought no comfort, only a deep, gnawing emptiness.

The demon watched him with detached interest, as though Jay were nothing more than a piece of a much larger game. His calm demeanor only served to fuel the fire of Jay's anger. How could this be his fate? How could he have been so blind? He had trusted the demon—his master—he had followed his guidance, believing in the lessons of light and darkness, believing there was something more than just the shadows.

But now... now the light felt distant, unreachable.

"You will learn, Jay," the demon said softly, almost as if he were speaking to a child. "The Elixir is only the beginning. The true test comes after."

Jay's fists clenched at his sides. "The beginning of what?" he demanded. His voice trembled with the weight of all his frustration, all his confusion. "What do you want from me now?"

The demon's eyes glinted with something—something cruel, something that made Jay's blood run cold. "You have only begun to understand what immortality truly is. You have only glimpsed the price you paid. But the cost is far greater than you realize. There are things you have yet to lose, things you have yet to face."

Jay's heart raced. The shadows around him seemed to pulse, as if reacting to the demon's words, stirring in ways that were unsettling. Jay's mind raced as he tried to make sense of the situation. Was the demon warning him? Or was he simply toying with him, relishing in his torment?

Before Jay could respond, the demon raised a hand, gesturing toward the shadows that filled the room. The shadows twisted and writhed, coiling around them both, distorting the space around them. Jay felt his heart skip a beat as the air grew colder, the temperature dropping as the darkness seemed to solidify. It was as though the shadows themselves were alive, aware of their surroundings.

"You think the ritual was the worst of it?" the demon continued, his voice lower now, filled with a haunting undertone. "You think that immortality will give you everything you need? That you will simply walk through eternity without consequence?"

Jay felt a chill crawl up his spine, his skin prickling. He had no words to answer. He had no words at all, because a deep, primal fear had settled within him. What could the demon be referring to? What consequences could be worse than this?

The shadows thickened around him, their movement almost rhythmic. There was a pulse now, a heartbeat that seemed to emanate from the very walls, and the sensation was disorienting, as though the room itself was becoming something else. Something alive.

"You will see," the demon murmured. "You will see soon enough."

In that moment, Jay felt the weight of the words settle into his chest. Something was coming. Something far darker than the ritual itself. And no matter how hard he tried to push it away, he knew deep down that he was powerless to stop it.

The shadows seemed to breathe with him, stretching and expanding in a slow, deliberate rhythm. They were surrounding him, closing in, until Jay couldn't tell where he ended and they began. The pressure built, a suffocating force that threatened to crush him under its weight. His heart pounded in his chest, but even the frantic beating of his heart seemed muted, drowned out by the darkness.

"Why don't you show him?" the demon said suddenly, turning his attention away from Jay and looking to the shadows. There was a moment of stillness, and then the room shifted.

The shadows parted, revealing a figure—one that stood beyond the reach of the darkness, one that stood in stark contrast to it. The figure was tall and imposing, wearing a cloak that shimmered with an otherworldly light. Jay's breath caught in his throat as the figure stepped forward, emerging fully into view.

It was him.

Or rather, it was someone who looked exactly like him.

A perfect replica. The same eyes, the same hair, the same face. The only difference was the expression on this other Jay's face—an expression filled with coldness, with purpose, with power. The figure's eyes locked onto Jay's, and a shiver ran through him.

"What is this?" Jay's voice was barely a whisper. His heart skipped a beat as he looked at the figure, unable to comprehend what he was seeing.

The demon's smile was as sharp as a blade. "This, Jay, is what you will become if you fail. This is what you are capable of becoming—if you embrace the shadows fully."

The figure in front of him—the other Jay—stepped closer, its footsteps echoing in the silence. Each step seemed to vibrate in Jay's chest, as though the very air around him was charged with an electric energy.

"No," Jay whispered, backing away instinctively. His body recoiled at the sight of the figure, but there was nowhere to retreat. The shadows surrounded him on all sides.

"You see," the demon continued, his voice soft and chilling, "this version of you is what awaits you if you let yourself be consumed. This is what immortality could cost you if you are not careful. If you lose yourself to the darkness."

Jay's mind spun. The figure—it was him. But it wasn't. It was cold, empty, and the eyes that stared back at him were devoid of everything that had once made him feel human. It was like looking into a mirror that reflected a version of himself that was... wrong. Everything was wrong. The light that had once been a part of him was gone. All that remained was the darkness, the cold, and the power that came with it.

And then, the figure spoke, its voice eerily identical to Jay's own. "You will be me, Jay. You will live forever, and yet, you will never truly live. You will be consumed by the shadows, just like I am. And then... you will have nothing."

Jay's breath hitched. It felt like a prophecy, like a warning, a fate he was staring at in the face. He could almost feel the coldness creeping into his own soul, the darkness tugging at the edges of his being, threatening to claim him.

"No..." Jay gasped, shaking his head, unable to tear his eyes away from the haunting reflection of himself. "This isn't me. This isn't who I am."

The figure in front of him didn't respond. Instead, it raised a hand, and as if obeying its silent command, the shadows around them seemed to come alive. They twisted and writhed, crawling toward Jay, pulling him into their suffocating embrace.

In a desperate attempt to break free, Jay reached for the light, the light he had once wielded, the light that had been his strength. But as he summoned it, it flickered weakly, as if the Elixir had drained it from him. The darkness laughed in his ears, mocking him, devouring the light before it could take shape.

"Your light is fading, Jay," the demon's voice whispered in his ear. "It always was. And the shadows... they are eternal."

Jay's world seemed to spiral into chaos as the figure—his doppelganger—stepped closer, his cold eyes locked on Jay's, and the shadows closed in around him, suffocating him with their weight.

But then, through the suffocating darkness, a thought pierced through Jay's mind—a single, powerful realization. This is not the end. Not yet.

There was a way out. There had to be.

The cost of immortality was steep, yes, but there was something deeper, something more powerful than the shadows, something that Jay still had inside of him. His humanity. His hope. Even if the darkness had taken so much from him, it had not taken everything. There was still something left to fight for.

The first spark of defiance flickered inside him, and Jay vowed, with every fiber of his being, that he would not be consumed. He would fight, even if it meant facing the darkness within himself.