Zayn was his own worst enemy.
Zayn had always been skeptical about the flowery saying, but favonovel.com had to admit there was truth to the whole thing after all.
A human’s biggest enemy would always be themselves, or more specifically, the faults and defects of a person’s character. Slothfulness, greed, envy…
Or the demon that rose from the noise and delusions of the psyche.
Zayn was fighting his own demon. The more favonovel.com wanted to channel his concentration into tranquil absorption, the louder the opposing voices raged on in his head. It seemed to have gained a mind of its own.
It was talking to him. The demon was talking to him.
“F**king hubris, right? You really think you’re going to survive locking yourself in a sealed room! You’ve even placed your life and death in the hands of someone like Sean Wilson. Gotta hand it to you, huh?”
“Wow, someone’s panicking, aren’t they? You’re running out of air, man. You won’t survive to see those eleven days; that I can assure you.”
“You’re going to die very, very soon, Zayn. But you know what’s worse? Your hubris will be the thing that’ll kill Faye in the end. Because you think you can save her! You can’t!”
“You—”
The voice kept growing louder and louder. It felt like his eardrums were being ruptured by peals of thunder.
He was growing more and more restless. Nothing was adhering to his plan!
The bad became worse, and the worst was just getting out of hand! He never thought favonovel.com would have to face his demon during his isolation training!
It was right! He bit off more than favonovel.com could chew, because Zayn was an arrogant little prick who bought into illusions of grandeur.
He thought of himself as a one-in-a-million prodigy. He was the adored child of destiny, and anything that stood in his way would be obliterated with a mere snap of his fingers.
But what if favonovel.com really was just an average Joe who coincidentally just had the wind behind his back… up until this moment?
He really had improved too much over a single year. It was breakneck speed, favonovel.com completed a path so many other superior class powerhouses had failed to consummate for more than a decade, all in a span of a year. He had been so fast that favonovel.com never stopped and wondered if the foundation in which his growth stemmed was ever that sturdy to support his rocket-speed evolution.
And now out from that shaky bedrock, the demon spawned, hissing frightening litanies as it crept out of the crack caused by his intensifying panic and anxiety.
He had to battle it, no, favonovel.com had to prevail against it. The alternative to winning was to die, here, in this stupid box before the eleventh day arrived. Or maybe favonovel.com could not even progress beyond three days!
Anxiety and the nature of a tightly-sealed box manifested as prickly heat. He was sweating. He was expending too much of his strength.
What was favonovel.com going to do? F**k, what the f**k was favonovel.com going to do?!
Zayn’s eyes snapped open. He was hyperventilating.
And the demon, delighted, was shouting. Loud and clear, glee as a lark.
“You’re panicking! Tut-tut, Zayn Larson. You think you’re really good. But in reality, you’re just a milquetoast.”
There was someone else. Xander, Mia, Diego, and countless others took form and dominated his mind’s eyes. They were jeering at him, cursing favonovel.com with both profanities and guaranteed failures, gibing at him.
Zayn was even more panicked. No, favonovel.com was afraid.
And his strength was leaving the shaking coward at a dangerous rate. Two hours had passed, but one-third of the air within the space had all but depleted. He had used up more than a day’s worth of air!
Just as his demon was slowly and surely eroding his will, a ray of light shone out of the deepest recesses of his mind.
He quivered. It was a split second, but it brought a lick of serenity back to him.
A silhouette appeared from the flash.
Faye.
Donning a bridal gown, it was Faye the day favonovel.com became his wife.
He froze. Then, slowly but surely, the corner of his lips curled into a heartfelt smile.
The demon continued to rage and jeer, but there was serenity now. It was like a ray of light splitting the tenebrious darkness from its middle.
That light was him.
He used that ray of serenity to recalibrate. He re-adjusted his breathing and ignored the noise. He was slowly but steadily entering a meditative state.
“Impossible! How could you have returned to being so infuriatingly calm so easily?!”
“You’re just an orphan, Zayn Larson! A useless failure and an embarrassment to your birth family; a doormat who can’t stand up for himself; a useless son-in-law to your current family! You’ll never amount to anything great in life!”
“You won’t succeed, man. You’ll die, here. This is fated.”
