“It may be frivolous, and it may seem impossible, but I know that it’s my destiny to end the Interfecti. I have to do it. If they are still alive at the end of my life, then it means that my existence was pointless,” Hatasuko replied as stepped to the edge of the shimmering stream.
[https://imgur.com/ZRxJl6y.jpg]
He sat down beside his friend and watched the shallow water flow on by. The sparkling stream poured down the slope and into the luminous canyon. The hanging log swayed back and forth from the heavy winds, though the wind failed to reverse the water’s flow.
“I know this is none of my business, but, um, no one ends up like us if they had a normal happy life. Can I hear your story, Hatasuko? I promise I won’t tell anyone. Not that I have anyone to tell it to anyway,” she nervously requested. As she spoke, she twirled her hair with her scarred right hand.
After a moment of contemplation, Hatasuko decided, “Yeah. I suppose I can tell the story, though it isn’t something I’ve ever really said out loud before. I’m not a great storyteller, but I’ll do the best that I can.
“I grew up in the Collobos Mountains. I heard that most people think that region is unpopulated and desolate, but that’s a big lie. Almost every mountain is settled, and there are large cities sprinkled all around the region. My mother and I lived in one of the more populous cities, so I was exposed to many people and ideas when I was young. I remember learning that most people have fallen away from God because of the Interfecti. A lot of people believe that God has forsaken us because he lets the demons roam around our world, hunting our souls. Others even think that God is the one who unleashed the Interfecti upon us, like as a punishment for our sins. I guess I was too young to understand the sense of fear and hatred, though I learned terror very quickly. I learned hatred very quickly.
[https://imgur.com/bOjlXBP.jpg]
“The thing is, I firmly believe that my mother is the greatest person who ever lived. My father died shortly before I was born, so mother had to work twice as hard to provide for me. In my younger years, I spent a large fraction of my time with my grandparents, while mother was hunting or working or doing whatever was necessary to provide for me, but… she never once complained. One time, my grandfather asked her if she needed help, but she embraced him and told him that he had already done more than anyone could ever ask. She never missed the opportunity to let people know how much she appreciated them. She never missed the chance to tell me how much she loved me, and how miraculous it was that she had me in her life. She said I was a blessing to her life and a blessing for the world. And whenever she felt overwhelmed, or maybe the pressure was too much, she told me that there’s nothing wrong with falling down. We all fall down. She said that the important part is standing back up. The world can knock us down, but it cannot hold us down. I repeat those words to myself every time I chase an Interfectus. She gave me the strength to discover this destiny.
[https://imgur.com/kAE4aV8.jpg]
“When I was still young, mother and I found a beautiful grove of ruberpomus trees in the mountains. It was a long walk from our home, but it was the most delicious thing I ever tasted. I had eaten piscileo, I had tasted the agili, and I had tried every fruit I could find, but the ruberpomus was my favorite taste in the world. We were so happy there. She and I would go to the grove every week and carry back as many red fruits as our little hands could carry. But as time marched on, mother got exhausted from all her hard work. The walk to the ruberpomus trees was getting too long for her, so instead I made that trip on my own. I was getting older, so I knew I could help make mother’s life easier. It took me a hundred tries, but I finally learned how to hunt with a bow. I’ll never forget how proud she was, that night when I made her dinner for the very first time. There were tears of joy in her light green eyes. I knew I cooked the meat all wrong, but she and I ate every morsel in celebration. She bragged about me to all of our friends and neighbors. I remember one night, I woke up in the middle of the night and heard her praying. I heard her thank God for having given me to her. With tears in my eyes, I silently thanked Him for letting me have a mother as wonderful as her. He had given me the single greatest gift in the world.
“But light is temporary, and all things return to darkness in the end. One day, I was walking back to the city from the field of ruberpomus trees. I had all the fruits cradled in my little arms, but everything changed when I saw the thin layer of darkness crawl across the stars in the sky. I could still see the beautiful stars pulsing through the dark curtain, at least until a shadow fell across the city. A massive silhouette appeared in the background. Its giant black feet hovered over the mountainside. This was my very first time seeing the demon of flashing blades and shifting shadows – it was the monster named the Interfectus.
“I knew that mother was still in the city, and that knowledge alone flipped a switch inside me. The fruit fell from my arms; I just sprinted toward the city because I knew she was vulnerable. She had been tired for weeks. I had only heard stories of the Interfectus, like a secondhand shadow of pure horror, but I never understood the reality of the darkness until that moment. I never realized the strength of evil until I saw myself running toward it. I never realized how weak I was until I ran out of strength to keep running, even before I reached the edge of the city. But exhaustion could not stop me. I ignored my pain and ran on in spite of it.
“When a bright light shines and you close your eyes, you can still see the shape of the glow through your eyelids. When the scattershot of bombs struck the city and lit up the sky with blue fire, I closed my eyes and kept running. But even with my eyes closed, I could see the flames destroy the town where I was born and raised. I could hear their screams over the crackle of fire because I was so close to the city. As soon as I crossed onto the dirt streets at the edge of town, I saw a crowd of people fleeing from their homes. The Interfectus stood as a silhouette behind the raging flames. I watched people try to fight back; I watched them throw sticks and rocks at the monster, but everything just bounced off. There was no sign of pain in its golden-glowing demon eyes. They pulsed like the stars in the sky, but they were not hungry or angry. Its whole face glowed in the flashing flames, but it was emotionless. This was the demon that slaughtered entire cities in the blink of an eye. I knew at this moment that my childhood had ended in a burst of blood and fire.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.
“Still running through the smoky streets, I watched the Interfectus unleash its blade-arm of slashing shadows. It was so fast, it was so powerful, and it pierced through an entire block. The Interfectus slashed its arm as it so often does, and then the entire row of homes was cut to shambles. It shattered the windows of all the nearby houses. My heart sank and my blood fell cold when I realized that that attack had hit very near my home.
“I ran back home at full speed, but I wasn’t even trying to get a weapon. I felt so hopeless that I just gave up on even trying to escape; I just accepted that this life was over. So like a scared, crying, helpless little boy, I ran home to mother. When I was young, the solace of her embrace was so powerful that it erased my terror. If I could hold my mother in my dying moment, then that would be enough for me. That was all I wanted – to hold close the most wonderful person in my world. Like a scared, defeated, hopeless little boy.
“The Interfectus shot off another scattershot. The black energy balls came crashing down on that whole section of the city. I watched in horror with my hands over my head as a shadow sphere struck a house across the street from my house; the explosion blew out every wall and window. An old man was launched by this blast. I watched with my hands over my ears as he crashed into someone else’s roof and died instantly. And as soon as I ran onto the same street, I saw a shadow sphere crash into the back of my house. It was the loudest and brightest explosion I had ever seen, but the whole world fell silent all at once. The fiery shockwave blew my home to pieces; I watched mother fly out of the second story window with a burst of fire and glass. My blood fell cold as she crashed into the street, and she landed on her little hands and knees. I broke apart on the inside when I heard her bones snap. I knew that I would definitely die if the Interfectus saw me, but I guess I couldn’t stop myself. I just ran across the smoky street because I knew she was still alive.
“That was when I saw the first weapon of the Interfectus up close for my very first time. Its shadow arm turned into a hand of black daggers, and then it reached across the sky. I was more terrified than I had ever been at any point in my life – both for myself and for mother. The shadow-hand just barreled toward her, and I only had one thing I could do to maybe stop it. I tried to knock it out of the way with the strongest punch I could possibly summon. My fist struck the blade-arm, but it did nothing. I was too weak. I was hopeless. I watched the claw of slashing shadows pierce straight through my mother; giant black daggers poked through her like a hand. The Interfectus opened its claw and tore her to pieces, all because I was too weak to save her. I’ll never forget that final look of anguish in her crying, light green eyes. I can’t even try to explain how broken I felt, standing there in the flaming wreckage with nothing but corpses all around me. Her body was so mangled that I couldn’t even embrace her, or give her a final kiss on her forehead.
[https://imgur.com/7qv6NhB.jpg]
“I collapsed in the street, and I felt like I was the only person left alive in the whole city. Even as the Interfectus loomed over me in the shadows of the smoky sky, I just glared at the bloody dirt beneath me. I don’t know if the Interfectus decided to spare me or if it simply thought I was dead, but it faded away in the starlight as suddenly as it arrived. I watched that layer of darkness disappear, and that was the first time I started to hear the screams echoing in the hollows of my mind. I knew that the screams belonged to the damned souls of those who passed, but this knowledge didn’t make the tempest any less powerful. Their screams tormented me from the inside and stole away every shard of warmth that was left in my heart. I knew that I could never clear the voices from my head; I accepted that the Interfectus had punished me for having the audacity to strike it with my own skin. It was my punishment for trying and failing. But mother told me that the world can knock us down, though it cannot hold us down. So I took her advice and made the decision to stand back up.
“At first, I thought I was chasing the Interfecti for revenge. I quickly learned it was more than that. I was not cursed with a tempest of endless pain just so I could give them retribution. I think I received this curse for a reason. I don’t think that anything that’s happened to me has been a coincidence. I was given this endless pain so that I could have the drive to end the Interfecti. I was flooded with agony so that I could banish it from this world. This curse is the catalyst that will empower me to forge a world without misery. It’s something I have to do. I never want anyone anywhere to feel pain ever again. It’s my destiny to make this happen.”
As Hatasuko told this last part of his story, his golden eyes reflected the pulsing light of the stars in the sky. The shimmering, starlit stream splashed in front of his feet. Vaida watched his eyes and listened closely to every word. Even after he finally finished his story, she said nothing. In his mind, he fought to suppress the storm of shouting voices, and in her mind, she contemplated the possibility that this tempest was actually real. However, the world around them stayed entirely silent except for the sound of gusting wind and the starlit stream flowing in the opposite direction.
“Sorry, um, if I don’t know what to say. It’s a problem I always kinda had, not knowing… well, when someone tells me something really sad. Because instead of facing it, I just mostly get sad too. And then I don’t know anything except how you feel because I feel it too. But I think that’s why I know you’re telling the truth about the screaming souls. Lazaro would slam me on the ground if he heard me say this, but I think he’s wrong. I believe you, Hatasuko. I can see it in your eyes. I can tell that the voices are real. But I don’t know about this destiny. Do you really think you can do all that?” she asked quietly.
Hatasuko took his sword and sheathed it back into his holster. He stood up again at the edge of the sparkling water, but he glanced down at his scarred friend as the starlight shone upon golden hair.
“Vaida, have you ever felt something so powerful that you know it has to be true? Even if you can’t see it, even if you can’t describe it, you just know that it’s real. You know that it must be real. I guess that’s the only way I can explain it. I’m not giving reality the choice to disagree with me,” Hatasuko answered.
“I don’t know if I’ve ever felt that. I’ve been a stranger to hope for as long as I can remember. I’ve had my head held low for so long, but I want to get stronger. I want to feel the way you feel! I guess it all begins with your mother’s words. There’s nothing wrong with falling down. We all fall down… but the important part is standing back up.”
Vaida looked away from the water and finally stood up. Though her eyes shyly gazed away, she wrapped her arms around him and pressed her face against his chest. He could feel her smooth hair touch his chin. When she finally let go and took a small step backward, she said, “Thank you,” in her shaky, quiet voice.
“I should be thanking you.”
“Why is that?” she asked as her good eye looked up at him.
“Because the screaming storm’s been silent for all this time I’ve spent with you.”
[https://imgur.com/Lhh8hzi.jpg]
[I hope you enjoyed chaper three! For information concerning the AI artwork including its usage and canonicity, please consult the blog listed in my profile.]