“What do you long for? Child?” I don't answer. All I stand emotionlessly, not answering his every question while standing on deep waters that didn’t seem deep at all.
The black entity in front of me only smiles, as it is the only thing I see characteristic about it while being in its domain. Without any characteristics or facial features, the unknown black entity only stands in place, looking down at me while only asking one question repeatedly, “What do you long for? Child?”
Just like before, I don’t answer. I was too traumatized as to what I’d heard. I didn’t want to believe it. No, I never wanted to believe it. I’ve always thought about my mama and papa as parents who are unbeatable, untouchable, unbreakable, but thanks to those two men, the belief I once had in my parents disappeared.
I continue to stand emotionlessly, not knowing what else to do now, until… the black entity finally asks, “What… is your wish? Child? Do you… seek vengeance? Or… do you seek guidance?”
Of course, I was young during this time. I didn’t know a single thing it said, but somehow… I felt like I knew what the thing was actually saying. And so I finally asked, “You… can grant wishes?” I asked while finally looking up at it.
“Yes, child.” The thing responded. “Now tell me, what is your wish?”
I stare down at the deep waters below and think for a moment… until finally looking up and wish for something. Something... I didn’t expect to ever answer, especially for my age. “I wish… for you to help me kill every single person that killed my parents.”
The thing makes the widest grin it had ever done, and the terrain turns blood red completely, “Your wish… is granted. Child.”
I lose consciousness the moment it answers.
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I wake up, lying on a normal mattress bed between a naked Nisuki and Aruko, still asleep. Their tails stay wrapped all around me, making it feel like the most comfortable bed I have ever slept in. My arms are also taken as they both hug them, making me unable to move around and not able to get out of bed. I stare at the bright cloth ceiling of the tent for a few moments until finally, slowly but surely, shaking my way out of their holds.
However, the moment I try doing so, their tails tighten their grips. Making it more impossible, not only that, much harder to breathe. I proceed to stare at the ceiling again silently.
For some random reason, I feel like I’ve done this many times before, but this is the first time I had two females hold me down while they are sleeping. So I have no idea as to how I felt like this had happened before.
I sigh after a few minutes pass. I then try to communicate with the beings within me and wait until the two wake up.
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One hour later…
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“Good morning, Aden-kun ~ ♡!” Both Aruko and Nisuki say with a yawn.
“Good morning…” I respond tiringly.
I tried many ways to communicate with my so-called inner beings. I tried sleeping for a short moment, nothing happened. I tried talking to them in my head, nothing happened. I tried to talking to myself out loud, but not loud enough to wake up Aruko and Nisuki, nothing happened.
It had gotten to the point where I just gave up and waited for the two to wake up.
I stay silent for a moment, waiting for them to get off of me, but when they continue to lay there for a while, “Can you two get off of me, please?” The two unwrap their tails around me, then they both get off of the bed and begin dressing. I start to dress as well a minute later.
It is a little weird, to be honest. When I begin changing out of my usual sleeping wear, Nisuki and Aruko are both staring at me. It felt familiar as to when Lilith stared at me when I was dressing up. It feels like they are hungry for something, and I didn’t want to find out what they are hungry for.
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Five minutes later…
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“Is there a place where I can practice?” I asked.
I wanted to do my daily training at least.
Nisuki turns to me, “Oh, yes, there is. Just head towards the middle of the campsite and begin heading towards the direction the sun rises from.” Nisuki answers. I nod and give Aruko and Nisuki a big smile before heading out. They giggle about something when I head out of the tent, but I want to practice more than find out.
Alright. Middle… middle… this way!
I begin to run in the direction but also begin to slow down right afterward.
"…I forgot about my mask. Oh well!" I think with a carefree feeling.
I then proceed to continue running. I take a few minutes jogging towards the middle, then when I begin to feel my legs warming up, I take it up a notch and start sprinting. As I do, people wave at me as I run past them. Of course, I wave back with a smile.
Now that I think about it, I’m feeling unusually happy and carefree all of a sudden. After what happened yesterday, I’m confused as to how I’m so happy. Is it because my negative emotions are suppressed? Or is there something still changing within my body? I don’t really know at this point. I’ve tried to keep track of my body, but it’s gotten to the point where I barely know what is happening anymore.
It didn’t really matter at this point. I should’ve just swallow everything instead of slowly chewing it. I know that the orb is suppressing my negative emotions, which could be why I feel so happy right now. I know that there are three inner beings within me and that there must be a way to communicate with them. There are so many questions that it has gotten to a point where it's best to refresh my mind instead of stuffing it with more important and useless questions.
I sigh while running.
I might need to stop asking questions and just find the answers to every one of them.
I shake my head from the thoughts, and when I do, I notice I am finally in the middle of this giant campsite, but what I see when I arrive… is a bit weird. I stop sprinting and look around to see a huge wooden pillar with familiar symbols all over it, surrounded by small rocks that seem to all have names on them. I blink a couple of times at the weird place I'm in until I decide to investigate it. I walk up to one of the rocks and pick it up. I dust it and move it around to find the writings.
“Athen…” I say out loud as I read the writing on the small rock.
“That’s the name of one of our leading commanders.” I turn around to see a familiar face.
“Kin.”
“What are you doing here? Need something?” Kin asks while his one golden tail sways around.
“Oh! I’m just curious about what this is.” I ask curiously while looking up at the wooden pillar.
“This is a graveyard.”
“Graveyard?”
“Yeah, a graveyard of all the demi-humans who fought for freedom.” Kin replies as he begins to walk up to the wooden pillar. He stands in front of it and puts his right hand on it.
“What’s the pillar for?”
“Unlike the rocks, this one is special.”
“Special?”
“Yup, under this wooden pillar is one of the greatest commanders of the demi-humans.”
“Was he that great?”
“Of course!” Kin quickly responds as he turns around to see me, “He fought three max-level adventurers on his own! But…” Kin turns back to the pillar and makes a deep sigh, “Even though he fought three and killed them, when the fourth arrived, he was already so wounded.”
“Did he die after fighting the fourth?”
“He managed to make the fourth retreat, but when he did, he died on the spot due to heavy bleeding. It was thanks to one of the amulets his wife gave him that revived him. But all it did was keep him alive long enough to say what he wanted to say before he returned to the afterlife.”
The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.
“What did he say before he died?” I knew this was something I shouldn’t dwell on, but I was too curious to think about what was wrong and right.
Kin lightly smiles and answers, “I’m sorry that I’ve didn’t keep my promise. So please, forgive me… as I am a failure of a leader.”
“You sure know a lot, don’t you?” I question as I keep looking at all the rocks.
“Well, I have been here for quite a while.”
“What have you been doing here?”
“Well, training and learning under Nisuki and Aruko.”
“Jun wasn’t involved with your training?” I ask as I look up at him, still sitting butt-flat as I still hold two rocks.
“No, I’m not strong enough to take Jun’s way of training.”
“Not strong enough?” Now I’m curious, damn it.
“Even Aruko and Nisuki have a hard time. If you and I were to start doing Jun’s training, we'd probably die in the first day.”
I look back down at the rocks afterward, not preceding to ask any more questions.
It had been a minute later…
I look up out of realization. “Oh! I forgot! I wanted to go to the training grounds!”
“You too?” I look up at Kin, who seems to have forgotten about training as well.
“Yeah, I usually train every morning and then go do whatever.”
“Want to come train with me? I’m curious about how strong you are.”
“You won’t regret it when I easily beat you?” I say with a cocky grin.
“Being it on dragon boy!” Kin returns with a similar grin. “The training ground is where the sun rises! Want to race?”
“Yeah!” I yell, with newfound energy rising within me. I quickly sat up, then got ready to run.
“Oh? Giving me a head start?” Kin questions while he is six steps ahead of me.
“You’re going to need the handicap.” I smugly said.
“You better not regret it then! Three…”
“Morph.” My arms begin to burn as my skin is slowly replaced with red scales.
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You have morphed! 11.025 damage!
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“Two…”
“Morph.” My legs as well.
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You have morphed! 11.025 damage!
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“One!”
“Morph.” And finally, my chest area.
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You have morphed! 11.025 damage!
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“GO!”
Then off we went. Kin and I race until we finally arrive at the training ground area.
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Unseen Things:
“I want to take a bath!” Aruko complains aloud while face flat on the same table Jun and Aden last spoke across with.
“Don’t forget Aruko. We still have to go to Jun and start our daily training,” Nisuki answers across the table.
“Why so much work more than usual!?”
“Keep your manners in check, Aruko.” Aruko sighs afterward, then looks calmly at Nisuki.
“Nisuki, it’s almost time. Isn’t it?” Nisuki sighs to this.
“Yes, it’s almost time to invade Baricka.”
“Have you discussed the plan with the new Demi-Human leader?”
“Not yet. As of now, he’s currently training some soldiers at the training grounds.” It is at this moment, Aruko and Nisuki freeze, then begin to giggle a bit later.
“It wouldn’t be a bad idea to go watch them train, right?” Aruko giggles as the first thing she thinks about is a certain boy.
“Agreed, let’s go watch them.” Nisuki giggles as well.
“Oh? You two seem to have thought about something interesting. May I join?” Nisuki and Aruko quickly turn to their right, only to face someone they both knew very well.
“You…” Aruko growls.
“Why, who taught you to act like that to an old friend?” Lilith giggles, who is sitting on a wooden stool like Aruko.
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“DAMN IT!” Kin yells in defeat.
“HAHA! I told you you needed that handicap!” I yell in victory. I raise my right fist to the sky, then fall flat on my butt and laugh.
As I laugh happily, everyone in the training area stares at us confusingly—some of them part lizards, some wolves, cats, bulls, and so forth. The area is an entirely open space with some wooden dummies. There is another huge open space where people swing and practice their sword, spear, ax, and bow play. There are also wooden fences around the place itself that designate how big the training ground is. Of course, the fences didn’t look well built, but it's still something.
Kin shakes his head as he breathes heavily, then stands up. “Well, this is where everyone in this camp trains. You like it?”
I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself down from all the energy still making me hyper, then look around. “It’s fine. Seen better, to be honest, but it is something to congratulate on.” Besides all the poorly built wooden dummies or whatnot, the weapons everyone uses seem well made, which made me question whether they somehow stole those weapons. But that is something unrelated.
The only thing that doesn’t seem important and weird is that everyone is staring at me. Again, not surprising.
“So, Aden, what are you going to do?”
“Just simple stuff, get my body loose, swing my sword down many times, then….”
“Train with somebody?” I turn to Kin, who is smiling. I smile back.
“Yeah, that too.”
As I say that, a rough and powerful voice is heard, “Haha! If it isn’t Kin!”
“Commander Ithan!” Kin waves. I turn to the so-called commander, or otherwise the leader of the current Demi-Humans rebels. He is a huge lizardman whose entire body is covered with green reptilian skin. He still has many human features, but the only things he has that aren’t human are these very sharp nails on his fingers and toes, a rather obviously huge lizard head, and a giant scaled tail. The weapon the commander holds on his left hand is a big, silver greatsword that seems almost as big as he is. It looks rather heavy as the commander himself struggles to hold it on the one hand but somehow manages, which isn’t surprising overall since he looks very muscular.
Commander Ithan wears this big silver chest plate that looks light, along with this clothy, brown skirt that hangs on this huge metal that surrounds his waist, all the way down to his kneecaps. Overall, he looks like a Roman gladiator, which I have no idea what that is.
“So Kin, is that your new friend that helped you?” Ithan questions as he looks down at me.
“Yeah, need something from him?”
"Hmm..." He inspects me closely until concluding, “I want to fight him.” Kin and I blink a couple of times, trying to register what he said, until finally realizing Ithan is challenging me.
“W-Wait, what?” Kin confusingly questions.
“Didn’t I say it clearly? I want to challenge him.”
“Y-You did, but why all of a sudden?” Ithan makes a big smile at this.
“Because I want to know how strong our new hero is!”
“Hero?” I question as I continue to stare at him confusingly.
“What, you don’t know what the word hero means?”
“I mean I do… but….”
“Hmm?”
“I don’t… feel like the hero here.”
“What do you mean, Aden?” I turn to Kin, who looks confused as well.
“Huh?”
“You helped me get out of Baricka, didn’t you?”
“Y-yeah, I guess.”
“Then there is no question about it. You’ve saved my life. That’s enough to call you a hero. Besides, it’s not like you’ve massacred an entire village before, right?” At that moment, a huge pain struck my head. I put my right hand on my forehead and face my head down.
“Aden? You alright?”
"I-I'm fine!" I stared down at the ground with an unimaginable pain striking my head. Then a moment later, visions start to appear out of nowhere—visions of... death. I begin to see many things. People screaming, running, dying. Then... me killing them.
It doesn't take long before Ithan and Kin realize that I am in pain.
They try to help me until they see someone approach us. The said person then comes up behind me and pokes my shoulder.
Then all of a sudden, the pain disappears. I return to my senses to realize what just happened. I turn and look to see who helped me, but of course, it is...
“Oh, how weird it is to see you so down all of a sudden.” Lilith giggles, with Aruko and Nisuki behind them, looking worried.
I shake my head and sigh.
W-what was that?
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I still remember… The red that flood the gravel. The red that filled the skies. The red… that embodied me. I didn’t want to remember this time, the time when I carelessly killed an entire village. No, my home.
I stand still, with a bloody knife at hand, while staring down at a lifeless body of a girl, who I had killed for no reason. I stared down at the dead girl emotionlessly for a few seconds until moving on. While behind me… was a lifeless village that had next to no life in it.
How long have I walked? How many have I killed? How… did I lose everything all of a sudden?
I didn’t know. All I did was allow my body to do what it pleases, as I never had control over it ever since the news of my parents' death.
I didn’t care at this point, all the death, all the confusion, all the screams, and pleas. I just… stopped caring after the next fifty times I’ve heard them all.
That was… until…
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I slam my now dull knife into a gray wolf’s skull. Instantly killing it while deep in a green forest, but the moment I do, another wolf jumps from behind and digs its teeth into my shoulder. But even if it does, I didn’t scream or ravage around in pain. Instead, I slowly turn my head to the wolf, then instantly thrust my knife into its skull as well. I watch as the wolf quickly dies, then shove it away. I try to continue walking onwards… until I fall to my knees, unable to move them. And before I knew it, I lost control over my entire body, and I fell face-first onto the ground. I lay there… trying to move my body but to no avail.
It was about two hours later…
“Huh?” A white-haired boy stares down at my body, which lay still.
“H-hello?” The moment he says that my body budges, and the boy jumps out of surprise. It is then… I use my arms and lift myself a little, then look up at him.
“A-are you ok.” I didn’t answer. I stare at him as he looks at me worryingly.
“Those wounds! Not only that...” He stares at my heavy injured body… which is covered entirely in blood. “All… that blood.” He shakes his head then quickly runs up to my body.
“Charles, little boy! Come out and stop running!” Charles turns to see many orange lights coming towards us. He then quickly turns to me.
Charles lifts me, putting me on his back, then goes running further into the woods. It is during this time… I lost consciousness.
After that, I lost all of my memories of my home… until Kin’s question.