LGHTNOVELBOOK Chapter 7: Chapter 7: What even is humanity?
"This will do" Shotaro said as he wiped the trail of sweat from his forehead using his arm, as he stood in front of a grave, one he dug for Madona now that the battle's over.
He sat there, joining his hand in respect, closing his eyes as he said, "We only knew each other for 3-4 days, but you really were a great friend, a good ally & a splendid warrior, may your soul rest in peace, Madona, daughter of Kanal".
He said, as the memories of them flashed in front of his eyes, the first meeting, where she pointed her bow at him, the bath beside the river, the hunt & finally
WHERE SHE GETS BITTEN IN HALF BY GARM INFRONT OF HIM
Shotaro's eyes suddenly jolted open as he clenched his chest, panting, due to the sudden recollection.
As He stood up in front of the Grave.
A familiar voice came from behind him.
"That will start it all for you, huh?" Halasar said.
"What do you mean?" Shotaro asked in confusion.
"Death" Halasar said, "Son, I know for a fact you're mature enough to know".
"The path you have taken, the life you have chosen, the journey you will start will plant a thousand such graves like this one" Halasar said sternly, "& You will have to dig them all yourselves".
"Such is the life of a hero" He concluded.
Shotaro looked around for a bit, to him, to the grave, before muttering, "I have an idea".
"No you fucking don't" The elven guru cursed, "That sword on your waist will not be only one to bring misfortune, it will be your path" he continued seeing the hesitant look on Shotaro's face, "Oh now you hesitate, 40,000 years ago, I choose your path, child of light, it was during the second civil war & only it led me to witness the end of my lineage & beginning of my brother's".
"I saw it, man, woman, children, die, scattered were their bits, land beyond lands, I was the hero then & I had to decide their fate & I had to bury them myself, Mugyiwara".
"This is why after so many years I am here" He revealed, "To make sure you don't dig all these graves alone with me".
"I will be there when you will need me" He's teleporting away.
Shotaro stood there, beside the grave, thinking about those words, it was weird, ironic, here it was, a child of Gaia, with blurred memories of his past, or even how he got here, beside a grave of his first friend in this world, & with a Katana on his waist brings the worst of all misfortunes to the user.
He looked back at the grave he just dug & the million he will dig in the future.
"Did I took heroism too lightly" He said before he heard some noises, he looked afar, seeing the cubs snuggling to Garm, in her humanoid form, that he named Beastmen form, she, while being injured, dotted them.
"Thank god at least I told her to not breastfeed them in that form" Shotaro admitted to himself, "It would have been awkward".
Suddenly he stopped, looking at the sky he wondered if he even had a mother, or a parent on that matter himself in his previous life, who even birthed such being like him, just like, a petal of lotus, that flew with the wind, landed on his forehead as he looked in the sky, as if divine intervention, snapping him out of that stance.
"Oh yeah" He said to himself, "I should go there before villagers tries to sneak on them" he chuckled to himself, "Well TBH, I am more concerned about the villagers if they do it".
He walks towards the family, as the cubs saw him, jumped on the big man & licked him in affection.
"They love you" Garm said with a smile, as she crossed her hands, "Maybe because they understand you're actively saving their & their mother's life from angry villagers".
"Maybe they do" Shotaro said laughing as he enjoyed the cubs.
But Alakshmi being Alakshmi bursted them away again.
"This one protective sword" Shotaro joked, "For a one whose gig is to bring tragedies to welders".
"The cursed sword of misfortune" Garm said, "Alakshmi".
"You know about it" Shotaro said.
"It was so many eons ago" Garm explained, "I was a little bastard wolfling myself, my mother used to tell me stories" She stopped but hesitatingly continued.
"About an outer goddess who only brought tragedies & misfortune to other outer gods".
"Outer gods?" Shotaro asked confused.
"The gods of Aetheria" Garm replied, "Are mere avatars of the great beyond ones, once you call outer gods".
She continued the story, "The Goddess was hated so much by everyone, even herself, but she never stopped loving everyone, so to protect them from her....properties as you put it, she had the gods combine their powers to made a cosmic forge, called the abstract furnace, in the centre of the sea of worlds, & jumped in it, committing suicide, but the conceptual flames themselves subsided, due to the sheer misfortune, & the goddess wasn't fully burned, instead what was left was a sword, that had the goddess trapped inside it & it was able to cut through everything, abstract, conceptual, platonic, mathematical, tangible, non-tangible, even philosophies like the Monad & ideas like the beginning, as it transcended all & end, the drawback being its sheer torturous misfortune bringing existence, the sword was named after the Goddess, & thrown into the vast oceans of existences, by the outer gods to get rid of it, the goddess was named Alakshmi, outer god of misfortune" Garm said with no filter, "You're doomed Mugyiwara, if it chooses you".
"That was harsh" Shotaro said.
Garm suddenly began to look at him, "He really resembles the hero she prophesised in that poem, but Fenrir is long sealed, so how can he be The hero of saving?".
"What is it" Shotaro asked.
"Nothing" Garm said, as she orders one of the cubs to come with her, "You have my eternal gratitude, you do, even if defeated me like that, you, by saving my children, have become the second most important person in my life, even if most of them are death, Shotaro Mugyiwara" She hesitated but said, "Why did you save me?, you could have beheaded me & have these cubs slaughtered once & for all like villagers wanted".
"You didn't kill me when you had an entire moment" He said "Why should I kill you when I had just one chance, you're no monster but a being who have lost almost everything".
"Me, these villagers, you, & even Madona are in fact....victims of circumstances"
"It's about perceptive & I won't wanna one direction led if I am going to pursue being a hero" He said, "When I heard your story from Madona, I realised your reality".
Garm was....flabbergasted as his logical, but heartfelt answered, she understood why even after getting hunted to extinction, Fenrir told her to never underestimate a human's heart, because in a land where most things keep existing, a perishable being's ability to be kind changes the world.
"Shotaro Mugyiwara" She said, "You're truly the most human of most men I encountered in past ages".
She then turned back into her great wolf form, as size shadowing hills, "Although I suggest we don't meet again, for that sword may bring harm to my cubs with its wicked existence, this is goodbye".
"I understand" Shotaro replied, "But".
"But what?" Garm asked confused.
"This sword doesn't have a wicked existence, it has a cursed one" Shotaro answered where Garm only smirked.
"That was breathtakingly of you" She said, before she released a fragrance that coated Shotaro, it was as plain as normal air, so unnoticeable but little did he knew.
"It has been ages since I marked someone" She said, "This fragrance will only noticeable by other legendary beasts, it's an insignia of the fact that, Shotaro Mugyiwara is under the protection of the queen of the great wolves", she said before turning away.
The cubs, reluctant to leave their new buddy, walk back to their mother as they disappeared in the Forrest.
Meanwhile, in some other section of village, Kanal suddenly, woke up. "Where the fuck is Shotaro" he said.
Meanwhile, back with Shotaro, as he was packing his back, "It was nice of her to leave me her Bag pack after she died".
Then he took a moment to just sit & zone out, not processing that she is gone, "Damn, I am not this good with deaths, I guess that's why Guru said that".
"Whoever I was, whatever those voices were, shit I have so much to find out"
"A companion would have been nice, but I guess this sword fills that up".
WHERE THE FUCK IS EVERYONE?.
Shotaro looked around as the whole village was nearly empty
"Where is everyone?" He said until he heard some noises from very far away.
"Burn her down while she is still recovering, kill her cubs".
"Fuck" Shotaro shouted in frustration, "FUCK FUCK FUCK!!!!".
He ran towards the hills, he ran & he ran & he ran & he ran, until his eyes saw the sight.
"No" He said, as he saw the gruesome scenery of the mod brutally ripping apart a cub, they ripped his limbs, they stabbed its eyes, the wolf wailed in pain as its mother was forced to witness it, Garm, being injured, was quickly taken down & tied, she tried to use her ice canon but failed, she looked at Shotaro, who was standing there, horrified & shocked, at the end, the cub was torn apart.
Suddenly, Shotaro snapped, "You guys, are the actual animals" he gritted his teeth, as his eyes glowed crimson.
"FUCKING DIE YOU MONSTERS" HE SCREAMED AS SUDDENLY SPIKES SPAWNED OUT OF THE GROUND, IMPALING THE MOB, Vlad Tepes style.
The sun came out as Shotaro was sitting in a large puddle of blood of his own creation, he saw Kanal dead, he thought about what he just did, Madona saved him with her life & he killed her entire village, including her father.
He saw Garm, weeping over the bits of Aka, the red haired cub that got butchered, the cubs that survived, they were grieving too of their sibling's demise.
Garm suddenly tried to crush him under her paw, "IT's YOUR FAULT".
"YOURS & THAT CURSED SWORD"
"THEY KILLED AKA"
"THEY KILLED MY OLDEST CHILD WHILE I only FUCKING WATCHED"
"DIE YOU PEICE OF SHIT, MAY YOU ROT IN THE DEEPEST FILTH OF THE FILTHIEST CORNER OF THE MOST FILTHY WORLD".
"Garm..I" Shotaro said.
"SHUT THE FUCK UP" Garm said, "YOU WANT TO BE A HERO, GUESS WHAT?, HEROES ARE'NT FUCKING LATE LIKE THIS?"
"I would have argued that I am just a human" Shotaro said, as the trumatic face he just got, "But at this point".
"WHAT EVEN IS HUMANITY".
"I told you" Halasar's voice ringed into his head.
"DAMN IT" he broke down, punching the land that was red due to the blood.
"DAMN IT DAMN IT DAMN IT" HE SCREAMED & WAILED, for the first time, his tears coming out.
"AAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH" He punched it until the last drop of bloo came out of his fist.
But then he realised what that voice meant by keep moving forward when he woke up.
He stood up, looked back at Garm, wondered if she gonna blow him to bits, he admits it would be a good move if she does, he awaited her move, but She looked down at him fwith disgust & dissapointment, "I thought you were the hero".
She walked away, with her cubs following her.
Shotaro was'nt given the mercy of sweet release, he was sentenced to suffer alone in grieve, trauma & guilt by the queen of Great wolves.
scene cuts to Shotaro finishing digging graves for all the villagers, he knew he had to leave before the others arrive to find their brethen.
He stood over the cliff, his waist cape flowing with the wind, along with his hair.
with Alakshmi in his waist, he remembered Madona one last time, remmebering her wish to explore the world.
He knew the next step he will take will be in a different world, so he does.
"Keep moving forward" He said as he started.
So began the journey of the hero.