Fate must have hated him; it was the only explanation for why things never ended well for the adorable creature. Yes, fate definitely had it out for him.
He was curled up on his sandbox, his face pale, and his hands tightly covering his ears. The reason for this was...
"Damn it! How dare they?!" The silhouettes of his tutor, Albert, and Ingrid were overflowing with rage as they shouted in unison, "Useless, mediocre, cowardly, idiotic fools! No, worse than fools!"
'I'm sorry.' Though the adorable creature didn't understand what was happening, he was sincerely apologizing. He didn't want to see them like that.
'I'm really, really sorry!'
The hanging lamp in the center of the luxurious room had been destroyed. The same went for the bookshelf, and the crystal figures it once held were now scattered across the floor. Everything was broken in one way or another.
'Forgive me, forgive me, forgive me, I'm sorry.'
◇◆◇
To better understand this situation, let's go back a bit in time.
It was mealtime, and the master had come to feed the adorable creature. After removing its gag and placing the dish on the floor, the master began to stroke its head. However, at that moment, a small figure hurriedly entered the room.
"Master, master, master," it repeated over and over, its hunched figure making it appear even smaller than it already was.
It was another fallen one. As mentioned, it was small, barely reaching the waist of an average-sized man, but given that it walked hunched over, dragging its arms across the floor, its stature barely came up to a person's knees.
It wore a worn vest and pants stitched together with thick thread, more rags patched together than actual clothing.
Hissing and mumbling, as its steps made it seem like it was hopping slightly, the fallen one approached the master.
"Master, yours, yours, letter sent for you. Yes, yes, yes, yes."
Bowing down until it nearly kissed the ground, the small fallen one extended the letter towards the master. The latter took the paper and, allowing the adorable creature to continue eating on its own, opened it. However, the master didn't seem to have eyes, or at least, that's how it appeared at first glance. Yet, as he opened the letter, the master placed his palm over the paper, and from between the wrinkles, what looked like an eyelid began to open. Eventually, an eye appeared in the center of his hand.
After a few moments, the master's smile tightened.
"Damn them all!"
He exploded, and in his sudden outburst, the dish from which the adorable creature had been quietly eating was sent flying.
This was the trigger. Although the adorable creature didn't know what the letter contained, one thing was certain: it had to be something terrible.
◇◆◇
To the adorable creature, it wasn't the master who had become enraged; from its perspective, it was Ingrid and Albert who were cursing while tearing everything apart. Perhaps it was his fault; perhaps he had done something to upset them, or maybe he had said something he shouldn't have. That's why the adorable creature kept apologizing from the bottom of his heart.
However, the response from the illusory silhouettes was quite different:
"Damn you, heroes! How dare you ruin my plan!"
'Heroes!?' A new name surfaced. 'Heroes? Heroes? Heroes... Heroes.'
The adorable creature didn't understand what the heroes—saviors of the world—had to do with any of this. But if his own family was cursing them, then he wouldn't argue. Accepting it as an absolute truth, he too began to feel angry.
It was thanks to that very anger that a voice echoed in his head:
"I swear... to anyone who comes for me, I swear."
"I swear I'll serve whoever comes for me!"
"For love."
His own voice, the voice of a younger version of himself that he had long forgotten, whispered in his ear:
[What do I want?]
'Ah, that's right,' the adorable creature responded in his mind. 'I said it... I wanted to be useful to someone.'
[For love? For a false love?]
'But it's the only thing I have left.'
[Will I be useful?]
'If I lose it, I'll have no one left... that's the only reason.'
Sanity had been cast aside long ago, willingly discarded. That's why the adorable creature clung to the last thin thread keeping him from unraveling completely, from losing all sense of purpose: the illusory silhouettes of his family.
'But to protect them, I have to...'
[Destroy what's making them angry? Do you want to do that? We've always been this weak, haven't we?]
'Ah! That's right. I've always been weak. Yes, I don't know when it started, but I've been drawn to the idea of having a family. To love and attention. I'm not talented, I'm not persistent, I'm not likable; even so, I've always wanted to be important.'
[But trying to help Ingrid and my tutor Albert is...]
'The only light, my only light. Mine. Mine. Only mine. Ingrid, my tutor. Oh! My tutor! Why did he never let me call him... "father"?'
The heat became unbearable, and the adorable creature could hear the ticking of his heart as if it were counting down the seconds of his lethargy. Everything moved more slowly, until the two silhouettes, still furious, froze completely.
[But you swore you'd serve anyone who came for you because they would become your family]. The voice of his younger self continued whispering in his ear like a horrible illusion: [Remember, if you want to be loved, you have to be useful].
Ingrid and his tutor were all he needed to be happy. In the past, the adorable creature used to come up with excuses just to see them, but his constant desire for attention eventually annoyed them. As he remembered those days, he reflected deeply in his mind:
'When they told me I was always useless, it hurt. When Ingrid left me outside the village and simply said, "Take care, I'll be back for something," that hurt too.
'If she knew I didn't listen to her, would she be mad? She probably would. Lorenz wasn't in the village during the attack, so I never found out what happened to him. And my tutor... Huh? Why can't I remember him?
'Now, as their silhouettes rage, I wonder, what am I supposed to do? No, I already know. Still, I'm hesitating. How could someone like me possibly get rid of what's bothering them, especially if it's the heroes? I'm not a great man or a legend. I'm just an emotional, lazy, weak fool, someone simple seeking approval. But…
'I'm sorry for everything: the trouble in the village.
'But…!
'The bad days, the endless whims.
'But…!!
'I truly regret it.
'But it's because of that same love that I want to end anything that hurts them!!! Death doesn't scare me if it's for my family. Even if it makes me the villain of this story, I want to erase the anguish from their faces. Even if it's a foolish illusion, I want them to be happy.
'Is there a way? There must be.
'A weapon? It has to exist.
'A method? I need to find it.
'Something to put an end to what torments them!
'So, leave it to me, okay? I, Eídal... No. I, Eídal Granier, will try my hardest and kill the heroes.'
The adorable creature declared this as he approached the silhouettes of his family.
It's curious how stories end like this. Our physical state, work, depression, family issues, financial struggles, laziness, loneliness, unmet goals, relentless dreams, our partner, or the inability to have one. No matter what, we all have something that breaks us inside.
The adorable creature was no stranger to this. Having never received real affection from those around him, he had no way of understanding the meaning of true love. To him, any kind gesture was synonymous with affection, while every act of aggression was a rightful punishment for his uselessness.
It was his own ignorance that ultimately destroyed him.
Taking advantage of the fact that the silhouettes of Ingrid and his tutor Albert, overlapping one another, had paused—choking the smaller fallen one—the adorable creature, once known as Eídal, tugged on the master's pants and declared in a soft but determined voice:
"Please, let me be helpful this time. They're all I have. I want to be useful."
His words were clear, resonating throughout the luxurious, though now shattered, room. It was surprising that after all this time, this was the first sentence he managed to say without his atrophied tongue getting stuck.
And then, he made up his mind: the adorable creature would have to kill the heroes.