Inside each one of us lurks a vicious beast, waiting.
The constant struggle with the inner self is the only barrier that keeps that beast at bay.
However, what happens when accepting one's own flaws and weaknesses, allows the beast within to come out?
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Blade after blade shattered beneath his grip.
He jumped up, feeling the wind violently pulling away under his feet.
Having barely evaded again, he quickly ducked his head down in midair to dodge another massive vine-like tendril swiping inches away from his black hair.
Wherever he looked, he was surrounded by them, whipping tendrils many times his size coming at him from all directions.
His body was on the verge of collapsing, how many times had he barely evaded a fatal blow by now?
How far did he push his body past what he thought was the absolute limit, just so it can continue moving one more time?
Even his powers gave up on him, they wouldn't even manifest anymore.
It surely didn't help that, whatever those things he was surrounded by were, they were consumed by scorching flames, and even worse, controlled by something that can only be described as the embodiment of chaos.
The skin on his body screamed and wailed from the heat, his muscles as heavy as lead from all the agony he had put them through.
But he couldn't give up just yet.
No, he still had something to do.
Anyone witnessing such a scene would understand the impossible odds he was facing. After all…
How is a twelve year old boy supposed to beat a giant Leviathan dragon and his flaming tendrils? What kind of sick and twisted combination was that anyway?
But this twelve year old boy had other plans, he didn't care about the odds, he never did.
He had lost count of how many times he had faced death head on. As far as he could remember, the battlefield was everything he knew.
Surrounded by blood and corpses his entire life, courting death on a daily basis, why would this time be any different exactly?
"I'll show you…!"
He finally landed on the ground with clenched teeth, immediately picking up another sword leftover on the battlefield of scorched corpses. He had lost his main blade at some point during the fight, but there were plenty of available options around him now.
At least, If they didn't break, Every. Single. Time.
Attempting to attack the beast again, he swung his newly-obtained blade towards another flaming tendril coming his way.
At first, he couldn't believe he was up against a beast that was thought to be extinct not so long ago.
Although he saw it all happen, the moment it appeared and killed everyone on the battlefield…
Although he knew everything…
He couldn't stop, couldn't let the sacrifice of the one who saved him be in vain. Her last words still fresh in his mind after she shielded him from the raging flames that did everyone else in.
It was up to him now, his last reason to keep going.
His responsibility.
He gritted his teeth and put his entire strength into that last swing.
KRASHH!
"Ugh-!"
With one last grunt, everything came crashing down as his new blade shattered beneath his grip once more, barely having managed to graze the flaming tendril whipping the air just inches of his nose.
His conviction, his rage, his promises…
It all came crumbling down along with the shattered metal pieces. They all fell surrounding his exhausted body. Tasting the dirt on the ground felt more as a relief to his torn up muscles than anything.
Tap, tap, tap
And as if on cue, rain began to pour down on his back.
He forced his bloodied face to look up, ignoring the striking pain in his body that cried to him with every action he took.
The gigantic winged beast he was so desperately fighting just moments earlier looked down at him.
It didn't attack, in fact, it didn't move at all. Its tendrils were back at its sides, the flames that were enveloping them nowhere to be seen anymore.
It just stood still, its sharp, cobalt blue eyes glowing behind the rising dust.
It simply waited in silence, observing.
The boy saw himself reflected amidst those big beastly eyes, as if it was looking directly into his soul.
Then, he noticed his main weapon laying right in front of him. If he wasn't on his last breaths, he might've spared a chuckle at the absurdity of such a coincidence.
Of course he would find his weapon right when he couldn't pick it up anymore.
"..."
He looked at it, a Katana type sword with a wavy blue pattern on the blade. The two tassels attached to the handle were filled with memories of a better time.
That was his weapon.
His partner.
Can't pick it up?
Yeah, who decided that exactly? I can still…
He dragged his arm forward, reaching for his beloved sword.
CLUCK!
He clenched the handle with all his might and raised his head to face the beast looking down at him.
The boy's eyes took an emerald gleam as they glared at his mortal enemy.
"Hungh!!" He grinded his teeth to the point his glowing pupils were barely visible anymore.
But no matter how much he tried or pushed himself, his body wouldn't budge.
It wouldn't, couldn't get back up.
Seeing that, the beast simply turned around and began to slowly slither away.
"Come back here… I can still…" His voice cracked as he stared at the back of the Leviathan dragon, its silhouette disappearing from his view.
Now, even his vocal cords had given up on him.
I'm not done yet…you hear me?
I'll find you…
I'll…
As he continued to voice his thoughts to himself, his eyelids finally caught up with his body and gave out.
His consciousness started to drift away to his usual horrors.
Horrors he knew to expect every night.
But this time, for the first time in a longtime, something different would happen.
{Can you finally hear my voice?}
He heard it, an almost ethereal and magical voice he had never heard before, and yet, it was a voice as familiar to him as his own.
Who's there?
{Come to me! You have kept me waiting for so long…}
Those words echoed in his mind as he lost full consciousness, and his body finally experienced what a good night sleep felt like.
Around his body, the raging flames continued to resist the pouring rain coming down at it. Even in his sleep, a natural and silent battle was still taking place around him.
**👑**
Before long, he gently opened his eyes again, coming back to the world of the living.
"Hmmm…"
Noticing the unusually calm awakening, an odd sense of security took over him. A fuzzy memory of someone taking care of him flashed into his mind, but he quickly brushed it off as just a dream.
As he laid there, what greeted him first was the usual foggy sky of this blasted continent known as Tartarus. But that scenery was quickly interrupted by the smell of ash and burned flesh invading the boy's nose.
Instinctively, he immediately sat up, the lingering metallic taste of blood and dirt still vaguely on his tongue.
"Huh?!"
Having received almost no pain from that sudden movement, he looked down at his chest. He traced the newly applied bandages on his arms and torso, even the traces of blood on his face had somehow disappeared.
"I'm not bleeding anymore… and my wounds are… gone?" He paused, trying to gauge his current condition.
"No, some are still there, just tended to. But how?"
He mumbled to himself as he looked around in search of anyone who might've helped him while he was out of it.
After what had occurred here, he was sure there was no one else left alive except for himself…
But maybe… just maybe!
The boy held on to that slight hope as he scanned the area around him. He squinted his eyes, trying to look past the rubble and smoke, searching for any signs of another living person, but all he could see were the chaotic remnants of war and death, a true tragedy.
Trees were scorched, ashes that were once corpses lay scattered around, and smoke covered the entire area that was once a bustling battlefield.
If it weren't for the rain before he passed out, the fire might've spread through the entire continent at the rate it was going.
"...", He couldn't help but grimace.
While he didn't find another person, he did notice the unusual butterfly flying around him.
Not only was it pure black with green patterns on the wings, leaving a trail of pinkish shadows behind it every time it flapped them, but the most unusual thing about it was the fact that a butterfly willingly flew into a recently burned battlefield.
The boy didn't know much about butterflies, but at least he knew that wasn't normal behavior.
Unless this tri-colored butterfly was some kind of oddity… like him.
"Can you finally hear my voice? Come to me! You've kept me waiting for so long!"
That was what the voice said to him before he lost consciousness. He couldn't get that familiar feeling out of his head, the same feeling he's getting from this butterfly.
He gently raised his hand to reach out towards it.
"Was that you just now?" He asked, the corners of his mouth slightly curling up.
There was no response, only the shadowy trail behind it as it gently landed on the back of his index finger.
He got a bit closer, trying to study its features carefully.
"My name is Lawkey, what's yours?"
Hearing his introduction, the butterfly suddenly flew away toward the fading smoke a few meters away from him.
"Wait up!" Lawkey called out to it as he forced his body to stand.
But just as he did…
"!"
He noticed his partner to his side, a blade he had named "Eclipsed Dawn". He was glad that it didn't suffer the same fate as the other blades he used during the fight.
It was a sword he had owned for as long as he could remember, after all.
He picked up Eclipsed Dawn and tied it to his back with the usual strap he wore over his torso. He never bothered getting a sheath for it, he preferred it to be ready as soon as he needed it.
His partner on his back, the disheveled medium length black hair on his head, the worn down black scarf around his neck, and his raggedy and damaged clothes combined with the bandages here and there…
"Yeah, good as new."
Without further delay, he quickly trotted behind the butterfly.
As he made his way through the smoke and rubble, he saw a glint of pink and green trailing not far from him. He followed it until he reached a burned down tent.
The butterfly traced an arc in the air and went straight to a small chest box, landing on top of it, right where it read "Lawkey".
It didn't take the boy long to recognize the chest box, despite the ash and charcoal covering half of it.
How could he not? It was basically one of his daily items.
"I guess you're trying to keep me alive too, huh?"
The second those words left his lips, the image of the woman who gave her life for the same cause flashed through his mind.
"Just keep smiling… little Law…Death is just another part… of life."
Her last words echoed in his head, she always said the same things with a cocky posture and boisterous grin on her face. She hadn't stopped right up until her last breath. As corny as they were, the boy she saved won't be forgetting those words anytime soon.
Lawkey took one last glance behind him towards the scorched battlefield, taking it all in.
"Sasaki…" He grimaced as he called out her name, both his hands clenched in tight fists at his sides.
I won't let it be in vain…
No matter what!
Having steeled his resolve, he reached out and picked up the chest box, causing his little friend to flap its wings again.
It flew around him before trailing over in one direction, as if leading the way.
He quickly followed his new companion, trying his best not to look behind him. There wouldn't be anything good to find there anymore.
"Alright, lead the way!" He called out enthusiastically as he dusted off the surface of his chest box.
Lawkey didn't know how it worked exactly, he had other things on his mind when it was explained to him, but the chest apparently had runestones implanted within it, not only keeping it safe, but also keeping its content warm and fresh.
He opened the lid on the chest box, and came face to face with a steaming grilled fish with some kind of brown-ish sauce on the side of the plate.
"Right. We did always eat fish today…" He mumbled to himself as his eyes narrowed.
I'm sorry, Jay…
I'm sorry we never called you Mom…
I'm sorry I couldn't protect anyone…
The rain had long stopped, but a single droplet left his eyes and fell to the ground as he continued to apologize in his head.
He bit his bottom lips so hard, it was about to start bleeding.
"..."
But don't worry!
After a moment of deliberation, he raised his head and looked at the sky while using his sleeve to wipe the tears off his face.
I will take responsibility for everything!
"I promise!" His eyes glowed with determination as he proclaimed to himself.
He looked back down at his meal and dug up the utensils from beneath the plate. Before long, he was walking and taking his first bite.
I know I'm not supposed to complain about the food…
His teary eyes turned to the moonless sky again.
"But I wish I could eat your pancakes one last time…" He murmured as he swallowed down his food.
"Pancakes, huh?! Now that's a surprise for you!"
"?!"
Lawkey immediately turned around and jumped back to face the direction the voice came from. His right hand instinctively took its place on the handle of his sword, sticking out of his back.
He was forced to quickly drop his chest and cover his eyes with his other hand. Whatever he was facing was emitting a light too bright for anything on this sun-forgotten continent.
As feathers of many colors preceded, the figure that spoke to him slowly descended from the sky. So slow in fact, it seemed like time itself came to a halt.
The multi-layered rainbow colored wings flapped in the wind gently, as the light emitting from them began to subside.
"I'm surprised someone from this elder-forsaken continent even knows what pancakes are. I'm very curious to know how that happened!"
The figure spoke again as it landed on a giant boulder sitting a few meters above Lawkey's head.
The glowing rainbow wings forced the boulder to cast a giant shadow in front of it and over Lawkey's frozen still body.
Lawkey's eyes began to adjust to the mixture of lights, but none of that helped with the strangeness of his situation.
As the brightness coming from the figure's back continued to change, the cloak covering its body quickly came into view. While the hood on its head seemed normal enough, the outfit it donned seemed inspired by jesters, which still paled in comparison to the thing on its face.
A white silly mask, with a wide and thin grin on its face, making it seem more eerie than amusing.
The boy's brows were wide in shock, not just from the sights in front of him, but from the feeling igniting inside his stomach.
His body stood still like a rock statue, gravity itself denied him any movements.
Even the strange tri-colored butterfly quickly hid behind his back to not face what's in front of it.
Lawkey knew it, his body recognized it, his mind screamed it.
The figure in front of him was not an ordinary man.
No.
He was a deity.
Jay had told them stories about these beings…
The ones who ruled this world…
And he was one of them…
One of the Undying Elders!
First the Leviathan, and now this?!
Give me a break!