Igdelle, an old, forgotten and abandoned town in a land where no soul could been seen as far as the feet would carry, was truly one of the most dreadful places in the entire world. There was no one who would venture in such a place unless they wished for a cruel and peaceless end. It is said that this was the place where the fall of humanity had its beginning
This town was where the creatures of the dark wailed in hunger, their large forms, piercing claws, dark exterior and sharp fangs were the mark of one of the most bloodthirsty hunters of the Underworld.
And because of their sudden emergence, no human was ever able to survive the destruction they caused, as those that desperately tried to hold onto their lives met the inevitable fate of being consumed gluttonously. And these creatures were merciless as they did not ever leave even a crumble of bone, or even a drop of blood to be wasted and swallowed by the earth.
For the depravity they had caused, they were honored the title of "Cerberus".
In the dark alleyways of such a vile and terrible place, inhabited by these demonic beasts, the screamings of a lone woman could be heard echoing through the air.
The woman was tormented by an excruciating affliction as she struggled and cried, breathing heavily and thrashing her legs in pain as the large hounds surrounding her watched closely, lying in wait and drooling at the sight of her despair. The pain and agony etched on her face further fueled their insatiable hunger. Yet despite their eagerness, they did not step further and instead watched the woman as she screamed and screamed.
She felt tired and exhausted, but finally, the infant had been birthed. She sighed in relief, her chest heaving up and down, and the beads of sweat dripped down her face from the harrowing few hours she had to endure. But now as her gaze turned to her surroundings, she noticed that the demons had start to inch closer to her.
But the woman was not concerned or intimated by her imminent end, instead she thought that it would be wonderful to die with her child in her arms. So she turns her gaze to where her child lays in silence.
She sighs blankly, as she wasn't hearing the cries she thought she would hear. And tears started to stream down her face. But in reality, she felt entirely emotionless.
Even so, she mustered the energy to adjust herself and reach for the child. It was quite a strenuous task to even make this seemingly mediocre attempt. It made her arms tremble and her breathing grew even more ragged as she pushed herself up, she didn't have much strength left and her vision grew blurry.
And the child that lay silently, stared up at the bright sky and the white clouds in wonder blinking once, and then twice in curiosity before the woman shakily came into his line of sight.
Her weakened state made her eyes droop, but even in such a state, she found a sudden surge of energy upon seeing her newborn as her eyes widened.
But that was not due to the joys of motherhood, but rather, the horror upon seeing her child as her face turned from exhaustion to an unmasked fearfulness.
The demons grinned as they took another step closer.
And the woman fell backwards, trembling in her shocked state and with her eyes wide open and the last of her strength, she shrieked, "...MONO-!"
Those were the last words she ever spoke, as right then, the demons pounced.
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The boy, now ten years later since that day, replayed the memory in his mind as he stared at his reflection in the water. Even though he didn't know much about the woman, the memory of that time was on his mind quite often. Leaving him with an unsettling feeling that he couldn't understand.
The water of the river flowed gently as the boy squinted and mustered every inch of his focus on his appearance-- his white hair, bright blue eyes and pink cheeks.
He concentrated and stared hard into the water mirroring his image, looking for anything strange, like an arm growing out of his eye, or a second mouth on his face, and then he pinched his cheek stretching it to see if anything would happen, but the only thing he could feel was it hurting a little, and then he let go and slumped back in thought, mumbling the word, or name that was most curious to him, "Mono…"
He looked back at his companion-- Pollo, who was a translucent creature with its head in the shape of a wild grizzly bear, and a body of an armored warrior. This weird-looking thing self-proclaimed himself as the most powerful spirit in the world, much to Mono's skepticism.
And he also insisted that he looked the same as Mono, although he would never know as his friend refused to take off his head, warning him that something very awful and dangerous can happen. Mono was quite curious about how Pollo really looked like, but since Pollo would strictly deny ever taking of his head, Mono eventually let it be.
But even if Pollo was persistent in claiming that they were the same, there was very visible difference between the two, the only similarity that they had was that his friend wasn't large in size, he was the same size as the boy himself. And it seemed that this companion had always maintained Mono's stature, and grew alongside him.
It made the boy feel closer to this spirit and his friend had taught him that they were "brothers"—a concept unfamiliar to him, but he thought of it as someone he could never leave behind.
His brother, Pollo, was someone he remembered from his earliest memory waiting in the abandoned alley where everything had isolated him. He doesn't know how long he stared at the sky, growing dark and then bright again. Listening to the howls of the beasts amidst the emptiness.
Until one day, a large bear head appeared in his view, making him blink in surprise.
The bear seemed surprised as well as he looked at the child, "Little one, what are you doing here? And... How are you still alive?"
The child was too young to answer so he just stared back.
Pollo, with an expression of sadness and sympathy, picked up the lonely Mono and cradled him close into his arms, rocking him gently and then nuzzling his tiny forehead, "Don't worry, from now on, you won't be alone... I will always be with you."
It was then, for the first time, the child cried with all his heart.
Pollo then hid Mono the best he could, and snuck past the menacing beasts and further and further away from the desolate and dilapidated land. But leaving wasn't easy, and they had to go quite far to truly be safe.
Even so, ever since then, Pollo would feed him critters, making him vomit, giving him his first bath in ice cold water which almost froze him to death, having him taken in the middle of the night by monsters, and teaching him all that he knew about the world through his horrible drawings he would make using a stick to trace on the dirt. But somehow, Mono understood and deeply appreciated Pollo for all of it.
When Mono could speak, all he would say was the word that was consistently on repeat in his mind-- Mono. It was the only way he communicated until he was taught other words, but when Pollo heard it so many times, he decided that it would be the child's name.
As they traveled together, much to Mono's surprise, Pollo actually proved that he was acutally really strong, because throughout their travels away from the abandoned town, they ventured into many places filled with monsters and other creatures, where upon defeating his opponents, his brother had this weird ritual of dancing and wiggling his butt on top of their corpses, which made Mono feel sorry for them.
But his brother always defeated their foes effortlessly, it made Mono feel proud and confident in his brother. Pollo always protected Mono, but it him feel helpless and he begged his brother to teach him how to defend himself, how to fight so he could also protect him in return too. He wanted to be helpful to his brother, but Pollo would always refuse, and said, "You don't need to learn something like that, Mono." And then he would grin proudly, "You have me, and I'm the strongest!"
Mono felt disdain whenever Pollo refused to teach him the ways of a warrior, but he had decided that one day he will learn it himself.
Pollo could do anything, Mono would always think that his brother is amazing and deeply admired him. Well... He really could do anything, except for when he's trying to make their food. The thought made Mono scrunch his nose.