F

Volume 3, Chapter 4: Ancestral Dreams

I felt like I was dreaming.

I was holding hands with someone who was wearing a long and old grey robe.

I didn’t know who this person was because their face was covered by a hood. I felt like it would be rude to look up at them to see who they were, so I obediently allowed myself to be pulled forward by the hand as I walked.

“Where are we going?”

We had arrived at the entrance of a town where dust and ash were falling from the skies like snow. Most of the buildings here were dyed black with soot and in a state of decay. Columns of smoke were rising like pulled lines into the air from here and there.

“It’s like a war broke out here or something.”

We went toward the center of town to find that several white roads had been made there.

I was dumbfounded when I realized that the roads were white because they were covered with human bones.

I didn’t want to walk here. But the hooded person didn’t let go of my hand as we crossed over the roads to the center of town. Upon a closer look, I saw that there were several rivers of black lava meandering across the parts of the surface that wasn’t covered by the roads of bone.

“What a scary place.”

There was a large circular stage that looked a bit like an arena of sorts beyond a district with many buildings that had burnt down lined up amongst each other. Like the roads, the large stage was also built with human bones.

There were two men on the stage. They were facing each other with their swords at ready, and the air around them was so tense it felt like they would start a duel to the death at any moment now.

“Who are they?”

One of the men had blond hair and an impressive physique. I idly entertained the thought that I’d seen his face before. He had blond hair and green eyes.

“Who was he again……?”

I couldn’t recall who he was immediately. My memories were being held back, like the way something gets stuck in your throat.

I couldn’t see the other man very well no matter how many times I focused on him. His facial features were unclear because he was covered by a black mist.

“Fight me,”

the man with the mask of mist said firmly. He continued,

“both you and I have killed six hundred sixty-six monsters, killed six hundred sixty-six of those who hid the magic within them, and also slain six hundred sixty-six swordsmen. All that remains is one more—the life of a king who has carved his name upon the world. Then, the stairs to greater heights shall be erected upon his corpse.”

There was a dangerous passion to his voice. The blond man furrowed his brows sorrowfully.

“Indeed, just one more. That’s why I vowed to never kill again. I don’t need to achieve greater heights. I want to end this life as a person.”

“Then offer up your life to me!”

The blond man readjusted his grip on his sword and his green eyes were colored by fervent anger and grief upon hearing the other man’s haughty words.

“You’ve slain too many people from my kingdom. I have no choice but to capture you, as a king.”

“Capture me, you say? Do you really think you can seal me away with such naïve thoughts?”

“You are also the king of a kingdom, are you not? Why did you choose the path of injustice?!”

the blond man condemned his opponent with a strained voice.

His voice resounded with the desire to somehow change his opponent’s, who was oozing with bloodlust and was baring his fangs at him, mind.

“What king? —the only name the masses praise is yours—the founding king’s! The people only look at what came first. And so, I’ve decided to reach for greater heights and become the god of the End.”

“What a ridiculous wish……. Did you really slay all those people just for that?”

“And how many did you kill? O bloody Founding King—have you not spilt as much blood as I have?”

“Stop, ——, don’t point your sword at me!”

I heard the sharp clang of clashing swords. The two men had begun battling fiercely atop the bleak stage of human bones.

<There exists a law of awakening by which man can become god. Thrice, trample on as many bones as the number of darkness and take the life of a conqueror in the end. Then, the stairs to greater heights shall be erected.>

The robed figure beside me said quietly as they pointed at the two men. They whispered as if they were reciting a fairytale.

<Man are beings that imitate the gods. He who wishes to be reincarnated as a god must not only overcome the number of darkness, but also become something other than man. Fulfill your life.>

Just as the whisper that seemed to seep into every nook and cranny of my body melted away into silence.

The blond man let out a heartbreaking wail. His sword was pierced deeply into the man with the mask of mist’s chest. It looked like their duel was over.

“Don’t die, ——, don’t make me kill you!”

“I…I will…be a god……! Why…can’t I…win?! What was the purpose of my life if I am to die nameless?!!”

The man with the mask of mist’s voice of resent suddenly changed into a scream of awe.

<Watch, the defeated will wander a frozen eternity. He will be mercilessly stripped away of both life and death.>

“Stop, don’t take him away! I don’t want to become a god!”

the blond man screamed as his knees sank to the floor of the stage.

The man with mask of mist’s body melted away audibly. His white bones were exposed for all to see. And the lament of the countless people he’d killed became as black shadows and clung——to his bones.

“H, help……!”

“——!”

The blond man tried to save the melting man and reached out for him. But the other man’s flesh and blood was already hopelessly lost to him.

“Aahh!”

All that remained in the blond man’s hands were the melted man’s bones. The bones changed form and became a single translucent sword.

<He, with a tragic soul, longed to stand atop the heights as a god. But now that his wishes have been shattered, he became as a false god before the true gods. All so that his violent soul may be sealed away.>

“Why did you make me kill you? I vowed never to kill again and became a king so that I could protect more lives than I’ve taken! Why wouldn’t you let me atone for my bloody life as a person?!”

The translucent sword slipped out of the blond man’s hands. He spat out as though he was cursing himself and covered his face.

Just then, the bone stage shook slightly. The bone roads that covered the town transformed. A stairway of bones blackened with soot began to erect itself before the blond man, who was wailing with his head hanging down.

<He who opened the path to greater heights regardless of his wishes earned the right to become a god.>

The air on about the third step of the stairway……that had erected itself before the blond man suddenly distorted.

The distortion in the atmosphere quickly took the shape of a person. It was a beautiful person with sobering blue hair.

“I’ve seen that person before.”

The blue-haired person wore gorgeous clothes and was so beautiful they could have been made of jewels.

“The heavenly gates have opened for thee. Now, seek. What manner of god dost thy wish to be?”

the blue-haired person asked the crouching blond man coolly.

“I don’t need the right to become a god; just bring —— back to life. That’s all I ask for!”

The blond man looked up and shouted fervently. But, the blue-haired person simply shook their head slowly without ever changing their expression.

“No. The turbulent soul of he who is both closest to and furthest from the heights has taken in the lament of all those he’s slain and become a demon of resent. It is thy job as a new god to seal away that calamity. His name will be erased from the world so that his resent may never leak out into it. And also from thy memories.”

“His name will be erased……? I refuse; are you telling me to forget about ——?!”

“Such is fate. The heights are a heaven that stands atop cruelty. Now state it: what manner of god dost thy wish to be?”

“What manner of god? Are you saying that I, the unwilling, am to use the one who wanted for this as a stepping stone to reach greater heights?! What kind of god are you telling me to be—a god of madness, or a god of brutes?!”

The blond man cried tears of blood.

His eyes were dyed red, and his hair, covered in ——’s blood, was also dyed crimson.

“Only thee can know what thou ought to govern over. If thy whilst not chose, then thou shall become a demon as resent as well. An un-sealable demon of resent that brings curses upon the world.”

“I don’t know, I don’t know! I can’t see anything!”

The blue-haired person looked down at him and sighed. The stairs wavered. If he didn’t choose, the gates to greater heights would close and only calamity would remain in the land.

No one could see me.

“I’m sure this is a dream.”

Even so, I let go of the hooded figure’s hand and went up to the other two.

I stood behind the man as he laughed while crying and twirled a lock of his crimson hair around my finger.

“I know. You’re neither a god of madness, nor a god of brutes, but a god of war. You govern over <Victory> and <Prayer>. You pray because you want to atone, because you want to protect. Your victory brings forth hope. You’re a god of war who gives power to the people on the land.”

I crouched down with his hair still in my hand and pressed my forehead against his shoulder. I was an illusion, so he wouldn’t feel my body heat or anything. But still, I talked to him over and over again in a voice he could not hear.

“State thy name. Thy name as a god. And what thy will govern,”

the blue-haired person quietly urged him on.

The man, whose hair had been dyed crimson, shook his head as though he was saying that he didn’t know.

I squeezed his hair tight, kissed it, and mustered up a voice that would never reach him.

“I know that you can see it inside yourself. Look carefully.”

“I……”

When he began to whisper absentmindedly while still shedding tears, I wrapped my arms around him from behind and hugged him.

It’s okay, you can answer properly, I thought as I whispered in his ear.

I knew him, after all.

“Olin. Your name as a god is Olin. The god of war!”

His body suddenly twitched.

“Olin. I’m a war god.”

He raised his hand and awkwardly brushed against the air as if he was seeking for something there.

“I’m an illusion, so neither my words nor my form will reflect in your eyes. But still, I give you my blessings.”

I moved in front of him and peered into his face, a little embarrassed.

“So you bless me too one day, okay?”

I gave him a kiss he could not feel.

“Now, let’s stand, Olin.”

I drew away and grasped his hand as he knelt despondently.

Naturally, he probably couldn’t feel anything. I didn’t exist here.

Even still, Olin got up as if he was responding to my words.

“Olin, take “him” with you,”

I urged Olin on as I looked to the translucent sword that had tumbled onto the stage. Olin looked down and looked like he was in deep thought for a moment before he gently took the sword in his hand. Just as he did, a blood-red color mixed into the crystal-like blade of the sword.

“Go reach greater heights with “him”. You’re important, Olin. Your prayers and that sword will save this land one day.”

I let go of Olin’s hand.

The blue-haired person standing on the bone stairway stepped back so that Olin could pass.

Olin began to climb up the stairs but suddenly stopped mid-way. Our eyes didn’t meet, but he seemed to be searching for something.

“It’s okay, I’ll be watching over you. So relax.”

Olin blinked and began to awkwardly climb up again.

He began to fade away as he went. Maybe I couldn’t see him anymore because he was approaching another dimension.

The blue-haired person turned toward me again. They stood there, dignified, with a distant look in their eyes.

“I wonder when the sword’s spirit will be freed?”

“……It is not possible for it to be liberated in this land. It was sealed eternally in order to prevent its transformation into a demon of resent. He will never be reincarnated into a god of greater heights. And neither can the soul return, for it has surpassed the realm of man.”

Naturally, the blue-haired person shouldn’t have been able to see me either. But their soliloquy almost sounded like they were answering my question.

“However…”

They tilted their head slightly to the side and crossed their arms as they ruminated. The jewels on their necklace made a pretty sound.

“If it’s after the land falls to ruin, perhaps. If the world begins anew from the End and is reborn. Then, the soul will be healed by a purifying breath.”

“If it begins from the end……?”

“And only if there exists someone who still remembers his name. No, but that is impossible. His name was erased from all things that are living. A name that cannot be called cannot be resurrected.”

The blue-haired person sighed in melancholy.

I……I heard his name. After all, I’m an illusion right now—I don’t live in this world.

“A miracle in the End. As of yet, there is no god in heaven who governs over the End, or in miracles.”

“Miracles might arise from within people, you know?”

I smiled at the person with blue hair as they turned around slowly with a listless expression on their face.

“Thank you, Silvai.”

***

The scenery had changed completely by the time I turned around.

“Where……?”

I was sitting on top of a crumbling stone wall.

The person with the hood over his face was sitting right next to me.

“We’re at some grassy plain, I guess?”

The weather was beautiful. The sky was endlessly clear, and the transparent rays of sunlight shone down on us brilliantly. There was also a pleasant breeze gently rustling my hair.

It was a gentle and bright scene, though nothing else existed here.

I looked up at the azure sky and narrowed my eyes against the wind’s sigh as words spilled out of my lips.

“I remember it. I won’t ever forget your name.”

Hey, divine sword.

The person sitting next to me slowly drew back his hood.

He was a skeleton. A single tear dropped out of his empty black eye sockets.

“My god. Let’s revive this world together.”

I smiled as I gently vowed.

“Okay, Solt?”

The scenery changed once more.

***

The world was shaking. It was bobbing up and down, as though it was resting on the ocean’s waves.

I was looking at the sky. Its colors were changing at a dizzyingly fast speed, as though everything was on fast-forward.

Dawn, blue skies, the evening glow, night. The sun revolved, the clouds flowed, and the stars shined.

“The kingdom is being born!”

And the scenery changed again.

***

I was in the middle of a room in some kind of palace.

One of the walls was shimmering like a water mirror and reflecting on it was a scene from the surface. I couldn’t see the image, though. And yet, I already knew what kind of scene it was.

The dignified god standing before the water mirror——the red-haired Olin, was covering his face with one hand.

“War has spread out across the ends of the earth. The star of war has fallen upon the people again. Their prayers may reach me, but mine do not reach them.”

Don’t grieve, Olin.

***

I was standing upon a land that the army of the gods had run through.

It was a wasteland without even a single blade of grass. The sky, too, was stormy and purple lightning was flashing in the distance.

I noticed that a few monsters were making a fuss next to the ruins of a small shrine.

I drew closer and took a peek at what they were doing.

“How horrible.”

The monsters were harassing a small beast that was trembling in fear.

“Stop it; don’t hurt that child!”

A thick bolt of lightning landed on the earth just as I shouted this. The monsters jumped up as the resulting thunderous roar pieced the ground and scattered away like fleeing spiders.

I knelt down before the young beast after watching the monsters flee far away.

I couldn’t touch him as I was right now, but I reached out and tried to comfort him nevertheless.

“It’s okay; it’s not scary anymore, right?”

He responded with a feeble coo. His darkly colored fur was covered with dirt and blood. It looked like he couldn’t open his eyes because of all the stuff caked on his fur.

I wondered if there was a way I could wipe it off of him. I was frustrated by the fact I couldn’t touch him.

“Someone will be here soon.”

I couched down further, planted a kiss on the child’s forehead as he continued to tremble, and blew gently upon him.

Mysteriously enough, all the dirt and blood then fell off of him like dried sand and his dark and rough fur changed into an elegant silver.

“……Oh.”

I quickly turned around upon hearing something.

Someone riding a large beast was racing straight at us.

“Over here!”

I inadvertently shouted, though I knew he couldn’t hear me.

“I’m over here, Olin!”

Olin stopped by the ruins of the shrine as if he had heard my call and looked down at the small trembling beast.

“Help him, okay?”

Olin looked down at the beast, troubled, for a moment before carefully reaching down and picking him up. Yet another person came riding on a large beast as he did. He had blue hair. It was Silvai.

“Did you find it?”

“Yeah. But……”

Silvai looked puzzled at the hesitation in Olin’s voice. He climbed off of his large beast and walked over.

“The laws of heaven are so troublesome. A moon, which isn’t even supposed to exist here in heaven, rises whenever a god destroys another god. The moon creates a shadow over the devastated earth. And things are born from that shadow. Those things are either monsters or beasts if they are evil, and are something else entirely if they are holy——was it another kind of beast?”

They must be killed before they spread their filth across the devastated land and turn it into a den of darkness. Silvai looked to the small beast in Olin’s arms in wonder after he had finished explaining this.

“How mysterious.”

“Yeah.”

The two perplexed gods looked to each other.

“There’s no doubt that it is a beast. But it clearly holds a holy aura,”

Silvai whispered as he placed a hand on the young beast’s forehead.

“Did the beast gods who live on the boundary bless it so it wouldn’t be killed?”

Olin asked, prompting Silvai to answer with a mystified look on his face.

“No. This is unmistakably a holy aura from heaven. But just who in the world gave this blessing……?”

Oh, oops. Did I do this just now?

“So, what shall we do? Do we slay this beast?”

As the two gods began to hesitate, I stood on my tiptoes and desperately yelled out at them despite knowing that they couldn’t hear me.

“No, you can’t kill him! He’s a sacred beast!”

Silvai poked the young beast gently on the forehead. He cooed back in a heartrending manner.

“It will be allowed to remain in heaven since it has a holy aura——but I don’t make a hobby of surrounding myself if such ugly beasts.”

“Then…”

“It should be fine to kill it if you have no use for it either.”

No! I shook my head furiously.

Olin hesitated for a moment before repositioning the young beast in his arms.

“If it was fate that brought us together with this unexpected life, then I will look after it.”

Silvai chuckled.

Thank goodness. He wasn’t killed.

I, too, smiled in relief as I turned to the young beast squirming restlessly in Olin’s arms and said,

“take good care of Olin for me, okay, Eru?”

***

The scenery changed yet again.

I was sitting alone under a scene of carnage and shivering in the cold wintery wind with only a thin piece of cloth wrapped around me.

There was no one around. The sky was dim. I couldn’t see the sun or the moon or the stars. I wrapped my arms around my knees and sighed.

“It’s cold.”

I wondered if someone would come to pick me up. I closed my eyes as I thought this.

***

My surroundings were brimming with a tepid and opaque darkness when I next opened my eyes.

“What kind of place is it this time?”

I heard some sort of noise, as if my ears were ringing, in the darkness.

It was so indistinct that I couldn’t decide if it was the sound of people talking or not.

“Is anybody here?”

Completely dark places were scary. I called out as I rubbed my arms.

——Master.

“Oh!”

It was the divine sword’s voice. ——It’s, yeah, I know……it’s Solt’s voice!

“Where are we?”

——Who said you could address me so casually……? Master, it looks like there is someone waiting for you to awaken.

It felt like he was being a little cheeky, but I decided against pointing it out. Anyway, the person who would be waiting for me to wake up is, um……ahh, who is it again?

——Has your already lacking brain degraded even further, Master?

“Jeez, you’re so mean!”

I remember! ——It’s Louie.

“Where is everyone?”

Solt muttered something along the lines of, ‘Shouldn’t you thank me for my cooperation and give the highest praise for the great deeds I’ve done first before asking me any questions?’ Then, he seemingly gave up and told me, ‘Over there.’

“Over there?”

I squinted in the darkness.

Just as I heard someone sorrowfully call out, “Hibiki,” a white light instantaneously spread out before me and the scene changed again.