Level 6: Flower on a Volcano

On a passing shore, Atsuto took one look at the tribe and one look at the horizon far far away from his grasp. He sometimes wonders if all the journeys and detours he had stumbled upon in his life were worth it enough to make him a Shadow Ensemble member and as the village chief. What would've happened if Ren and the rest didn't come in the first place.

"Chief, how did you become who you are today as the leader of this tribe?" asked by a young one of the tribe who stumbled upon him along the passing shore.

One of the elders shushed him telling him that it's a long story and unsuitable for his age, but Atsuto stopped her, telling her that it's fine and instead she hoped she'll reiterate him the actual story as he's still a kid after all, he's still not in the ripe age to know violence.

"The village chief telling me a story!!, Yay!! It's an honor to hear it from you!!" she said. 

"Alright alright, sit down on the rock alongside the elder." he gently instructed him.

As they did, Atsuto began his story.

"Where do I start?"

****

Where will he start indeed, he wasn't even a part of the tribe nor his mother nor his father. He was just a stray kid wandering the forest and he lives on an active volcano. If he's sick of the nearby villagers in the volcano he goes to Mt. Tatamailau for a few weeks until he goes back there.

Every way of fighting he learned was self taught, no one was there to teach him or to care for him, he was living every single day like it was his final day in this world. He was an outcast unlike the rest.

His parents? Well, East Timor had a coup, no it's not a coup d'etat anymore, it's an all out war for all the tribes in the nation. His parents suffered terrible fates in the hands of others, back then brutality was ubiquitous with a small shred of mercy.

 His father was caught by an enemy tribe and was tortured before being decapitated publicly for the whole enemy tribe to see. Her mother, a fair beauty of all shapes and angles suffered a much worse fate than her husband, her end was prolonged. She wasn't killed just like him, she was groped in all the undesirable place, treated as a tool, was taken advantage of and raped continuously by the men in the enemy tribe, being treated as a comfort woman by men.

In other words, she became a silo for their seed. 

And when her image was wholly tarnished. She was then planned to be sold to the neighboring tribes but a night before the planned trade she committed suicide. All without getting another chance to meet Atsuto, her son. 

Back to Atsuto, he never knew his parent's fate. He just assumed they just left him to survive in the jungle. The tribe nearby took a curious liking to the teenage Atsuto years later, and then decided to bring him back to civilization and as a member of their own tribe. However he was odd, he was a bit taller, muscular, and knew how to bend magma. He has white hair and only speaks Tetum and English, which is super considering the tribe only speaks Tetum.

"Hi" greeted by a little girl, Atsuto stared at her and returned her greeting. He asked if her parents aren't concerned that she's around strangers? 

"No they aren't", "By the way my name is Luca, nice to meet you good sir" she greeted.

"My name is…..Atsuto" he smiled.

For a girl, Luca is kind of polite, she knows manners more than he does. The tribe asked her to make friends with her as if the first encounter was successful the others will follow suit, they're scared of Atsuto's large stature, large physique and tall height and also his mastery of magma magic, a transcendental type of element. 

What's her age again 11? Such cowardice of the tribe and her parents to have a kid of her age to socialize with him first. He's already planning on socializing with them at a later date and is starting to like them, in fact he's willing to defend this village as debt for taking him in and giving him shelter and food. 

Eventually after Luca's socializing with him, the tribe little by little started to interact with him, greeting him, asking him what's up, how he's feeling and some villagers even give him free fruits as gratitude. He's a helpful rock after all. The village chief eventually made him officially a part of the family, a part of this tribe and Luca was so happy, rather overjoyed that she now has a big brother by her side.

And yes, Luca's parents are the village chief themselves. No normal citizen would let their child approach the child from the get go would they? On the bright side Luca won't have to fear kids of her age picking on her as if they do, they'll have to mess with her new big bro. 

Little does the people of that tribe knew, the onslaught planned by the enemy tribe was planned and made to be possible the following day.

When that day came, Luca then asked Atsuto to help her pick some berries and some fruits deep in the forest, she has three baskets with her.

"Two for Atsuto, One for Luca" she said as they walked away from the tribe and into the forest away from their sight.

In the forest they hunted some wild animals, foraged berries and fruits, fished on a nearby stream, roasted some of course because Luca was hungry. Atsuto was then instructed by her to play with her in the forests as it's her and her parents' favorite pastime and family bonding when they don't have tribal obligations. She wanted Atsuto to have some fun, as since the day she interacted with him, he seldomly smiles. She wants to see him smile more, make him realize that there's more to life outside of this world, outside this morose nation built out of war and chaos. 

"Say big bro, can you show me your powers?" she asked Atsuto. 

"I will, but first cling to your big bro's neck." he said.

As Luca clung into his neck, he used Mountain Riser. By punching the earth he created a huge chunk of rock that rises up to the sky then Atsuto ran to the zenith of the said rock chunk and Luca managed to see the skies above, the birds flying, the clouds floating. The child was so happy when she touched a cloud that it made him smile and perhaps laugh, a child's happiness sure is contagious sometimes.

"I made big bro Atsuto laugh, I made big bro Atsuto laugh" she said joyfully, boosting her current happiness as finally, one of her dreams came true and that's to see Atsuto laugh and not just smile.

I wish this smile of his and his laughter of his would stay forever and would never fade, as she had sensed a monster inside of him. She doesn't want to see him let loose and destroy anyone around him.

But something was wrong

He sees smoke on the distance and on the same direction as the tribe.

Something was burning, the village was under attack. The tribe is in danger.

"The village is under attack, big bro defend it. That's an order!" She said in a serious manner, she still wants to see her parents, she doesn't want to see them dead, she doesn't want to see her family dead. By this point Luca was crying behind his back.

"As you wish" said by Atsuto, then absorbed Luca inside of him. Then he transforms into his Rock Equip that made him five times bigger than his normal size, conjured a hammer made of rocks then, Luca can be seen inside the giant Atsuto inside a hollow amber on the center of his body, he looks like a huge robot being controlled by a kid in the middle settling on his core.

It makes Luca like a person controlling the giant outside while inside that amber. 

And by using Mountain Riser, every step he makes in the sky gets a follow up rock platform that rises for him to step on until he disappears in the sky, walking on the clouds while rocks continuously appear. Up there, Luca was amazed as she now saw what it feels like in the sky, and how cold it is on the high altitude despite being encased in amber. 

Meanwhile the opposing tribe was busy burning and pillaging the village, killing some in sight and injuring others, to be intended to be a slave for them and with the men and children as their soldiers they then wondered where the village chief's kid and that monster went?

Where did they actually go? That's a mystery, did they hit a miscalculation on the plan?

"They must've escaped, someone must've informed them, one of us must be a snitch, a snitch indeed" one of them told the other.

"There must be a mole among us" 

They don't think any one of them is brave enough to snitch on the tribe leader. Betrayal is equivalent to certain death if proved guilty.

At the sky above, Atsuto stood on a rock platform eyeing below the enemies ravaging the tribe. He could only ignite and smoke in hatred due to what they've done.

“Luca… are you ready? Because we're going down there to kill the bad guys.” He asked Luca and to also ready herself.

“I'm ready big bro, so crush all of them without mercy.”

Then Atsuto disperses the rock platform and then skydives, holding his hammer in one hand, before spinning vertically like an angle grinder. Each spin causes him to catch fine and ignite so fiercely while Luca was immune from the dizziness inside the amber. It wouldn't take long for the attackers to notice the spinning ball of fire descending down the sky like an asteroid.

“And what is that on the sky?”

"Is it a bird?" No it's too big to be one, and doesn't shaped like a dragon.

"Is it a plane?" No, no, no, he must be stupid to think a plane spins vertically on air.

What is it then?

"It's death, from above!!!!!" he said from the sky, enhances his hammer's next attack and with the added power of gravity he casts his move.

"MJOLNIR CRUSH!!!!!" screamed Atsuto.

And the moment the move made impact on the ground where the tribe stood firm it then produces a huge quake and explosion that then spawns sharp stalagmites on the area of the smash and with all of them not nimble enough they are impaled all over everyone of them with little to no magic resistance and the magma contributed to the explosion. 

The move made the attackers retreat for now but unfortunately the damage has been done. And inside Atsuto's amber, Luca can only mourn the death of her parents. They were too late to arrive at the scene.

But on the bright side there are surviving villagers all apologizing to Luca.

"No, I should be the one apologizing instead"

"I should be the one defending this village, I have failed to commit to my obligation" Atsuto said to them. 

He then places a protective crystal barrier on the premises of the village. So to avoid future attacks Luca will be left in their care for now as he himself shall finish that wretched village once and for all. 

"Atsuto, don't leave me alone." said Luca who was on the verge of tears.

The remaining villagers held her back, consoling and asking her to let him be as he's just avenging their destroyed village, her parents, and their dead family members. Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth, that is what they deserve for killing our family. 

Seconds turn to minutes, minutes turn to hours, hours into days and finally, days to weeks. It would take about 3 weeks before Atsuto was spotted in the outskirts of the forest, still in his Rock Equip form, looking like a giant dragging his hammer as he slowly made his way back to the Tsuchiyama Tribe who by this time was undergoing rebuilding. Since his creation of that barrier, no attacks had been made in the tribe and it continued until the unrest in their area simmered down and eventually died, leaving the Tsuchiyama Tribe at peace.

Atsuto is finally back from the neighboring tribe which was located in Ainaro. He tracked the remaining enemies and when the tribe was located, the rest was history as the tribe was destroyed in every nook and cranny imaginable. No survivors, everyone died indiscriminately, men, women, children as well as the elderly.

As he sees the tree he deflates from his Rock Equip, slumping slightly like he's about to fall down but he stops himself from doing so. He came back to the village with his hand, clothes and face stained with blood. But he didn't go to the village directly, he stopped by the giant tree and there he sat like a child who got scolded by his parents. 

He killed anyone, he was just consumed by wrath, anger, and a desire for revenge. He killed indiscriminately, he never did that during his whole life. Hate blinded him and it's horrible, what if he does it to Luca and the rest of the tribe, what if that happens, he's concerned and also…scared. 

Then Luca came to the tree with an umbrella at hand because it's now raining.

"I will make sure that you won't" she assured him.

He won't have time to be a monster, in fact he will be this tribe's new chief instead. 

This whole time, from the moment he stepped foot in the tribe till this rainy day. Atsuto never managed to get this tribe's name. 

"What is that tribe's name anyway?" He asked without looking at her.

"It's the Tsuchiyama Tribe" and since Atsuto is just Atsuto without a surname since his parents never bestowed him one.

He'll bear this tribe's name as his own surname as per the long standing customs and traditions of the Tsuchiyama Tribe.

"From now on, you'll be called Atsuto Tsuchiyama." she declared, baptizing him of his new name and new set of heavy responsibilities.

How does that fare to him? 

Of course he'll accept it, she gave it to him. There's no way he will refuse it. He doesn't want to see her cry once again, it'll break her heart. 

"Now you silly pile of rocks let's get you fixed and help me rebuild the tribe." She said and reached her hand towards him, Atsuto's rocky hand then held her hand in response. 

Actually, Atsuto managed to take down the tribe he's supposed to destroy. But about seven years later, the other tribe's waged war in retaliation to Atsuto's tribe. For Atsuto, destroying the other tribe allied to the aforementioned tribe, he needed help. That's where Ren came to play, with his help and alongside other Ensemble members he managed to destroy all of the tribes opposing him until the chaotic time period in East Timor had well and truly ended, and as a payment and sign of gratitude to him, Atsuto decided to join them and be a Shadow Ensemble member too.

After that war, Atsuto swore allegiance to the Troupe while being the Tsuchiyama Tribe's chief. And as the years went by, the village prospered again, taking a sizable portion of the destroyed village for expansion and taking a number of refugees from the destroyed villages. He was a good leader that led his village to prosperity. 

Back to the present, it seems that everyone was now listening to the whole story. 

Including all the elders of the village, the kids, in fact everyone including Luca. She still can't forget the time she was inside Atsuto's amber. She still cherished that memory even until this day that she now carries a sleeping child in her arms. 

What a rollercoaster of a journey he had travelled but at least it's a fun journey that he didn't regret in the slightest bit. As he looked at the kid who asked the story, he fell asleep on the elder's lap due to the length of the story. 

"Kids these days" he sighed.

***Level 6 Completed***

Hi there! It's Lazycat. Thanks for completing another level of Yumegemu, your efforts are commendable!! This is a story chapter, and I'm planning to do a story chapter of each Ensemble member at the start of their arcs, as I think it would be nice to have some people that would sympathize with the people who guards the freedom of everyone in this dream world XD. 

Once again thanks for tuning in and I hope more people would give this novel a read. Also I'm open for your reactions or your honest thoughts feel free to give one ✌️😸✌️.