Believers

“I understand now why you left me, Mother. I wasn’t perfect, I wasn’t what you wanted. But I still want to see you again. I know you didn’t destroy me because you saw that I would be complete one day if I added the missing parts to my being. I know a lot of things, but I hide them from Iwao, Celi, and Saya. I don’t know why I do this. Even when they explain something I already know, I just listen, because I can’t do otherwise. I want to listen to their voices more. I want to understand what they put behind their words to make them so pleasant to my ears.”

Lo coughed because of its blood flowing down its throat.

“Mother, you granted me strength, powers, and knowledge, but I have no knowledge of feelings, nor I can feel them. I’m always calm. I don’t smile like them. I’m not furious like them. But recently, strange events have happened, and I think my body is reacting to their feelings. My body starts to understand, but my mind does not. I want to feel constantly the warmth I felt when they freed me from my nightmare, when they gave me a name, when Saya cared for me. I want to be complete and be truly perfect. All this so I can be truly integrated into this group and see you again, Mother. These two desires are what my body and mind are sure of and truly want, truly feel. I need to be by their side. I can learn more, I can correct the mistakes in the things I thought I knew but didn’t. I can help them too.”

Lo was lying on the ground, eyes wide open, looking at the sky. One hand pressed against its chest as it cast a healing spell.

A single tear welled in both eyes.

“I don’t want these tears. I don’t want sadness to be the first emotion I truly feel. I need to change that, now. Get up, Lo. Force yourself to change your nature. Force yourself to imitate their emotions and not be the calm being you usually are. They’re fighting, so I should be angry as Iwao sometimes is – it seems the most appropriate.”

As the lone tears touched the ground, its body tensed.

******************************

When Iwao heard Mero explaining where his rage came from, he was stunned – speechless, lost in thought.

“Of course I remember him… it’s the first memory anchored in my mind since my reincarnation. It’s the first man I killed, using a power I didn’t control at the time.” Iwao thought, as time seemed to slow around him, Mero’s movements approaching in slow motion.

Iwao clenched his fist and looked at it firmly.

“But I can’t let you claim your vengeance. I don’t want to die by your sword – not like this. I don’t want to kill you. Even if you’re clearly a danger to us, I don’t see any purpose in killing you. You’re just someone I hurt before, and I understand your pain... I only need to neutralize all of you to protect Celi and Saya.”

Suddenly, a blue light flashed before his eyes. A blue silhouette stood behind Mero. Time resumed its flow.

Mero was stopped in his charge and couldn’t move – something was grabbing his shoulder, holding him back from attacking Iwao. He tried to turn to see who it was. But the instant he saw the bald head and fiery eyes of Lo, he was slammed to the ground.

“Lo! How did you do that? What are you doing?” Iwao asked.

“I’m helping you. Let me bring them all to you. I will let you tie them down so they can’t attack us anymore.” It replied, its voice more agitated than usual, imitating what rage and anger sounded like.

Lo broke Mero’s shoulder in a single blow. He screamed so loud that Iwao’s ears rang, the sound drilling into his eardrums.

“Let Mero go!” The two other troupe members shouted, charging at Lo with spear and sword in hand.

Another flash appeared – Lo was now behind the two men, breaking their shoulders and slamming them to the ground in an instant. All this happened before the shocked eyes of Celi, Iwao, and Saya.

“You think you can get away with this?” The man with the double axes snarled.

He sprinted toward Lo, who hadn’t had time to move elsewhere. He struck Lo’s stomach with the hilt of his axes and sent it flying several meters away.

Lo got to its feet and strengthened his arms with a spell, coating them in steel.

“Now, no sword or axe can cut through my arms. I can fight you!” Lo shouted.

The man leapt again, ignoring Lo’s words. His mind seemed disconnected, driven only by the rage of seeing his comrades hurt and on the verge of death.

He struck with all his might, his axes crashing down, but Lo met the blows head-on. Pain rippled through the steel, yet it was nothing compared to the man’s face, twisted in agony under Lo’s punches. They fought across the arena while the others only watched, too stunned by their strength to intervene.

In the endless clash of blows, one attack broke the rhythm. The man stepped back, bringing both axes to his right side. He cast a spell that made an enormous gust of wind appear at the tips of his axes. With a scream like a wild beast, he hurled them at Lo.

Lo stepped back to dodge, but the gust extended and was launched by the two axes. Taken by surprise, Lo took the choc head-on and was hurled into the sky. The man laughed – his move had worked.

“If you’re supposed to be the strongest, then it’ll be easy to defeat your friends! I’ll kill you and them. None of you will survive! You will all rot in this pestilential swamp!” He roared for all the arena to hear.

Lo spun helplessly in the air, disoriented.

The man bent his knees and leapt high into the sky, reaching Lo in seconds. He struck it with his axes, carving two wounds in an X across its chest, blue blood spilling out. The blow was so powerful that it sent Lo crashing toward the ground, while the man descended gently with the help of a wind spell.

“And now, the final touch.” He sneered.

He dropped one of his axes above Lo as it fell. The weapon was so heavy it plummeted faster than Lo.

“As soon as this axe hits you, and you crash to the ground, it’ll pierce you – and you’ll die. That’s the end for you!” He shouted wickedly.

A thunder-like crack echoed across the arena.

Then, the sound of clashing metal.

And finally, the sickening snap of broken bones.

Iwao had caught Lo before it hit the ground. Laying it down, he leapt with a roar, meeting the man in midair.

“I already broke your arms and deflected your axe so quickly that you didn’t even notice – and you still want to fight? Give up. You won’t win this.” Iwao growled.

The man’s fiery eyes blazed with rage. His broken arms throbbed with every tiny movement, but he still lunged, jaws wide to bite. Iwao dodged easily – the man was slower now.

“Well, too bad for you. I couldn’t let Lo fight alone. I knew that by forcing himself to be like that, he’d make a mistake. I reacted a little too late. So for that – take this!” Iwao shouted.

He struck the man’s head, slamming him into the ground so fast no one saw him fall. The impact left a crater.

Iwao descended, grabbed Lo, and brought it to Celi and Saya.

“Take care of Lo too, Saya. I need to tie these people up somewhere else!” He said, his voice hard and serious.

The three men screamed in pain from their broken shoulders.

Iwao couldn’t bear the sound anymore. He clutched his ears to relieve himself of the pain. The more he was in pain, the more the pendant glowed around his neck, but Iwao was too focused on what he was doing to notice. When the pain ceased, he spoke to the men.

“Sorry for your brother, and sorry for this. But I’ll put you to sleep and bind you. Don’t come after us again, or you’ll regret it.”

“You’ll pay one day! You’ll suffer too! And you will die alone!” Mero roared through his screams.

Iwao didn’t react. He raised his hands, forming a circle, and cast a spell. Rings of dirt burst from the ground, binding each man’s body, their arms pinned to their chest.

Saya watched as she healed Lo. Celi was now fully healed and stood up.

“Something’s wrong… he’s not in his normal state. Why are his hands trembling with such rage…?” Saya thought.

She stopped healing, stood up, and screamed with all her strength.

“STOP, IWAO! YOU’RE SQUEEZING YOUR HANDS TOO TIGHT. YOU’LL CRUSH THEM!”

Iwao didn’t answer. It seemed he wasn’t aware of what he was doing.

******************************

“Argh… my head… dizzy… what’s happening…?” Iwao thought.

A hand touched his shoulder – it was Celi. He looked at her, reassured to see a familiar face. But when he turned back to the men, he froze.

“Why… why are they dead?” He asked, trembling.

“You crushed them with your spell… you didn’t stop your hands…” Celi replied.

Iwao collapsed to his knees, clutching his head.

“I didn’t know what I was doing... all because of this pendant... it gave me too much power, more than I could control… I never wanted to kill them…”

“Wait! How did you activate it?” Celi asked, panicking.

“Lo did it for me. But that’s not the most important. How’s the man in the crater…?” Iwao asked, grief in his voice.

“My head hurts… I need to deactivate this pendant quickly…Where’s Lo?” He thought.

Celi walked to the crater – and froze. The man hadn’t survived. When he fell, his axe hit the ground first, then pierced his flesh at such speed it killed him instantly. She returned to Iwao, who was waiting by Lo.

“Lo, deactivate the pendant, please! Or something worse will happen!” He begged.

“I just healed it – wait a few minutes before it wakes.” Saya said calmly.

But Lo opened its eyes, it seemed to have heard everything as it reached for the pendant.

The glow vanished instantly. Iwao had to sit, his legs trembling, the power leaving his body in wisps of steam that rose from his skin.

“Celi, the man – how is he?” He asked.

“Dead, unfortunately. His axe pierced him. It would be no use lying to him about this.”

“I see… so he’s dead too. This pendant is a curse – or rather, the power it gives.” He muttered.

He sighed deeply and struck his own head, trying to stop his trembling hands by hurting himself.

“I can’t let them see me weak again. I have to act as if their deaths don’t matter.” He thought, standing.

He walked toward a glowing object on the ground and picked it up. He returned without a word to Celi and handed it to her.

“For you. No need to wield both his axes. One is enough for you. It’s better than your sword.” He said firmly.

“Thank you…” Celi murmured, embarrassed, as she took the axe.

“Let’s go back to the camp! Leave this mess – they’ll find their own reason for why those men didn’t return.” Iwao declared.

He carried Lo, too weak to walk, and they left the swamp.

They spoke no words on the journey back, nor in the cave before sleep – though none of them could sleep after what happened.

That night, Iwao left to devour nightmares in the nearby village. When finished, he went to the plateau in the mountains.

There, he unleashed his emotions – casting spells, striking the ground, slamming his head into stone.

“I’m weak… I’m weak… I do everything wrong… Even if they came to kill us, I didn’t want this… If I’m not truly the one in control, how can I bear the weight of killing them as if it were a conscious choice? How can I move on? It will haunt me…” He said, crying.

Blood ran down his forehead as he struck harder into the stone. Exhaustion overtook him, and he fell asleep on the plateau.

In the cave, all slept – except Saya, restless and uneasy.

“It’s here again… I’m scared...”