Interlude 7: Cat's Past

“Centuries ago, even before the First Irradiated Winter, there was a nation in the East. Kyoku. It mainly consists of a large landmass just a bit off the eastern coast of Kronul, though they also control some areas in the north part of Kronul past the World End Mountains.

There was a family that grew to be very prosperous in this country. Eventually, they became the leader of the country and were given the title “Shogun”. One of the things that made them so powerful was a special type of magic that they had. It was their family's ‘Born Magic’.

The Royal Ice Magic. An ice based magic that was seemingly limitless. Members of the Shogun family were able to create anything they could ever want or need out of Ice. They made swords as sharp and as tough as the strongest steel blades. Armor that blocked attacks from the hardest of hammers.

This magic was the pride of the Shogun family. The pride of the nation of Kronul. The pride of my ancestors.

That’s right. The Shogun family was once the Ito bloodline. My blood.

But one day, five hundred years ago, my ancestor at the time made a mistake. He pissed off a god.”

“A god…? Not a Spirit Progenitor…?”

The boy listening to her story cut her off with a question. It was one she asked herself countless times.

“My father always said that it was specifically a ‘god’. Whether or not that was an actual Progenitor or something else, I don’t know for certain. But I believe that it was something of a higher power than even the spirits. After all, it was this god that rent my family asunder.

They cursed the Ito family.

Our Royal Ice Magic was taken from us. Stripped without remorse. And on top of that, the firstborn of every generation will always be devoid of magic. It doesn’t matter how strong the magic of the person who marries into the family is. As the firstborn of my father, I’m a living testament to that curse.

I can feel the magic still. I can feel it coursing through the air. I can feel it in magic weapons, and use the magical abilities of those weapons. But I will never be able to use magic myself. I can’t learn any magic. I wasn’t born with any. And if a spirit were to try to create a contract with me, they will die.

The Ito bloodline fell from grace with the populace of Kyoku. We handed off the title of Shogun to a close friend and settled in the role of advisors. Even to this day, my father is still one of the closest advisors to the current Shogun.”

“But why hide this master? Is it because you didn’t want people to be curious about a Demi-Human with no magic?”

One of the other listeners, a hyperactive girl with short blonde hair that had been learning how to sword fight from her for a while now, asked the question that she had been dreading this entire time.

“That… It has to do with my journey to this place. Eleven years ago, when I was seven years old, my father thought that it would do me some good to see the world from a different place. He used his connections as an advisor to the Shogun of Kyoku to get Mr. Chapman to let me stay here in Sanum for a while.

Once the plans were made, we set out on the long journey. My father didn’t want to risk taking me over the tall World’s End Mountains at my age, so he had our group skitter through the edges of the Dragonsung Wastes.

While in them, we ran into a group of human bandits. They attacked us just for being Demi-Humans. They… They killed so many… I watched as so many people I cared about… were slaughtered in front of me. I was powerless to do anything about it.”

Her voice quivered. Remembering that day was painful for her. She wanted to curl up and forget it. The blood that caked her clothes. The blood of those that gave their lives to make sure she stayed safe.

She hadn’t been able to do anything on that day.

“I was scared. Kyoku doesn’t have many humans living in it in today’s world. It’s mostly Demi-humans. After that attack, I thought that all humans outside of Kyoku thought that way. So I hid my ears. I hid my tail.

When I got to Sanum, the first people I met were the Chapmans, two demi-humans. I felt safe around them. They wouldn’t hurt me, someone just like them.

But I was still scared that if another human saw me, then they would attack me again. The Chapmans were understanding and didn’t tell anyone about me. I lived my life as a human, only showing my Demi-Human side when I was in private.

By the time I realized that Humans weren’t going to attack me, I had already been introduced to so many people. At that point, I became scared to reveal the truth. Scared of being embarrassed about it. I didn’t want people to think that I was some scaredy-cat unwilling to face the truth.

So I continued to hide it.

At the same time, I honed my skills with the sword. I trained and trained. Harder than my body was supposed to let me. I became a sword machine. All so that if something like that day ever happened again, I wouldn’t be powerless to stop it.

So that’s my story. I’m pretty pathetic, aren’t I?”

Yuuki turned around and gave the three people standing there a forced smile. It was self-deprecating and she knew it. She could feel the tears forming in the corners of her eyes.

She hated herself. She hated how she kept things from others for so long. She hated having to lie about everything related to her.

This was all she had to show for herself. A broken Demi-Human that couldn’t even show the world what she was.

“You’re not…”

The one person who hadn’t said anything up to this point. The one person that Yuuki had least expected to do anything. She wrapped her arms around Yuuki and held her tight.

“Kiara…?”

“You’re not pathetic! How could you call yourself that!”

Yuuki was silent. Her eyes were getting blurrier the longer she held them open. Something fuzzy wrapped itself around her waist. It was Kiara’s tail. Yuuki’s own tale feebly wrapped itself onto it, trying to find comfort in it.

“You were still a child! And you had to watch dozens of people die in front of you the minute you entered a new world. How can that be called patheticness?! That’s only natural!”

Yuuki broke down in Kiara’s arms. No one had ever told her that, not even Sarman. She wasn’t sure if he had abated from doing it out of some sort of concern for her. But at that moment, Yuuki realized that those were the words she needed to hear.

So she let everything out. She held Kiara close and cried into her shoulder. She wept and heaved until she had nothing left to give.