What makes a monster?

Perhaps the most widely misunderstood question in history, people tend to make monsters out of what they fear and not of what is real. That the 'unknown' is to always be the fear of humanity and not of what is critically analyzed before them, like the capabilities of the subject in question, nor what of their general personality.

The atomic bomb is indeed a genuine force, but can one compare it to those who were born disfigured in life? What of the disabled people, like Little Tim or the Ugly Duckling? Are they monsters, because they're nothing normal, and do not go out of their way to hurt others, or are they just worthless and parasitical in nature, because they cannot do the normal things most of their kind do? What of those that can do more, but are feared amongst their kin for being able to do more than the original? This can end up creating monsters more feared than theoretically possible, making wolves in sheep's clothing. Such cases lie mostly with those of parental neglect, or perhaps even abuse and a wrongful display of a parental role model. Though that is not to say that those with good intentions, even if it may come at the lives of others, are monsters in and of themselves, thinking they're doing what's right by killing others in exchange for resources, or out of what they perceive is honor.

But none of this to say that monsters are not, in fact, real. On the contrary, there are multiple people and animals out there, both of all colors, of species, and even of genders, that can be considered monsters, or just simple fools. One cannot go throughout history assuming that all mothers and fathers are angelical beings, for this would go to ignore such species like the harp seals, cuckoos, house sparrows, black bears and black eagles, burying beetles and skinks, all of who treat their children as if they were beneath them. Even certain mountain lions practice sexism on their species-wide scale, leaving the male cubs to be neglected and starve, while they desperately seek attention and a mate by any means necessary, even to their detriment. And even in the beginning of life on the planet, many didn't even care much for their young, often leaving them in eggs to incubate and only checking on them once in a great while, leaving them prey to bugs and other creatures.

What is clear though about the definitive traits of a monster, is that they're often intelligent, selfish, uncaring, and simply harm others for sport. They're immensely deceptive, often taking the look of those who look to be to viable a companion to ever be detrimental. Selfish in that they refuse to trust others with power or knowledge and think they deserve the right to group up and rule over all, even to the point of restricting freedom and abusing emotions to make them look innocent. Uncaring in that no matter the situation, they will often decide to make the best possible outcome out of it, mostly for themselves or to the sure detriment of others, and refuse to ever think anything beyond the path in front of them. Dangerous, in that they will do anything to achieve their goals, for a monster thinks no cost, no danger, and no fear.

With that said, how many kinds, archetypes of monsters out there? There are the pure kind, the envious and wrathful kind, the gluttonous and greedy kind, prideful and slothful kind, and of course, the one that hides in the fog of all, wreathed in sheep's clothing...

I couldn't believe it. Why should I believe it? The Vex would have no reason to interact with the Touch of Malice, so why would it be in my Boltcaster of all places? Moreover, why would the Vex pass up this chance to remove the existence of their ancient enemy? Why leave him with me of all people, a guardian that has not slain him?

And yet, here was the king. Oryx, with his looming shadow hiding me in darkness, simply staring down at me with the imaginary version of his sword within the confined reality of the dream in our mind. His presence was undeniable, unmistakable, an acasual force which, something I have little to no control over, is within myself. A force that I have no choice but to accept the existence of. And the king reveled in my revelation.

I understand this is hard to accept. But this was inevitable, really. No guardian of many years has never had the temptation to turn to the dark side, something of which I'm certain your fellow guardians are currently doing as of now. No guardian would dare think to look in corners that they have no need to unless they were open to the idea that there are things beyond the light.

You lie, Oryx. The guardians would never be as desperate as to turn to the darkness when the Traveler is awake.

And I am well aware of that. I have been hunting the Gardener for many eons now. I know how long it takes to recover. What its next move is. How long it has struggled to remove itself from the Darkness' grasp. But have you considered that, with the Darkness' ever-encroaching presence, that there would be those in awe of its power to turn? Or perhaps even... tread the line?

No one would dare play such a game.

And yet here you are. The third force in what was supposed to be a game of two. The outlier that has changed what was supposed to be a shield against the world, to a sword and a shield fighting over what they perceive as 'law and order' for the world.

I-

Don't lie; guardian. Instead of staying true to the sky children's code, you deviated, like many of you have, to focus on what you think would allow the most progression in the scenario. Your lust for progress has not only made your relationship with the shield ambiguous but also left the world wondering your intentions about it, as you continue to force sky children culture upon this alien world.

I never forced anything.

Then why were you so quick to disrupt the social structure of the world?

Because it is simple logic that-

Simple logic. That is all that you underlings of the Traveler think. You would not care for anything beyond your paracasual perspective, or any others beyond the perspective of the acasual one you value the most. You would seek to act on a simple basis, without regard for your actual surroundings, nor of the duality of the situation in front of you. This has been the flaw of all of you, with the exception of my conqueror. This is why, even to this time, my presence still shakes your very foundations, because I am your anti-thesis. I am the first navigator.

...

And you... are but a child, kept ever fresh to the reality of the situation in front of you, while you hid from the frontlines. For why else you cannot hope to defeat me, even in this form, as you did the Vex?

When I awoke, I initially expected that they would attempt to detain me. That I would either be executed or even imprisoned and tortured. I knew the latter of which would never work out, and the execution could, potentially as the worst possible outcome, end my journey then and there. But considering the former hasn't happened yet, I could only assume the latter.

But these were just my initial theories. What I had not expected is that I would be sleeping in the very same guest room that I had initially met the three heroes in. Except this time there was no talking. Only tension in the room as they all saw me awaken once more. A tension that had no doubt lingered for hours, with no break in sight

As soon as my eyes locked with the three, it was evident that I had gone too far. Fear, curiosity, and indignance were present in them, all hateful emotions that were a direct cause of me. But their feelings were beyond my concern.

Sparrow, are you still there?

Master! Are you-

I am okay, Sparrow. I've thought I told you to not do the 'master' thing though?

I apologize, Mokoto. But when you turned into that... that thing, I could tell you were no longer yourself. I felt that our psychic connection was just... gone. No longer existing, alongside the curse I obtained from you.

Is it gone as well?

Yes, it had simply vanished after you turned like that. As if it was canceled out by the dark power from within you.

That is a relief... a guardian never intentionally harms an innocent being. We've especially learned that lesson with the Eliksni during the hunt for Skolas-

"If you can stop talking to Sparrow, can we get started for our first-ever Heroes' meeting?" Motoyasu said as he clutched his chest. "Clearly there's been a load of crap that's been going on here for all of us, and we need to get to the bottom of it."

I will have to end this short. The 'heroes' wish to finally talk to me.

I will always support your every decision, Mokoto... just do what you think is best to help them realize that you're not the enemy.

I got up from my bed and joined the table, taking the only remaining chair as our round table of four commenced. We all cast glances at each other. Itsuki looked almost doubled over in rage, no doubt due to being the squishiest of the group. Naofumi seemed to be very much filled with an almost titanic rage behind his eyes, though it was not directed at just me. Crayon Eater, surprisingly, seemed to be the only calm person at this discussion table. Almost surprisingly so.

So it came no surprise to me that he opened the negotiations. "Details about past life. Now."

I typed so fast, the table was momentarily taken aback. It was no surprise, after all. 350 words per minute was the average amongst us warlocks, and we took pride in being able to type on a keyboard faster than hunters or titans. Not that we didn't take pride in our gunning abilities, that is our secondary purpose after all. So I had enough time to mull over recent events as they all read the text I had sent them, mainly consisting of every detail that was necessary about my world.

In light of things, I had come to realize that I may have been a bit... brash and rushed in my decision making, that much is obvious. In a world with but one legitimate religion, I should've been more considerate of the new world in front of me, no matter how different it is, or what I had learned of it. This kind of behavior had almost been the reason why the Americans of the pre-golden age were almost left to be consumed in the battle between light and dark, as they were often ignorant of the countries they visit before-hand as well as loud and unnecessarily prideful. In essence, what I had been doing was almost the exact same thing, assuming I could resolve all the issues in the world just as quickly and efficiently as the Traveler did to us and being inconsiderate of the mortals and monarchy here.

Though I would never support slavery and the condemnation of other religions. That is not only incredibly inefficient, but also it's not the correct method to do when basic economics proved that it would only worsen things. On top of this, the condemnation of religions that aren't even real is a pointless venture when it is better to just respect the perspectives and work in unity. Which both Siltvelt and Melromarc are doing a horrible job at.

But such things would be left to the future, as I snapped out of my focus to hear Itsuki loudly state. "This is all bullshit."

Naofumi and Crayon Eater turned to him in confusion.

"Do you actually expect me to believe this crap, Mokoto?" Itsuki said as I watched him commit table abuse. "Light, darkness, jumpships and solar system exploration, along with there being four alien races out to extinguish humanity for their own personal reasons? And not only that, but you claim that you can make a black hole? Why didn't you just make a blackhole to protect us from the wave, and kill the wave boss instantly?"

Mmmm... see I could tell you, but I already have, Itsuki. A thought of mine that was quickly, and unknowingly backed by Crayon Eater.

"Itsuki, don't be so hard on Mokoto," Motoyasu said as he turned to Itsuki. "It's not like you're as believable either. Aren't you the one with psychic powers that allow you to correct your aim? That doesn't exist in both my world and Naofumi's world."

"But black holes? Come on," Itsuki pressed on. "You can't control a black hole into being just a big grenade, or literally warp reality. If that was the case, then the aliens should already be defeated, because there's no way for these Eliksni or Cabal to even hope to stop a black hole. You usually can't even see them, they're just big distortions in space that aren't even black."

"I could definitely see that for them, doesn't seem like a bunch of space rhinos and spider people could fight that. These Hive and Vex he spoke of, though..." Naofumi can't help but hum in thought. "Mokoto, why exactly didn't you just open a black hole."

I added another part to the story. About my coming here.

"...You used time to stop time from killing you, effectively trapping yourself in an almost endless death loop," Crayon Eater said as he continued to read over the text. His perception was quite interesting for someone I initially held in low standards. Though his lack of input didn't seem to help in the conversation that was happening.

"Time now, is it?" Itsuki huffed as he turned to Naofumi. "You can't take that seriously. If both you and the enemy force in front of you could manipulate time, then why wouldn't they just outright remove you?"

"Time... is a difficult thing to explain to a mortal mind. No amount of simplification from even the best of my kind could explain it in understandable terms to even a mortal mind as yours." I typed in response. "The best way I could say it is that it is similar to coding, although drastically different in design and scope. You leave a malicious insert somewhere around the system, and it does its job to prevent reality wiping measures from taking place, albeit in exchange for immense strain. The only reason why there was such a power struggle, is that my ability to manipulate time, as well as my natural ability to operate in their domain, had given me a small, yet significant chance to escape with them being partially wounded because of it. I couldn't even hope to finish them off, since my power was still vastly insignificant to their core systems."

"And yet you refuse to tell us how you did it," Itsuki said as he grit his teeth, crossing his arms as he did so.

"I don't quite get it." Crayon Eater said as he turned to me. "But considering you're clearly more familiar with technology than us, then I think it wouldn't be out of the question."

"Wait, you can't possibly be agreeing with him... right Motoyasu?" Itsuki said in disbelief, eyes wide with shock as he looked over to him. Motoyasu simply shrugged in response.

"Even I have to admit, the concept of manipulating time when he likes to do anything that doesn't involve melee combat seems pretty far fetched," Naofumi said as he stared me dead in the eyes, finding nothing else but honesty in them. "That's like, a god-tier level ability."

"The guy was able to make a gun and move at three times our speed. Can any of us make a gun, or move about like a hornet?" As Motoyasu looked between the two, the answer was clear from the two sides. "Good. Then that's all we should need to know about him past-wise... now let's move on to the harder questions."

"Agreed," Itsuki needs to sign up as a table offender. "Why'd you leave the wave?"

"Personal reasons." I typed immediately before continuing, holding a hand up to stop Itsuki's tirade. "The thing that we saw flying through the sky is my personal responsibility as it came from my reality. Everything else falls to you three."

A silence fell over the four of us as three of them stared at me.

Motoyasu leaned forwards in interest. "What do you mean your reality?"

"I mean, it came from my reality. Which would mean the Waves are not a natural occurrence. I have some theories as to the cause, but nothing concrete." I typed out as I looked between them. "I could only assume three likely causes, and this is in fact within order of importance and likelihood: Vex, Shadows of Yor, and a force we're all collectively unaware of. I put the last there because I doubt there are beings stronger than the formers. I could only see bargains being made in any other case, but there is never a reason to put things out of theory. For this is to assume even some basic things are constants."

"Touche," Motoyasu said before he grumbled under his breath. "Should've learned that lesson with the girls back home."

I would've almost not caught that comment had I not been prepared for Naofumi's immediate question. "Next question. How did you manage to bypass the system?"

"The Japanese do not use shields as weapons, they use them as counters, but never in genuine fights." I clarified, as I rolled my eyes at Motoyasu, who looked quizzically at me.

"...That's true about us, yeah," Naofumi said as he scratched his chin, before quickly composing himself. "But it doesn't explain how you had such high-level gear at the start of everything. It may have fallen apart, but starting out being essentially immune to wolves? If it wasn't for the fact you wasted your durability, you would've been unstoppable in the harder waves."

"Useless bit of info. Think a bigger picture, titan."

I could swear Naofumi's eye twitched. "Uh, I am? I'm a defense class, I need-"

"You're a legendary weapon. You fight."

Before Naofumi was going to be joining the registry of table offender, Motoyasu piped up. "Naofumi, calm yourself. I know we're all not on the best terms, but this should seem pretty obvious to you, right?"

Naofumi grit his teeth as he looked Motoyasu. Then at me. Both of us held the same gaze in our eyes, which calmed him down enough to check the chat. He sighed. "Fair enough. He wasn't able to keep it after all, and I would assume that this was only a temporary thing since he switched armors later on."

"There is a better question, though, so just one last thing," Motoyasu said, his gaze firm as he kept his control over the room. "Why was it only now you were speaking in front of everyone?"

"Because we have no need to talk to the lesser, when there are better things for us to be doing."

I was about finish typing, but after hearing that from us, I had to rearrange my message upon seeing the glares from the others. "There's a monster I was unaware of inside that shard I crushed. It took solace in only me since I absorbed the remnants first, at least from what I am finding, and has taken hostage of my voice. So far, it is attempting to take over the rest. You guys having any problems?"

"No..." They all collectively said as they looked between each other.

I could feel myself growl as my light grew weaker, but I held fast under the dampening pressure of Oryx. "Good. Beings such as this tend to be as crafty as they are manipulative. I would've caught it under normal circumstances, but I was in anything but a normal situation."

I then got up from my seat, not bothering to look back as I typed. "Am I to presume these are all the questions?"

I could hear Motoyasu huff. "Well, if you have no more time to. Perfectly fine to just leave us wondering about the monster in you."

I stopped just short of the door, before turning around in annoyance. "Hmph. Fine. But remember, each second we waste is another second making us weaker."

"Oh, believe me, this isn't a waste of our time," Motoyasu said, as he looked me straight in the eyes. "Because I'd like to know when that monster started becoming active for you."

I raised an eyebrow at that.

"First Naofumi attacked Myne in the night. Then, you burn Sparrow like she's fried chicken." Motoyasu said, reopening the wounds that I had admittedly forgotten about as time went on. "What's really going on here, Mokoto? Do you just consider this to be normal, or is he taking control of you at random points in time?"

I looked over to Naofumi, expecting him to either be angry at him or me. Surprising me yet again though, he just looked impassive about the situation, eying both me and Motoyasu critically.

Impressive perception. But both your assumptions are wrong.

"In case you hadn't noticed, the pre-existing religion here in Melromarc is meant for three of us. There's also a religion up in Siltvelt that is only meant for one of us. And there's an underrepresented religion in this country as well. How about you do some basic math for us all here?"

There was a pause as things came to click for Itsuki and Motoyasu, while Naofumi just kept staring.

Itsuki was first to pipe up. "So you're saying it was religious sabotage?"

"Not just religion. Political too. This is, after all, what happens when two countries wage war at each other over differing beliefs." I typed out. "It is also why some admittedly disgusting things are going on here too. As we're all very aware of his words, prolonged warfare does not prove beneficial to anyone."

"Sun Tzu." Naofumi said almost on the spot. "That's a paraphrasing of a Chinese philosopher for me."

"I think we're all in agreement that we already have different versions of this." Motoyasu cut in. "And Sparrow?"

"The power from my world usually never just starts up a connection off the bat, but it is my mistake regardless. I should've anticipated it since the enslavement process was not only different, but that this isn't my world anymore." I clarified for the group, and Motoyasu seemed satisfied with the answer. He leaned back in his chair.

"Well, since it's clear you were just being a stubborn old dolt, I think we can say that this meeting is-"

"Why didn't you do anything about it?"

All eyes fell upon Itsuki. His voice had wavered with anger and guilt, his eyes narrowed at me with an expression of sheer disgust and hatred as he stared me down.

"Itsuki-"

"Why didn't you choose to stop it if you knew it was going to happen? Two people's innocence had been laid on the line, and all you did was, what, sit by and just let it happen?" Itsuki gripped the table. "What benefit was there to be gained? Why should we take the word of someone who knowingly let one of our comrades walk into such a ploy if it really was one, and just let him walk over everyone claiming he'll fix everything!? He's nothing but a monster who acts like they know what justice is, because they have no reason to worry about age! Villains always live longer than the heroes through this kind of manipulation, it's why you can't even trust vampires! They're all parasites!"

It was at that point I stood up, and walked over to Itsuki. I didn't try to attempt looking threatening, if anything I wanted to give him a clear look at the sheer anger this nuisance had stirred from within me as we locked eyes, having called me so many names, that I could not stand to let his naive pride mock me such. "Do you?"

A darkly silence fell the room. It was thick, perhaps as thick as fog. But there was no evidence that his power had surged forth, not even a flicker on my body.

Before anyone could even respond, Itsuki jumped out of his seat, stomped towards the door, and loudly exited. None of us had moved an inch, save for me as I watched him walk out without saying anything else.

There was nothing for us to say about it. We knew we both spiraled out of control right there, and I didn't need to be so abrasive with who is clearly the youngest of the group here. Even if my pride was hurt, it was not a warlock thing to do to be so emotional in heated debate.

After a long silence had fell us, I eventually went and typed. "I will be heading north to Siltvelt. Naofumi, you should go to Shieldfrueden, and Crayon Eater, if you're still looking to retire, I would recommend Faubley."

"Can you stop?" Crayon Eater muttered in response, as he gave me a flat look, while Naofumi couldn't help but snort.

"This isn't the mood to point it out, but yeah, I'll head there," Naofumi said as he kept his gaze on me. "But why Shieldfrueden? There a specific reason you don't want me heading to Siltvelt with you? Beyond the legendary limitations that is."

"Siltvelt is as radical as Melromarc is about you, except the roles are reversed. It may not do well for you as a human shield wielder to go there." I first typed, before quickly adding. "Raphtalia can back me on this, and I don't think they're going to let you use the hourglass for getting past lvl 40."

"He has a point with that." Motoyasu once again respected my judgment. "Myne has been telling me all sorts of things about Siltvelt, how this place has been in war with them for a long time." He then scratched his chin in thought. "...Now that you mention them, it does seem rather funny how certain countries were built for us. Is our summoning normal for this world, Mokoto?"

"No." I typed before making for the door. As soon as I opened it, I looked back. "Keep an eye on your shoulders. Things would only get worse from here, especially since I made you look like more of a villain by accident, Naofumi."

"What?"

I tried to close the door, only for a spear to get stuck in the opening. Annoyed, I looked back to Motoyasu, who had managed to stop the door from closing.

"I get that you're an old war veteran, but can you at least wait a sec and acknowledge that I had to really pull this meeting together in light of things?" Motoyasu said with a twitch of his eye. "I think it was clear that, while we had lost to you, you had lost yourself in that fight when you were staring at the sand as if it killed your parents. So please stop thinking we're wasting your time, and just talk?"

I looked him dead in the eyes for a moment.

"I don't have time to explain what I don't have time to explain. This meeting was but a distraction for all of us."

"Then one last thing, since you're so out of time for someone that was literally buried in it." Motoyasu said as he kept the lance in the door. "After the trial, when Naofumi somehow managed to recover all of his lost silver that was stolen the night before it... was it you?"

I could hear Naofumi shifting behind the door, as if he hadn't even realized it himself how sketchy it was for all his silver to randomly come back to him. I knew then he was listening, even if it was out of half-interest.

After preparations were made, and I obtain the materials necessary, which had proven to be a slight hassle due to the townsfolk fearing me, I had eventually managed to recoup with my team at the tribe, the ocean blue sky with the evergreen hills being my only company along the way, save for those troublesome balloons that I had to watch for, lest I suffer some rather unreasonable pain. It was a minor detail to many, but to me, it still felt very alien. I had only begun to notice it since it was clear at this point it wasn't just going to go away before my eyes.

It was admittedly lovely company. Compared to the stone-like structures of the Vault, and the mechanical spires or gunfire, just walking alone made me want to summon my ghost to check for patrol beacons. I didn't have one, of course, but out here... it felt like home. I felt like I was a guardian again.

Sparrow was first to sense my arrival due to our shared connection, and Xena was idly looking over the horizon from the wall when she had spotted me. Perhaps it was me still recovering from Oryx's sheer power surge, but even when I had braced for impact, I was unable to stop the blur that was Sparrow, who had knocked me onto the ground with the mother of all bear hugs. The pain was practically negligible compared to what I've been hit with before, but it still knocked the wind out of me.

"Guy gets stabbed, shot, goes absolutely nuts out of the blue, and the first thing you do is tackle him?" Xena couldn't help but comment as she casually jumped down the wall, rolling onto the ground and walking to us. "Are you guys sure that slave seal doesn't allow the slave to hurt their masters, or does it only extend to causing them immense pain and limb loss?"

I freed a hand to type with, only to realize it doesn't work for her. Should we tell her about the functions of your seal in regards to "CBT."

Sparrow and I immediately flushed, as Xena practically sputtered like an old engine. "The royalty does that!? No wonder why the seals are so expensive!"

Master, I didn't know you were into such a thing...

That was Oryx's doing. He warped the message to his will... wait, why does Xena know that?

We looked to Xena expectantly for an answer. She looked back at us in confusion, before getting even more flustered upon realizing the nature of our stares. "I-It was in the book for this world! It lists EVERYTHING!"

It is not in the book for this world.

"I know you're lying to him, Sparrow!"

You're the one lying here...

We couldn't help but smile regardless as we laughed at her, myself silent for obvious reasons. In spite of everything, we still were able to move on from this.

Maybe the journey here won't be as bad after all.

Whew! Finally managed to get this done... had this written on book a week back, but I couldn't spare the time to get it onto , and computer was back to crashing.

Well, either way, let's get onto the reviews.

Guest: Naofumi was too trustful and naive, allowing to the Bitch framed him and stole him, adding that he became a nasty person that treats everybody like shit, including the true kind people, making him less willing to cooperates with others, to the point of be willing put in jeopardize the world with the waves for his innability to cooperates with the other heroes, even through a truce.

Woah bucko! You may need to read the manga or watch the anime again, because he's not that much of a butt. Everybody does include both Raphtalia, Filo, and Erhard after all, and he doesn't act like that with everyone even then.

(Cont'd)To finishes, i wonder if the fact that Oryx possessed and influenced Mokoto, could be his equivalent of Curse series.

That is even if he gets that far... I did go and read the manga after all, and let's just say when the heroes got their curse series, some of them did go pretty nuts...

Also, I'm getting the vibe that Mokoto lost the fight from some of you... he didn't. It was clear who the victor would've been if Mokoto didn't just give up attacking from there on out. I'm guessing this is cause I didn't switch the POV from PTSD'd Mokoto to the people he was beating up, which I didn't do cause I'd have to change the rating because it'd be so brutal(and believe me, I can write some vivid agony here if I wanted to.).

I think I'm going to stop responding to guest reviews from here on out. I'll try to update more often, but no promises. I've got some heavy stuff coming up on my end, and am even setting some stuff up to allow me to update this more often. So please be patient.

I'll see you after the infinite super bug is patched, and I'm done being sweaty!