(Before we start this author's note, I need to figure out something. If you are able to, along with your review please tell me which A/N you are more likely to read. The ones at the top, or the ones at the bottom, so I know where to put important stuff, and where to just ramble on. This message will be at the bottom too. Thank you!
Hey guys, I am back. Sorry for the wait, I like to wait until I have the inspiration to write so I give it my all, and I hope that it's worth it. I know I just said that I was going to try to post at least once every week, but I failed that pretty quickly didn't I. I will try again, and I am going to be having a lot of free time next week. I will probably do some writing during that time, but of course, I am also going to hang out with family, so who knows. Anyways you can go on with the chapter now. Thanks for reading!)
Endless Truth
Karma POV:
Previously:
Before Gonen could say anything, Karma yelled out, and the ground around them collapsed. As the ground fell below them, Gonen, Karma, and Dara fell into the dark abyss.
Present:
Karma had been very unlucky throughout his life. He had a dad who wasn't around for his childhood and then got an abusive stepfather. After that, he learned he was a demigod at twelve, and was framed for stealing a god's symbol, and was forced to partake in a quest. The next few years of his life were pretty hectic, him saving the world in all, and then he was betrayed by his closest friends, for reasons unknown.
It is safe to say that Karma didn't have the best luck, which is why he was wholeheartedly surprised when got up from the ground and found himself still in the world of the living. He had known that collapsing the ground was not a smart move at all, but what other choices did he have.
He had hoped that at least Dara and Gonen would have made it out alive, but he didn't think he would survive, seeing his luck. Another thing he didn't expect was to feel such a strong aura of impurity down in the cave. It seemed that there was a cavern in place of where Karma fell, and whatever was in that cavern had a more impure aura than the wick.
He decided not to try to discover the source of the aura just yet and instead decided to try to find his friends. He was in no state to fight something possibly stronger than the wick, and hopefully, because he survived his friends did too.
"I got to think optimistically," Karma said to himself. Karma turned to get up before a sharp pain rang through his body. He turned to see his leg, which still had an arrow embedded into it. 'I guess I should deal with this first' Karma thought to himself, and summoned some pure water from his sword to clean the wound. 'After this, I'll go find them' Karma thought to himself, looking around at the mystical cavern around him. Rock towered over him, with a faint light source over an edge of a rocky wall. 'That must be the entrance made' Karma thought to himself.
Rock was above him with stalactite hanging above him. A faint green light surrounded his wounded leg as he healed himself, clenching his eyes shut to try to ignore the pain.
"Don't worry guys, I'm coming".
Gonen POV:
Gonen's eyes shot open, as he reviewed his surroundings. Was he alive? Yes! Any severe wounds? Nope! Are all of his (trustworthy) companions alive and well? Unknown. Gonen looked around the dark cave and spotted a figure lying limp on the ground. He couldn't recognize who it was, because it was so dark. 'It should be one of my companions' Gonen thought to himself.
He limped over to the person, clutching a big bruise on his leg. 'I must have hit something when I fell,' Gonen thought to himself. As Gonen made his way to the person, his eyes widened.
"Dara!" he called out, and got down on his knees, shaking her slightly. The wound from the arrow was bleeding, and Gonen could only watch. Was he going to watch her die? Gonen shook his head. He couldn't think like that.
He knew that Karma had some sort of healing ability. 'I just have to find him. Surely he can help Dara' Gonen convince himself. After strengthening his resolve, Gonen laid Dara's head on his lap and tried to hold her wound. He wasn't sure if he should take the arrow out or not, so he left it in. He looked up into the cavern walls and sighed.
Things weren't going very well. He should have known that Finn was going to betray them. He should have known and he should have said something. Done something. But now his companions were in a dark cavern, with serious wounds, and no way to get out of this mess.
'Hurry Karma' Gonen thought to himself. His injuries were manageable, but still ached, Gonen was in no position to try to escape, and that's if he even wanted to. The wick could still be up there, and one encounter with that monstrosity was enough.
'I should rest while waiting for Karma' Gonen thought to himself. His consciousness started to slip, and Gonen gave in, leaving reality and falling into the world of dreams.
Dream:
The sunlight leaked into the small hut, signaling the black-haired resident that it was time to get up. Gonen groaned as he struggled to get out of his resting place, the comfortable bed holding him captive. After a while of moaning and groaning, Gonen managed to escape his considerably cozy confinement.
Still only half awake, Gonen moved to the washroom and splashed his face with water to wake himself. Successful in his endeavor, and now fully awake, Gonen got ready to be productive.
He changed his clothes, grabbed his trusty spear, and left his hut. The sunlight was no longer constrained by the blinds on his window, giving it free rain to beam down onto Gonen's eyes. Gonen stood, and let himself get adjusted, before going off to start the day.
As Gonen walked to his destination, his mind couldn't help but drift. He couldn't help but wonder. Wonder what it would be like to live near other people. To have people to talk to. To have friends. 'To not be lonely' Gonen thought to himself. As he trudged down the swampy path.
He shook his head, in an attempt to clear his head of such thoughts. He was perfectly happy. Sure he could be happier, like if he didn't have to eat whatever he could find around the swamp, or if the water wasn't dirty, but he could manage.
'He could manage'
Gonen was snapped out of his thoughts when he noticed a polytrapus. Those terrifying beasts were vicious predators, preying on everything that moved. Gonen had faced his fair share of them, and this time would be no different. And while polytrapus weren't the most…..appetizing, it was better than nothing.
The small creature, or the polytrapus' lure, seemed to notice him, and slowly walked toward him. Gonen reached for his spear, but the critter did not seem deterred. Gonen grabbed his spear and stabbed the ground close to the creature. A cry of pain was heard, and Gonen quickly dislodged his spear, before jumping back.
The small creature changed into the familiar green bulb, and the spiky head of the polytrapus erupted from the ground. Blood, or whatever substitute the creature had, was pouring out of the wound Gonen had inflicted. Gonen got into a fighting stance, and the creature screamed in fury.
"You aren't the first of your kind I have dealt with," Gonen snarled, "and you won't be the last".
Gonen wiped the sweat off his forehead, as he heaved the bag full of cut-up polytrapus back to his hut. The battle had gone the way he had expected, and although he had sustained an injury on his leg, it was nothing a quick bandage couldn't fix.
Gonen sighed in relief when he saw the outline of his hut. He powered through and sat the sack down next to his hut.
"Finally," Gonen sighed to himself, resting himself on the bag. After a quick break, Gonen dragged the bag into his hut, and set it down leaning on a wall. Gonen went back outside and walked toward a wooden cylinder sticking out of the ground.
Gonen smiled, as this was one of his prized possessions. He opened the lid, and turned a wheel on the side, as water started to pour out of it. He had taken all of the water he had retrieved and dug a hole underground to store it, declining the risk of a creature somehow destroying his storage.
After retrieving the water, Gonen went back to his hut and spilled the contents of the bag onto the kitchen counter. Gonen then proceeded to start to cook the….meat? Gonen had never been sure if polytrapus was considered meat or plant, but he wasn't going to risk it and eat it raw.
After cooking up his meal, Gonen poured himself a cup of water and began to eat. 'Not my choice of meal, but it will do' Gonen thought to himself, as he finished the meal.
After he finished his food, he got up once again, to complete his chores for the day. Managing a hut wasn't easy, especially all alone.
"All alone," Gonen repeated.
By the time he had finished all of his chores, it had become dark out. Gonen walked back inside his hut, and put his spear up, but not before cleaning it, and shining it. He didn't want his faithful companion to rust or deteriorate.
After finishing that, he cleaned up and put on some nightclothes. Gonen stretched, readying himself. His life wasn't bad. Although he had a lot of work, and it definitely wasn't easy, he could manage it. There was a constant of it, and he was fine with that. He did his best. And it was fine there was no one else with him. He could deal with solitude. He didn't miss befriending the villagers, nor did he miss the constant chatter that filled the streets.
He didn't miss it all, because he was fine being all alone. He was absolutely, doubtlessly, and most undeniably fine with how life was. With being alone.
'With being completely alone.'
Dream ended:
Gonen's eyes shot open when he heard a noise. He scanned the room, searching for the origin of the noise. He couldn't see anything, with the room being dark and all, but his eyes were slowly adjusting. Gonen looked up and sighed with relief when he found two sea-green eyes looking back at him.
"There you are," Karma exclaimed. A large green orb of purity formed in front of his palm, before splitting up and moving around the room, illuminating the area.
"Is Dara ok?" Karma asked, noticing the unconscious figure of the girl in question resting on Gonen's lap.
"She is still breathing, I was hoping you could heal her," Gonen told him. Karma nodded in understanding and put his hand near Dara's shoulder, where the arrow was located.
"I can heal her, but it is going to take a while," Karma told his comrade. His hand started to glow light green, and small orbs started to form around his hand.
"So while we are waiting, I want to know the truth". Gonen's eyes widened.
"What do you-" "You know what I mean," Karma said, cutting off Gonen. The two's eyes met, and Karma kept eye contact until Gonen slumped, signaling that he had given up.
"I-I will," Gonen said, preparing himself with a deep breath. Karma continued to heal Dara, as he gave Gonen as much attention as he could. He knew this was important, and that Gonen had probably not told anyone before.
"I am here for you," Karma said, strengthening Gonen's resolve.
"It was during the Thorn Beast conquest," Gonen started, looking up at the cavern. "We were fighting the monster, and Ikon, one of the people that came along, had died. Clara, another member, had been injured so she couldn't move. Dara had been unconscious, so with Finn and I being the only people able to move, we would have grabbed the girls and left, but…..
Flashback:
"Finn hurry, grab Dara. We need to get out of here," Gonen said frantically but got no response from Finn.
"Finn what are you doing!" Gonen cried. Finn looked straight at Gonen
"The right thing for me," he said, as he knocked an arrow. And then he let go.
"Finn NO!" Gonen yelled and jumped in front of his fallen friend. The arrow pierced Gonen, barely missing his heart. Gonen fell to the ground, coughing up blood.
"Thank you for your humble sacrifice," Finn said, before rushing off, out of sight. Gonen yelled out in pain, his vision becoming blurry. But he had to pull through. He had friends he needed to save, and he couldn't stop now.
Gonen dragged himself toward Ema. He had to get her out of here. Ema and Dara. Gonen put his hand on Ema.
"Gonen get out of here, you might be able to make it," Ema stressed. "It is too late for me". Gonen shook his head in defiance.
"I'm not leaving you!" Gonen yelled. "You or Dara". Ema coughed.
"Please you have to," Ema said, trying to push Gonen away. But Gonen stayed put.
The Thorn Beast's spikes started to shake more violently.
"NOOOO!" Gonen screamed. And then he blacked out.
Gonen stopped telling the story for a moment and looked to Karma.
"I don't know what happened at that moment. My sheer rage and determination. I was seeing red. And at that moment….. Something came out of me". Gonen looked down at his hands.
"I was a spectator of my own body, and that thing got the driver's seat. It was so filled with rage. It was blind fury, and it wanted to take out its rage on everything in sight. I was terrified".
"But the power. It was tremendous. Maybe I could use it. To save my friends. So I tried. And I tried. And I tried….
Gonen struggled to try to control the beast that he had become. He was now surrounded by an assortment of different vines, and wood and he couldn't even see outside of it. The creature roared, and even though Gonen couldn't see, he could see. He could feel everything around him. The trees, the grass, the Thorn Beast, 'his friends'.
'I h...have to pro-protect them' Gonen thought to himself. The creature roared, and pointed tendrils of wood and vine sprouted around the ground around him. Gonen used all of his willpower to make the attack swerve around his friends.
"Gonen?" Ema questioned, wide-eyed. The beast did not respond, and Gonen couldn't either. The Thorn Beast roared, and the two monsters collided. The sounds of the fight could be heard all across the forest. Gonen was clearly winning, and the Thorn Beast was sustaining massive damage.
In an effort to survive, the Thorn Beast poisoned its spikes, but it did nothing to stop the rampage that Gonen was on. His hands formed a scythe, and it cleaved off a leg from the beast. The monster cried out in pain, and blood mixed with the murky water below. The Thorn Beast realized. That there was no way it was going to make it out of this encounter alive.
The Thorn Beast roared before it shut its mouth close. Gonen's monster raised a hand up, becoming an ax. Gonen realized what was happening, but he was too late to stop it. The hand was brought down, and the monster was chopped into two
A purple gas spilled out of the corpse the minute it was cut. It quickly spread around the area, and Gonen didn't have to be a genius to realize that it was most likely poisonous. He struggled to get in control of his body and took control of his arm. With the newfound power, Gonen wrapped the two girls into vine cocoons, and just in time to.
BOOOM! The gas combusted, blowing up the surrounding area and the forest was set to flames. Gonen had been blasted away, his friends safely in his arms.
His body landed from the blast zone, and the vine and wood surrounding his body were charred but were growing back at extreme rates. Gonen looked to his friends and sighed with relief when he noticed that the cocoons hadn't been damaged and that they were most likely safe inside. Gonen realized his friends from their encasement. He had control over his body, if only temporary, so he walked over to Ema.
He crouched down beside her. Ema turned to look at him, fear evident in her eyes. Gonen still couldn't speak, so he didn't, and instead looked at his friend. She seemed to be getting weaker by the second, and Gonen wasn't sure what to do.
"G-Gonen," Ema said, stopping to cough. Gonen looked at her eyes, the light blue orbs piercing him.
"Please, take care of Dara, I don't think I am going to make it out of this," Ema confessed, coughing up blood. Though she couldn't see it, tears started to stream down Gonen's face. He caressed her face and tried to blink away the tears. Ema smiled, before she glazed over, the life leaving her eyes.
Gonen was broken. He had lost someone who had treated him like a brother, and one like a sister. Ikon and Ema were supposed to get together. They were supposed to live happily ever after, but instead, they died to a monster and the betrayal of a friend. At the thought of Finn Gonen's grief was replaced with outrage. Gonen roared in animosity. He was going to hunt that bastard down, and make him pay for what he did.
And so he let the monster take control. He gave up all authority, and the creature was in full rain. The creature felt through the sea of trees. He could feel the living presences, and he could feel…. Finn! The creature leaped to its prey, forming its right hand into a scythe. And then Gonen lost consciousness.
Gonen sighed.
"I gave full control to the beast and because of that, I blacked out. I don't even know what happened after that. All I knew was that I was filled with such terrifying feelings. I wanted blood. I wanted to kill," Gonen confided.
"By the time I could think again, it didn't look good. There were carcasses of small creatures everywhere, and I was holding Finn up by his neck. And I was slowly tightening my grip, fully prepared to crush his neck. When I got back into the driver's seat, I wasn't even going to stop. Until Dara came".
Gonen held Finn in his grasp and was about to end the traitor's life until she came. Dar appeared out of the trees and looked horrified at the scene in front of her. Gonen's face was no longer concealed, and he looked toward Dara. He still couldn't speak but decided to sort out what he was doing after he took care of Finn.
Until the bastard spoke.
"Help Dara, Gonen has gone insane!" Finn screamed as he struggled to get out of Gonen's grasp. Gonen should have killed him. He should have just taken care of the blonde weasel, and been done with it. But he wanted Finn's pain to be so much worse than Ikon and Ema had to go through. Which is why he didn't immediately take care of Finn after that comment.
He should have.
"He killed Ikon and Ema. I tried to stop him but…." Finn could no longer speak, and his face started to become blue. Dara took out her sword, and swung at Gonen, catching him off guard and slicing the hand that held Finn off. Though the vines weren't part of his body, Gonen could still feel the pain. The pain made it so he could no longer control himself, and he lashed out, sending a vine to launch Dara away.
Gonen slashed at Finn, knocking him into a tree, and just as Gonen was about to take care of him, he felt a sharp pain in his back. He turned to see Dara, sword in hand impaling Gonen. He cried out in pain and tried to shake her off. Dara was launched to the ground, and Gonen continued to scream. The vines surrounding him started to disperse, and Gonen was left on the ground, bleeding.
Finn got up and limped toward Dara.
"We should go, I don't know when he will attack again," Finn said, faking worry in his voice. Dara nodded and gave support to Finn as they walked off.
"Dara before we go I need to say something to Gonen, alone," Finn said. Dara looked like she wanted to refuse, but seeing the state Gonen was in, decided she didn't have to worry.
"I'll be waiting over there," Dara told him, before walking off. Finn limped over to Gonen and crouched so he could see Gonen's eyes.
"By the time we get back to the village, everyone will know of the terrifying monstrosity you are. They will know that you killed two of your own comrades, and tried to kill the rest, but were unsuccessful. By the time we get back to the village, you will be an outcast, a monster. And no one will believe anything you say. Because who would they believe. The kind, thoughtful, could do no wrong archer, or a monster".
"Take your guest".
And with that, Finn walked away. Dara met up with him, and the two went off, into the forest, leaving a bleeding Gonen all alone to suffer.
"I was left to die. And Finn was right. By the time I made it back to the village, I had been banished. I was to never show my face again, and despite my pleas of innocence, no one believed me. All of my friends, people I had known my whole life, chose him over me".
"And it hurt, so I left. Built a hut. Lived my life in solitude, and I planned to do that for the rest of my life," Gonen said.
"I thought maybe if I didn't say anything, with someone as powerful as you nothing would happen on this trip. We'd kill the beast, and go our separate ways. I guess that wasn't very smart".
Karma stayed silent throughout the entire story, taking in what his friend was saying. As Gonen finished, he turned toward Karma, whose eyes were closed.
"I understand," Karma said, opening his eyes.
"You do?" Gonen asked.
"I do," Karma confirmed. "I had a group of friends. We had done some pretty dangerous things, saved each other's lives more times than I could count, but…. they left at someone else's word. That is why I am here, and not there," Karma said.
"But your past doesn't matter right now. We need to take charge now. We need to figure out how to get out of here, stop Finn, and retrieve the sword. So let's do it," Karma said. He took his hand off of Dara and removed the arrow. The wound healed up, and Karma smiled. He held his hand out to Gonen, who took it. Gonen set down Dara and grabbed Karma's hand.
As the two stood up, a rush of energy filled the cavern. Karma looked toward the source, and his face moved into a grin.
"You feel that?" Karma asked letting go of Gonen.
"Yes I do," Gonen said, grabbing his spear.
"It seems we have struck gold. The aura down here is stronger than the wick's aura. It has to be the sword," Karma said, unsheathing his sword.
"Can we take it, we got demolished by the wick," Gonen said. Karma's eyes started to glow.
"There is only one way to find out".
(Before we start this author's note, I need to figure out something. If you are able to, along with your review please tell me which A/N you are more likely to read. The ones at the top, or the ones at the bottom, so I know where to put important stuff, and where to just ramble on. This message will be at the bottom too. Thank you!
Anyways, you made it to the end of this chapter. Nice. I was going to do a lot more in this chapter, but I decided that I am just going to split it up, seeing as that I found a better ending at where I ended this chapter. That's why the title for this chapter kept changing if you noticed what I said in the previous A/N. The next chapter should be out soon, hopefully, maybe. I will try. Your reviews are very helpful in keeping me motivated, so thank you for those. Also for some reason while I was writing, I kept calling Ema "Clara" so if you saw someone named Clara because I somehow missed a name, that's why. Anywho, that's it for this chapter, and stay tuned for chapter 19, All Roses Have Thorns.)
