Chapter 2 - To the Skies II (by TwoThirds) *11 times better*

They say traumatic experiences can fully change a man. Well. They're right. I am different now.

17 years.
17 years worth of memories.
17 years worth of connections.
17 years worth of family.
Gone.
All gone.
I've lost... Everything.

Here I stand before a field of freshly dug graveyard in the middle of a ruined village. I pray for each one of my friends and family as I lay them into their final resting place. In front of each tombstone stands a sword, their sword.

To live by the sword.
To die by the sword.

Every accomplishment, every satisfaction, every sliver of happiness. All destroyed in one night. All destroyed in a couple of hours.

I now realize what kind of a cruel world that we all live in. The numbered dominates the less fortunate. The ratio of Fomors to humans is just too much for us to fight a winning war. Cutting one of them down will simply result in 10 more arriving as reinforcement. Just what kind of impossible task did the goddess bestow upon us?

The Fomors will take them all. Your family. Your friends. Your life. And your future. It does not matter if the goddess ordered the extermination. We humans will still be in war with the Fomors. Because if we don't, we will be the ones to become extinct.

So what have I lived for? How can everything just be gone so suddenly before I can realize what has happened. How can my 17 years worth be taken away by some foreign race that just happen to waltz in and wreck chaos? We've never done harm. We may have taken pride in standing victorious in battle, but those were done only in response to relentless assaults on our kin across the land.

So why? WHY? Why must we be punished for defending our lives?

...Why didn't I die along with everyone else...?

Grasping the worn-out blade on my hip, I aimed it along my throat. Now I just need the determination to end it all. The coldness of the blade invites me to my death. To end all my suffering. Tears swell at the thought of losing everything.

I no longer have the will to live. I still desire revenge for my loss. But I realized just how absurd I sounded. Heh. Kill all Fomors? Yeah right. Just how many do I think I can kill before getting completely crushed by them.

I blink a few times towards the sky before my self-execution. Gazing at the endlessness has always calmed me. It shows just how small each one of us really is, how insignificant we are in this world. What can I really do if I moved on with my life? My life goal is now to exterminate every single Fomor. The idea of THAT is simply ridiculous.

So as it stands, I have no reason to live. And it all comes down to my final decision, to twist the blade.

'What do you think you're doing?'

I open my eyes in surprise but there's no one around. A scene of only battlefield and a ruined village filled with a mountain of corpses lies around. All sense of life has perished.

I bring my sword down from my throat.

"Who's there? Show yourself."

A chilling wind knocks me back to my senses as I realize that I was merely talking to myself. So then where did the voice come from?

As if to answer my question, the voice speaks to me once again.

'After the trouble I've gone through to save your life, you're going to throw it away just like that? You ungrateful fool.'

This time the voice was did not catch me off guard. It was clear, and unnatural. It did not sound human. Furthermore, I didn't hear it with my ears, but rather my mind.

'Are you confused?'

Reluctantly, I answer the question.

"Yes."

It sighs with regret in its voice.

I am very confused by the sudden turn of events. Where did the voice even come from?

"What do you mean ungrateful?"

My question was quickly shot back with a scoff.

'Look here, you...'

Like I have anywhere to look...

'I will dumb this down for you to understand. I, am what you all call Power, except in a spiritual form. You see all types of people wishing for more "power." Well, here I am, Power.'

"So you're some type of entity?"

'Not exactly. Entities will have some kind of predetermined shape or form. Powers like me have neither shape nor form. We are not even visible. We merely manifest ourselves in our host. In this case, the host is you. And talking to you like this is already at most of what I can do to communicate.''

"What do you mean by manifesting in hosts?"

'Since we do not have proper forms or shapes, nor are we visible and audible, it's impossible for anyone to know our existence. The only way we can reveal our presence is to bind ourselves in a host, human or monster. By binding, I mean to share our powers with the host, although the drawback is that we are unable to limit the amount that you can use. In any case, the hosts tend to keep this secret to themselves. However, for us to bind to hosts is very rare. You will probably never meet another host in your life time.'

Hmmm.

'I see that you are wondering why we would simply share ourselves without any benefits.'

With another sigh, the voice continues on.

'Because we are bored. Though we are essentially immortal, and time doesn't constrain us, we scourge the land in hopes of finding interesting things such as spectating wars between races, human excavation, Fomor territorial trifles, discovering lost relics, etc, etc.

The most interesting ones are always you humans. Being quite different from all the other races, your intellect has brought forth evolution. We've also observed many different emotions surge throughout the boundless time, from love and joy to hatred and sorrow, which the other races do not tend to show.

Some even decided to participate by merging with hosts to relieve their boredom...but unfortunately, when the host dies with a Power attached, the Power is lost as well. Binding is irreversible, meaning that once we have chosen a host, we cannot leave by normal means. Some of us did not know that in the beginning...they discovered it the hard way... There are exceptions however, but you don't need to worry about that for now.'

"Hold on, you're telling me that this is all real? I'm not hallucinating? Stop bullshitting me."

'... Let me ask you something boy. How do you think you were able to slaughter the entire army of invaders and get out unscathed?'

"... I'm guessing it has something to do with you?"

'You're damn right it has something to do with me! There I was, just roaming the land, minding my own business, when I saw a dumb young boy fending off hordes of ugly fucks and I decided to help you out of your predicament by manifesting myself inside you to save your sorry ass. And what do I get? Not even a single fucking thank you! And now you here doubt me for spewing a bunch of nonsense to you.'

"..."

'What? Did you think you fought those goblins off all by yourself? An average human would've died long ago. Thanks to me, I've kept you going until they all died. Every. Single. One. Just like you wanted.'

"Why me?"

The silence soon followed by laughter.

'Ahahaha! Why, you ask? Because I find you interesting! It's true that I picked you over dozens of the other fighters but no one can match the psychotic inside you.'

"Psychotic? You're calling me psychotic? I can assure you that I am a perfectly sane person."

'Whatever you believe.'

'One thing I should let you know is that there is a drawback with using my power.'

"Go on."

I prompted.

'My Power leaves you with extreme combat fatigue and unconsciousness...'

"...And?"

'H-huh?'

"Is that it?"

'It's a double edged sword. If you enter combat again after that, your body won't respond to you!"

"Yes, but it won't be a problem if I make sure that I won't fight afterwards."

'How will you do that?'

"By making sure that I will not be fighting afterwards. Kill 'em all before they kill me."

The voice sighs, like a sigh that hasn't been made for millenniums.

'That's certainly a optimistic way to look at it.'

"Ok."

'Well then. Now that everything has been done. Pleased to meet your acquaintance.'

"And mine yours."

A brief silence passes by before I realized that I forgot to ask the most important question.

"...So what are you called and what is your power?"

With a meaningful pause, it replies with a dominating voice.

'I am Berserker. And I will grant you limitless stamina to slaughter all that stands in your way. Whenever you demand it. Use me however you wish, just don't make me regret my decision.'

I gaze upon the open sky. Clouds scurry away as if to avoid my eyes. I smile bitterly at the beginning of another story.

'So what are you going to do now?'

I look towards the cloudy skies. It is a dark and stormy night. I sigh in defeat.

"I don't know... Find a new place to live. Kill Fomors. Move on. Repeat... Now that the option of killing myself is gone."

'…Well technically, I can't really stop you from doing that. Though I am inside you, you are still in full control of yourself.'

After thinking a long time, I reply back.

"No... I can't do that anymore. I can actually make a difference now. I am going to abuse you until I die."

I grip my swords, dried red from the battle. Memories flood in as I reminisce my previous life. It's time to move on.

"What to do, huh?"

There is nothing left for me to stay in this village. I guess I'll need to gather up my belongings and find a new place to leave. But everything is either burnt to ashes or destroyed in combat.

The only precious things I have now are these swords, memories of my past, and memories of my brother.

Where would I even go? I have been inside the village all my life. I have no knowledge of what is outside. I have no experience with traveling either.

I gotta start somewhere. I begin gathering up all the weapons that are left behind by the Fomors. Their rotting flesh has already started gathering flies. The smell is absolutely atrocious.

"First things first, we can't stay here. Where do you suggest we go?"

'I don't think this is the best time to say it, but your village is rather secluded. As I surveyed the land before linking with you, the fastest you'll ever get to the next village is about 3 days. I don't believe you have enough food to even last 1 day. Not to mention you'll need to climb over the mountains surrounding your village. In other words, you're totally screwed.'

"Thanks, that really made me feel a lot better about my situation."

'Oh geez, I made a big mistake tagging along...'

"Shut up, I'm not going to die, not here, not now."

'And what are you to do genius? Eat some wooden spears for breakfast?'

"Oh. Ha. Ha. Funny. Can you just shut up from now on? You're not exactly helping."

'Oh, what else is there to do? Wait around while you slowly die from starvation?'

"If I die, you die too."

'I ALREADY KNOW THAT. WE ARE DOOMED, DOOMED I TELL YOU!'

Berserker continued its rant on the hopelessness of our situation. I of course ignored all of it. At the moment, it simply served as needless words that only worsen my motivation. The voice is right however. I have no means to survive in this condition. No food and no supplies, I'm currently trapped in my ruined village.

No matter how hard I think, I can't possibly find a solution. There is absolutely nothing left for me other than what I have geared. If there isn't anything left, why am I still here? If a solution isn't available in the village, maybe I should look elsewhere? With a goal set, I resolve my focus.

First, pick up all the crude spears.
Second, leave the village.
Third, something like a miracle happens.

Sounds like a solid plan. I grin at myself in self pity. Yeah I'm totally screwed.

'Hey, hey! Have you been listening to me?'

"Yeah yeah. We're screwed. I heard you the first time."

'No, no. I see smoke up in the woods over there.'

"You what? Where's 'there?' You're not exactly pointing at anything with your non-existent finger."

I survey the surroundings all around me, from the horizons to peak of the tall mountains.

"And I don't exactly see anything either."

'Look in between the base of the mountain and the edge of the forest of elder wood. There is a small dark blur rising to the sky and hiding behind the leaves.'

"You can see that far?!"

'You can't see that far?!'

"No..."

'Oh, well. I can see that far. Let's go check that out. Now. Stop wasting time around here. I don't know why you're sitting here doing nothing. Just waiting for your death?'

"I'm not the one who kept going on and on about how screwed we were. I'll get moving soon. Just let me gather up some spears first, in case anything happens. Having both a melee and ranged method is always better. No matter what happens."

I check my inventory once more before leaving. I have my and my brother's sword, tattered, cut, and broken leather armor that still offer a bit of defense, and a bundle of 14 throwing spears bundled up in a quiver that I conveniently found. Taking another look at my destroyed village, my destroyed home, my past, I set out on my new journey.