1366, One year before the start of Luka's journey.
It was a day like any other in Ilias Village, a clear sky with the sun radiating a generous heat, one that was just comfortable enough to neither feel hot nor cold. The townsfolk were conducting their usual business, farming, gardening, or even taking a break from their work, thanking Ilias for granting them another beautiful day, the faith of the village remained strong, as usual.
Among the inhabitants was a young boy, with purple hair and blue eyes, eyes that were filled with innocence and purity, this boy was named Luka Hein.
He had the lifelong dream of wanting to be a hero, but there was a catch to this dream, he refused to kill others in pursuit of it. He was a devout follower of Ilias and knew most of her scriptures from memory, he prayed each day and each night, even before and after meals.
He was aware of her commandments, and he was aware of how much Ilias detested monsters. But throughout it all, his ideals fell more to a peaceful solution, why should he kill monsters when they could live in harmony with humans?
Today Luka found himself cleaning up around the inn, the inn he inherited from his mother once she had passed away, he missed her every day, and the pain of watching her deteriorate and wither away would stay with him forever.
He tried as best as he could but failed to even buy her medicine, he was powerless as his mother died in front of him. A glance at his hand showed that he still had his keepsake ring on his hand, he vowed to his mother never to take it off and he followed through with his word religiously.
He opened the storage cupboards and realized that he had no food for the coming week, deciding to go grocery shopping in the village at the general store.
The process of getting the groceries was casual, he ran into some friends and even Aunt Betty, who had taken the role of his guardian after his mother's passing. He walked home with his supplies and was contemplating what to make for dinner when the village had a rather large commotion near the dirt road leading to the woods.
"What a strange man..." Said one of the guards watching the road.
"What is he wearing?" Asked one of the parishioners at the Ilias church.
"Oh my…" Muttered a young woman with a light blush, her eyes fixed on the stranger, waving her hand at her face to cool down her rather indecent thoughts.
"Clara, cover your eyes, you're not old enough to see this." Said a mother who covered her daughter's eyes and gave a look of disapproval to the disturbance.
Luka himself took a gander and saw exactly what the entire village was gossiping about, the sight could only be described as...
Bizarre.
The young man walked right up to the village and looked at the gathering crowd in front of him, especially the attires they wore. The entire place looked quite medieval, which was matched by the rather conservative dresses the women wore, the guards further down the road had a set of full armor and bladed weaponry. Perhaps this was a medieval reenactment he had unfortunately stumbled upon?
He had no idea how he got here, no idea where he was and honestly felt hungry after not eating anything the entire day. He approached one of the guards and prepared to communicate.
"Um, Good day sir." Exclaimed the guard, staring at the boy's chest cleavage in confusion. Ah, English, he knew the language fluently, this was a stroke of good fortune. Perhaps after spending hours strolling in the forest, he could finally get some directions.
"Good day, Signor. Would it be possible to know where I am currently standing?" Asked the boy with a slight accent the guard could not exactly determine, what was more confusing was the word, Signor? What did that mean? The guard ignored that and instead decided to answer his rather obvious question.
"This is Ilias Village traveler; didn't you see the sign on the dirt road?" Answered the guard.
"Well, no, but where exactly am I? Which country are we in? Which continent is this?" Asked the boy even further in confusion, his geography skills were decent, but he had never heard of an Ilias Village before.
"Ilias's continent... Are you okay sir?" The guard said as they were now concerned about the traveller's mental state, how could one forget which continent they were on?
"Alright, enough with the roleplay, give me a straight answer." Declared the young man with annoyance in his tone, he despised having to repeat himself, he was done with this foolish game, Ilias continent did not exist.
"Excuse me?! What are you talking about? I answered you." Replied the guard in a now hostile tone as he recognized that this traveler could resort to violence over something like this, was he delusional?
"You're serious, aren't you?" Said the boy as he now paid attention to the man's body language, realizing that the man was not lying.
"Yes, we are on the Ilias continent, north of us is Sentora, and to the north of that is Hellgondo." Spat the disgruntled guard as he too was losing patience with the idiocy of this traveller.
"There wouldn't happen to be a library in this village, would there?" Asked the traveler, now donning a serious expression.
"Yes, actually, there is, it's underneath the Ilias temple, just ask for permission and you can read all you want." Confirmed the guard.
The traveller then walked into the village, immediately spotting the rather large temple, before heading inside. Upon entering, he was greeted by a priest of sorts, praying to a statue of what looked like an angelic woman, wearing quite revealing clothing.
"Good day to you my son, what brings you here?" Greeted the priest with a calming smile, his wisdom shining through.
"Who is that statue depicting?" Asked the strange man.
"Ilias my dear boy, are you unaware of the Goddess?" Questioned the priest.
"I am not, my parents were never religious, but I wanted to ask for permission to use the library and learn about our Goddess." Lied the strange man, appealing to the priest's religion to get his way.
"Oh, but of course, how could I turn down a man who seeks the light of the Goddess, please feel free to use the library. I hope to see you at mass." The priest said with an even bigger smile, believing that he had now helped a young man who wanted enlightenment from Ilias.
The traveler went to work, gathering information and grabbing books about the world, especially about Ilias. It was there that he learned the geography of the world, he was horrified to see 3 continents on a picture, used to have more than double that.
The current year was also only 1366, a full 635 years back in the past from 2001, in another world. That was the only way this made sense, this was not Earth anymore, he had somehow awakened in a new world.
The traveler fell deeper into the rabbit hole as he read more and more, the Goddess Ilias was a literal deity, an actual angel. He read more and more, discovering that Heaven was a real place, a tangible area in this world. More angels existed, and the hierarchy of angels was familiar to him which made it more odd, almost similar to Christianity, but wildly different in other areas.
He quickly read through the 5 commandments of the Goddess.
(1) Thou shalt not have intercourse with monsters
(2) Be dutiful in your prayers
(3) Point your sword at the Goddess and thou shalt cry.
(4) Thou shalt not rely on other gods.
(5) Thou shalt not disgrace the Goddess.
Most of the points made sense, but he kept reading the first and most likely important commandment. What the hell did that mean? Intercourse with monsters? As in sex?! And if angels were real, that would likely mean that monsters were meant literally, further horrifying the now demoralized man.
He glanced over to another book, one simply titled: 'The Dangers of Monster Girls.'
The title implied that monsters were mostly if not all female, and that for some reason it was forbidden to pursue sex with them. Against his better judgment, the traveler opened the book and read away, quickly regretting his choice. It was there he learned the disgusting nature of this world, that monsters required something from men, if only it was blood, if only it was their souls instead.
It was their semen, monsters assaulted men and forcefully took their semen, the textbook definition of rape...
The traveler put the books back in place and left, thanking the priest for allowing himself to be enlightened, although he was slightly shaken. He'd been in some strange circumstances, but not once had he ever dealt with something like this, if he left the relative safety of this village, he would come across a monster, and it would probably be even worse given how often he attracted fights so easily.
The sky darkened as the traveler walked aimlessly around the village, whatever Lira he had on his person was useless, and the people around him were living on the edge already. They had enough money to buy the necessities, maybe some luxuries, but any financial loss would hurt them badly, so he refused to pickpocket a few of those gold coins.
There was nowhere for him to sleep either, or he doubted anyone would allow him inside their homes. The situation looked quite hopeless; one might even call it useless.
"Muda, Muda." Muttered the desperate stranger.
Luka had just finished dinner when he heard a loud bang from the upstairs window, he cursed himself for not closing it earlier and ran upstairs to finish it right then and there. As he looked out the window, he saw that same stranger looking around the village in the cold and dark, he felt genuine pity for the man. Upon seeing his situation, he decided to help him out, after all, Luka could relate to being alone with no one to help, and he wouldn't wish that on anyone else.
He exited his inn and approached the gloomy man, taking in his features, the man seemed of slightly below average height for a man, with blonde hair in a ridiculous hairstyle, three holes in the front of his hair, and a braided ponytail at the back. A green and black two-piece suit, which clearly showed off his muscular chest and what looked like two broaches on either side of his chest.
He'd never seen someone dress so extravagantly before, and never in a million years would he have thought a man would wear makeup. It was his life, and he didn't seem to be hurting anyone though, so who was he to judge?
"Hey, I noticed you were just standing here in the cold, do you need somewhere to stay?" Asked Luka with some concern, really wanting to help this stranger out. The man in question turned around and looked down, his blue eyes widening at his question.
"Yes, but I doubt anyone would want to let me stay with them, and I don't have money to offer anyone." Admitted the blonde stranger, pacing back and forth.
"I own an inn, you can stay with me as long as you like, free of charge," Luka said with a smile, offering a hand to the stranger.
"You'd do that for me? You're quite generous." Said the stranger, taking the shorter boy's hand.
"My name is Luka Hein."
"Giorno Giovanna, pleasure to make your acquaintance." As Giorno introduced himself, his stomach growled, eliciting a small giggle from Luka, who promptly led him to the inn and dished his new tenant a generous portion of the meal he had prepared.
Giorno got lucky, he had seen the pure innocence and kindness in Luka's eyes.
It was clear that he found a good person.
The boy known as Luka reminded him heavily of Koichi, although he seemed much more innocent than the strange Japanese boy, slightly shorter too. He was an amazing cook however, the stew he made was unlike anything Giorno had tasted, the boy was blessed with incredible skill and a golden heart.
He noticed a sword in a sheathe near the living room, curious about the small blade, he opened his mouth to inquire about something.
"That sword, are you perhaps wanting to become a knight?" Asked Giorno as he inspected the blade.
"Well, I um, promise not to laugh at me?" Luka responded in embarrassment and nervousness.
"This is no laughing matter, I promise." Ensured the blonde traveler, giving him a firm nod.
"I want to be a hero, like the great Heinrich…" Admitted the small boy with a glint of resolve in his eyes.
"I want to put aside the differences humans and monsters have and ensure we can all live in peace. That is my dream, I don't want to have to kill anyone to do it, but I will fight to achieve my dream of co-existence!" Declared the aspiring hero with absolute confidence, Giorno was reminded of his declaration of his dream to destroy the boss and take over Passione.
He felt like he could relate to this boy, they both had the resolve to cut through the darkness, to shine brightly on the path ahead like the rising sun. He liked this boy, that was for certain.
And so, the two kindred souls began establishing a bond, one that would have devastating consequences for the future of this world…
Meanwhile, Somewhere in Heaven.
Ilias was having a terrible day, one of her angels had just bit the dust. That alone was concerning, but the method of death was by far more horrifying, the angel had died from disease, that was impossible. Even if that angel was a member of her lowest class, a disease would never afflict them.
The subsequent investigation revealed the body to be covered in boils and open blisters, a traumatizing sight for the angels in heaven to see, the poor girl's face was trapped in her dying expression of agony.
Her death was slow and painful, her throat had given in after a few hours of screaming bloody murder. Not even holy magic could save her, the most effective healing magic meant nothing to this unknown disease.
Even Promestein was stumped, no organic disease on Earth could have been responsible, which made Ilias fear that those wretched monsters finally devised a way to harm her angels. That theory was also shut down, no dark magic was detected at all, but through blood tests, she was able to reveal a virus running rampant within the body.
The body was found right near the Navel of the world, a mere few hundred meters from the gate to heaven. A task force of angels scoured the area and uncovered nothing out of the ordinary, except for one golden arrow. The arrow was sent to the drain labs and rigorously tested, and sure enough it was revealed to have elements of that virus.
The likely story was that this unfortunate angel accidentally cut herself with the arrow and became infected with the disease. This strange golden arrow, adorned with patterns and a beetle-shaped mound had killed her angel.
The fact that this arrow carried a mysterious virus within it was one thing, but the fact that it could pierce an angel was the big deal. Her angels were intangible, made up of her holy energy, almost spiritual if one were to go into depth. How could a surface-made arrow interact with her angels?
Where did it come from? What was its purpose? Did the monster lord commission this item?
These were questions that needed answers.
1367, Weeks before the baptism in which Ilias appears.
Luka had learned quite a bit about Giorno Giovanna over the months they had known each other, what was most surprising was his age. He was only 15 years old, no one wanted to believe it at first, he looked like he was in his early twenties. But it became generally accepted after a while, and Luka certainly did not feel jealous that a 15-year-old boy was taller than him.
Giorno had soon gotten work helping the village florist, he seemed to have a green thumb and thrived around flowers for some reason. The village crops and plants had never been as healthy as they were right now. He then paid Luka the standard rate for staying at the inn, although Luka initially protested and was just happy with his new friendship.
Giorno loved to read, and he spent a lot of his free time at the library, quickly becoming a knowledgeable person about a variety of topics. In his words, knowledge, and the ability to apply them was power. He asked frequent questions about Ilias the priest of the temple who was overjoyed to be able to answer one so curious about the Goddess.
This all came to a head when Giorno expressed his desire to join him on his journey to defeat the Monster Lord.
"Can you even fight Giorno?" Asked the now shocked boy.
"Of course, I can. I will not be a nuisance to you." Reassured the blonde teenager.
"But…" Muttered the concerned boy, he was having doubts about bringing a 15-year-old guy along with him on his perilous journey to defeat the monster lord. He didn't want to be responsible for his death, or for him to be enslaved by a monster girl.
"The journey will be lonely, surely you'd like some companionship, I'll even let you deal with the fights since you're the aspiring hero." Compromised the blonde teenager, and it seemed like a good deal with excellent reasoning. He didn't feel great going at it alone, and he felt confident knowing that the fighting would be left to his responsibility.
"Then I guess it's fine, but please don't take any risks, ok?" Luka accepted nervously, although he felt grateful to now have a traveling partner.
Somewhere…
'Where am I?' Thought the young boy, opening his eyes to a soft light, awakening amongst the clouds.
'Is this a dream?' The boy attempted to rationalize his situation.
"Luka…Oh, brave Luka…" Spoke an unknown voice, a sweet and gentle voice which made him feel at ease. He finally saw something, the visage of Ilias appeared before him, her beauty being exactly as the statues and artwork depicted.
"Oh, brave Luka… can you hear my voice?" Called out the goddess, smiling at her chosen champion.
"I can hear you, Ilias!" Exclaimed the young man to his Goddess, not wanting to make her wait a moment for clarification. He trembled at her voice; this truly was Ilias.
"Many, many years ago, in a time man cannot comprehend, I created this world." Ilias began to explain.
"First was the earth, sky, and sea."
"Then the animals, birds, and insects."
"Finally, I created Humanity."
"However, I am not perfect." Said the Goddess, closing her eyes and letting out a short sigh of frustration.
"While creating humanity, I also had many failures…"
"Those failures are monsters, a truly detestable existence. Monsters are nothing but evil. They will seduce humans to commit forbidden acts. Sometimes even committing great acts of violence."
"Even though humans are weak, I still love them. So, I hate these monsters who bring them only harm. And you, Luka, have finally come of age today, have you not?" Questioned the Goddess.
"Yes… I have been looking forward to this day!" The boy felt great excitement, a baptism in Ilias's name, what an honor it shall be, to finally be recognized as a hero. And he would not be alone in that regard, he had a loyal friend of one year, Giorno, and they would tackle their future issues together.
He had spent all his time training, just to ensure he could be the best hero possible.
"Up until now, I have given my blessing and protection to many men… However, the monsters have not been exterminated." Ilias continued with her story.
"Not since Heinrich, 500 years ago, has a man been able to defeat a Monster Lord." Luka listened intently, his thoughts consumed by the tale of Heinrich, the hero who defeated the cruel Monster Lord with an attack that split the Earth itself.
"But Luka, you too have the potential to defeat a Monster Lord!" Ilias exclaimed.
"Eh? I… I do?" Muttered a confused Luka.
"Now go, Luka! I will always be watching over you…"
His vision faded to black, once again falling into a slumber.
The day of the baptism.
Luka had just awoken from a dream, one in which Ilias had told him to defeat the monster lord. He still couldn't believe it, but the fact that the Goddess had told him to do so had only further increased his resolution to become a great hero.
He got out of his bed for the beginning of an epic tale, one that would surely make his mother proud, one that would rival the tale of Heinrich.
The morning seemed so perfect, the birds whistled, and he could hear the fellow inhabitants of Ilias Village waking up and getting a start on their days. There was a hint of excitement over the day, Ilias's baptism was a big deal and there would be an increased number of travelers and perhaps even a crowd of people watching the ceremony, which made Luka feel giddy.
The first thing he did, was pray, being a devout follower of Ilias after all. Immediately after that, he turned to face the keepsake of his mother, greeting it lovingly. He looked over his house with sadness, he would not return here for a while, Luka and Giorno would be going out on their adventure today. He wondered where the blonde boy was, perhaps doing some last-minute shopping.
"He…Help!" Screamed a villager, Luka quickly recognized it as Hans the lumberjack, why was he screaming so early in the morning?
"A monster… A monster is in the forest!" Screamed Hans, warning the entire village of the danger. But why would a monster approach this village? It had a large temple of Ilias, revered by all as Ilias Temple, no monster would dare approach it.
"Ahhh!" Screamed a woman.
"Mommy!" Wailed a child.
Naturally, the calm morning was shattered with the beginnings of screams and panic among the village, forcing the aspiring hero to quickly get dressed and equip his special made blade, a short sword made by the local blacksmith, Ronnie was his name. He would make sure to take care of the blade and cherish it, it was a gift from a dear friend.
As he ran towards the source of the commotion, a gathering crowd made its way back to their homes. He cursed his luck, it just had to be today. Luka had never fought a monster before, but if he wanted to face the Monster Lord someday, he might as well confront his fears here and now!
"Run away!" Yelled a farmer.
"What should I do?!" Panicked a man, Luka ran against the wave of people, towards the village entrance.
"Stop, Luka! Leave the monster to the soldiers at Ilias Temple." Came the booming voice of Betty, the woman next door.
"It's okay, Betty… I'm a hero!" Exclaimed Luka, trying to mask his fear with confidence.
"You haven't even been baptized yet! Don't you dare leave Luka!" Luka continued to run, reaching the forest, ignoring Betty's pleas for him to return home. He needed to do this, he needed to stop this monster right now!
"No! Luka!" Sobbed Betty, now watching him disappear into the forestry, unable to change that stubborn boy's mind at all. She was quickly attended to by Giorno, who was concerned about the old woman he had come to know for a year now.
"Is something wrong?" Asked the blonde teenager, comforting the old woman.
"Luka's gone to face that monster! Please stop him! I can't lose him!" Begged the woman as she sobbed, losing her composure completely.
Giorno looked over to the forest, letting go of Betty and starting to walk to the forestry himself. He quickly turned around, striking a strange pose, his one hand resting on his thigh, the other pulling on his chest, moving the fabric of his shirt apart. This allowed one to see more of his muscular chest, and he completed the pose by bending his knees slightly.
"Do not worry, Betty." Assured the boy.
"I, Giorno Giovanna have a dream, and that dream is to protect Luka!"
[To be continued…]