Chapter 362 Milky way
Crackle
Crackle
Golden-silvery cracks appeared in the air, surrounding Kairen like small bolts of lightning, and expanding in all directions like a wave made out of light and shadows. The cracks appeared in an instant and spread around in a few seconds. In the blink of an eye, the whole area beside the window was surrounded by golden-silver cracks.
A strange energy surged out of the young boy's body who was standing beside the window. Standing in the middle of the cracks, Kairen's body emitted light and an unknown aura, as if he had a power that didn't belong to this world, something outside the boundaries of this land.
GRRRRRRR
The monster, the 'Dragon' who had been standing still under the gate all this time let out a growl as its eyes narrowed slightly. The huge body of the beast shifted ever so slightly, however, the slight movement was enough to shake the whole city. A few old buildings crumbled and some additional cracks appeared on the walls of the building where Kairen was standing it.
GRRRR
GRRRR
Not minding anything, the monster kept growling, showing its razor-sharp teeth and the saliva that was dripping down from its wide-open mouth.
'Why do you seem so hungry? It's as if you've seen a piece of steak after spending years eating vegetables while stuck on an uninhabited island...'
Kairen lampooned inwardly, laughing at the possibility of the monster seeing him as fresh-out-of-oven food. Taking a deep breath, he took a step forward. He gradually approached the broken window and looked out.
By now, almost everyone in the city was looking up and the location where he was. After all, that many light and strange cracks couldn't be overlooked, and neither could the strange behavior of the newly emerged monster.
Under the gazes of everyone present, Kairen took another step forward, reaching his feet out the window and stepping in the air. Almost at that instant, the cracks surrounding him moved all at the same time. A portion of them got separated from the rest and moved down to where Kairen's feet were landing. The golden-silver cracks condensed on one spot in the air, creating a step for Kairen to stand on. In the next second, the step spread around and created a strange path that lead to the monster. It looked like a miniature Milkey Way, something that ordinary people couldn't even understand the essence of.
Standing on the Milky Way, Kairen took another deep breath and started walking toward the monster. The dragon was not moving, but its whole body was glowing with a strange light and immense pressure was being emanated from it.
"Why aren't you attacking me?"
Kairen asked in a low voice, not minding the fact that the dragon couldn't answer him.
"Are you scared?"
He took more and more steps as he walked towards the monster.
"Or am I too weak for you to move your huge body?"
Tap
Tap
"Pfft!"
Kairen suddenly chuckled and shook his head.
"Man, look at me, talking to a monster like some kind of anime character... I've finally lost the last bits of my sanity..."
As soon as this thought crossed his mind, Kairen stopped walking.
"Anime..."
He once again glanced at the destroyed city.
"I guess all of the movies, novels, and series that I've been following will no longer have a next episode..."
For some reason, this fact made his heart ache more than the reality that his hometown was destroyed. It was as if he had finally woken up from an illusion, and had opened his eyes to the fact that his world, and his life, had been reduced to ashes. It sounded stupid but it was just then that Karien could finally get a sense of what it meant for his hometown to be destroyed as if he had just regained the feeling of attachment that he previously had to this city and this country. For a second, Kairen couldn't help but think about the days he used to live in this city.
As a kid, he was never allowed to go out and play with the others too much. It was because he never had perfect health and his parents were always worried about him. Kairen was a shy and quiet kid, not a little bit similar to his older brother. He never asked much from his parents and was always happy with the things he had.
He was considered a rather cute little boy. His eyes were big and round and his cheeks were fatty. He was short and tiny, rather soft and pale. His cheeks would flush red whenever he smiled, making his family unable to resist the cuteness and want to make the little kid happy all the time. On the other hand, Aaron was the type whom people expected to grow and become a handsome young man. He was independent, kind but not foolish, and clever. He was the image of the perfect child each parent would want to have.
When he was young, Kairen was always jealous of Aaron, and he now knew that Aaron was also envious of how carefree and comfortable Kairen's life was. They fought a lot, Yet, they were brothers and lived in a loving family. Jealous or not, they were happy and they cared for each other. For Kairen, Aaron was a rule model for his life, and for Aaron, Kairen was the little stupid thing in their house that he wanted to protect. Kairen was sick most of his childhood but in the end, he was a happy kid.
After their parents' death, Kairen was devastated, both physically and mentally. He couldn't get over the accident and their parents' passing. And their parents' death was not the end of their misery, but the start. They lost their house, their money, their support, their dreams, and everything two kids would want from life. As a 13-year-old, Kairen couldn't help but fall into the pits of despair. Seeing how his brother abandoned his dreams because of him, the despair he was originally feeling mixed with guilt, doubt, helplessness, and hopelessness. He couldn't understand his brother. He couldn't understand himself either. Why was he so useless? Why couldn't he help him in any way? Why was he even alive? It would be best if he'd just perished in that explosion.
Still, those days passed as well. They managed to somehow become stable and keep going. They found ways to be happy again, to smile, laugh, and create memories that they could never forget. They had each other if nothing else, and they could keep living like that forever.
And all of those days, they lived in this city, in this land, somewhere around here, probably in one of those crumbled buildings. The little apartment they had rented, the books Kairen liked to read, the cheap motorcycle Aaron bought after working for years, they were all gone. The pictures they had hung to their walls, the video of the two brothers fighting over a piece of cake on one of Aaron's birthdays, the painting that the little Kairen had drawn for his brother, they didn't exist anymore. Now, nothing remained of those days. Nothing to prove that they once existed. Nothing as a memorial, and nothing to keep reminding one of those times. It was all destroyed, all reduced to ash. Nothing was left.
Without him knowing, 17 years have passed. His brother was left here while Kairen was somewhere else, somewhere far, far away. He didn't have a decent life in that other world. He had to fight humans and monsters, he had to struggle to live, he had to deal with a strange sickness, and had to spend years in confusion and doubt over himself and his life because of his messed up memories. He was forced to find people to care about because as a human, he was unable to live alone. Yet, he couldn't feel completely attached to those people because his erased memories prevented him from doing so. He was always in a state of not belonging anywhere and anything. For 10 years, he could never feel at home, and neither could he find where his home was.
However, he was sure Aaron didn't have it easy either. He was left all alone in a ruined world. He had fought for years, struggled, got wounded, faced death, formed and lost a family, and aged. And in all of those times, Kairen was not there. He was not there, besides the dearest person of his life, besides someone he owned his everything to. Kairen had left his brother all alone in such a world and he was probably nothing but a burden that weighed on his mind, a memory Aaron could never get rid of.
For seconds and seconds, Kairen stood still on top of the floating milky way. The emotions that he had suppressed all these days seemed to slash back, hitting him where it hurt the most. The thoughts he had held back all this while surfaced in his mind again. The guilt and helplessness that he had forced to a corner of his heart swelled and swallowed his mind, making him dizzy and unable to think.
'And I'm not by his side now either...'
The thought formed in his mind at some point and didn't go away no matter how much he waited. His sight got blurry and his cheeks got wet. His throat bobbed up and his gaze sank down.
He wanted to go back. He wanted to go back home.
This place was the 'Home' he always wanted to return to, but now, he wanted to leave. Because to him, 'Home' was not a place, but a person. It was his brother, and wherever he was, was Kairen's home. Even if Aaron didn't feel the same, even if he didn't want to live with Kairen after all these years, Kairen's definition of 'Home' wouldn't change.
Still, this place was where his brother cherished a lot, wasn't it? It was the place that Aaron has fought to protect. Even if Kairen didn't have many strong feelings for this place, could he just let somewhere his brother cherished so much get destroyed?
Kairen was a selfish person. He had always been. To him, the most important thing was the people he loved, and then, the things and the people whom his loved ones cared for. He didn't care about humanity, about the world, about what is wrong and what is right. In the end, would humanity remain for him? Would the people of the world come to aid him when he was alone and in need? No. No one would even remember him. No one but the people who cared for him. Those were the only things that would remain for him, and Kairen had long decided to only spend his time and energy on that small number of people.
Kairen never cared for morals. He never cared about saving lives. To him, the small number of people around him, the ones that he held dear, were his world, and protecting them meant protecting the world.
So... Could he not save this city... the place where his brother cared for... now that he could?
Sniff
Kairen whipped his face with his sleeve before raising his head again. This time, he didn't walk toward the monster again. He was already close enough to it. Thus, he just raised his hand.
In seconds, cracks swirled around his fingers, condensed, and formed a smaller version of the miniature milky way he was walking on. Kairen gestured in the air, pointing at the dragon whose body was slowly starting to move.
'I guess I'll... Kill a bunch of beasts till Reynold shows up!'
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