The Villain's Story

Chapter 787: The you that is unknown.

Kazikato approached a coffin in the endless wasteland. His connection led him here, and as a user of the shadow affinity.

He was far more attuned to this world, sensing things that most others would not feel. Slowly he flew towards the coffin.

It was nothing but crude, black wood, standing upright in this endless desert. One that lacked any sort of ornamental decorations, no carvings, just soulless, black wood.

Kazikato used magic to float above the sand all this time, for he knew what each individual grain was. A life long-lost in the annals of time, their being still remained in the land of shadows, as one or many grains of sand. A memory unlike any other.

He felt that he would be disrespecting them if he stepped on the sand, although he regretted not informing everyone else. It couldn’t be helped, he himself had figured out after they had left.

None of them answered the communicator, which made his guilty conscience worse.

[We shouldn’t exist.]

Kazikato heard the voice once more, it was speaking the same thing, but this time, he heard a knock coming from the coffin.

"... Why do you think we should not exist?"

He asked, placing a hand on the coffin. He was curious, every shadow had a story to tell, so what did his own have to say? What story did his own shadow have to tell?

[Chains.]

"Chains?"

The word brought back a bad memory, of an isolated island off the coast of Japan, an eternity of being trapped on that godforsaken island.

[Chains...]

The voice turned higher, and louder. Kazikato awakened his mana and tried his best to soothe it.

[Dying so many times... Why alive now? Why you?! WHY NOT ME?!]

Kazikato felt a shiver run down his spine, as he studied the shadow in the coffin. It was old, much older than he was. It couldn’t be. The shadow within the coffin, his very own shadow that had run away, was old...

"...?"

Perplexed, he flew back. Why was his own shadow so much older than him? Such a thing was impossible. Even if it was, he would know of it.

The coffin began to shake, as a dark liquid began to escape from the gaps. Kazikato rose into the sky.

’I’m sorry I couldn’t save you before, I let you suffer so many times.’

[WHY?! WHY YOU!? WHY NOT US?!]

’I have failed as a guardian to my family many times... I’m sorry.’

[Chains... chains...]

He always wondered why grandmother would go on to say those things as they trained together. She apologized so much for events he had no recollection of.

At first, he had thought she was apologizing for letting her curse affect him on that remote island... But was there more to this?

"Speak to me. What do you regret?"

The black liquid spread out like a sea, tainting the sand. Kazikato grimaced as he saw something he didn’t think was possible.

’...’

Shock, confusion, mixed with a tinge of fear apparent on his face, he flew as high as he could as he paid utmost caution towards the black portal.

The coffin disappeared into the portal of endless black, and from it emerged hundreds of shadows.

Each one old, but young. Ancient but new, flawless but covered with wounds unlike any other. Hundreds of dragons with their flesh stripped from their bodies rose from the ground.

Skeletal Dragons, so many that they introduced the color white to this endless expanse, rose from the black portal, making it vanish under them quickly.

"What the hell..."

Kazikato cursed, as he recognized each and every dragon. How wouldn’t he? All of them were the same version of him, tormented by the binding curse that left him to rot on that remote island.

His eyes shook as he realized all of them looked up at him, like hungry predators finally catching a glimpse of prey.

Exactly five hundred and fifty-four versions of himself, his young self trapped on the island, flew towards him with blinding speed.

Kazikato wasn’t given time to think, he was robbed of his vision by the sight of five hundred and more young dragons opening their terrifying mouths, and letting a green hue take over all the world.

"Shi-"

He cursed, as a deafening sound never heard before was unleashed. Over five hundred dragons unleashing their breath all at once. A mountain of green and black that tore through the realm of Shadows and engulfed Kazikato.

He used his wings to shield himself, He used whatever darkness he could conjure, whatever bones he could make, whatever shadows he could command. But it couldn’t even stop it for a mere moment.

Rot, Decay, Darkness, Disease, Blight, and Death all assaulted him from everywhere, consuming his body. But all he felt was the force each breath carried, tearing his scales and rending his muscles.

As a Dragon of the House of Shivalkulan, he was already incredibly resistant to such ailments, but as Ariel’s grandson, he was practically immune to his own breath.

But that didn’t mean it wasn’t powerful. The force each breath carried was devastating in its own right, but multiplied by the hundreds? It broke Kazikato apart with pure force.

His immunity didn’t mean anything in front of such a force. When the mountain of green and black ended, all that fell from the dark sky was a body lit aflame with green fire. A falling star in the dark lands.

But that star, no matter what state it was in, was not left alone. It may be teetering on the verge of unconsciousness, but it did not mean it would be given a moment of respite.

Hundreds of dragons climbed over another, like serpents, and launched themselves at their prey, their maws, enough to devour an entire car like nothing closed shut on Kazikato.

It was unknown which dragon it was in the pile that swallowed the falling star, but whichever it was, Kazikato lay buried in a tomb made of himself, hundreds of himself, of pasts forgotten.

---

A dark and cold space, where his body sank into an endless abyss, Kazikato struggled to move, his body broken beyond repair.

His eyes enabled him to see what the darkness hid, but all he saw were chains, hundreds of chains slowly making their way towards him, attempting to bind him again.

He screamed, but no voice was heard in this dark abyss as the chains bound his arms, clung to his legs and shut his mouth. Like a snake coiling around its prey, they strangled the torn muscles of his body.

Every corner, every part of his body was slowly being covered by the abominable chains. Kazikato let out a scream once more, as the chains dug into his right eye, and aimed for the only part of his body left.

And yet, before it could happen, he heard a peculiar sound, one produced by a harp, as the chains all disappeared, breaking into fragments of light.

The melody continued, and Kazikato felt his mind split into countless, countless beings. It wasn’t painful, it wasn’t as if his mind was being torn by a hex, but rather as if...

As if his mind was already split apart into many, many pieces, But the hymn, the graceful melody was bringing them all back, molding them together in perfect harmony.

[I’m sorry.]

He heard Ariel’s voice, hundreds of times, even thousands. Looking up, he saw a woman of ethereal beauty clad in ebony black tower over him, horns of bone rising high into the sky before coiling down towards her back, melting into her long black hair.

She was the one strumming the harp, with hands made of ethereal light. Her own reached out to Kazikato, ruffling his hair as she bent down.

[It’s alright, take all your grievances on me.]

He felt himself scream in rage, cry in sorrow, howl in delight, but mostly, he felt himself...empty. Many versions of himself were crying, screaming, but he was tranquil, calm.

She placed her hand on his cheek, rubbing a tear away with her thumb as she lifted him up.

[I made a vow, Kato, Long ago, yet fairly new.]

There she went again, confusing him with her speech. Whether it came from old age or something else entirely... He didn’t know.

[I will protect my family. No matter what.]

He felt a hundred and more shadows rush at her, only for her to accept them, and not even lift a finger at them. He saw them all disappear, one by one, pleased, happy, satisfied with their outcome.

All their grievances, their pain, regret, and everything they were afraid of. She consoled them one by one, as Kazikato awoke in the black desert once more.

His body broken and battered, and his mind restless, but at the very least, there was not a sea of dragons present to rip him to shreds, only a single prompt.

[You have conquered your shadows.]

[Your affinity to shadows has increased.]