"Choose wisely"
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"Children of the highest spirits" had special gifts they were born with, as opposed to sorcerers who had to awaken their sorcery through torturous methods.
But they differed for everyone. For one, those born in the male line were bestowed "gifts" tailored to combat, or other supernatural power that put them on a pedestal that surpassed the limitations that restricted mundane humans or sorcerers from achieving.
On the female line, the "gifts" bestowed upon them tailored to the fascinating nature of giving life, but that same "gift" had a fatal flaw to it.
Since the previous generation of "children of the highest spirits" had collectively performed the soul-killing ritual, the price they had to pay for such power resulted in the assimilation not only attacking the life force of the ritual's participants, but often times it would either attack their descendants vitality or skip a generation.
That was unfortunately the case with airu.
By the time of his tenth birthday, he had suddenly began feeling as though his body… or rather, his soul itself was being torn apart by countless intangible forces he himself could not see.
He even began to hear the voices of these forces speaking through his mind all at once.
Once his mother saw what had been happening to her son she dropped to her knees and held the cradled the boy to her chest, and began to sing a song in a soft spoken tone as if she were speaking to an infant.
From what airu could remember during that moment that felt as if it lasted an eternity, his mother's beautiful face grew more doll-like as she sang. And her skin started to resemble smooth, grey stone until she reached the end of the song.
It was at that moment, that she'd drawn her last breath… in exchange for her child's life, which she'd taken on the inheritance left to them by their people's previous generation.
***
Later on airu's father, along with most other men belonging to the children of the highest spirits led an expedition through the mainland, across the war-torn six nations in search of refuge from the sudden invasion of demons from the realm of Hell.
At some point, the children of the highest spirits were almost entirely wiped out due to many of them falling victim to the flaws of power their predecessors had not yet known of during their time, until it was just a few thousand of them left.
One night during a particularly intense storm, airu along with his cousin benjiro had been waiting for elder Kael to return along with airu's father and mister ōroro.
And when they heard footsteps approaching the floorboard they'd been hiding beneath, they came up from their hiding spot only to see elder Kael and mister ōroro.
Airu could remember his heart stop for a brief moment before his cousin looked up to his father's shell-shocked expression and asked:
"Father!… where's uncle eizo?"
Airu held his breath as he waited for a response from his uncle, only to hear it from mister ōroro who had been standing a few feet behind him.
"Airu… your father, was killed."
In that moment, airu's mind couldn't register anything else other than the fact that he was never going to see his mother or father again.
It was then that airu realized the severity of the life of war.
In the tireless days and nights of having to move between different camps just to elude areas where battles between sorcerers and demons took place, resources such as food, clothes, medicine were scarce so airu along with the other children his age would have to help the adults steal them from the homes of sorcerers.
On some occasions, airu would spend most of his time with mister ōroro who was his mother and father's most trusted ally and friend. And the one they'd entrust the title of godfather to the young boy.
Ōroro would often teach airu basic fighting techniques, or would just tell him stories of his own childhood with his father and mother.
One night was one of many nights where airu found himself unable to sleep.
He sat up from his sleeping bag, and rubbed his tired eyes which had red circles under them, and through the darkness of the room he gasped at the sight of ōroro's large figure crouching in front of him.
"Stop doing that!"
The large man pulled his finger to his lips and whispered to the boy:
"Hush, boy! Don't wake the other kids up."
He then rose to his feet and walked to the door, gesturing for airu follow behind.
Ōroro led the boy to a small campfire, and the two sat beside each other on small stumps of broken trees.
Ōroro handed the boy a smaller fish he had been cooking over the bonfire, while he himself held a bigger piece.
Airu's lips gapped slightly, and he shot ōroro a strange look. But ōroro gave the boy a stupid look and said:
"I'm fat, so my body needs more protein than your frail body."
Airu couldn't hold back the small laugh that tugged at the corners of his lips, and then brought the steaming fish to his mouth and chewed quickly.
For a short moment, the two silently ate their fish and drank their water. Ōroro glanced over to the boy, noticing his somber expression as he stared blankly at the half eaten fish in his hand.
"…I'm sorry you had to grow up in these times of war."
The boy brought his tired eyes up to ōroro, and wiped away the wet feeling from his eyelids as he responded.
"You and my parents grew up in the war as well… it's not something you should have to apologize for."
Ōroro didn't know how to respond to the boy's words, but he did ask him a question.
"Airu… as much as I want to, I can't really treat you like a baby. Your eyes have seen too much for you to still feel that blissful ignorance, so I'm going to ask you something… and think hard about your answer."
Airu finished his fish, and greedily finished his flask of water.
"…why do you think wars happen?"
Airu was surprised by that question. He stayed silent for a moment to think about what his answer would be, and then said:
"Because a lot of people are evil, and want to ruin other people's lives… but I don't understand why."
Ōroro nodded, as if expecting such an answer from a kid like airu. Little did airu know, he wasn't entirely wrong…
A lot of sorcerers were known for their sadistic tendencies, that especially ramped up during the war since not much people really cared to stop them…
Much less the special powers who had just recently formed, but also allowed these sorcerers to commit heinous acts so long as they helped in the battle against the demons.
Ōroro sighed, and said to the boy:
"you're not entirely wrong. A lot of people are evil… sometimes there's no way of understanding why they do what they do…"
"…but in my eyes, wars happen due to bad people in position of power wanting to maintain their positions, and'll do anything to get rid of those who can oppose them."
Airu looked at the bonfire for a moment, then suddenly thoughts of his father along with his mother began flooding his mind after hearing Ōroro's words.
Hot tears slowly began welling up in the boy's eyes, and his shoulders shivered as if a breeze swept past.
"…I hate people like that. People who think of those who are powerless as…"
Ōroro put his hand over airu's shoulder and asked:
"Animals?"
But airu shook his head.
"Animals have feelings as well, just like people. sorcerers, the supreme generals, and the special powers… all of them are scum."
It often surprised ōroro how much airu understood about many things he and elder Kael refrained from telling the other children, even sometimes concerned with how smart he was for his age.
"Airu… your parents were admirable people. Your mother died so you could live, and your father… he died fighting for what he thought to be a better future."
Airu wiped his face on his sleeve and looked up at ōroro, and asked:
"Better future?"
Ōroro nodded.
"When we were kids, he'd tell everyone how he'd become one of the strongest warriors and steer the world into an era where war and suffering don't exist."
"…of course it was naive, and foolish of him to believe that such things could happen, but it was still inspiring and nice to see that passion for power he had."
Hearing that about his father, who he didn't really know much about. Airu felt a strange feeling in his heart as he thought of the reason behind why his mother and father had given their lives for a dire future.
No matter how much he tried to make sense of it, all his mind could boil it down to was that his parents were the kind of people the world had rarely seen.
And he didn't like that at all. So he looked to the man he'd acknowledge as his godfather, but with a subtle fire in his eyes as he said:
"My mama and dad died so I could live… I don't know what kind of future they want for me, but I know what I want."
Ōroro finished his fish, and looked to the boy.
"To fight against the people in power?… I already told you-"
Airu shook his head, and looked at the man with bright eyes that reflected the bonfire in front of them.
"No. I want to make a paradise for our people to be able to live in, and gain enough power to protect it."
Ōroro raised an eyebrow. A part of him wanted to tell airu that he was being overly optimistic, but he himself had grown long tired of constant fighting and moving around war-torn lands…
For the first time in a while, he saw a spark of passion for power within someone who understood more than most others would refuse to acknowledge.
Plus, in that moment the boy most resembled his parents as the bonfire casts dancing shadows across his face that made ōroro feel as though his longtime friends eizo and sana were sitting right next to him again.
He then handed a bigger fish to the boy with another flash of water, and smiled.
"…you have a way with words, kid."
Airu looked down and bit into the fish, as ōroro watched him in a moment's silence and eventually said in a softer voice:
"Just promise me something, kid…"
"…no matter how hard times get, if you truly want to fight for a change in something you don't think is right, then never lose that passion."
Airu suddenly felt another wave of hot tears welling up in his eyes, making his vision a little blurry.
The boy wiped his eyes, and nodded.
"I promise."
Even ōroro himself couldn't help but feel the same way, and suddenly pulled the boy closer and hugged him.
"Good… that's just good."
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Continued in chapter 137: Inheritance
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