1 A curse to be human
It is a curse to be human. That is why it is better to have the power to escape the curse of aging, sickness, and death.
The ancient forces of the dark were defeated by the forces of light long ago. However, remnants of their genetic code remain scattered across the human race.
Meet Aawoot, your average good guy.
The name 'Aawoot (อาวุธ)' means 'weapon' in Thai.
There is nothing outstanding about him. In spite of his average stature, he had a history as martial artist who single-handedly fought gangs during his school days, but that was in the past.
He was lucky that he didn't kill anyone and get a criminal record for it.
But his memory of those moments were hazy and didn't know why he managed to do it, despite not performing so well in P.E. class in school.
He started afresh with a new identity and a new name. He went abroad to study in England, and came back to Thailand to work as an English translator, though not at an office.
He didn't earn much from his job, but he didn't need to.
He had no relatives or family members but he had a fortune left behind from family members who departed.
He was rich, but he wasn't lonely.
He was busy translating and reading novels, and learning new languages.
He always wore a pair of golden rings each on the wrists of both his hands, which his spiritual mentor, a monk at a temple whom he referred to as Kruataa Yok, told him never to take off.
In fact, this Kruataa Yok was the spiritual advisor of his family and the only kin he knew. Aawoot would always visit Kruataa Yok to perform merits.
Aawoot never wanted to look back at his past, where he would turn into a muscular and violent version of himself every full moon which would make Bruce Lee and Tony Jaa look like kittens. And he didn't learn martial arts.
He knew martial arts from the start, without having to learn them. They were encoded in his genes.
He was the descendant of a race of demons, called werewolves. Mixed with human blood after generations, he was almost fully human, except that his powers were awakened under stress when he was bullied in school.
After that, no one dared to touch him.
However, it was a curse to be human. Humans would die. His spiritual mentor Kruataa could not escape death either.
After his death, Kruataa Yok lost more than his spiritual mentor. In fact, he lost his only remaining family.
He was alone in a big house with a big fortune.
But there was always something more he craved.
He tried dating, but despite being rich, none of the girls he dated were actually genuinely interested in him. The only thing they were interested in were his riches, but he could tell. It was an inborn instinct.
In Thai there is a word called "Buppae Sanniwat (บุพเพสันนิวาส)", which referred to a destined soul mate. If you are destined to be with someone, any romantic developments with anyone else would not work out. This person would probably have been your romantic partner for several past lives.
He was not met that person, obviously.
What he didn't realize was that, after the death of his mentor, there next full moon was going to be his turning point.
It was a curse to be human, because of death takes away those you loved and cared for you, and your death would make others sad.
It was a curse to be human because being human meant that he was imperfect. He made mistakes in his work, was reprimanded by clients. In his younger days in school, he wasn't really a smart person so he made mistakes that got his teachers or classmates irritated, and that was how he was bullied eventually.
For someone as imperfect as him, it took some meditation and Kruataa's magic to help him improve his ability to focus and enhance his capabilities before he could go to UK to study and learn to be more independent, and slowly learn to be as efficient as other human beings.
He needed to be perfect, only then his existence would be perfect. He would not make mistakes anymore.
He wrote it on Facebook about his thoughts about being perfect.
He added many strangers on Facebook so many people whom he didn't know were reading what he wrote.
One of his friends in his Facebook list saw what he wrote.
She has not known him in real life, but after looking at what he wrote, she scanned the whole city and located him.
She could hear his heart beat, and see his blood vessels from afar.
"The gift of perfection may not be a gift at all, but an inescapable curse," she said.
"Be careful what you wish for. You just might get it." And she licked her lips.
She smelled blood.
But it wasn't just any blood.
It was the blood of someone like her.
She was awakened, but he wasn't.
Actually, not completely awakened.
Those who bullied her to suicide were already dead.
But she didn't kill them.
The demons inside their hearts did.
She just awakened them to devour them.
After that, she devoured the demons, and their bodies became part of her.
She absorbed them.
Her powers grew stronger.
This was the power of the demon gene inside her blood, which awakened when she attempted suicide.
She developed healing powers. She became immortal.
Soon, she commanded a legion of demons to do her bidding.
Those who do evil must die, so that there must be justice.
Since the angels in heaven won't do their work, it would be her job.
Her name was Baifin (ใบฝิ่น), which means 'opium leaf', and she was an undead vigilante.
She would no longer age nor die naturally, but could still be killed via physical means by beings more powerful than her.
The only way was to become stronger and defeat as many demons as possible.
However, no matter how powerful she was, there were some things that were beyond her.
She wanted to enter his house but couldn't, because there was a magical barrier around it. Anything holy would injure her.
She had to become his friend and enter his heart. Without any living family, he must be lonely. Just like she was.
Magical barriers could stop her but not the Internet.
"Aawoot", she said, licking her lips. "I'll get you..."
As for Aawoot...
He started taking an interest in martial arts, and started training at home.
Muay Thai, Taekwondo, Karate, Wushu...
He didn't read any book, watch any video, or learn from any Master. He just somehow knew all these, all of a sudden.
His ancient powers were awakening.
He also started recalling ancient knowledge, and languages of other countries.
Memories of past lives.
However, the stronger he became and the more he remembered, he felt greater pain. The golden rings on his wrist glowed brightly.
The golden rings were a gift from his spiritual mentor.
However, the magic was wearing thin.
After his spiritual mentor died, the magic was slowly weakening, though its ability to restrain him still remained strong.
"Who am I? What is happening to me? Why is this happening to me?"
He asked himself.
He needed answers.
And the next lead to the answers he sought, came in the form of a note in his letter box.
"Come look for me, if you want answers. Scan QR code for meeting location."
He scanned the QR code using his phone and the location appeared on a map. As he tried to picture the location, the surroundings changed. It was as if that a mere thought of the location had sent him there.
"Hey, is this humanly possible?" he thought.
This didn't feel real. Was it a dream?
"No, this is not a dream," came the answer, from a echo-like lady's voice.
"Who's that? Who are you?" Aawoot called out.
"Don't you feel that it is a curse to be human?" she asked.
"Why? Why did you ask such a question?" he asked back.
All of a sudden, the lady appeared.
To his surprise, she was extraordinarily beautiful.
"You want an answer? Fight me. But before that, fight my underlings first."
All kinds of demons of all shapes and sizes appeared before him. Some looked like parasites, some like like animals, and some looked human.
She then disappeared.
"I want to see what kind of potential you have", she said.
He started to transform. His body started to turn slightly hairy, with blue hair or fur.
His fingernails turned into claws.
With his mighty arms and legs, he tore the monsters apart.
He was as good as invincible when fighting them. It was like killing insects or small pests.
They qualified mostly as punching bags.
"Any worthy challengers here?" he asked.
"Don't sound so arrogant, you measly worm. There will be more to come," her voice said.
After that, zombies that appeared like warriors from the ancient world appeared, including ninja and samurai warriors.
"Against them, it won't belong before your head flies off."
Aawoot started using the magic that he remembered from his past life to create weapons in his hands. He created samurai swords and spears to match that of his enemies and proceed to fight them, and slash them down one by one.
After fighting 30 of them, he was the only man left standing.
After that, the beautiful lady appeared again.
"I'm now ready to face you," said Aawoot.
"Stop! I surrender. You're not bad," she said.
"Do you want to live forever with me?" she said.
"Why would I want to live forever with you?" he asked. "With my family dead, I prefer to die."
"Actually, you can't die, not unless someone more powerful than you kills you," she said.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"You're now dragged into a war between all the invisible demons on the world trying to corrupt humanity and drag them into a cycle of more terrible karma of endless suffering. Even if you die, your soul will be at their mercy without any angels or deities to help. If you want peace, after death or while still alive, you have to live forever, with me."
"But why me? Why did you choose me?"
"You and I are the same. We are human, but we have the genes of the ancient demon kings. Our ancestors were pure evil, but we don't have to be. We don't have to be good either. We will just survive, fight, and do what we think is right."
"But what if later on we don't get along?"
"Aren't you thinking a little too far ahead? Besides, I don't think you can resist someone as beautiful as me. We'll have a little ritual. We'll spend some time, together, and I'll give you eternity. You don't need reasoning to accept that, right?"
And so, he took her home to perform the ritual of spending time together. The spell guarding his house was broken, and replaced by a new one that accepted her. The golden rings broke, and his power was completely awakened. He was a werewolf descendant, and she was a vampire descendant. From that night onwards, they never parted, and they travelled around the world together by teleportation, seeking new challenges with other demons, trying to increase the karmic debt of people.
Where possible, they even time traveled to the future or the past to see their future or past lives.
Or, other worlds.
