Martyr

Cato Emberson's Perspective:

"The Goddess of Destruction?" I repeated.

"I thought I had made it clear that I did not like repeating myself, Child." She squinted her golden eyes at me.

I took an apprehensive step back; as beautiful as she was, she felt just as dangerous.

I cleared my throat and began to speak again, "Why has the Fire Tribe not seen a True Power Wielder in fifteen years?"

"None of the children in recent years have met my expectations," she answered flatly.

"Alright, I understand. Those were all the questions I had for you, Goddess. Now, how do we continue this evaluation?" I glanced at the floor and then took in a sharp breath.

"There is no need to worry, Child. My assessment has yet to conclude. However, there is something you must do before I truly begin." She responded.

"What would that be, Goddess?"

"You must exit this realm and return to your tribe. Then gather information, and when you finish, I shall contact you."

"How will you contact me, Goddess?" I asked, confused by the sudden instructions.

'Did something happen outside?' My mind raced through possibilities.

'Is my family okay? Are Blaze and Angelica okay?' I didn't want to think of what could have happened to them.

"Keep the crystal with you; I will contact you through that." She answered flatly, again.

"Are you sure I should keep this?" I replied hesitantly, feeling the gemstone in my pocket.

"Do your ears function, Child? Leave this realm, and I shall contact you when the time is right."

The Goddess disappeared immediately, and the tunnel I had come through appeared in her stead.

I gingerly stepped towards the tunnel and felt the familiar gliding sensation as I floated into the air.

The friendly streaks of color began to fill my vision as I exited the barren wasteland and into the tunnel.

~~~

The Goddess of Destruction's Perspective:

I was able to see throughout my Tribe's tunnels because of the eternal flames I placed as sconces.

The room that housed the communication crystal was no different. I could see every square meter of the destruction those wretched subjects had brought with them.

I couldn't help but feel disappointed at the sight of some of my subjects. They looked pitiful. It seemed only one put up a fight, and perhaps he could have been a warrior.

However, his death sealed his fate, along with the rest of his tribemates.

I watched as the child known as Cato arrived back inside the rock house. My first test began once he arrived; how would he react?

The boy jumped back at the sight of a wooden spike protruding through the table. His eyes sunk as he realized blood covered the tip.

He closed his eyes and knelt. He raised his head and opened his eyes as he stared upon the slumped body of, from what I gathered, his friend.

His eyes glazed over as he stared at the pool of blood beneath his friend.

Shock and despair filled his face and his emotions. Being a Goddess, I could feel the most powerful emotions from my subjects. However, now that only one subject remained, his shock and despair were ever potent.

The child started to turn away from the body as he grabbed at the crystal in his pocket.

He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and pushed past the straw.

~~~

Cato Emberson's Perspective:

I opened my eyes to reveal the most revolting sight I had ever bared witness.

My eyes drifted from the blood-soaked bridge to the corpses of my tribemates floating beneath it.

I had held back the urge when I saw Angelica, but this sight made me keel over the edge of the bridge. I attempted to vomit but was unsuccessful.

After a few painful seconds of coughing and spitting, I started to move down the bridge.

The first sight I walked towards was none other than Blaze.

He lay on his back. One leg stuck at a ninety-degree angle with a root identical to what had killed Angelica piercing through his thigh. Another spiked root bored a hole straight through Blaze's chest.

I looked down at my blood-soaked friend and stared. I stared in shock. My vision blurred, and tears streamed down my cheeks, yet I made no noise.

I berated myself for letting this happen to my friends.

'My family?'

I choked back a scream as more tears flooded out of my eyes. I knelt beside my best friend and looked down the bridge. There was a wolf with a large slit through its throat a couple of meters away from Blaze.

"Maybe you could have been a wielder, Blaze." I choked back more sobs as I closed his eyes. The bright eyes I had grown up with, now lifeless and closed forever.

I stared down the bridge and looked at the awful scene I would have to walk through.

"AHHHHHHH," I let out a pure, grief-ridden scream that echoed throughout the silent cavern.

I wiped my eyes against my shirt and stared at the tunnel ahead of me. I slowly started to move forward.

Each step I took sent a ripple through the blood that had pooled on the once pristine bridge. Soon this bridge would look like the floor in the Goddess' realm.

I passed a boulder of crystal that had fallen from the ceiling cracking the bridge and splattering the insides of multiple children in a wide radius.

I continued to walk over the bridge, occasionally averting my eyes from the more gruesome scenes that lay before me.

I arrived at the tunnel entrance to find the headless corpse of a boy my age, along with whatever the wolf left of what I assumed had been two more children.

I started my trek up the slightly sloped tunnel back to the main square. As I neared the exit, my heart began to beat faster and faster. My head was throbbing, and my breathing was ragged when I reached the bright entrance to the square.

'Had anyone survived?'

As I rounded the corner, my hopes diminished immediately.

The colorful and lively square I had grown up with was silent and covered in blood. The attack had kicked up an enormous amount of dust that coated almost everything.

Everything from houses to corpses held a muted gray color. The once glistening statue of the Goddess had become muted in color as well.

I felt as if I was walking through the worst nightmare imaginable. The dust layered a grayscale over my vision as I slowly started to make my way to my house.

I gingerly stepped over the corpses of my fallen tribemates as I inspected the damages.

There were slices, spears of root erupting from bodies, bite marks, and physical injuries littered throughout the corpses.

A few slices were in the surrounding rock that I could only assume had come from either a Nature Tribe member or an Ocean Tribe member.

As I continued to walk through the square, I noticed an elderly woman lying on her stomach.

I didn't have to walk much farther to realize that it was Angelica's Grandmother. A significant spike ran through her back and out of her chest.

I tore my eyes away from the scene and continued onward towards the destination I didn't want to reach but had to visit.

As I entered the tunnel that led towards my house, I noticed a surprising amount of corpses that I didn't recognize. They wore armor that I hadn't seen in the Fire Tribe. I could only assume these were a few of our attackers.

The corpses stopped outside of a house that I vaguely recognized. I creaked open the wooden door and saw the battle-scarred elderly gentleman who had given me my sword. He was sitting in a chair, and protruding through his legs and chest were many spikes. The spikes pinned him to the chair as he sat, lifeless. The spikes protruding through the man were the same black, almost shiny, spires that had run through Angelica's Grandmother.

I inspected them further and reeled back in disgust at my discovery.

"They're metal?" I said aloud.

'Did all of the tribes attack us? Why? What did we do to garner your hatred?'

I racked my brain for answers and came up empty-handed. Disgusted by the revelation I had, deep despair filled my core.

In the middle of that void of despair sat a tiny ember, an ember of rage and contempt. One that quickly engulfed a portion of the vacuum.

I exited the weaponsmith's house and marched towards my house with a fire burning inside me.

~~~

Absolutely nothing could have prepared me for the scene I witnessed at my own home. My father had gotten stabbed through the abdomen with a metal spike. He lay on his stomach facing the house with his left arm outstretched.

His left hand was a charred remnant of what once was, and what lay between his outstretched arm and my house was the corpse of a Beast Tribe member with his head severely burnt and disfigured.

Tears had stained my father's pale face with eyes closed.

I walked around my father to the door to our house. My gaze started at the floor and followed the flow of blood towards the stairs.

The blood thickened as my eyes rose over each stair until I arrived upon the remains of my mother.

Tears filled my vision as I looked at the bloody mess on the stairs. My mother's head was intact and had tears stained across her once lively face.

Rage and sadness filled my head as I gasped for air before sliding down a wall of our house and curling up into a ball.

~~~

I had slept for maybe three hours, only woken up by my body-shaking sobs. I woke up dehydrated and filled with despair and grief for my fallen tribemates.

I gingerly stood and walked towards my room ahead of me. I opened my door to find my black sword in its sheath where I had last left it.

I grabbed the sword and held it in my hand. As I was holding it, my vision started to fill with red.

'If only I could kill those bastards who did this to my family and me.'

More rage filled my head;

'Kill them, kill them; you must kill them, if not you, who?'

'Who shall put an end to this disgusting behavior?'

The rage-filled thoughts plowed through my head, replacing any emotion with more rage. It spread like wildfire in my mind.

'YOU HAVE TO RID THE WORLD OF THAT SCUM,' my thoughts had escalated to full-on screams in my head.

'AVENGE THEM. AVENGE BLAZE. ANGELICA. MOTHER. FATHER. RUTH.'

My head pulsed as the voice began to lower until it was almost a whisper;

'Avenge them, Cato. Or decide yourself.'

My thoughts began to swim over all the memories I had with my tribemates and family members.

Training with Blaze and Angelica. Eating dinner with my family and practicing the sword with my father in his free time.

Memories with joy attached filled my head, yet the joy-filled memories slowly became painted in a gray tint. I felt my head organizing these memories in a lockbox, never to be experienced again, except in the gray hue that their deaths painted.

'Wouldn't they want me to avenge them?' I thought to myself,

'My father and Blaze, at least.'

I imagined my mother's voice telling me to try and lead an everyday life, but I couldn't. Pure rage blocked the idea as I collected myself in my room.

I strapped my sword to my hip and steeled myself to exit my house. I didn't want to return, so I grabbed the only thing I needed, my sword.

I left my house and closed the door behind me. I stepped past my father and followed the tunnel to the town square. I passed by more bodies that I had passed on the way in and didn't give them a second glance.

"Don't worry," I said aloud to the corpses, my voice echoing through the silent tunnels, "Your tribemate will avenge you."

As I reached the town square, the gemstone in my possession started to vibrate. Assuming this was what the Goddess meant by contact, I went into my pocket and grabbed the gem.

I began to feel the familiar floating sensation and the colorful lights whizzing by.

I appeared in the Goddess' realm in front of her. The floor, still an unsightly red, the horizon a brighter red, and the sky, a dark maroon. The scenery was the same when I arrived the second time.

"You have gathered your information." The Goddess announced.

A lump rose in my throat; I struggled to swallow it as I spoke, "Yes, I have."

"Good. Then I assume you have confirmed your resolve?" She asked, looking at me.

"Yes. I will do whatever it takes to avenge my Tribe." My voice cracked as I spoke, making me less convincing, but my gaze did not waver.

"Good. Then we can begin." The Goddess snapped her fingers, and the once unsightly red floor was now a clear crystal much like the bridge to her rock house.

"W-what do you mean by 'begin'?" I stuttered.

"Child, True Power Wielders are not born overnight. Once this floor is back to its original color from being stained by your blood, then you will be a True Power Wielder." The Goddess stared at me deadpan.

"My b-blood?" I stammered out.

A flare of anger shot across the Goddess's face.

My gaze faltered as I was unsure if she was serious. Before I could contemplate whether she was serious or not, an ashen hand erupted through my chest.

The Goddess removed her hand and stepped away.

I crumpled to my knees, staring at the hole she left behind as pain radiated through my body. I coughed up blood, and tears flooded out of my eyes as I looked up from the ground at the Goddess.

'I guess she did always hate repeating herself,' I thought as I groped at my chest.

"You have a sword, Child. I would expect that you use it." Her voice faded out as my vision began to darken.

'Oh my,' I thought as I started to blackout, 'how is she that beautiful even when she's killing me?'