The huntress

"I love you.

I love you, I love you, I love you.

I'm the huntress, I'm the huntress, I'm the huntress.

And you are my prey, and you are my prey, and you are my prey.

To the ends of the earth, to the ends of the earth, to the ends of the earth.

To the edge of the world, to the edge of the world, to the edge of the world.

To the end of the very reality, to the end of the very reality, to the end of the very reality.

Until you may rest, until you may rest, until you may rest.

I hunt you down, I hunt you down, I hunt you down.

Again, again, again.

And over, and over, and over.

For I love you, for I love you, for I love you.

I crave that you may experience peace, I crave that you may experience peace, I crave that you may experience peace.

Until then, until then, until then.

Wait for me, wait for me, wait for me.

I will find you, I will find you, I will find you.

For this is my mercy to you, for this is my mercy to you, for this is my mercy to you."

"The arrow, shining in green, pierced Jes' head. Death was the next step.

And when he became once more, another arrow, shining in green, pierced his head.

For the huntress who made that promise all those worlds ago, this was the only mercy she could give her love.

For Jes had once shown mercy to the parents who abused her, did the huntress wish to show him the same mercy.

Never out of malice or any of the sort.

For love.

Simply… for love."

So spoke the parent of a child who had let that child to the arms of the prey of a certain huntress.

To the huntress beside them, the parent spoke "Will you repeat the same thing again and show him mercy o child Misericordia." 

The huntress responded "As I failed once more on my duty, I shall try again. And again, and again, and again. Until one day I may succeed and give him what he gave my parents. Oh sweet mercy, oh sweet mercy, oh sweet mercy."

The parent spoke "But do you see how he is feeling now? He is surrounded by people who care for him. Is another rest period truly what that one needs?"

The huntress replied "Oh yes. He is only suffering once more. And now that that woman had appeared once more, I must fulfill my promise to him once more. My mercy, my mercy, my mercy.

The parent said "But isn't it just torture what you are putting him through with all your failures? Wouldn't it be of your best self interest to try and find a true end to his suffering instead of repeating the same thing over and over again?"

The huntress replied "It might be so, but I still have to fulfill my promise to him. I've let him be as he has asked others in that world to find a solution to the endless cycle. It has been long enough for those gods to try their hand, but they have failed to produce results. It is for the best for us to redo and wait for the next world to find the solution. Redo, redo, redo.

The parent said "If I may be so bold to say, but aren't you perchance doing this out of your own selfish reasons?"

The huntress responds "I have always done it for love. This time is no different from the rest, this time is no different from the rest, this time is no different from the rest."

The parent said "But your willingness to not wait longer shows that you have grown impatient. Perhaps, this is jealousy that is speaking through you."

The huntress says with a bashful tone "I… I merely try to fulfill my oath to the person I love! I would never get in the way of his happiness! For I love him, for I love him, for I love him!"

The parent says "Whatever you say o child Misericordia. Whatever you say."

And so the huntress descended to the world where her prey was with ease. It is difficult for many of her kin to descend to the world, but for her it was like breathing. She knew where her prey was at all times, so she headed there with post haste.

Once she was close, she thought "Might as well say hello this time." Then she turned into a beautiful elven woman with emerald green eyes, long green hair and a flat chest. She opened the door to the inn where her prey was in and saw that there were few customers there.

Two of the customers were Polemos and Dikaio. The god that tempted the person who the huntress loves.

Jes knows exactly who came in and the two gods that were chatting with him realize that she was a big deal. Other patrons try to quietly sneak away from what is about to happen.

Once there were only five people in the inn, Jes, Iloton, Polemos, Dikaio and the huntress, Dikaio asked "What do you want? What is your objective?" To which the huntress answered "To show mercy to the one I love." Dikaio asks "Mercy to the one who you… don't tell me it's Jes."

The huntress says "You are correct. And if you want to talk about pecking order, in all of existence, I have known him for the second longest time." Polemos asks without missing a beat "And who is the first?"

The huntress tries to say "Of course they were …" But Jes interrupts her by saying "It's been a while Misi'erptyk." The huntress says "You know I don't like my outer god name. Just call me Cordia like always."

Jes then says "Well Cordia, since you are here, I assume it's about that." Cordia says with a kind smile "Yes."

Jes says "I know that now that you have come to this world, you can't be persuaded easily. But know that I'm fine with how things are at the moment. You don't have to do it."

Cordia says "Yes, I know. But no matter what, I will keep my promise to you until I have seen it fully through."

Dikaio asks "What are you two talking about? Is it about the mercy you mentioned? What kind of mercy?" Cordia says "Yes, it is mercy that only those who have the power can do. It is quies mors, but you may know it as quiet death."

Then Iloton says "You think you can actually kill Jes? Iloton has to give you the bad news that you can't do that." Cordia says "But I can. Who do you think gave him the last blow on his previous life?"

Iloton then asks Jes "What is she talking about?" To which Jes says "She is telling the truth. In my rampage in my last life, I was attacked by many outer gods. But there are only two beings that can deal me with the most near death experience I can have. One is a being I won't speak of. The other is her. Misericordia. The huntress of the forgotten. The bringer of mercy. Ventum ad finem."

Polemos says "Those are some titles." Then Iloton asks "What would her tier be in this world?"

Jes thinks for a moment and then says "Her tier would be roughly 49." Everyone falls silent for a second.

Iloton says "That is stupid. Iloton's parent isn't even that high." Dikaio is counting her fingers and figuring out if what she just heard was what she thought it meant. Polemos just says "That is some high number. Remind me hubby, what is your tier?"

Jes just says "I'm not going to tell you. And don't call me hubby. But let's just say that tier 50 is enough to destroy the entire existence." Polemos just says "Wow", Dikaio says "So wait she… she can…" who passes out from the shock. Polemos catches her and starts to fan her with the fan that she had on hand for some reason.

After fanning her sister for a moment, Polemos asks "So what are you going to do hubby?" To which Jes responded "I'll play along with her. And don't call me hubby."

Iloton says "But… then who will take care of the inn?" Jes pats Iloton's head and says "You'll do just fine if you try hard enough."

Iloton says "But Iloton doesn't want to do it. Iloton wants to work with you." To which Jes says "Well then I guess my inn will fall to ruin."

Iloton says "Why aren't you fighting her on this? Why are you letting yourself be killed after what you taught Iloton?" Jes responds "It would cause problems for this world if I tried to fight her."

Iloton says "But aren't you super strong? Iloton has seen you win with just the snap of your fingers." Jes responds "While it is a shame that it has come to this, I must play along with her. I'll be gone for a little while, we'll meet again for sure one day. That I promise."

Iloton then says while shedding tears "But what about the others in this world? What about Aia?"

Jes doesn't say anything for a moment, but after a while he says with a smile "It is unfortunate that it has to end this way this time. Say goodbye to them in my stead."

Then Polemos says "You better have a secret plan with all the things you are saying. You still have responsibilities to do in this world, so don't go too far away. I still want someone who is fun to spar with."

Jes says "Sorry" and Polemos says "Then I guess I'll have to become someone who can live after the world has ended. My my, you really make it difficult for all your fans."

Then Polemos leaves the inn with Dikaio in her hands. Cordia says "I can't help but feel like the bad guy in all of this this time around." Iloton says "That's because you are."

Then Iloton releases an aura that is meant to intimidate Cordia. Cordia notices this of course and says "You really are going to fight me?"

Iloton says "If no one else here tries to stop you from ruining Jes' happiness, then Iloton has to." Cordia is taken by this and says "I'm doing this because of Jes' happiness too."

Iloton says "Doesn't look like it to Iloton. Iloton only sees regrets."

Something switched inside Cordia, so she shouted "I'm only doing this because I love him! I've never done it for no other reason! Do you want to let the person you care for the most suffer throughout their life?! I don't! And I'm trying to make things better! I'm giving him mercy!"

Iloton then asks "Is killing your love over and over again something you call mercy? It sounds like torture to Iloton's ears." Cordia shouts "You know nothing of his torture! NOTHING!"

Then Cordia punches Iloton, who then flies to the forest behind the inn. Then Cordia gets up to the skies and says "All hail." and a barrage of magic arrows flies towards the spot Iloton is at a speed that easily would pierce diamonds.

Iloton then, while in pain, shouts "Don't touch Iloton!" and starts to grow into a gigantic blob of flesh. Out of something, Iloton shoots a lot of lasers at Cordia. 

The lasers have no effect on Cordia, who then says "If you try to understand Jes' pain, you need to be more powerful than that." and then launches another, more intense barrage of arrows at Iloton.

The arrows shred Iloton's body until it becomes nothing more than a tiny blob of consciousness. She tries to escape, but the arrow stops her from running away." 

Cordia says "I know that you outer gods have a thing from shapeless monstrosities, but I never actually understood why that is."

Iloton says while out of breath "Aren't you… an outer god?" To which Cordia says "Yes, but that is the sacrifice I had to make in order to repay him. Now then…" Cordia is about to squish what remains of Iloton with her feet, but then Jes says "Stop."

Cordia stops and then Jes continues "Killing Iloton would be pointless. If anything, you'd be angering Iloinen."

Cordia scoffs at that and says "You think that that thing would actually get angry for someone? Now that would be a first." Jes says "Well, she hasn't had a child before."

Cordia thinks for a moment and then says "That's fair. Now then, back to business." Cordia materializes her bow which she didn't have need for when fighting Iloton. Then she says "For your kindness, I show you mercy." She readies her bow to a position with only the arrow missing and says "For my oath to you, I show you mercy" Then an arrow, shining in green, starts to materialize on the bow ready to be shot.

Then Cordia says "For a heavy heart, I show you mercy." and then she shoots the arrow, shining in green, on Jes' head. Iloton couldn't even muster the energy to scream as Jes' lifeless body hits the ground.

Somewhere white Jes wakes up and says "Huh, so is this how death is like for me?"

Then he hears his voice say "It is pretty much it. Wait till the next one becomes conscious and we'll have something else to look at."

Jes looks around and sees a bunch of other Jes. Jes says to the others "So why is it white here?"

One of the Jes says "This again? I swear, we have to go through this every time." Then another Jes says "Now now, don't be hard on the guy. We all wondered the same thing when we first came here. Now together with me now…" Then Jes starts to say in unison "Isn't it supposed to be black when you die?"

Then the newcomer says "So what's the answer?" To which they say in unison again "We don't know. Trust me." The newcomer says "Huh… So what is it there to do here?"

One of the Jes says "You can look at what was in your memories." The newcomer says "That's it?" To which the same Jes says "That's it. What did you expect?"

The newcomer says "Well, I expected nothing in the first place, but still."

Then there is silence for a while, until the newcomer asks "So where are we exactly?" To which one of the Jes says "We assume that we are in nothingness or in a dreamscape that was built by our power of the forgotten. This isn't the library, but something different. We do have differing opinions on the matter though. Which is surprising"

The newcomer says "It is." Other Jes start to chatter after the initial effect of new Jes coming wears off. Then the newcomer asks "So who is the oldest one here?" To which one of them says "Oh you don't want to meet them. They are… let just say, a character."

The newcomer then says "I'm still quite curious, how about…" then suddenly the newcomer notices that he is about to disappear. He asks "Is this normal?"

One of the Jes looks and says "Wait, no. This hasn't happened before. What is happening to you?" Other Jes start to gather to look at what is happening, until the newcomer disappears completely.

Jes hears someone familiar shouting "up…es… ake up… wake up… Jes, Wake up." It was Aia who was shedding tears. Jes asks "What hap…" but he is interrupted by Aia, who hugs him tightly and shouts "You idiot! Do you have any idea how much you made others worry?! You better apologize!" Jes, still confused, says "Okay, I'm sorry. But what happened. Aren't I supposed to be dead?"

Then a voice belonging to Galen says "Well I saw that someone fun was about to die, so I had a little twist made to my liking." Jes says "Why would you…" To which Galen says "I already told you. You are one of the few funny ones to hang around with, so I do. But if you have to thank someone, thank your… wife? I think." 

Jes repeats "Wife…" then realizes what he means and says "That woman really can't stop calling me that. But why is Aia here?"

Aia says "I was just wandering around, when I saw a big monster appear and level the woods. Then when it disappeared and I took a look around, in the middle of it all I saw that woman pointing an arrow at you. The next thing I know, you fall to the ground and become motionless."

Then Cordia says "There seems to be a lot of bothersome people around you this time around." To which Jes says "Why didn't you stop Galen from resurrecting me?" Cordia says "I have my reasons. But rest assured, I will let you roam around for a while longer in this world before I give you my mercy. Until then." Then Cordia disappears.

Then Polemos appears and says "Yahoo. You all alive in here? Oh my. A maiden other than myself crying in your arms, Jes you cheater."

Jes says "Don't play around and say things as if you have nothing to do with it." Polemos says "That girl hugging you. If I recall she was… Eie?" Jes corrects her by saying "Aia." Polemos says "Yes, that. I didn't expect her to be here."

Jes asks "How is Dikaio?" To which Polemos responds "Recovering, but shouldn't you be more worried about your wife's well being first and foremost hubby?" Jes says "I'm not your… nevermind. Aia, are you okay?"

Aia says while wiping her tears "Yeah, I'm semi fine. But you better explain what's going on later okay." Jes says "Okay, let's go to the inn."

Jes secretly grabs Iloton, who has been silent this whole time, and restores her power back to where it was with a few magic words. Jes also restores the forest and all the wildlife living inside it that were killed by Iloton and Cordia fighting.

When they got inside the inn, they saw Cordia drinking some ale by herself. She waved happily from her seat, to which Aia was quite annoyed and on her guard for the whole night. Jes reassured the others that Cordia wouldn't do anything fishy as long as she was happy. At least that's what Jes hoped Cordia was going for.

After the night ended and people either left to their rooms or their home, Galen went and talked to a certain someone. Galen said to the mysterious person "You sure made me go quite dry there. Weren't for your assistance, I would be all out of mana and probably dead."

The mysterious person said with a multilayered voice that sounded both male and female "It was necessary for this occasion. We spare what little mana we can at the current moment to make sure that our wishes will be granted."

Galen says "You better hold your end of the deal then." To which the mysterious person said "Of course. When the time is right, we will use my power to make you an outer god. Bear in mind though, if you die before the time is right, we won't be going through the hassle of making a corpse an outer god."

Galen says "Who do you think you are talking to? I'm Galen the unkillable. The eaten child of the forgotten god. Wait, don't tell me that you see me dying in the future." The person says "Who knows. There are plenty of beings that can end someone who thinks themselves as unkillable. Well, except for X."

Galen says "So you say. X huh. What a funny name." The person says "It is supposed to represent that he is the second being in existence. Hence two lines crossed." Galen asks "But why not just call him II or The Second?" 

There is silence and Galen realizes he is no longer talking to anybody. So he says "This is the life we live, so why not try to enjoy it. Now then, better return before the bossman upstairs gets their panties in a twist."