2. What now?

Garuda laying on the rough soil waited and waited until the corpses rained from the sky. At least, in this life, they all died quite the painless death, unlike the last time and he was grateful for that. He slowly crawled toward the corpse of his children. He couldn't even express if he was really sad or if his brain is signaling to him that he is obliged to be sad. So, he should act like he is.

"This is it huh?"

He questioned looking at the dark sky.

The earthlings began running out of the area riding their horses in fear.

Boom!

The loathed expelled a wave of energy.

Garuda was never able to show emotion rather he was cursed since his birth as such he didn't know what was burdening him. Maybe this is what sorrow feels like? He didn't know rather he didn't want to know.

He always had control over it or his emotions weren't humane enough. Some may think of it as a gift but for Garuda, it was a heavy burden, or he'd call it a scourge.

He was not able to cry or get angry. He wasn't able to even able recall any particular moment when he felt happy. Yet he still couldn't point out why he wanted to save the village Mayhap an obligation to do so. Only he knows.

If he needed to reason out his action. He might say that he felt more peaceful during that time. He lived there and his heart weighed lighter back then. However, he had already lost it.

'Is this sorrow?' Garuda asked himself.

He couldn't recognize what he felt, all he felt was a hollow in his heart as though he fell from a cliff he was hanging onto until now.

[The celestial Nefarious with twisted kindness, looks at you with concern]

Garuda's eyebrows shot up and he began speaking as though nothing has happened. "Nefarious... Do you know where the souls of ones accepted by the Loathed go to?"

[The celestial Nefarious with twisted kindness is slightly annoyed by how casually you are talking and asks are you really a human?]

" " Garuda didn't reply.

[The celestial Nefarious with twisted kindness says he is sorry for your loss. And says he welcomes you to the present - Past.]

"So you can see through the past ?"

[The celestial Nefarious with twisted kindness nods his head and says that he couldn't understand the intent of the Loathed. And explains that the Loathed is twisted as the bearer.]

"I see..."

The Loathed is an item that is alive and reflects the holder's personality. It could have just sent him to the past but it yearned for a greater sacrifice and needed to be satiated to close the warp in time. And he had fed it more than enough souls to satiate it.

One fact has clearly engraved in his heart. And the fact is that the loathed is an evil entity that one cannot truly understand its intent and a true reflection of his suppressed nature.

In the first place, he had merely regressed. The deaths he tried to stop have occurred once again even if it did not devour the souls the Players from earth would've simply pillaged his village.

He had simply regressed to the time when he was powerless nothing has changed.

[The compatriot is reacting to your awakened soul]

[Would you like to download information?]

Suddenly a window popped up before him. Garuda didn't waste any time and said, "Yes"

This was the power he was needing during his past life.

[Due to the weight of your transcended soul you are receiving additional benefits]

[You acquired the skill Regressor's insight]

[Innate skill Absolute coldness has been manifested]

[Nature: Immovable heart]

[Past experiences of your soul are recollecting all the skills in your memory]

A wave of shock permeated his body as a whirl of dark winds surrounded him mixed with the dead's residue.

[Due to the absorption of the Sublime vessels that have acquired self-healing properties]

[Awakening completed]

[Error: Corrupted data has been added]

[The celestial Nefarious with twisted kindness asks What now?]

"Grow in power"

[The celestial Nefarious with twisted kindness is rubbing his hands in excitement]

Garuda was highly logical. In this world, he didn't have a place to call his own, More so, he didn't find interest in such things after losing those he wanted to save and he cannot bring them back again.

Even if he were to regress, the Loathed will take him back to this same time.

When he scanned through his surroundings he couldn't find the loathed. He was always in the dark when it came down to this mythical tool and it had now given a small payment for the sacrifice.

It was said that in earlier ages Wars constantly broke out between countries to obtain this damned item. After two hundred years of war, a strange man that appeared out of nowhere saved the world from the loathed box and sealed it. Or so the story goes.

There were many evil entities meddling with the living and the living were constantly in threat. The cycle of birth and death spun very fastly in the Lands of Abhorrenta. The world of Evil or so the earthlings call it.

But the natives call this world Fantasore, a world that clings on to hope. The hope of survival and peace. It is a land that fantasizes about peace that had never prevailed.

Garuda is just a tiny fragment among countless people filled with hope. However evil he was, he was also an enjoyer of peace.

"So the cycle continues?"

An old man passing by the village said looking down at Garuda with a smile.

Those words struck Garuda like a hammer beating on a hot metal. Did he know he regressed and mocked him for suffering the same ironic ending? Or did he just phrase his entire life in a single sentence?

"It seems like the world wants you to live." He uttered and grabbed Garuda's arm and helped him to raise from the ground.

The sun scorched the land and the environment around them was a mess all the huts and houses were burnt down and a few corpses were lying beheaded, some burnt and the survived were all decayed and used as a sacrifice to the loathed box.

"Sagithan... Why are you still helping? Did you not hate me?" Garuda asked genuinely curious about the old man's actions.

"Who said I don't? I am simply doing what I need to do." The old man replied and looked at Garuda's crimson red pupils and continued.

"I believe we are all born in this world for some reason... You have always faced misfortune yet, you survived." He shrugged.

"But..."

Before Garuda could intrude the old man continued.

"Mayhap you are destined for something? Until you achieve it you cannot die. Everyone has some hope or dreams and your children who died alongside the villagers might have some of their own. Maybe you do have a dream and that could be your destiny?" The old man explained with a smile.

[The celestial Nefarious with twisted kindness nods his head in agreement]

Garuda in his past life pursued kidnappers that took two children of his after pillaging his village. The empire gave the earthlings a quest to do so. He wasn't able to rescue them. When he remembered those kids' faces he naturally remembered their words.

{Father we want to become the strongest spearsmen of this world.}

He vividly remembered those words that were expelled out of their mouth as they looked at him with their shining eyes.

Garuda never dreamed of a happy life. He didn't yearn for his parents as he grew up alone facing hatred. He never wanted anything and lived a simple life.