Metaphor of the wolf

What... the hell?

Will of Ethania (???)

Looking down at the small, white bead in his palm, Kai can't help but swallow.

What does question marks as the rarity mean? Mythical? Did I just get a mythical item?

Slowly, yet nervously, moving his eyes downward to the description. Once his gaze starts to read the words before him, his heart rate can't help but pick up.

An unknown God appeared to Princess Ethania in a dream one night, offering her a way out of her dilemna. Princess Ethania accepted the God's offer and the God took away all of the princess's memories, storing them in this bead. This bead has no known use.

Kai stared at the description blankly, then blinked, then inwardly cursed.

What do you mean no use? Its a mythical item! How can a mythical item have no use? Wait... maybe question marks mean less then common... Damn it.

Closing the description and his status, Kai can't help but feel depressed. Getting a Miracle bead, which he has no idea what it does, and a bead containing a late princess's memories.

How useless... Wait... Didn't Failure say it was Ethania's will to protect the animals that manifested the trees... But if she had no memories, how could she have a will? I mean, this item is litteraly called Will of Ethania. Did he lie to me?

Getting up off the ground, Kai can't help but feel a little suspicious. If Failure lied to him about Ethania's tree, what else has he lied about?

What the hell is even going on anymore? I don't know what to think. I just want this all to be over soon. I want a break.

The excitement, the anticipation, every emotion Kai felt when he first unlocked his status screen is now dull. Everything is hard, everything is scary. He can't do anything himself, it's always he either loses his mind when using his innate ability or that someone else saves him. This world is just too big for someone like him, anything and anyone can kill him way too easily. It's...

Scary...

Trudging back to the centre of the Dome, Kai can't help but wonder what to do next. He's finished reading the diary, he doesn't want to speak to Failure due to the doubt starting to appear in his mind, Aldred's out looking for the spy, Sofia and John are probably practicing with their new items and Noelle...

Who knows what goes on in her head?

A yawn escapes Kai's mouth as he makes it to the centre area. An idea, which is probably the smartest he's ever had in this whole damn place hits his mind, so he does it.

He curls up under a tree and falls asleep while cursing the world.

*****

Two days passed since their mini Christmas party, and Kai still feels upset. The feeling of finding out you've been lied to is not a nice one, even if the lie is only a small one. It makes you doubt, and doubting makes makes you angry, which in turn makes you lonely.

Kai spent those two days slouching under that same tree he fell asleep under. No one came to check on him, which was fine with him, they probably didn't care about him anyway.

Once again, Kai tried to fall asleep under the dark shade of the tree after a hard day of doing absolutely nothing. His thought were empty and nothing mattered anymore. As long as he survives he'll make it through the tutorial. Why should he have to put his life on the line when he can just relax in the background while watching the world burn?

Just as he was about to fall asleep, Kai feels a large shadow fall over him. Inwardly grumbling, he opens his eyes and spots a large, gray wolf looking down at him.

"What are you doing, Catalyst?"

Aldred asks, his voice still gruff enough to tickle that part of your brain in the back of your head.

"Sleeping." Kai mumbles as he closes his eyes again, ignoring the shadow cast over him.

"You've been sleeping the last two days, why?"

Just leave me alone...

"Because I want to, I'm tired."

Aldred stays silent for a few moments before letting out a small woof and sitting down on the ground beside Kai.

"I know you lie, Catalyst, I can smell it. Doubt, anger, distrust, I can smell every emotion you're feeling. So tell me, Catalyst, what is it that makes you feel every dark emotion?"

Just leave me alone... please.

"It doesn't matter, okay? I just do, stuff happens and it goes away eventually, just like people."

Aldred let's out a low growl to show he's listening. He gazes towards Failure's cabin and speaks again.

"You might see it that way, Catalyst, but others may not... Would you listen to a story? Don't worry, I assure you it's a short one."

Sitting up off the ground and leaning back against the tree, Kai pulls his knees into his chest and sighs.

"Sure... go ahead."

A hum eminates from Aldred's throat as he warms up, and under the basking light of the artificial sun, the wolf begins telling the story.

"Long ago, there was a child. No talents, no family, no home. The child was an orphan. The child had to fight just to survive, and fight it did.

One day, just after the child just finished fighting someone else for some scraps of food, a charming looking man approached them. Regal attire, confident stance and a heart-warming smile. For the first time in that child's existence, it felt scared.

It didn't feel scared fighting others or running away from the bigger and scarier people, no, the child felt scared because of the look in that man's eyes. No hatred, no disgust, no look of pure abhorance the child was used to seeing, no, the look in their eyes was...

Empathy."

Kai frowns slightly as he listens.

Where is he going with this.

"The man took in the child, fed it, trained it, treated it like their own blood, but the child still didn't trust the man. The child was too used to seeing someone's bad side, so it assumed if this person did so much good, it must have a dark side even more terrible than any gang leader or kidnapper they had met on the streets.

But as time went on, the gentleman did not reveal no darkside, or ever treat the child wrong in fact, everything that went wrong was the child's fault. One day, the child found out the man told a small lie, but it broke the child's heart. The child got angry, upset and eventually ran away.

Because the child ran away, it got lost, it ended up like it was in the beginning...

Alone.

The child was then forced to fight again, so fight it did. And like that, a hundred years passed. Once the horrible fight was over, the child found their way back to the man who took them in and apologised. The man forgave them instantly and took them back.

But the damage was done, the child was scared of being alone again so it vowed to stay with the man forever, or, at least until the end came."

Aldred's eyes narrow as he finishes the story, his posture seems to droop slightly as he looks towards Kai.

"What did you think? Failure always was a better story tell than me."

Oh... that story was about...

"It was good." Kai smiles softly up at the wolf, his mood improving slightly. Sadly, it was only a slight improvement... and Aldred can tell.

The gray wolf let's out a sigh and stands back up. His posture, which was slumped, now radiating strength and confidence.

"That was only a story after all, its up to you to make your own choices... Just make sure you don't regret them in the end."

With everything he wanted to say said, Aldred goes to walk away, but freezes. His eyes grow wide as he sniffs, then sniffs again. Aldred let's out a low growl before saying.

"A scent, I got them."

Before Kai can even say anything, the form of the monstrous wolf is gone. Aldred was gone so fast Kai would have thought it was teleportation if not for the gust of wind threatening to knock him over.

What the-

His thought was cut short by the first explosion.

...

Explosion?

Nearly breaking his neck with the speed he turns his head, Kai spots a plume of smoke rising in the distance, near the entrance of tunnel.

Scrambling, Kai pushes himself of the ground and breaks into a sprint towards the the rising cloud of ash. As he gets closer and closer, Kai spots various moon beasts crowding around. Squeezing himself through the wide range of different sized bodies, Kai spots what's causing the explosion.

What emerges from the cave is small abominations of the crescent moon, each with something weird attached to their hideous body. A device that sort of looked like a satchel but was made out of a material Kai had never seen before. Any moon beast who got too close to the abominations were caught up in the explosions, their charred carcasses flung through the air in the aftermath.

Bloody suicide bombers.

As more and more abominations emerge from the dark hole that leads to the forest, the way they move changes. The abominations start to form a inward semi-circle, as if taking a defensive stance.

No more explosions go off, the reason being that all the abominations in the semi-circle are quater moon ones. A few tense moments of silence pass, Kai can hear his own heart beating as a shadow starts to emerge from the cave entrance, a lone figure emerging from the darkness, that figure being-

"Welcome, my guest, may I ask what brings you here so noisily?"

Another figure appears in front of the one who emerged from the cave, only this knew figure is one that Kai is hap- moderately pleased to see.

"Well, answer me my good fellow."

Failure crosses his arms as he gazes into the tunnel. While his stance looks calm, his expression is anything but. The charismatic man's hair is disheveled and his clothes are messy, covered in wood chippings and a weird blue liquid.

The figure finally emerges from the shadows, a silver sword in their right hand and a set of intimidating, black armour. The shadowy figure stops walking forward and grins at a certain someone on the opposite side of the crowd to Kai.

"My boss asked me to be a messenger, so I thought I could at least have a flashy entrance, and I have to say, it worked out pretty well."

Rashik swings his sword in a circle as he grins at Noelle as she looks back wide-eyed. He then turns back towards Failure and asks:

"Well then, wanna hear the message my boss sends?"

Failure's eyes narrow.

"Go on."

Rashik claps his hand and a small abomination scurries over, clambering up his armoured body. Once on his shoulder, the abominations body shudders and a pale piece of parchment is pushed out of its horrid form.

"This was my idea, I thought it was cool."

Rashik clears his throat and unrolls the parchment, the paper having some stains Kai can't make out.

"One week from now, the wolf and I shall engage in mortal combat for the rights to this forest. While the wolf and I battle, my minions have my full permission to attack any and all bastards of the moon. If this message fails to reach you, I shall attack your home anyway. The setting of this battle will be the Mother Tree. You have one week, best to prepare."

Rashik crumples up the parchment and throws it to the side, taking his lustrous sword back out from its scabbard.

"I personally wanted to add more flare to it, but the boss wouldn't have it. Still, as long as I get more of this gear who am I to care? I look forward to seeing this, and Noelle...

See you soon."

Failure's face paled, as if sensing something. His eyes widen as he quickly extends his arm, spike of wood forming in the air and launching itself towards Rashik.

A shit eating grin etches itself onto Rashik's face as he dissolves into the shadows. Failure opens his mouth to shout something, but it's too late.

All the abominations jump forward, a mass of irritating noises escaping from their gruesome bodies. A large shadow lands itself right in front of Kai as the abominations blow.

Then, the whole sky turned red.