Chapter 3: I cannot save you, only stop what you have become
{ Clashing of Hope and Despair, until one falls }
For his compannions the sight of the hero standing up once more and going into battle, despite all that had been revealed, gave them strength to one by one stand up as well; to break through the despair they had felt moments ago and re-affirming their reasons for fighting, they joined their compannion to battle a God.
The odds of the battle were heavily against them, yet they did not falter.
Despite The Nameless possessing power beyond any mortal limit, they did not fear.
The pressure that had taxed their spirits, lost its grip on them.
As one of them fell, exhausted from injuries or otherwise, those that remained fought twice as hard.
Slowly, little by little, against all odds the injuries on The Nameless were increasing.
He was weakening, yet would not falter either; for his will, forged from centuries of strife would not let him.
In the end, only the Hero and The Nameless were still standing, all others having used any and all strength they had, unable to stand up anymore.
Both injured more than one could describe, the only thing keeping them standing was their sheer willpower.
"None of this will change what is to come; you are nothing but a fleeting pile of ash before the storm of fate!
I carry the full weight of despair from 6 life times you cannot begin to imagine, and nothing will stop me from acting on what must be done for the world i will create!
That is my purpose, my mission as a God!
And yet you stand in my way, one who is naught but a mere mortal traitor, for what?! For a world of nothing but strife and suffering?!"
Nameless roared in pain and exhaustion induced fury, unwilling to accept that he had been pushed this far by mortals like this.
The Hero, in just as much pain and exhaustion replied with a resolved tone:
"... That may be, yet any new world created by such means, even by a God like you; will never bring nothing but despair to all who live in it!
I am a mortal, and i will stop you no matter what it takes for that is my mission as one!"
With that they both gathered every last inch of strength they had left; all of their experience, feelings and will that had kept them standing and focusing it all onto this one last move.
To all those witnessing it, only words that could describe it all would be that the two of them had become living avatars of despair and hope.
And then they moved to attack one another, both stepping onto that thin line between life and death to settle it all.
{ The end had come, and only one would triumph. }
As their last attacks hit one another, both remembered that time The Namelss had made his one and only request to his friend.
And at that instant, without even needing words, something was conveyd that only the two of them would ever know.
An instant to the world, but for them an escape from time.
"Hope will not save this world, its people will always let you down. For despair is inevitable."
Conveyed The Nameless.
"As long as there is even one who gives not on hope, this world is worth protecting. For hope enables us to overcome despair."
The Hero conveyed back.
And then time moved for them once again, their last clash reaching its breaking point.
Collision of all their beings, pushed past their final limits.
'So, this is your answer...'
Were The Nameless thoughts as he fell onto his knees, the heros attack overcoming his, leaving him with no more strength or will to stand up again.
He had lost.
His plans... foiled.
His mission... failed.
His purpose... shattered.
His despair... immeasurable.
┈ ┈ ┈ ⋞ 〈 ⏣ 〉 ⋟ ┈ ┈ ┈
As the heros compannions realised what had happened, the Nameless noticed the joy beginning to form on their faces at his defeat, his former friend standing over him... and realising that all his centuries of endless suffering and struggling, had all been for nothing; all his frustration, pain, despair. all the hatred and rage, it all boiled over and he could no longer hold it in;
"This is a farce! I am a God, an existence that has far surpassed your feeble limits!
You foul, hideous beings deserve your extinction!
After killing each other and causing untold amount of suffering, you are on your knees before God begging to be fulfilled with happiness again, always promising not to repeat your mistakes...
But it takes you no more than 50 years to forget what made you feel fulfilled!
So you begin craving to feel even more of it and not even when you kill, rape, massacre and wage war upon war to steal it from each other you are never satisfied, repeating the same mistakes again and again, from one generation to the next!!
Defiled history!
Hideous mortals!
Disgraced world!
It all must be brought to an end! Only then can a new world of happiness be born!
And i will make it happen, even if i must kill fate itself!!"
His words, despite being defeated sent chills to the core of all present; the sheer despair they carried was beyond what they could describe, the hatred born of hurt and suffering so deep it defied comprehension...
They wanted to say something, anything to prove he was wrong, but what could they say to him? What could they who had lived not even a fraction of what he had lived through, possibly say to him?
Yet one among them, the brave soul whom the Hero had met, walked up to him and knelt before his defeated form, for to this person his words though hitting deep and painfully, felt as if there was something hiding behind them... like the words were meant to not only keep others from realising it, or maybe, to go as far as keeping himself from seeing it.
"Nameless..."
This person began, knowing not if this was the correct thing to ask, and even if it was it would hurt him more than all the time jumps could ever have.
But it needed to be voiced.
For who else would dare to ask such a... human question from a God?
"... who was it, that you lost?"
Those words, before he could think of anything else, cut past all the centuries of memories, all the despair, all the failures... to the one single memory, he had made himself forget.
The howling of agony, the pain of having his mind overflow with memories of ages past, feelings he had long since killed inside him violently coming back to life, was something all the poets of the world could not describe.
And at the core of it all, the image of one person, whom he had lost in a place where it all began.... and those last words, that haunted him forever on;
┏━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┓
"You cannot save everyone..."
At the end of the howling of agony, there was silence that weighed more than his words from moment ago.
Only one last word from that person echoed throughout his entire soul...
".... Father."
┗━━━━━━༻❁༺━━━━━━┛
┈ ┈ ┈ ⋞ 〈 ⏣ 〉 ⋟ ┈ ┈ ┈