Chapter 47: The rune with overbearing flaw

Tranquility, it means calmness to me, still like the lake that has surging undercurrents suppressed by its topmost layer, slowly eroding everything in its depths as the time goes by. I wanted this rune to help me suppress the negativity, eroding it in the process while calming my mind.

This little change from just calming my mind to suppressing my negative thoughts was something I had to add to the rune because it was a useful effect for suppressing the influence of other runes if they also influenced me on the basis of my negative emotions.

As I determined the effect this rune would grant me with, I started infusing my soul with the will, starting to etch the symbol of tranquility, the 'simple lotus flower' into the soul that had stopped transforming.

woosh….

As the quill made up entirely of my soul started inscribing the runic symbol, the gaseous entity, my soul started to evaporate into nothingness creating the outline of the rune in the process. This process was an enigmatic wonder as the gaseous soul didn't displace the evaporated energy, it left the outline intact without trying to flow towards the now vacuumed space. 

" It was painful." 

As I slowly inscribed the symbol, every portion of the soul that evaporated made me feel like I had lost some part of my memories, the inkling of my personality, The determinant of who I was. It was as if the rune wanted to take my personality from me, my identity as a human, and transform me into something inhuman with a deformed soul and identity.

"That was the flaw of the rune I was creating." It eroded my memories, they could be both happy or painful. And the ones I was forgetting belonged to the faces of the lovely couple who had sheltered me, given me the love and care when the whole town was after me. Their death and their smiling face were something I never wanted to forget, but the cost of the rune I was engraving was way higher than of any runes I had ever inscribed onto my being.

I wanted to erode the negative memories but I couldn't as the cost of this rune that suppressed my negative emotions was the erosion of the happiest memories I had ever formed in my life.

I wanted to stop the inscription process, wanted to cherish these memories but I couldn't as I was at the stage where even a single mistake would leave me crippled, forcing me to live as a cripple without power in the future.

"How was I going to live a life as per their Dream?"

[Warning!! The host is required to calm himself.]

Even my legacy was reminding me about the process, the phase I was stuck in. I had etched almost half of the runic symbol, forgetting the faces of the couple in the process. The warmth they had given to me was still in my soul, it was slowly dissipating as the symbol was coming to the fruition.

I wanted to cry, scream in pain, and destroy every painful memory from my soul, leaving the warm faces of couples in their place. 

" Town of Lumia" 

This name surfaced in my mind as I groaned in pain, I wanted to destroy that town…. Destroy everything that the town held dear. The lord of that town— the monster in the human's husk, I wanted to destroy him, feeding his corpse to the monsters that roamed in the wilderness.

[ Taking control over the inscription process. The fluctuation of the host's emotions is creating problems in the process. Utilizing the self-inscription protocol.]

[ Host will be sent to the state of comatose, calming the soul and forwarding the inscription process]

[ 5…4…3…2…1…]

[ Host will wake up after the inscription process is completed.]

The legacy was forced to step up, helping me to etch the symbol as my emotions weren't under my control. They were spilling, filled with brutal thoughts that I so dearly wanted to suppress with the help of the 'Rune of Tranquility' I was trying to inscribe today.

—————————————

" Haha…. Child, Don't you worry about anything in this world?"It was the melodious voice of an old woman consoling me, trying to make me stop weeping.

" You are a brave little guy, aren't you?" A slightly hoarse voice filled with warmth spoke to me, helping me stand up.

I looked at the two old smiling faces, their facial features were shrouded with a swirling mass of mist as if trying to block my view. I tried to piece together their faces from my memory, but I couldn't. 

" Are you trying to battle against the whole world, My child?" 

" Haha… Didn't I tell you he is a brave boy? He will definitely become the supreme ruler of the world one day." The old man caressed me while speaking to the lady.

The two people who were trying to make me stop crying and smile were the old couple that had been killed by the authorities for saving me. 

I didn't speak nor did I give my hand to the old man to help me stand up. I was lost in the thought, looking at their silhouettes getting blurry and more ethereal as the time passed by. They were trying to help me but they couldn't as their hands would pass through my body as if they were my imagination, just like the world I had seen before awakening as a warrior.

" Brat, I know you are brave. So, Don't shed any tears if we were to leave this world someday. Live your life to the fullest running after your dreams. Do not think about us old people. Just live the life, and enjoy the pain inflicted upon you as this pain will be the reason for your happiness in the future."

" Haha… Do as the old man said. We will always be with you, forever in your heart." the old lady pointed toward my heart which had nearly stopped breathing before gradually disappearing from my dream.

" Be sure to live your life to your liking, my child." As their last message echoed in my mind, they totally vanished as if they didn't exist in the first place. My mind became hazy, forgetting about the lovely couple that had been my greatest encouragement when I was a child.

————————————-

[ Runic symbol has been completed] 

[ Host can now imbue the meaning of the rune in the symbol]

These two notifications from the legacy reflected before my eyes as I tried to remember the 'dream' I had just seen. The dream felt very important to me as if it held something dearest to me but I could not remember it at all.

" No matter how many times I tried." I couldn't remember anything, but the pain I was feeling, the stinging sensation in my heart reminded the loss of something important in my life today.

Fwoosh….

"Town of Lumia"

Just thinking about that town made my blood boil. It felt like the reason I lost something today was related to that town. The anger I had towards that town had been multiplied by several times right now.

I was ready to do anything just to see that town get destroyed, the lord of that town get massacred after getting inhumanly tortured. His skin flailed, the bones on his body smashed into powder, reminiscent of the grain of sand that freely floats in the desert. His body deformed into something that even the ferocious monsters would look in disgust and dread. That was what I wanted to happen to the inhuman lord of that town.

I dearly wanted the town to get razed by the monsters that broke free from the dungeon previously. I wanted to reel in the sensation of the cries of pain of those powerful people who didn't care about others, and destroyed the lives of several innocent people for their mere amusement. 

[ Host is having a hard time controlling emotions.]

[ It is recommended for the host to control his emotions and deal with the rune before even more memories get erased from the soul]

" I want to destroy those painful memories." I couldn't help but retort at the timely notification from the legacy. It was trying to help me calm my mind, but the effect was negative as I was getting even more irritated as the time passed by.

[ The host will die if everything about yourself is erased from the soul]

"Isn't my soul protected by the legacy??" 

[ Affirmative. But the erosion of the memories is the manifestation of the flaw of the rune host is trying to inscribe into his soul.]

" But I haven't even imbued the meaning for the rune to be complete and have its flaw manifested." It was logical as I hadn't completed the rune till now for the flaw to manifest itself.

[…]

Even the legacy didn't have any information about the current predicament making me restless. Any irritation I had on me got destroyed as my mind thought of the possible reasons.

" And believe me. Every reason my mind came up with was dreadful enough to shake me."