[171] Shards of the Past (IV)

[3740 words]

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[Polemos Island, Year of 1465]

A sad day graced the burnt-down island.

The fossilized fog that once protected the island had been left with a giant ravine, opening a path straight to the island.

Spandune's trace had brought him applause from even the Celestial Dragons, especially since Mors was targeting them. The price of a hundred million berries per Warborn had long been issued, too. 

Now, the last lights of the Zenora were four years old, but their living conditions left much to be desired.

"Asura, you pathetic child! Get up!" The sharp voice echoed through the remaining patch of forest that was used as a training ground. The forest was still quite big, filled with wildlife that would love to feast on human bones. 

Kali's venomous voice stung the air, his perpetually red marking still hissing. He glared at the dark-haired boy who crashed into a puddle of mud.

"Tch, I really can't forgive your mother for giving birth to such a failure!" Kali cursed, shaking his head.

Dismay flashed through the young lad's mind. Even with his face smashed into muddy water infested with larvae, he couldn't stop the nefarious voice of his guardian echoing in his mind. But it was then a young and firm voice called out to him: "Asura, here, take my hand!"

The tearful child looked up, snivelling, and saw his brother's hand reach out to him—he immediately took it. 

Soon, he stood eye-to-eye with his mirror image, his identical twin, Indra.

The helpful brother shook his head as he saw Asura stumble forward from a twisted ankle and crash once again with a thud.

.

"Useless pile of flesh," Kali gnashed his teeth with fury leaking from his pores. "You have more use growing back the burned forest with your corpse than wasting our food!!!" The wrinkly and lanky Elder spat at the fallen child, only to be stopped by Indra, who shielded his brother by standing between them.

"..."

Kali glared at the two.

Indra, the older one by three minutes, was confident, determined, and steadfast in his actions. Asura, the younger one, was timid, quiet, and indecisive in everything he did.

Indra was incredibly talented with the blade, while Asura seemed anything but, or at the very least, too hesitant to show otherwise.

The deranged Elder clicked his tongue, choosing to forget Asura's uselessness in light of Indra, the child he believed could fulfill the true purpose of the Zenora. Initially, he wanted to mould both into his weapons of mass destruction, but now, it seemed he had to make do with one.

'The glory of the Zenora will grace the seas. We will join you soon, Lord Mors!' Kali roared inwardly, his deep-seated hatred reflecting in his blood-red skin and burning eyes.

…

[Polemos Island, Year of 1475]

Another decade passed, taking the twins to their fourteenth birthday. Their childhood was filled with nothing but gloom. While the few other Zenora were busy taking down the bounty hunters through the years, the lads were forced to bear Kali's increasing impatience.

"Again!"

Clang!

"Again!"

Clang!

"Again!"

Clang!

"Again!"

"..."

Kali's boiling-red eyes glared to the side and saw a kneeling young teenager. The man gritted his teeth in anger. "Asura, you pathetic, insufferable, useless spawn!" he hissed.

Clang!

Nearby, an identical young man was cutting down a tree by the slash of his own palm. Such a sight brought some sanity back to the wrinkly old man's face.

"You leave me no choice… Line up, you two!"

*Whizz* Indra appeared in salute, his entire body emanating discipline as he stood straight like an arrow. 

On the other hand, Asura slowly crawled through mud and muck, clawing to his position. Although it looked depressing, the child's ability to get back up was admirable; however, Kali found it annoying. He'd much rather Asura fall dead right now, but it never happened. Outright killing him was also problematic as it could break Indra.

"You're training doubles tomorrow on," Kali said right before turning around and departing through the pouring woods, his seething body and the clacking of Konton to his waist ringing alongside him. 

"…"

The two brothers looked at one another with a grim expression. 

Asura had to bear the brunt of Kali's anger for tens of years and had a strong spirit, but his confidence was at rock bottom. While he loved his brother, he also couldn't help but envy his talents.

Indra shook his head, seeing his baby brother staring at the floor while mud covered his dark skin. 

"Come on, stop looking so defeated. We'll get through this together, like always!" 

"..."

Indra saw no response, leaving him to sigh. Then, a lightbulb lit up in his mind: "Here, look at this! I found this weird fruit the other day," he said, waving around a grey fruit to entice his brother's curiosity.

Asura slowly looked up, narrowing at the swirly fruit. "I-It looks rotten." He also noticed a bite missing: "Did you taste it?"

Indra sheepishly laughed, scratching his long, dark hair. "Hehe, well, I'll just say that the taste was three thousand times worse than rotten!"

…

[Polemos Island, Year of 1481]

Two young men kneeled in front of an older one. 

Kali, who had gotten old through the constant activation of his Figures, had been reduced to skin and bones. Yet the devil's eyes were still visible, peering at the two in front of him enthusiastically, although mainly aimed at one of them.

"Ka-Ka-Ka! Almost done… The purpose of our people is almost fulfilled!" the old man laughed to himself. 

"Shiv, is it ready?"

The question was directed to another nearby man covered in blood-red markings. 

Shiv gave a tired nod.

"Go."

The other man left to do Kali's bidding. 

"As for the two of you," the Elder began, earning the attention of the two young men. "I've ingrained our people's true ideals into your minds these past twenty years. I expect you know that nothing but enemies lie beyond our island."

He gazed at the kneeling twins. Kali's eyes turned a menacing dark red as he then spat, "Your final task awaits you in the Forest of Death. Don't return till there's only one of you left."

"The one who survives will become the most destructive weapon of our people!"

Kali's declaration brought a cloud of apprehension to the young men.

Both had been hellishly trained over the past years, sharpening their minds and bodies into weapons. But now, they were given an order to return until one remained.

"…Asura, let's go," the older one spoke out, standing tall. The two looked at one another, identical in visage but distinctly different in terms of demeanour and expression.

Indra stepped toward the forest plagued with wildlife and carnivorous plants, his eyes unshaken. Asura trailed behind with uncertain steps.

…

Dealing with the natural predators within the forest was easy for the twin swordsmen. They cleaved them apart like butter, as they had done for years.

"!!!" Indra suddenly paused in his steps, glaring to the side.

His instincts built over the past decades were blaring like an alarm. He felt a presence from the far left, then another in the far right, one in front, a few behind. Soon enough, they were surrounded by dozens of enemies.

"Je-Je-Je-Je! When those monsters said they would let us leave after killing two others, I was scared… Now I see that those two are just brats, great!"

"Shalalalala! I can finally go back home after ten long years!"

"Let's kill 'em quick!"

*Whizz* Like a rocket, one hunter shot ahead, slashing his scimitar like a wild beast, aiming at Asura.

Clang!

Habitually, the younger brother raised his sword and blocked the attack. *Grrrrrr!* The metals began grinding against the sword, slowly overpowering the lad.

"Ew-Ew-Ew-Ew! You can barely even move that blade, boy!"

Asura gnashed his teeth as his boots sunk into the muddy soil. Sweat ran down his face while he pushed back with every ounce of strength. With a bang, the enemy was thrown back, crashing onto a tree that dropped him to the floor.

*Shing!* A blade was soon put at the hunter's throat, bringing the fear of death into his eyes. 

He met the young face of Asura, begging, "H-Hey, kid… I have a seventy-year-old mother and a two-year-old son back home. I just wanna go back!"

The heartfelt plea echoed in Asura's ears as he gulped in indecision. He knew deep down that the hunter was talking nonsense, but the thought of taking away life made him hesitate again and again.

"Die!"

The fallen hunter shot up, took out a dagger from his sleeve and dug it toward Asura's throat. The young Warborn couldn't react in time, forced to watch the dagger near his carotid.

Clang!

A sword suddenly appeared, blocking the dagger. Then came a slice of the air and a fountain of blood exploding onto the frozen Asura.

"You can't hesitate, Brother," a calm voice came from the side. "These insects will only behave in death."

Asura, whose body was dripping with blood, began breathing erratically at the sight of the fallen corpse. He gazed at the composed Indra, who had already killed a dozen hunters.

'I-I'm useless… He's always been so much better than me… Maybe it's best for me to die so he can get out?'

Indra ignored his baby brother's lost gaze and wiped Asura's face from the blood with a rag. "Here comes another wave. There's too many of them for me alone."

Asura picked up his brother's plea and nodded, straightening his blade. Fifty enemies soon swarmed in from all sides, moving like rabid dogs.

Clang!

Indra easily blocked five swords with his own, parrying them back. With a burst of power, he pushed them back, forcing them to stagger but also line up…

*Swish!*

With a single spin of the blade, five heads fell to the ground, blood spurting along Indra's boots.

.

Asura forced himself to calm down and began blocking and dodging attacks. His first few cuts were shallow, eliciting angry growls.

Though soon enough… A spurt of blood shot out from a man's throat as he fell to the ground, glaring at his attacker. The cold embrace of death brought great anger and despair to his eyes as he clawed at his wound, hoping to slow the bleeding.

Asura watched the man slowly die, his life draining away.

Clang!

Bam! 

Bang!

…

"Haaaah, huuuuh, haaah!" Bated breathing echoed through the forest as the two brothers cut down their enemies.

"Good work, Asura." Indra patted his brother's shoulder, leaking a smile. Suddenly, his eyes sharpened, and he felt another threat.

A black shadow rocketed from the shade of a tree, roaring toward Asura. Indra narrowed his eyes, stabbing at the coming enemy.

Yet surprisingly enough, the man made no attempt to dodge, taking the attack to his chest and spreading his arms to bearbug the young man. "Zahehehehe! Y-You'll die with me, kid!"

"Look out!" Asura yelled, seeing an archer in the trees.

*Zip* The arrow shot through the sky, zooming into the hunter's back and nailing it at the center. The projectile continued its advent, cutting right through his back and tearing into Indra's lungs.

"Guhh!"

Asura's heartbeat spiked at the sight of his brother collapsing with the dead hunter. Unknown strength surged through his veins as he held his blade like a spear, flinging it across the forest at incredible speeds.

The katana cut through the air with a shriek, stabbing the archer right in the heart, taking him off his feet and nailing him into a tree.

.

"I'll help you, Indra!" Asura broke the arrow between the two, ripping aside the hunter to free his brother.

He gently and quickly laid him to the ground, the arrowhead still stuck in his chest. 

"D-Don't, Asura…that arrow was laced in poison…"

The younger brother felt a storm take away his soul as he felt his brother's life slowly disappear. Suddenly, Indra's hand shot out, and Asura was grabbed by the shirt and pulled out.

"Asura! Y-You have to turn in my body to Kali!"

The desperate plea woke the young man up, and began breathing heavily.

"We can try and heal you fi–"

"It stuck in my heart; the poison is already running through my system," despair flashed in the older twin's eyes, alongside some tears of incoming death. But he forced past the pain, "You heard Kali. No matter what, if the two of us return alive, then who knows what he will do! It must be you; you have to kill me and turn me in!"

Indra's words came out with great pain as he began coughing blood. Purple veins popped all over, and his dark skin was filling up with dark blotches. Even at death's gate, the older brother was still looking after the younger brother of three minutes: "You can do it. You can fulfill our legacy and become the great weapon…" A final breath and a final statement: "Y-You were always the best of us…"

With that said, Indra's body fell lifeless, melting into his brother's hands, still staring at his mirror image with hope.

"..."

For a while, Asura's eyes were empty as he stared at his twin brother's warm corpse. A deafening silence fell like a blanket across the forest. The Warborn remained glued to his brother's body, his mind blurring and his body trembling.

…

Beyond the trees was a group of five people. All five of them were covered in blood-red markings, showcasing a particular ferocity about them. The thin, older one in the center was Kali, impatiently waiting as night arrived. A frown was stretched across his face as he narrowed his eyes. 

*Fuuu* An ominous wind picked up, sending whistles through the holes in the leaves and trees. 

"Finally," Kali muttered, feeling a presence walk toward him. 

He hummed, seeing a familiar face make his way out of the darkness of the tall forest trees. But what he soon realized was that the survivor was hurling a body, leaving a bloody trail in his wake. 

"You made me wait, Indra."

"…"

Kali suddenly froze up; it looked like he was hit with ice-cold water. He backed up with widened eyes and jaw-dropped gaze: "Y-You're not Indra…!"

The young twin didn't respond and gently placed his brother before Kali, offering him to mark his victory.

"It is as you asked. Only one of us survived; Indra is dead."

Kali, who was hit with confusion, soon turned furious. A scowl fell across his wrinkly face as he violently kicked at the corpse. "You were the one who was supposed to die!" 

The deep-seated frustrations in Kali for the past decades blew up with an explosion, sending the dead body of Indra soaring across with the kick. 

Bang!

It was a loud noise as the lifeless Indra was slammed onto a nearby tree, planting to the grassy floor. 

"!!!" Asura saw his only real blood relative being thrown aside like trash and fell under a cloud of anger. The young man loudly crunched his teeth, sending ominous echoes through the silent woods. 

A boiling rage spread through his body as he glared at Kali, "Indra believed every word you said, candidly following you for twenty long, gruelling years…how dare you kick him aside!"

The hate-filled tone earned a loud sneer from Kali: "He was just a useless piece of scum if he died just like that. I should have fed him to the Sea Beasts six years ago when he couldn't swim anymore!"

The old man's hateful words sent fury coursing through Asura's veins as he clenched his fists. 

*Krrr* The wind began to pick up, sending shivers down the other Warborns' spines. Meanwhile, Asura's breathing turned heavy as he felt a wave of rage pump through his body. 

*Hiss* The ominous sound forced Kali to take a deep breath as he saw the markings over the young man's body growing red.

All of a sudden, Polemos Island felt colder, darker and gloomier. 

Kali rudely gestured to his few followers, "What do you think you five are doing standing around? Go and hold him down! I'm gonna have him spend the next few weeks in a cell with the corpse of his brother. Let him bathe in fury while that failure rots into the ground!!!"

"Ye– Augh!" One of the Warborns who took the initiative to strike had been shot back with the slash of a sword in the enraged young man's hand. Asura was skilled with the blade, yet his meek and timid demeanour made him hesitate. However, in his current fury, the boy was a killing machine.

*Whizz*

*Fwooo!*

*Vvoosh!*

The remaining four began frantically looking around, yet all they felt was the passing wind that hissed across their surroundings. The thick darkness made it hard to see, and the dead of night sent shivers of fright down the men's backs.

*Swish* A jet of blood and another Warborn fell.

"Ugh!" Another collapsed to the ground, his eyes shaken by the pouring blood from his missing arms.

"Auug-!"

The man's final cry was stopped by the fresh blood that suddenly spurted out from his throat, forcing him to choke and drown in his own blood. The helpless eyes were lifelessly open as they stared into the forest's darkness, slowly turning vacant.

…

Kali watched from the back, his crimson eyes narrowing at the harrowing display.

"E-Elder, help me!"

The last remaining Warborn under the old man's command came crying, his eyes filled with dread.

"Tch, here I thought activating your Figures by killing your father and brother would make you more useful," Kali sighed. "Useless fool!"

The man who had come running suddenly froze, "F-Father… B-Brother… you did it…!?"

Kali looked at him with disdain and shot out his right hand. Though the man was old and lanky, he hid great power in his emaciated body.

Air hissing around his blood-red markings as Kali's vice-like grip cupped the shocked man's throat. "At least your corpse can be useful in rejuvenating our burnt forests."

The indifferent man stared down the suffocating fellow Zenora as he casually threw him aside. While spitting at his people's uselessness, a slight breeze passed across Kali, his hair flying up and back from the sudden wind.

"Hmm? So you've come for me?"

The old man found the young Warborn's silhouette standing five meters before him. He tried to speak further, but the words didn't come out—only the opponent's voice echoed in his ears.

.

"One Sword Style: Beautiful Death."

.

Kali saw a bright flash before he suddenly fell to the ground, utterly incoherent from what had happened.

'His speed is beyond anything I've seen!' His dazed eyes looked around while his brain fired at great speeds, finally finding a source of pain.

"Ugh!" Kali's grunts boomed through the dark forest as he felt warm blood drain out from his lower half that was no longer connected to him!

The halved Elder could only remain on the ground, staring at the dark clouds above.

"..."

All of a sudden, the tense feeling that had welled inside of him for decades disappeared. A monstrous smile appeared on his face as blood escaped from his lips and nose.

"Ka-Ka-Ka! I carried a grudge for the hell that fell over our peaceful island over three decades ago… Such darkness clouding over our people, what a terrible fate…"

The dying man's dull voice is all that remained on the dark island, heard by the sole figure that remained standing. "The ones who doomed us here wanted a weapon… So I had to do it; prepare a weapon that I would carve to destroy them!!!"

The voice was filled with venom, encapsulating the decades of hatred and anger that had left Kali the monster he had become. A manic smirk stretched across his sunken cheeks, "The weapon… is finally born!"

His blood-red eyes looked to the left and saw the silent Asura standing perfectly still. "You will do what your brother could not…but you lack a master who can wield you. Until then, you remain weak!"

"Hehe, I'll see you in hell, boy!" Kali's obsessive gaze was followed by his psychotic grin, perpetually glued to the young Asura.

"..." silence ensued.

The reddened Asura lifelessly stared at the grinning corpse and then at the bodies littered nearby. 

He saw the remainder of Polemos, a shell of its former self.

The deafening silence was truly scary. The contrast of nothing and everything left the young man frozen. But one sight brought Asura out of his reverie.

Oddly enough, Indra's corpse was unnaturally warm, as if he was only asleep.

Asura took a few unsteady steps, his boots sinking into the ruddy soil. He knelt before his brother's body, his hands trembling. The overwhelming silence of the night, punctuated only by the rustling of leaves and distant howls, was suffocating. His mind swirled with the weight of what had just transpired—the betrayal, the bloodshed, and his brother's final words.

"All your life, you've protected me from Kali's wrath…" he murmured, his voice cracking. He reached out, gently tracing his fingers over Indra's bloodied face. His touch was careful, reverent, as though afraid to disturb the peace his brother had finally found.

"Your dream was to fulfill our people's purpose and bring them justice," he continued, his voice firmer now. "You always believed in a future I was too afraid to see."

Slowly, Asura slid his fingers over Indra's eyes, carefully closing them. The action felt final, a symbolic passing of the torch between brothers.

"Zenora Indra, brother, I will carry your will with me…" Asura's voice dropped to a whisper, his resolve hardening. "Both in heart and in name."

The air around him seemed to shift as Asura stood, placing Konton, the blade passed down through generations and stolen by Kali, in his brother's hand. 

His red markings hissed faintly, the rage still simmering beneath his skin. But now, there was something else—a quiet determination that cut through the chaos within him.

With the weight of his brother's legacy on his shoulders and his own identity shattered, Asura, now known as Indra, began to walk away from the forest. The glow of the blood moon followed him, casting long shadows as the island of Polemos, the birthplace of so much pain and despair, faded into the distance.

To Be Continued…

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Author's Corner.

Asura has chosen to carry his brother's will in every way. But as the dying Kali said, even the greatest weapon is weak without someone to wield it.

Images are available on Discord alongside other niche details: https://discord.gg/aJHHHPvb6q