章節 28: Remembrance of a Former Past(A Silent Hatred's Birth)
In the greatest empire of the entire world, a grand tragedy struck upon its populace. In the afternoon, at 13:42 pm. The military academy was struck by a disaster never to be seen before. A bomb exploded within the campus, making the entire first-year, second-year, and third-year buildings crumble. It was class hours, and the casualties were immeasurable.
The loss of the students was the loss of the empire's future.
Deep within the military academy, in the decimated campus buildings. The crimson flames of destruction shrouded the entire land. Smoke, dust, and ash covered the entirety like mist. The screams of pain and suffering echoed one after another. Most of the students who managed to survive didn't know what happened; they were confused.
And that included a young girl named Alastair.
Alastair slowly opened her eyelids as she felt her senses numbed. She found herself confused as everything had happened too fast for her mind to adapt. What happened and why? Such was the question stuck within her mind. After a while, Alastair had finally managed to grasp her surroundings.
She was surrounded by destruction.
Alastair couldn't move her body as well as before. It was tired despite only being covered in scratches. It wanted to be still and make Alastair go back to slumber. But Alastair wasn't willing for that to happen. So with all her might, she forced her body to stand up. It took a lot of effort, but she did manage to stand up.
Standing up, Alastair had seen the full scenery of the area around her. It was shrouded by dust and ashes, though while seeing such a scene. Alastair had one thought which passed through her mind. 'Where was she?' It was a simple question, which gave her a short realization.
The scene right before her was too unbelievable to be the military academy where she spent years in. The peaceful and silent face was devoid of the conflict of the outside world. This was the place where she felt the most normal. But why did it have to end like this?
Why?
Alastair shook her head and calmed herself down. She remembered something like this in her nightmarish dreams. Was it true? If it was... Maybe she could use it to save herself. With this in mind, Alastair started looking around with a serious expression. "I need to inspect the entire situation."
Such were the first things she had done. As someone in the military academy, it was obviously an attack by the enemy nations. However, where the attack came from was a question on its own. Were there enemy soldiers trying to invade the campus? Or was this attack simply a bombing?
"So, a bombing..." It didn't take time for Alastair to reach a conclusion. There were no gunshots, meaning no enemy soldiers were trying to invade this place. The bastards of other nations probably hid a bomb on the campus and exploded it. 'Those dirty bastards.' Alastair thought to herself.
She gritted her teeth in anger as she had never felt such a thing before.
During her observations, she noticed some of her classmates in the background. Most of them were dead as they lay like a cold corpses on the dirty ground. Some were alive but were severely injured and kept screaming for pain. While some like her were lucky enough to have no serious injuries.
"Urghh!!!" An ache was then felt in Alastair's chest. She clenched her fist and gritted her teeth once again. 'Did my ribs break?' She questioned within her mind as she needed to calm herself so that she wouldn't be forced into a worse condition than before.
Alastair calmed herself down as she softly breathed in and out. The crimson flames were still burning in the background as Alastair looked around to find the teacher. Seconds later, she discovered her teacher pierced by a metal rod through his eyes. It was a horrifying scene, which made Alastair's expression colder.
"He's dead..." Alastair silently uttered as the screams of help kept echoing in the background. She turned her gaze towards the direction where the sound came from. At that moment, she realized something which made her heart wildly beat harder than ever before.
It was her bestfriend, Elpis.
"E-Elpis!!!" Alastair shouted without any hesitation as her calm expression immediately broke apart. She looked around in panic, trying to find where her friend was. Was Elpis burrowed in the rubble? Such was the question echoing within her mind.
Alastair didn't want something terrible to happen to her friend. She stopped trying to be careful and quickly started working to find her friend. She looked around once again and wanted to see where her last location was. It was hard to discover as it seemed that Alastair got flung during the explosion.
'Where is she! Where is she! I must find her!' Such thoughts exploded within her mind as she kept looking around to find her former spot. Elpis might have been fling like her, but it was still better to start at her last location. With this in mind, Alastair continued trying to find her best friend.
She ignored the chaos that shrouded everything and kept inspecting the area until she had finally found her former location. Alastair ran towards it despite the aching pain in her chest as she looked around once again. Arriving in the last place where Alastair sat on her chair, Alastair gazed upon it with a shocked expression.
There were numerous dusty and broken rubbles surrounding it.
Fear shrouded Alastair's heart as she looked around, hoping that Elpis wasn't stuck in the rubbles before her. But, no matter what she had done, Alastair couldn't see her friend, meaning that Elpis was simply before Alastair. "No, no- Please, no!" Alastair silently uttered as she started taking out the rubbles.
She took them off one by one without any delay. Alastair first took out the small ones, and the big ones were then followed. It was extremely hard for Alastair, especially with the aching pain in her chest. But even then, she wasn't willing to give up. She would rather not give up.
"Help!!!"
"Help me, please!!!"
"It hurts!!!"
The loud sounds of suffering and pain kept echoing within Alastair's ears. It had been minutes since she had woken up, and she was faced with a situation she had never even thought of. After a while of hard work, Alastair took out at least a fourth of the rubble. She was currently slowly pushing one single big debris.
Pushing it with all her might, Alastair managed to take it out. After completing a task, Alastair had finally seen her friend, who seems to be unconscious. Without any hesitation, Alastair crouched and immediately tried waking up Elpis with a worried expression plastered on her face.
"Elpis... Wake up! Please..."
Alastair uttered with a worried and hopeless voice as her expression slowly broke apart. Alastair's chest was heavy, and she was having a hard time breathing. She couldn't accept the situation before her. It was too unexpected for her.
"Elpis, please wake up! Didn't you have a dream? Don't give up!"
Alastair uttered once again as her body was shaken and her cold sweat kept dripping from her forehead. The chills kept echoing within her spine as she felt tired. Alastair immediately shook her head and continued with her actions, which was to wake Elpis up. She wasn't planning to give up, especially with her best right beside her.
"I need to take out the remaining rubbles and debris."
Alastair nodded to herself as she began taking out the remaining debris that covered half of her best friend's body. She pushed the giant boulders once again with her flimsy strength. "I need to get this out!!!" Alastair said as she gritted her teeth while pushing the boulder.
After five seconds of pushing, the boulder began moving. Finally, with the momentum aiding Alastair, Alastair managed to push the boulder away. Alastair felt tired as her arms were shaken. They seemed to be swelling, signifying that Alastair was pushing too hard.
Alastair smiled as she could finally pull her best friend out of danger, but as she turned her gaze towards Elpis. Her smile broke apart as a frozen expression replaced it. What she saw was something that had broken everything in Alastair's life. It was an event that began the change.
Her hope, dreams, and wishes got vanquished into damnation.
"T-this is not possible."
"W-why, please, please make this a nightmare..."
"This s-should be one of those realistic nightmares..."
"I-I should wake up, right?"
Alastair was in denial as she couldn't believe what she had seen. She would rather not believe it. Alastair didn't dare to believe it. She was afraid and fearful of the cold reality presented right in front of her. The fact that she had forgotten during her time in the military academy,
Tears then escaped her eyes as Alastair cried for the first time in her entire life.
It was too painful and cold. Too disappointing and destructive. Why does this have to happen to her? Why does she lose everything? Does reality want her to suffer? At that moment, Alastair realized something important, which she took as a life lesson. Weakness brought her to this fate.
It was a sign that if she was too weak, such a thing would happen over and over again. Even if she wanted peace, that doesn't mean that everyone around her would agree with her. This world was extremely chaotic, followed by an illusionary order brought upon by its naive inhabitants.
Alastair continued crying as every emotion stuck within her heart escaped through her cries.
Anyhow, once again, like before, Alastair lost her perception, and what replaced it was nothing more than the darkness of the void. She lost her senses, emotions, and physical body in this darkness. But it was peaceful and silent, unlike the chaotic reality outside.
But the eternal darkness of the void didn't exist for no reason. It was a state that would spark the first meeting between the two. Who were the two? Well, they were none other than Alastair herself.
"Did you regret taking that path in the military?"
A simple question echoed in the darkness. It came from a young girl with jet-black hair. She had an emotionless expression plastered on her face and wore a uniform generally found in the imperial military academy. She was none other than Alastair Hecate, the graduating student and the survivor of the tragedy.
The young Alastair gave the question to another young girl who stood right in front of her.
The young girl had silver-white hair and light magenta eyes. She had a pair of crow-like wings behind her waist, and she wore a general uniform that came from the military. She had a calm expression plastered on her face as she looked at the young Alastair Hecate.
The one with silver-white hair was none other than the older Alastair Hecate.
A smile formed on her face upon hearing such a question, which she replied.
"No, I don't regret it."
"It was a hard and dangerous path, a horrifying one. But even then, I don't regret walking through it. Even if I was called a monster or a demon in such a life. I am not someone that laments about the opinion of other people."
The young Alastair nodded after hearing the words of the older Alastair. The young one then uttered with a nonchalant tone.
"As expected of me..."
After uttering such words, the young one continued.
"This meeting will only serve one thing, older me. This is a reminder of your past so that you won't repeat it in the future. I'm not talking about that path but about the loss of someone important. You have someone which you could consider a friend, so you would have to protect her for it to not repeat itself."
"I don't want to go through that pain ever again..."
Alastair lowered her head with a saddened smile plastered on her face.
"I also don't want to go through that pain, so I must become stronger than I was in my previous life."
"Good," The young one nodded as a question escaped from her mouth.
"Do you ever wish for her to have survived?"
The older Alastair responded without any hesitation.
"Every day, I live while thinking about that wish."
"I would have hoped for that to happen."
The young one then sighed after hearing the words of the older Alastair.
"I see... It seems that it's time for me to take my leave."
"Take care, future me."
"Protect her no matter what."
――――――――――――――――
Back in the past, the young Alastair stood silently while being surrounded by destruction. She had a cold expression plastered on her face. Alastair had lost her light, pillar, and friend. She lost her emotions as thoughts began to invade her mind and heart. Such thoughts were extremely dangerous.
After all, they were one other than hatred.
'IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT!!!' 'IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT!!!' 'IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT!!!' 'IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT!!!' 'IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT!!!' 'IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT!!!' 'IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT!!!' 'IT'S ALL THEIR FAULT!!!'
At that very moment, a reflection of Alastair's self broke apart as a monster had finally been born.
'I MUST KILL THEM!!!'
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