Chapter 127 Grazynth, Guardian of the Far End II (1/2)
CHAPTER 127
GRAZYNTH, GUARDIAN OF THE FAR END (II)
It was a beyond gory and bloody sight to behold, one which made even Lino wince and cringe for a moment. Corpses splattered the valley, pieces of minced meat strewn across the gray grass, disemboweled guts and organs piling into the small mounds across, sauced with crimson, glistening red blood. Standing solemnly at the center of it all was a single man, panting and raving like a maddened beast, smoke puffing out of his mouth.
Lino had just observed a complete massacre; tens of thousands of people were slaughtered like the chicken, left to slither namelessly in the corrupt hymn of the world. He'd begun wondering why the Writ showed him this Record; if anything, it only further encapsulated everything he hated not just about the Writs, but the world of cultivation itself.
”... I told ye, nay?” Grazynth suddenly spoke, taking a deep breath as he withdrew his great-ax - nicked even further after the battle - and turned around. ”None ran away. Not 'cause they didn't wanna, the saddest part of all. Do ye feel pity for 'em? Do ye thinks I'm a beast for mauling them so? Ay... how could ye not? Ye most-likely comes from a world very different from my own. I envy... envy greatly, human boy. How grand a spectacle would it be for me to live in a world where my reality ain't this? Hah... I can't even imagine.”
Grazynth hunched over for a moment as he gathered Qi into his legs before propelling himself into the air like a cannonball, quickly surmounting the hundreds of meters tall tower and landing on the platform from which he leapt off before the battle. He then sat down with a grunt and took out another gourd of ale, downing half its contents immediately after.
”... I wish ye could tell me your own tales, successor,” Grazynth said. ”Of whether maybe... just maybe... these sacrifices were not in vain. That we didn't bleed for nothin'. Does ye know of Elana? She's the Elysium Bearer of my time. A grand woman, a spectacle to behold. A beauty stacked with muscles that puts even the crazed men to shame. I've fought her hundred times over... never won, but also never lost. Was it not for her... I'd have stood a chance, little Empyrean. A chance to end the deplorable cycle before it stretched into infinity. Alas, it cannot be done. Most of the world deems Writs dangerous... immoral... bloodthirsty... vicious... cunning... they are, after all, beings predating us, predating life itself. How can they understand us, ay?”
”...”
”All Seven of Us were cast aside like the broken poultry... can ye believe it? Nay... yer time's probably different. Better. Ay, better. That I choose to believe. All the while... they never bothered to learn about the Writs. Even them others, who have surrendered to that whore,” Grazynth's voice grew colder and fiercer for a moment. ”I respect 'em more than I'll ever respect these morons of war. Come tomorrow, they will be back again. And again. And again. Little Empyrean... see the sun set and enjoy the nightly gale. The Moon is my mistress, for only in her cradle have I ever felt safe in this world.”
Though quite sympathetic of Grazynth's circumstances, Lino still failed to understand the point of it all. What, indeed, was Writ's point of showing Grazynth's story to him? Lino couldn't tell. Though Grazynth clearly lacked the same hostility Lino felt toward the Writs, it wasn't as though he was remarkably respectful of them either. Lino felt more anger toward the world's misunderstanding of Writs rather than actual defense and awe for the Writs themselves. As though, by extension, his own existence is being marred through the misrepresented Writs.
Night soon fell upon the valley and a full moon rose in the place of the sun, surrounded by a swath of glistening stars, some larger, some smaller. It was a beautiful cascade of night, unblemished by a mortal hand in any kind. Grazynth, seemingly, didn't have a habit of sleeping as he remained sitting cross-legged and staring into the sky.
”I oft' wonder of what lies up there,” Grazynth spoke, beginning his drinking binge yet again. ”Are those stars truly there... or are they just dots brushed onto the nightly canvas? Does the moon truly shine? Is there a Goddess truly watchin' over us all from up there? Even when I ask Ataxia, though... he never answers me,” Grazynth said, smiling faintly. ”He only ever tells me it's not within my scope to understand. And I believe him, at the end of the day. What do I truly know? What do any of us truly know? Nothin'. We know what surrounds us. I've never left this continent, same as all others. What lies beyond that oceanic gulf? Perhaps... an entirely different world. If that's the case here, then what of stars so far away?”
”...”