Divine Beast Ascension

567 In That World...

Vloz and Herman both kept quiet. They were plenty smart enough to understand what that meant. But when Oli briefly paused there, they didn’t bother saying a word. Patiently, they waited for Oli to take another sip of wine.

Oli continued, “In that world, I was born into an average home with average wealth. There was nothing special about it. I rarely saw my parents growing up. They were always out of the house working, drinking, or gambling.

“It was hard on me, but I didn’t realize how hard that reality was until years later when my mom had what she called ‘an accident’ with a man other than my father. Only a couple of months later, my little sister Melody was born. And it was then that I realized how little my parents cared about us. Only after seeing how they ignored or ridiculed Melody did I recognize how deep we were in the shit…”

Sighing, Oli remarked, “I was already in charge of all household chores and caring for myself. So I started doing the same for Melody. But the hardest part was what to do about school. In that world, we attended school until we were eighteen or nineteen years old before joining the adult society.

“So I was forced to forge my mother’s signatures and sign up for something called home school. I put myself in charge of my own education in order to study from home, where I could keep an eye on Melody.”

Drinking half his glass, Oli blinked. “... The worst part was what to do about college, a place to study as adults and qualify for jobs…

“I had promised to take Melody away from there. I just wanted to give her a decent life. Not one crammed into a tiny house with no friends or loving family aside from her brother… Her biggest goal was to build her dream house. It was all she wanted, and to share it with her big brother. So I wanted to make that possible. But I had to do things very carefully.

“I waited a whole year after graduating my homeschooling to apply for any colleges or universities, that way Melody would also be in school. And her safely being out of the house gave me the time to get that higher education, studying architecture so I could one day build Melody’s dream house…”

Oli inhaled sharply. He exhaled gradually, almost grunting while he did so. “... Things were going well with my studies. But one of my parents had an accident at the bar he frequented. He started a fight and lost, badly. He was bedridden for months and made our lives a living hell as his servants and punching bags, both verbally and physically.

.....

“One day, I got home late for the university to find Melody with bruises all over her chest and a black eye… That night, I almost killed the man the world assumed was my father.” Oli stopped speaking. Mouth still open, Oli paused his thoughts and forced himself not to ramble. “... After that, despite already having ridiculous medical expenses overdue, my so-called father dragged me to court. And he won… Though the judge lightened my sentence thanks to Melody’s testimony and the signs of physical abuse, I was sentenced to two years for attempted murder and taking things too far, even perpetuating the violence that would only harm Melody…”

Still in his drake form, as Oli clenched his fists a trickle of blood spilled out from where his claws stabbed his palms.

“My imprisonment led to my parent’s divorce so my supposed mother could keep custody of Melody,” continued Oli. “But they never actually separated. A month later, after all the papers had been signed, the man me and Melody despised moved back in as if nothing had changed.

“But I didn’t know that. I didn’t know about anything happening during those two years, because they didn’t even let Melody write me letters. So I sat, stewed, and boiled over with thought for two years until I finally got out… Only… Melody wasn’t there.

“I wasn’t allowed back home, for obvious reasons. But after spending months trying everything I could to see Melody, I discovered something. Melody… had died. Barely a year after I was incarcerated, there had been an accident. Melody had fallen down the stairs. She hit her head, hard. And she never recovered. She passed away the next day… all according to the official report my dead-beat mother submitted.

“... I spoke with all my old neighbors. They all told me how my parents had gotten divorced yet my pest of a father had moved back in a month later. They also told that they never saw Melody after that, apart from when a bus came to pick her up for school, at least on the days she actually attended school. And every one of them told how she never smiled anymore. That Melody never showed any emotion at all. That looking her in the eyes was the same as looking at a porcelain doll.

“So… There I was. A twenty-something-year-old man. Alone. With legal debts. Only able to find a worthless part-time job and a hovel of a room to rent after getting out of jail… And the one source of light in my life had been snuffed out more than a year ago without my knowing… Not only was I unable to hear about it and had to fight to even learn the assumed truth of the report, I found out that everything I had promised little Melody, to protect her, to love her, to support her, was… was turned into a lie. I couldn’t fulfill a single one of them…”

Tears streaked down Oli’s face as the floodgates were forced open. In contrast to Oli’s matte black scales, the tears glistened as they fell.

“I tried to kill myself. And I failed,” stated Oli. “Then, I spent a month tracking down Melody’s tombstone. Only… she didn’t have one. Eventually, I learned that our parents had somehow donated Melody’s body for scientific study.

“But I know why they did it. To avoid the funeral costs. And because they just didn’t care.

“After all that, I was admitted to a health institute for suicide prevention and a psychiatric evaluation. It was there that I decided to try and at least fulfill the few promises I still could. Like finishing my architecture degree and one day building her dream house…

“But I still had plenty of debts to pay off. From school debt to legal debt, I had a lot to cough up. I somehow managed to get a job I hated that could at least cover the costs of survival after making monthly payments to my debtors.

“I died in a very stupid but… well-meaning way,” Oli chuckled, finally showing a new emotion. “I pushed a little girl away from a runaway truck, which was like an automated wagon but more than twice as fast. She had reminded me of little Melody and I couldn’t bear to see my sister die in front of my eyes, not when I could actually do something that time…

“... And that’s how I ended up here, reincarnating without ever expecting a second chance at life.”

Still quiet, Vloz was dumbstruck. He had no tears to offer but that didn’t mean he wasn’t in shock at the news.

Herman’s expression was drastically softened. But his eyes were dry as ever. “That’s… quite the tale. I never would’ve suspected your origin story to be anything so… grandiose yet melancholy.

“But, if I may, let me say one thing,” Herman requested, getting a nod from Oli. “Humanity may exist on your old world and this one, as do those that exploit and wring you for everything you are as a being of existence. But that doesn’t mean humanity as a whole is only evil and immoral. Do you remember Pauller?”

Oli couldn’t help but chuckle weakly while thinking back. “Yeah… I remember him.”

“He still talks about you, you know. About how someone so young can be crazy powerful and be so smart, too. Before Yeter left to train under Zelsh, Pauller and Yeter were inseparable, constantly bragging about which of your personas was more awesome than the other, not even knowing you were the same person.” Smiling tenderly, Herman leaned forward and put a hand on Oli’s shoulder. “There are just as many kind and caring humans as there are immoral ones. And there are plenty of humans that can be both caring and immoral.

“Take me for example. I will love my family and do anything possible to keep them safe or help them prosper, even give up my life to you. But I’ve killed hundreds of people, and not all of them were on a battlefield,” reasoned Herman. “People are complex, both beasts and humans. Though our natural instincts aren’t as strong or impulsive as those of beasts, we can still turn out to be kind to those we care about. At least, we can if those we care about allow us to do so.”