Neel did not move because he was brave.
No.
Not because of that.
He moved because behind him stood everything he could not afford to lose.
He was a husband—a man who did not need courage to die, only love strong enough to make the choice without hesitation. Neel had made that choice long ago, the moment he promised to stand beside Lava through fear, through hunger, through a world that had never shown mercy.
When that world finally came to collect its debt, he did not curse fate.
Nor did he beg the heavens for kindness.
He stepped forward.
Because—
He was a father.
A father is not measured by the years he lives, but by the moments he gives away. By the way he watches his child when no one else is looking. By the heavy silence he carries, choosing strength when fear presses hard against his chest.
A father does not love with words alone.
He loves with sacrifice.
With sleepless nights.
With tired hands.
Neel stepped forward because he knew this truth as clearly as his own heartbeat. His life was light compared to the weight of his son's future. Kaal's breath mattered more than his pulse. Lava's tomorrow mattered more than his own.
If the world demanded a price—
Neel would pay it gladly.
Because a father's love is not loud.
It is not glorious.
It does not seek witnesses.
It is silent.
It is final.
It is the willingness to become the shield that breaks,
so the ones behind it never have to.
In that moment, Neel was no longer a man shaped by fear.
He was a husband standing for his wife.
A father standing for his child.
A soul offering itself so that love could keep breathing in a cruel world.
And if death was watching—
Then Neel met its gaze without flinching.
—
The word surfaced quietly, like a whisper dragged up from the depths of his mind.
You are cowardly.
Neel ran.
His boots struck the ground hard as he burst from the cave's shadow, exactly as planned—drawing the monster's attention. The air burned in his lungs. Each breath scraped his chest raw.
Behind him, the earth trembled.
The creature gave chase—every step heavy, relentless, shaking the land itself.
Cowardly.
The word echoed again, sharper this time.
He ran because that was the plan.
He ran because distance was the only thing he could buy them.
But then—
The footsteps behind him slowed.
Neel felt it before he heard it—the sudden absence of pressure, the unnatural silence where pursuit should have been.
His heart skipped.
He glanced back.
The monster had stopped.
Its massive head turned—not toward him—but away.
Toward the hills.
Toward them.
"No…" Neel whispered.
The creature's red eye flared. Its black eye narrowed.
And then it moved.
Not after Neel.
But toward Kaal and Lava.
The word struck him like a blade.
Cowardly.
Not from a stranger.
Not from an enemy.
From someone close.
From someone familiar.
From his own shame.
Neel's body moved before his mind could catch up.
Something inside him—raw, newly awakened—answered the tension burning in his chest. His muscles tightened. His vision sharpened. Time stretched thin.
Before he realized what he was doing, A large stone tore through the air.
Large.
Heavy.
Fast.
The one who threw it—
Was none other than Neel.
The monster saw it.
The stone cut through the air, spinning fast, carrying everything Neel had thrown into it—
fear, desperation, resolve.
And still—
The monster did not dodge.
The stone struck its face with a dull, cracking sound.
Neel's heart leapt.
Then it fell.
The rock shattered against the creature's skin, fragments scattering across the ground like broken teeth. Dust bloomed outward. When it settled, the monster stood exactly where it had been.
Unmoved.
Unharmed.
Not a single scratch marked its face.
The red eye narrowed slightly.
The black eye remained empty.
For a brief—terrible—moment, the monster simply stared at Neel.
Then—
It smiled.
Slowly.
As if amused.
Neel's fingers curled into fists, nails biting into his palms.
So, this was the difference.
So this was what he was standing against.
And yet—
Neel did not step back. He drew a breath and prepared to pay the price he had already accepted.
This time, Neel's eyes looked different.
He was no longer trying to buy time.
This time, he would make sure the monster could not move toward his family—never again.
But still—
His power had awakened only a few hours ago.
A strange force churned inside him, wild and unshaped. It felt like holding a small fire with bare hands—dangerous, unstable.
Not enough.
Not against a monster.
Then—
The monster moved.
Toward Neel.
Too fast.
Neel barely dodged as claws tore through the air where his head had been a heartbeat earlier. The shockwave sent him crashing into the dirt. Pain exploded through his ribs. He gasped, vision blurring.
I can't fight this…
The beast lunged again. Neel rolled—stumbled—almost fell. A claw grazed his back.
Flesh tore.
Blood soaked through his clothes, warm and slick.
"I can't…"
The thought came calmly.
Familiar.
Neel forced himself upright, trembling, as the monster advanced—slow now, deliberate. Then it stopped.
Its chest expanded once—Slow, measured.
Then it exhaled.
A pale green mist burst into the air, drifting like ash. It smelled sweet at first—
Then rotten.
The scent crawled into Neel's lungs, sank into his blood.
His vision warped.
The world tilted, then vanished.
Neel staggered.
"W—what…?"
Darkness swallowed him.
And he was no longer alone. His father stood before him.
A broken piece of memory—
a past Neel had buried deep, one he had sworn never to remember again.
Evergrove Kingdom's streets stretched behind them.
Neel was small again.
Men laughed.
Hands shoved.
Fists came down.
His father fell.
And Neel—
Ran.
His father turned toward him, blood dripping from his mouth.
"Run," he said calmly.
Those strange, dark eyes—eyes Neel had once feared—never left him.
Blood streamed down his father's face, dripping onto the stone.
Neel looked away.
He didn't want to see it.
He tried to close his eyes—
He couldn't.
He raised his small hands to cover them—
But his hands grew smaller.
Smaller.
His eyes grew wider.
Wider.
His father's face drew closer, closer—
Repeating those words.
"Run…
You run…
You…"
Neel shook his head. "I was a child—"
"You're a coward."
The words struck like a blade.
Not shouted.
Not screamed.
Spoken.
By someone familiar.
By his own shame.
"Coward."
The word echoed.
Again.
Coward.
The scene shattered.
Neel was back in the burning village.
Smoke strangled the sky.
Screams tore through the air, clawing at his ears until they bled into his mind.
His brother—bleeding, terrified—stumbled toward the cave.
"Neel!" he cried.
Neel froze.
Then he ran.
The monster followed his brother into the cave.
Neel did nothing.
Now his brother stood before him again, eyes hollow, voice barely a whisper.
"You saw it go inside," his brother said.
"You knew."
Neel shook his head violently.
"I was scared!" he screamed.
His brother's face twisted.
"You're a coward."
Coward.
Coward.
Coward.
The word repeated—overlapping, multiplying—until it filled the world.
Then his father appeared beside his brother.
Both of them stared at Neel.
Cowardly.
Cowardly.
Cowardly.
Neel clutched his head.
"No—no—please, stop—!"
A third figure emerged.
His mother.
Her face was gentle and that terrified him more than anything else. She looked at him sadly.
"You are a coward too, Neel."
Something inside him snapped.
"No!" Neel screamed. "You never said that—!"
The memories surged.
Her voice by the fire.
Her smile.
Her story.
"A brave man once protected his village," she had said.
"Even after killing the monster… he died standing."
Young Neel had rested his head in her lap, eyes shining.
"Wow… Mom, that man was so cool. One day, I'll become like him."
His mother had smiled.
"You are a brave child, Neel."
Neel collapsed to his knees.
After hearing the word coward from her mouth—His chest caved in.
"My mother never called me a coward," he whispered.
The vision began to crack.
The world fractured.
But it was too late.
Reality snapped back.
The monster loomed over him. Neel was frozen—body locked, mind in ruins. The beast leaned down.
Its jaw unhinged.
Teeth—too many, too long—slid past each other with a wet, obscene sound. Saliva poured freely, thick and stringy, dripping onto Neel's face. Its breath was hot. Rancid.
It smiled.
Slowly.
A knowing, creeping smile.
The monster lowered its mouth over Neel's head.
To eat him alive.
Then—
The monster slammed onto the stone. Half its face ruptured in an instant.
Flesh tore away as if ripped by invisible claws, skin splitting open, blood bursting out in a violent spray that painted the ground beneath it. Bone flashed white beneath shredded muscle. One of the glowing green scars along its body flickered wildly—unstable.
The creature staggered.
For the first time—It felt something.
Pain.
Not the dull resistance it had known all its life.
Not pressure.
Not impact.
Pain that burned.
Pain that screamed.
Pain that reached deep inside it.
And with it came something worse.
Fear.
The monster froze, breath hitching as its remaining eye widened. It had crushed warriors. Torn through steel. Endured weapons that shattered against its skin without leaving a mark. The stone hadn't hurt it.
But this—
This punch had.
A heavy punch.
A strong punch.
Neel's punch.
The monster trembled, blood pouring freely now, dripping from its ruined face. It stared at Neel as if seeing him for the first time.
Not as prey.
But as something else.
That blow had come from a man.
It was a punch to a monster—
By a monster.
To be continue…