A torrent of rain swept down on the forest below, each drop tapping leaves, darkening the bark, and loosening the earth into breathing skin of mud.
Through it, the barefoot figure of Hugo ran, feet slapping softly against the soaked ground, toes sinking and lifting, then sinking again. Mud climbed up his legs in smeared bands, cool and heavy, flecked with pine needles and grit.
'I gave that guy one job! Just one! And then he goes and gets into a fight!!'
He could hear it all the way from where he was working, the echoes of a battle fearsome enough to cause damage to the very environment around them. Whatever he was fighting that could cause such destruction was certainly not an easy opponent, and although he had the more reliable weapon, he wasn't confident in the Azdin with no memory as opposed to his other self.
Clutching onto the make shift dagger created from the claw of the Azure Cub, a hint of worry gleamed on his face.
If Azdin died, it's not like he wouldn't be able to survive, but his presence was convenient.
He had no clue as to how long he'd be stuck on this place. And so he did not want to be alone for whatever would happen until then.
Worst case scenario, Azdin would barely be able to hold his own, and so he'd have to land the finishing blow with a well placed hit.
Atleast, that was what he'd thought he'd have to do.
By the time he had arrived a few minutes later, the battle was already over.
A great blue bear lay collapsed among the muddied ground, it's massive body unnaturally still, it's fur, once dense and vivid, was matted and darkened where blood had soaked in, the colour dulled by mud and rain.
Standing just in front of it, Azdin stood unmoving, soaked thoroughly with water dripping from his hair and sleeves. His bare feet were planted in the mud as if rooted there, and in his hands he held his sword streaked with drying blood, angled towards the ground.
His face was pale and unreadable, eyes fixated on the giant creatures corpse.
Hesitantly, he opened his mouth, but then the words hung empty for a moment, as if struggling to find the correct words.
Eventually, he spoke.
"Hey Hugo.. do you think I'm a bad person?"
He stiffened as if the words had struck him before he understood them. Hearing a question like that come out of him was something he never could've imagined.
"I killed it's child, and now I've killed the mother too. Both then, and even now I still feel that twisted feeling."
A strange and sickening joy.
It didn't help either now that he had figured out the source of the Azure bears anger. Once he put it together that it was the mother just from it's appearance alone, the source of its grief, and the target of it's malice was easily identifiable.
Reaching into a torn pocket, he pulled out the dormant soul shard of the Azure Cub. Although the scent of its blood had long since faded from his blade, it was another story for this fragment of its soul.
"This entire fight could've been avoided if I didn't make this one mistake. It wouldn't've had to die if I wasn't so.."
Hugo was unsure of what to say, but also because he was too distracted by the dead creature laying next to him. He had known Azdin was incredible, but this was just..
'Just by it's size alone that thing had to be atleast a demon..'
An Awakened rank human on their own could take out a beast, and if they had the talent they could even take on a monster albeit, leaving with some minor injuries.
But Azdin, had taken on a demon and emerged without so much as a scratch. The feat was made even more remarkable by the fact that he had done it without the aid of an aspect.
Back then he was a swordsman without peer, capable of slaughtering countless awakened without a hint of care.
The memories of his most deadly and hard fought battles were lost, but the raw talent and fearsome aggression within his blade still remained.
He was truly a sword savant.
Swallowing down his shock, he replied in a still bitter voice.
"How should I know? Just because you've forgotten the past, doesn't make you any less innocent."
Azdin seemed to soak in those words thoroughly. Taking his time to understand them, he muttered under his breath.
"I see."
**
After a silent walk back, Hugo brought Azdin to the half finished shelter that was seemingly made in a hurry. Due to the sudden downpour he had to make some temporary modifications, but for something made in only half a day it would last for a long while.
They used to live on the shore of the beach, but their main base of operations had now shifted closer towards a cleared out area of trees that he had knocked down prior.
It was a low, rounded shelter stitched together from fallen branches and broken tree logs that he had taken down himself, and on its roof, was a layer of mud with another thick layer of leaves stacked on top of it.
Rain skimmed over that layer, each drop sliding along it's edges and spilling harmlessly to the ground, leaving the inside
Inside nice and dry.
Azdin spoke while still amazed by the construct,
"Wow.. you've really out done yourself."
On the opposite end sitting on a cleanly cut log, Hugo sat while struggling to squeeze the rain water out from his clothes.
"Anyone with half a brain could do it. I ain't special."
"Still though, I'm only good at one thing, and even then I dislike it. This is something to be proud of yourself about."
Azdin on the other hand, was busy alternating between staring at the dormant soul shard in his hands, and gazing at the falling rain from the open exit.
Hugo spoke with a strangely angry tone,
"You're a strong Awakened. That is something to be proud of?? Do you know how many people would kill to have talent like that??"
'If I was strong like you, then what occurred at my village might've never happened.'
In this world where death was the norm, being strong was a must. The strong crushed the weak, that was a fact as true as time.
"Well, the way I see it. Being able to build is much more impressive than being able to destroy."
Azdin sighed, contemplating once more about his short time here.
"I've already destroyed the peace on this island just by being here. I find that I keep asking myself, if I never woke up, would those two still be alive? I already know the answer to that, and yet I can't help but think and regret."
If life had never brought him here, if the two boys washed up on a completely different island, then their fates may have been a much happier one.
"In a peaceful world, being able to build is far more valuable than being able to destroy."
Azdins voice was steady when he said it.
"Except we don't live in a peaceful world, Azdin. The world outside is a cruel place filled with nothing but suffering. The weak die, and it's the ones with power that get to choose where and how. Someone like you coming here to destroy that peace was inevitable, and it's because that no one here is strong enough to protect it that their peace was taken away from them."
Even if they washed up on a different island though, that just meant they would wreck havoc there instead. No matter what, someone would still suffer if they continued to exist.
Silence followed, thick and heavy. Azdins hands curled around the crystal, rain dripping from his sleeves, while Hugo sat unmoving.
Gaze lowered, Azdin sighed.
"You may be right about that."
He didn't say anything else, after that.