280. Savior (6)
#280
“Don’t look down on me. “I can do it too!”
“You really shouldn’t be funny, Cain. “What kind of whale are you catching?”
The man who snorted ruffled Cain’s hair. With his thick beard and thick forearms, he was Cain’s father and the best hunter in the village.
My son, who turned twelve this year, was trying to prove his worth by accomplishing heroic feats, as is typical for boys of that age.
“Mr. Woo, what will you do if I catch you?”
“Ugh… Then, I will give you the golden dragon egg in the warehouse. It’s a shame, but there’s nothing we can do.”
“There’s only dried fish and firewood in the warehouse! “Who do you think is an idiot?!”
“Well, that’s fine. I think it was as absurd as a 10-year-old kid catching a whale. Oh, I’ll also take care of the nymph I caught in the sea a while ago. Hahaha!”
The man held his stomach and burst into laughter. The laughter was so loud that the whole house trembled. Cain, who was huffing with a red face, opened her mouth.
“We’ll see. “We will definitely catch a whale bigger than our village.”
“Cain. If something like that gets caught on a fishing hook, we’ll all die. honey. “Try to stop this guy.”
The man who stopped laughing looked around the corner of the room and said. A pregnant woman was sitting by a warm fireplace. She was stroking her swollen belly every time her rocking chair creaked once.
“You’ll be a good older brother even if you don’t act like that. Cain.”
“Ugh…!”
The woman smiled sweetly. Inside the corners of her crescent-shaped eyes, scarlet eyes like her own twinkled. Cain frowned at her after hearing her mother’s words. She hit the nail on the head.
“Well, it’s not like that. “What does it have to do with me that I wasn’t even born…”
“There is a time for everything. I’m sure you will become a great hunter like your father in just a few years. Even now, your skill in dismembering prey is the best among those of your age.”
“···Heng, even if you bring everyone from our village who is not my age, it won’t work for me.”
Cain stuck out his tongue. In fact, his sword skills were unusually good for his age. So much so that he finished grooming a seal, which he had done for the first time in his life, faster than his father.
“that’s right. I admit that. I took a quick look at it the other day and it looked just like a little devil. “I think he’s better with a knife than my late grandfather.”
Even his father, who had been teasing Cain all along, nodded in agreement. Cain, puffing out one cheek, glared at him.
“What is a devil to your son? A devil.”
“Uhuhu, when your younger brother is born, teach him well. By the way, have you decided on a name?”
“ah···.”
my mother asked. She offered to give her soon-to-be older brother Cain the right to name her younger brother. Cain, who had been silent, opened his mouth.
“···Abel.”
“It is Abel. “It’s a pretty name… ah.”
The woman who was speaking suddenly stopped. She felt something tapping the inside of her stomach. Her father saw her reaction and his eyes widened.
“Are you full?”
“yes. I guess you liked it. Cain, what do you mean?”
“I don’t know. “I just roughly made it up.”
Cain quickly turned his head. Of course, it wasn’t something he made up roughly, but it was something he had been thinking about since he heard his proposal, putting his mind to it day and night. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, he picked up the harpoon lying in the doorway.
“Anyway, I’m glad you liked it. “I’m going fishing!”
“It’s this late, where are you going?”
bang! Cain pretended not to hear and ran out of the house. Her mother looked at her closed door and sighed.
“That kid too…”
“Leave it alone. I guess he doesn’t want to be looked down on by his younger brother. “I wasn’t even born yet, so I wonder who I resemble.”
“well. “I don’t know about anything else, but I definitely take after you in being dishonest.”
“Kuhm… Is that so?”
The man smugly smoothed his beard. He said, bending over her and stroking her stomach.
“Well, no matter what you look at, your brother is a great person. Abel. In fact, in the future, we might catch a whale bigger than the village. “No matter what anyone says, he’s my son.”
“Look at that.”
The woman laughed. The howling of the north wind could be heard beyond the wooden wall. Cain, who was trudging through her snowy fields, raised his head.
“···My little brother.”
The cloudless night sky was a sea of stars. Inside the Milky Way, which crosses the field of view from east to west, a colorful nebula was scattering mysterious colors.
The occasional falling meteor was drawing a thin line. She couldn’t see the polar lights, but Cain, who likes to look at the stars, actually preferred a day like today. When she turned her head, a village that was already a long way away came into view.
If it dropped this much, you wouldn’t be able to hear it. He closed his eyes, put his hands together, and chanted toward the sky.
“Star. please. Please let my younger brother be born healthy. Please make sure my mom gives birth without getting sick, and her dad is a little annoying, but he’s still a good person, so please let her hunt go well.”
It was a wish my mother had made every day since she became pregnant. Although she was abrasive, Cain loved her family more than anyone else. Her gentle mother, strong father, and soon-to-be little brother also fell within the scope.
‘First of all, I have to teach you how to use a knife. I will teach you how to fish and how to find your way by looking at the stars.’
Cain grinned as he imagined the near future. Although he didn’t show it, he was ready to become a respected older brother. His secret storage already contained small tools he had made for his younger brother.
“···Should I go back soon?”
Cain, who had been praying for a while, got up. He was in the middle of wiping the snow off his knees. Suddenly his world became brighter. Strange, he raised his head.
“Is that…?”
Cain’s eyes widened. One of her shiny lumps was falling askew. The burning lump burning the atmosphere was reminiscent of a star shining in the night sky.
“Oh, no!!”
The problem was that the strange star was falling exactly towards the village. Cain’s face turned pale. He threw down the harpoon and started running, but the star was already close enough to reach the village.
The shadows of the long row of houses stretched all the way to my feet. The village, engulfed in light, was disintegrating. Cain was about to shout something.
Kwahahah Ah- !!!
Cain’s consciousness was cut off with a loud noise that seemed to turn the world upside down.
****
“…Are they all dead?”
Ronan, who had been listening to the savior’s past, could not bear it and asked a question. Even with the giant’s corpse in front of him, he was so focused that he lost track of time. Perhaps because he lived for a long time, his ability to tell stories was extraordinary.
“okay. No one survived. “Except me, who was far away from the scene.”
The Savior nodded. It was a story from the distant, truly distant past, but I still felt like I could clearly see the situation at that time when I closed my eyes. The eyes fluttering between the eyelashes were filled with sorrow.
“Damn it.”
Ronan twisted his lips. He said it had already happened, but he couldn’t help but feel dirty. Suddenly a thought passed through his mind.
“wait for a sec. Then what on earth is your relationship with this guy named Abel? “He said that his father and he are twin brothers?”
“It may or may not be true. Anyway, when I actually heard it, I felt quite strange.”
“ok? “What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“You just called me father for the first time.”
“Ugh.”
The Savior smiled. Ronan frowned at her. It was never intentional, and it was a name that just happened to pop up. Feeling somewhat embarrassed, he blurted out.
“Tsk, so what happened next?”
“I was going to tell you from now on. therefore···.”
****
“Huh…!”
Cain opened his eyes. Her body was cold, as if she had just come out of a swim. I remember the star falling from the night sky colliding with the village, but I couldn’t remember what happened after that.
“Oh, the village… ugh.”
Cain suddenly tried to get up but gritted his teeth. Unbearable pain erupted like fire all over her body, especially in her legs. He lifted his head slightly, lowered his gaze, and took a deep breath.
“All of your legs…!”
Both legs were twisted in bizarre directions. A pure white bone, presumed to be a shin, was sticking out through the pants. Even though it was my own body, I felt nauseous. Cain screamed from the full-blown pain that hit him late.
“Kwaaaaaa!!”
It was so painful that I couldn’t even breathe properly. If I couldn’t bear it and twisted my body, even more intense pain came. The urine leaking from my weakened bladder stained my pants.
“Huh, huh…”
Cain fainted and woke up several times before being able to regain his composure. The body has reached its limit and is no longer conscious of pain. Suddenly her parents’ faces passed before her eyes.
“Uh, Mom…Dad….”
Cain came to his senses and cried out his family’s name. But no answer came back. Despair appeared on his face as he looked around.
“Oh, no. no···!”
He fell into a wide, deep pit. It didn’t take long to figure out the situation. This is where the village was now. Starlight seeping in from a hole that looked like a small dot showed how deep the hole was.
It was amazing that he survived after falling from that height. Of course, even though I barely survived, I didn’t feel very happy.
All around Cain were scattered the fragments that once made up the village and its residents. Broken beams, charred pieces of bone. The harpoon my father used and the box I saw many times before.
“This···.”
Cain’s eyes fell on the box and he clenched his fists. Inside the half-open box were small tools such as a small fishing rod and a pocket knife. These were the items she had prepared for her younger brother.
“Ah… ahhh…”
My vision became hazy, as if fog had formed. A strangled voice came out of his mouth as he put his head on the ground.
“Abel···!”
I felt like my heart was breaking into pieces. His younger brother was not even given the right to be born. Now we couldn’t go fishing together or show off how to dismember game beautifully.
‘star. Damn star.’
Wow. A breaking sound echoed from inside Cain’s mouth. The anger that bloomed at the end of his sadness was consuming him. He felt like he regretted the days when he prayed to the stars every day.
“uh.”
He was scratching the floor until his fingernails came off. Suddenly, his vision began to spin and his body lost all strength. It seemed like I had lost too much blood.
I see You took her whole family, so you want to take me last.
At this point, I started laughing instead of crying. Cain, who was giggling, closed his eyes. Her leg was ruined anyway so she couldn’t do anything. It was a time when I was losing consciousness.
『I feel sorry for you.』
“what?”
Cain opened his eyes at the sound of a voice coming from nowhere. The voice was low and deep, like the deep sea where whales live. A whisper that I hadn’t noticed until just now was coming from deep in the pit where the starlight couldn’t reach.
“Is there anyone there?”
Cain spoke, but there was no answer. After thinking for a moment, he turned over. His legs were completely disabled, but he was able to move both his arms.
“Heoeook…heeoeook….”
Cain started to crawl in the direction from where the voice came, using both arms. There was a sound of bones grinding each time her mangled leg dragged across the floor.
The blood flowing from the wound was creating a red path, but the nerves were dead anyway so there was no problem in moving around. Cain himself couldn’t understand why he was doing this. He knows better than anyone else that there is no hope of survival.
“This···!”
Soon, Cain arrived at the scene and his eyes widened as if they were about to pop out. For a moment he wondered if he was hallucinating. A man as huge as a mountain lay dead, pinned against a wall of ice.
The giant’s entire body was as white as snow, and it had four pairs of wings on its back. There were burn marks all over the wings and skin. Cain instinctively realized that this giant was the star that had fallen a little while ago.
Blood was flowing from his body as if he had been injured during the fall. It was blue and thick, like the sea, and seemed a far cry from the blood Cain was used to.
The blood flowing down the toes formed a large puddle that could have been thought to be a small spring. I’ve never seen anything like this. Cain suppressed her heavy breathing and finally opened her mouth.
“···hey?”
No answer came back. He had been alive until just a moment ago, but it felt like he had just died. Cain moved right in front of the puddle and took a seat. Steam was rising from the blue spring.
“What on earth is this…?”
The fact that it didn’t cool down even in the bitter cold reminded me of a hot spring. It was the car where Cain raised his upper body and looked at the giant. Suddenly his vision darkened and his body leaned forward.
“uh?”
There was no time to do anything. with a plop! Cain’s small body fell into the puddle. Even if you poured oil on her body and set it on fire, it didn’t seem like it would be this hot. He suddenly drank blue blood and screamed.
“······!”
But the sound did not escape. His body continued to sink into the depths of the pool. In a world all green, one thought passed through Cain’s mind.
‘I want to go back.’
The blinking vision eventually turned off.
.
.
.
“brother. wake up.”
“Uhm…”
Cain opened his eyes after hearing someone’s voice. She felt dazed, as if she had just woken up from a long sleep. The wind that brushed my cheek smelled like the sea. He raised his upper body and raised his eyebrows.
“···uh?”
My body no longer hurt. When I looked down, I saw completely fine limbs. The injuries that had been carved all over his body had completely disappeared.
Before my eyes, the hole I had been lying in just now was gaping open. I couldn’t even tell how deep it was because I couldn’t see the bottom.
It got to the point where I thought what had happened so far was a dream. Suddenly, a young voice came from next to Cain.
“brother. “I’m cold.”
“what?”
It was the same voice as before. Cain quickly turned his head. He saw a young boy, who seemed to be no older than ten years old, squatting down and staring at him.
“You, you…”
“What do we do now? huh?”
Cain froze. The boy’s appearance resembled himself perfectly. His white hair and scarlet eyes were elements that would have been impossible without his blood.
I felt my heart beating fast. Cain, who was trying to catch her breath, let out a sigh without realizing it.
“···Abel(TheWeeknd)?”
