Chapter 2: Embrace of Destiny

The hall, shrouded in shadows, pulses with the echoes of ancient horrors. In the middle of the vast, dimly lit room, a young boy kneels, his body trembling under the weight of his anguish. His short black hair, just long enough to reach his eyebrows, clings to his forehead, damp with sweat and tears. He wears a simple t-shirt and half pants, the kind a child might wear while playing in the park during summer, a stark contrast to the grim scene around him. His handsome face is marred by streams of tears cascading down his cheeks, each drop a testament to the agony of witnessing his beloved mother's torment.

His appearance suggests a life of privilege, with soft skin that seems untouched by hardship or the ground beneath him. His physique is neither scrawny nor bulky, his muscles perfectly streamlined, a testament to the care and meticulous upbringing he has received. Yet now, in the face of his mother's torment, all semblance of ease and comfort flees. The strength that once courses through his veins abandons him, leaving him on his knees, unable to muster the energy to rise.

His youthful voice, choked with sorrow, rises in desperate supplication amidst the cruel tableau unfolding before him.

"Mother... please," he pleads, his words a fragile whisper amidst the grim silence. "I cannot bear to see you suffer so."

His voice trembles with an innocence shattered by the brutality surrounding him. He clasps his small hands together, as if in prayer, his young frame quivering with each heart-wrenching sob that escapes his lips.

The sounds of torment are merciless—iron rods strike with relentless precision, their impact echoing through the hall like a grim percussion of despair. Arrows find their mark with chilling accuracy, each strike a cruel punctuation to the scene of anguish unfolding before him. Yet, undeterred by the relentless cruelty, he continues to cry out, each cry a fragile plea for mercy.

"Make it stop," he implores, his voice echoing through the cavernous hall, pleading with a universe that seems indifferent to his anguish. "Please, make them stop hurting her."

As the shadows deepen around him, enveloping the hall in a shroud of darkness, the contrast between his innocent visage and the surrounding brutality becomes stark. His tears, glistening in the faint light, mirror the pain etched upon his young face—a silent testament to his despair and the cruelty of fate.

"Mommy," he whispers, his voice breaking with emotion, as he scratches the floor with his tiny fingernails. The weight of helplessness bears down upon him, a burden too heavy for his young shoulders to bear alone. Yet, amidst the darkness and the echoes of torment, his cries echo—a poignant lamentation of a child forced to confront the unfathomable depths of cruelty and the agony of witnessing her being tortured.

Amidst the grim scene of torment, the Mother Goddess hangs in chains, her body a canvas of suffering, yet her spirit delighted. As Kaito's cries fill the hall, she opens her eyes and turns her gaze towards him, her eyes reflecting both love and happiness in contrast to what is going on with her body.

"Kaito, my dear child..."

Her voice, though strained, carries a tender warmth that belies her agony.

"Do not despair for me. Every moment we have shared, every smile and every tear, they are etched into my heart forever."

She speaks with a serene strength, her words a balm amidst the brutality surrounding them.

"You have brought light into my life, my precious one. I am grateful for every day, every laugh, every hug we have shared. Though it seems that I won't be able to continue with those. Your mother is truly sorry for this!"

As she speaks, memories flicker behind her eyes—the joy of Kaito's laughter, the innocence of his questions, the warmth of his embrace.

"No matter what happens here, know that I carry your love with me always. It sustains me, even in the darkest of hours."

Her voice falters briefly, overcome by a surge of pain, but she continues with unwavering determination.

"You are my light, Kaito. Hold onto that light, for it will guide you through the shadows. Our time together has been a gift—a treasure that no darkness can ever diminish. Do you remember when you asked me about my greatest secret?"

**Memory:**

A memory flashes through her mind where hardly a seven-year-old boy is playing on the bed with his toys while his mother is adjusting tiny clothes for her tiny son while singing.

Then, as if after hearing the song, he gives a curious look to her and asks with puppy eyes, "Mama, what is your GREATEST SECRET?"

She takes a moment to think.

"One day, I will tell you, my little honey!"

**Present:**

"My greatest secret is that I am the Mother Goddess, and you are not Kaito Yamashiro, rather you are Kaito..."

Her love-filled eyes now fill with regret and helplessness.

"Please forgive this helpless mother of yours that she failed to keep you happy any longer."

She breaks her chains and with a thud falls on the ground. Seeing this, small Kaito runs towards his mother like a tiger who has not been fed for several months and has finally got meat in his cage.

He goes leaping to his mother for a tight hug, but to his surprise, he just runs past his mother like a stone through a projection in the air, which makes his mother's eyes fill with regret, despair, and helplessness like never before.

"I am not truly with you right now, as you are in the same place as me but still in a different dimension, created with ritual magic which is consuming my life force in exchange for keeping you safe from any level or any kind of detection from anyone."

Surely, he has at least seen a lot of cartoons, so he understands very well what is going on, which makes it more painful for him as he understands just what price his mother is paying in order to meet him.

**Step.**

**Step.**

As if a projection, a person in silver armor enters the room with what he can recognize as a katana at his hip.

Then he says something to his mother, who is still hanging in the air like a projection.

...

...

As he slices through the breasts of his mother, the projection of his mother that has been sitting in front of him gets engulfed in flames.

"It seems that it is finally the time!! Here, I give you the power which is on par with that of a hero. Live your life in a way that you won't regret it later. If you want to uproot a plant, then you need to uproot it from its root, or else it will just grow again."

Saying a few last words of hers, she moves forward on her two palms and kisses him on his forehead.

Suddenly he feels like he is being crushed under a mountain as 15 small multicolored stones come right out of the Mother Goddess's chest and her daughter's chest as well.

"These are our spirit stones. With this, you can defeat the hero if you want, or just live your life peacefully in the Azora Forest, where you'll find yourself in a few moments. Please, I beg you, take them. This is all we have left, all we can offer.."

Suddenly all the spirit stones fly toward him, and each gets split into a bigger and a smaller part, which accumulates in space beside him while the bigger parts get absorbed into his body.

"Don't worry, she will take good care of you. Please, remember, never stand in front of this mad man until you can fracture this world with just a movement of your fingers, until you can force the entire world to kneel without a single exception. Live as you want, knowing that she is always with you, no matter what."

As soon as the sentence begins, the space around him starts to crack, and he gets dragged away from his mom with a void forming in between them.

"I love you! I will always be with—"

Before he can hear any more, he feels as if he has been thrown against a running train and loses consciousness. But the last thing that he sees, the face of his mother with a smile of satisfaction and tears flowing down her cheeks and her eyes filled with longing and desire to at least hug him for the last time before she goes to her slumber, gets deeply carved in his heart.

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(A/N: I guys!, I am truly sorry for the delay but it took some time as well. As for the next few chapter, they are going to be just adventurous so don't miss them. Don't forget to comment how you felt, and where I need improvement and if speech is not so normal or too formal.)