Who Am I

(Author's Note: From here on, the narrator's perspective will be first person.)

As I reminisced my old memories with Garam, I felt extreme warmth and love. I was always on the receiving end from his care.

The times when he taught me how to swim on the river, when he taught me how to cook simple dishes, when we hunted monsters together in the forest for the first time, and when went downtown for the first time...

Now that I think about it, Grandad was always there for me. I wonder if there's a reason for that.

As I walk around inside my consciousness, remembering all of the good times with Garam, I came across a burnt down house in the middle of the woods. There was nothing inside the house except for a door leading towards a secret basement...

The door was heavily locked in large chains. I ignored it and explored other places that hold precious memories with Garam. But the farther I go, the more my thoughts strayed towards the secret basement so I headed back to the house...

The sun was already setting, this signifies that my time of reminiscing will soon come to an end...

I came back to the house where the locked up basement was found. Unexpectedly, the yellowish orange color that the sunset gives off created a scene that is never seen before...

The house looked like it was set in flames. It gave me a feel of nostalgia and tears suddenly came down my eyes.

"Huh?..."

I was quite surprised by this event so I headed inside...

Inside the house, the large chains locking up the door to basement was gone. Instead, there was a motherly figure guarding the door.

After seeing me, this figure rushed towards me and attempted to hug me but it's body was an astral figure so it was unable to do so...

It gave off a heartbroken and sad expression, and as I looked at her, I felt as if my heart was squeezed as memories of my mother came flooding inside my head.

"Mom..."

In the instant I uttered these words, the figure gave off a bittersweet yet melancholic smile... and disappeared into thin air...

The astral figure was my real mother. As for my father, I figured that it'll be after I open the door to the basement...

I took a couple of deep breathes to calm myself but was unable to do so. I thought of just gritting my teeth and swiftly open the door but as soon as my hand touched the door, a sudden warmth embraced my body... and I was able to calm down...

After calming down, I pushed the door to open and I was greeted by a gruesome sight. Inside the door was a young boy, about 12 years old. He was so skinny and there was blood all over his body. The blood was especially thick on his hands...

"Who are you?"

Even though the answer to that question was obvious, I couldn't help but to ask my suspicions...

"Me? I should be the one asking that question."

The young boy answered me...

His blue eyes, staring deep within me.

"Who are you? You don't have the right to live peacefully..."

The young boy continued to talk to me as if he knows me very well.

"I'll ask you again. Who are you?"

We stared at each other's eyes, as we stared towards the other, we looked deep within their eyes...

And as I looked at the young boy's eyes, that seemed like a deep abyss, I thought...

"I see, this boy is made of suffering, despair, sadness... and regret..."

This thought made me sure of it. This young boy holds my memories of before Garam found me. After knowing this, I answered the boy's question..

"You asked me who I am..."

"I am you... while you are me. You are the darkness of my past. The sadness that I locked up, , the despair that destroyed my hopes... and the regret that dragged me deep in the abyss..."

After hearing my answer, the young boy made a bitter smile. He walked towards me and asked again.

"Who are you?"

This time, my answer held the resolve that I had once let go.

"I... I am Karl... Karl Jin..."

The young boy slowly vanished together with someone known as Karin. They formed the original, Karl Jin.

Shortly after merging with my past regrets, the memories that I kept locked up flooded inside my head...

I remembered how I dove into despair, how I enacted my revenge, and how I gained a new target of revenge...

After I destroyed the 'Kardia Empire' at the age of 12, my father... he revealed himself as the real mastermind behind the incident and attacked me right after I killed the king...

No matter how strong I was, I was still a young boy. After knowing the truth, I despaired...

I took down the 'Kardia Empire' to avenge the death of my father and mother and it turned out that my father was the real mastermind...

What a joke!

I couldn't accept it. I destroyed innocent lives for that fucking father. I want to apologize for the innocent lives that got involved but I know that I can't. The only thing I can do is to finish what I started and end my father's life as it should have been...

Anyways, I wondered why I was named 'Karin' when my name was 'Karl Jin'. It seems that when Garam found me, he saw my name on the dagger that I was holding. My name 'Karl Jin' was engraved on the dagger but after using it against the empire and against my father, the engravings was destroyed and the letters that remained were spelled as 'Karin'.

After staying there for a while, the sun completely settled then I stopped walking around the world of my memories.

I opened my eyes and saw Teacher Alvi was still interrogating Aly Farman. Aly Farman was the girl that got traumatized after being subjected to my bloodlust...

Of course she'll get traumatized. Given that I am a direct descendant of a Legendary Beast, just getting traumatized is already considered lucky...

As I looked at Aly Farman and Teacher Alvi, I figured that it would be bad if Aly were to say something bad about me...

With this, I decided on my first step as 'Karl Jin'...

"First, I should get out of this situation successfully."

"Haaah"