Your Past - Val Dred
“So I’m gonna die alone. Heh, figured.”
With my body nearing its limit, I look up towards the sky, waiting for my death to come.
It was a sunny day, not even a single cloud in sight.
Got myself into a fight with fellow beastmen that opposed me, and at one point I thought I’d win and let my guard down. The next moment, I got shoved off of the top of a cliff.
It’s a miracle I’m still alive at all. But with these deep injuries, I probably ain't gonna make it anyway.
The beastmen lean more towards their natural instinct despite being able to be fully rational.
That’s why we measure our ability to become king through sheer power alone.
If anyone wants to have the king title, they can just challenge the current king in a fight, like what the people that pushed me off the cliff did.
And that’s also what I did to become king in the past.
It just feels wrong for me to resent those who did the same.
My senses are starting to fade away.
I can see someone coming from afar.
I thought it's just my mind playing stuff as I’m dying… But their shadow just grows thicker.
My consciousness gave in before I could see who it was.
When I opened my eyes again, the first thing I saw was a little human man.
He used some kind of trolley to carry my body and head towards his own castle.
“The heck… are you… Stop or I’ll kill you…” My voice is shamefully hoarse and small, small enough to even be called a whisper.
Ah, I remember now.
This little human is the same man that visited me last night.
Who was his name again? Can't even be bothered to remember stuff like that. Too troublesome for me.
He visited me alone last night, and asked me to join the next Lispia Council meeting to discuss about some kinda peace agreement.
I laughed him off and shooed him away.
Conflict has always been part of daily lives even amongst the beastmen.
No way that different races could even start talking about peace.
He kept on coming back and kept begging me to show up to the meeting. I even grabbed him by the collar and kicked him out forcefully, but he still kept coming back.
Right when I thought he had given up and went back to his own country already, now he’s there in front of me.
“Why… are you doing this…”
“I saw your soldier running away from here. That’s why I know for sure I will find you here.” The man said with a warm smile.
“O king of beastmen, Val.
My name is Eida. I will save you.”
He will save me, he said? A man that even his own soldiers are running away from?
And a beastman, even? Not even his own kin.
Felt like a sharp pain bursting through my chest hearing that.
The moment you show a weakness in front of a beastman, you're sure as hell it's gonna be taken advantage of.
That’s why I couldn’t let my guard down, even towards a little human.
After that, he treated me back to health, and actually saved me from death.
So, I decided to just show up in the next Lispia Council meeting. That's not the only thing that made me agree to that peace agreement, though.
He said to me, in a place called the Holy City of Kataliah, there's a power that could change the entire world. With that much power, I could unite the whole country of beastmen with just my strength alone. If I vote in favor to the peace agreement in that meeting, he said he will give that power to me in 10 years.
Not a single beastmen in my country knows Eida’s name.
This is something only I and Eida know.
Eida, fully knows that I want power, also said this to me:
“Val, domination through violence bears little meaning.
It will be nice if someday you can understand the true meaning behind that word.” He said, with a sad smile.
The heck is he even trying to say at this point...
10 years later after that, he called us race representatives again for a meeting he called “Recouncil.”
I walk towards the Loden castle where Eida lives, all while thinking about what kinds of power I will be getting today.