Divinity

--- [Isaac’s perspective]

The day after he told us his plans, Gael left on his journey.

He woke up early that morning, and by the time we were up, he was already gone.

We didn’t have an opportunity to say goodbye, but we didn’t mind.

We knew he was coming back one day anyways…

Like we promised him, me and Iris continued our training.

By the time he left, we were all quite proficient with BDM.

If we really tried, we could probably pass the F-rank exam already.

Despite that, we held it off on it, and focused on our training instead.

Since we were kids, we had always wanted to become hunters together, so we didn’t mind waiting for him to get back before entering the exam.

Weeks went by and we heard nothing…

Makes sense I suppose, if he really wanted to see everything the world had to offer, it would take more than a few weeks.

Months went by, still no word from him…

We didn’t expect him to be back in just a few months either, so that wasn’t very unexpected.

He could have sent letters, but there could also be all sorts of reasons why he didn’t.

The seasons changed, then changed again, yet he was still nowhere to be seen…

We weren’t exactly worried about him; we knew he could handle himself…

But the hole left by his absence grew larger and larger as time passed.

The dynamic we once had was starting to fade.

We had always been so similar to each other, but him not being here anymore affected me and Iris in very different ways, and it made those small differences between us more and more noticeable.

It was weird, but it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Years went by, and our hope for his eventual return was getting slimmer by the day.

Did something happen to him?

Did he abandon us?

Is he dead…?

We didn’t know, and it was haunting us…

More than two years had gone by since he left, and we finally decided it was time to give up on becoming hunters together.

We had no idea if or when he would come back; we couldn’t just set our dreams on pause forever.

Every day that went by was another day where dungeons were left uncleared.

We couldn’t just let what happened to us, happen to others, so we took the exam without him.

Of course, we passed with flying colors.

We had been ready to take the exam for years after all.

Another few years went by, and in that time, we finally achieved what we had set out to accomplish.

Iris and I cleared tons of dungeons, potentially saving thousands of lives.

Of course, we never once went on our own.

Every single mission we ever did was done together.

We lost our other half, and instead of breaking us, it brought us together even closer…

I lost Gael, I couldn’t afford to lose her too.

She lost Gael, she couldn’t afford to lose me too.

Our bond was tighter than ever before; nothing could separate us.

That’s when it happened…

That’s when we finally heard from him…

His parents sent us a letter, telling us he was back.

To this day, she was still holding out hope, even though mine had faded long ago…

It made her ecstatic; I have never seen anybody that happy before.

Of course, I was happy too, but not in the same way she was.

After having lost hope so long ago, having him suddenly come back, just confused me more than anything.

To her, it was like a massive weight had been lifted.

To me, it was like the dead had come back to life…

With no delay, we immediately went back home.

I had already made peace with him never coming back…

A part of me still didn’t believe he was back, but there he was, in the flesh…

A million things were going through my mind…

Will our life go back to how it was now?

Does he still want to be a hunter?

Why did he never write us a letter or stop by for a visit?

He said he was tired and would tell us everything in the morning, and so for the first time in years, all three of us slept in the same bed.

There was something so comforting about knowing he was not only alive, but back…

That was the best night of sleep I’ve ever had.

No, not just the best, but the last good night of sleep I’ve ever had…

There hasn’t been a night since where I haven’t been terrorized by awful nightmares of what happened next…

I woke up feeling perfectly well rested, and my eyes did not feel heavy in the slightest.

Usually it would take a few minutes before I was able to get out of bed, but not that time.

The sun was shining on my face, and it felt like I could get up at any point.

But that’s not all I felt…

There was this uncomfortable, wet, substance all over me and the mattress.

My first thought was that one of us somehow pissed themselves…

I turned around, and the first thing I was greeted with was the sight of blood…

Iris’ throat was slit so deeply her head was barely even attached to her body anymore.

She had already completely bled out by the time I woke up, so there wasn’t a single drop of blood leaking out of her massive wound.

The sight was so horrifying that to this day I still see it just as clearly every time I close my eyes.

I was paralyzed in shock and fear; I didn’t know what was going on.

I thought it was just a nightmare, but the scene was so dreadful that even though I ‘knew’ it was ‘just a dream’, it still shook me to my core…

The very next thing I see is Gael standing beside the bed.

Snot and tears were uncontrollably streaming down his face.

He tried wiping it away over and over again, but just seconds later, his face would be just as big of a mess.

“I’m sorry…! I’m sorry! I had to!” – Gael

Before I could even comprehend what was going on, he fled the scene…

Reality quickly hit me…

This was not a dream.

Iris is dead.

Gael killed her.

After having lost him, and finally made peace with it, he came back.

Then just as he came back, he took everything away from me…

He killed the one person I cared more about than anything else in the world.

And for what reason?

What reason could he possibly have that could in any way justify what he did?!

I have no idea what happened to him while he was away, but it changed him.

He was no longer the same Gael he was in the past.

In my mind, I still think of them as separate people.

I can’t help it…

My Gael died the moment he left us, and what returned was a monster.

Our dream as kids was to become heroes who would exterminate the evil monsters who threaten the lives of innocent people.

That is still my dream.

By any means necessary, that monster must be exterminated…!