Sitting within the confines of the cabin left behind by the old hunter, who himself had no more need for the place as he had returned to the comforts of his own home, Solmar was looking out across the rocky terrain that wasn't yet covered by snow. Were he to move further up by only a few hundred meters, the rocks would have been covered under a thick blanket of the cold white stuff already, as such was the difference made by the altitude. But none of that really mattered much to the Slayer, who was just sitting in front of the broken window as the cold mountain breeze touched his face and rustled his hair every time it came back around. It had been over two weeks since he had last been to the Mountain village below in order to deal with a demented Wraith, an encounter that had done quite the number on him in both a physical and a psychological way. In fact, he was still processing the things he had seen, the dead children in various states of decay and their captured spirits lingering to see what was being done to their remains.
Wondering whether he would ever truly be okay with the things he had seen, part of him knew that it had also worked to trigger memories he had been working very hard to forget. Memories of a time when he had left a small village in a similar state, bodies littering the streets up until the moment he got stopped by a local mage. Things like that made him think about Justice, and what it all meant. The way he saw it, while he had murdered the wraith that had killed all of those children and enslaved their spirits, all he could do was set their spirits free. All he could do was to free those that were still alive and make sure they got home safely. But that wasn't justice, justice would have been to make the wraith pay for it through some agonizing form of torture that would last for years, if not eternity. She had gotten off easy by dying, meaning she would not need to atone for all of the bad things she had done in life and in her semi-afterlife. Since Solmar himself did not believe in a heaven or a hell for people, he knew better than to hope that her soul would have been taken down to hell.
With the summer solstice still being in full trek, Solmar had chosen seclusion for a very good reason, something he had uncovered when he had fought against a being calling itself a god, though it looked a lot more like a goat. While it was indeed a powerful adversary, it was not that which worried him, but rather how his magic seemed to respond to the solstice itself. What with it being the longest day of the year, it seemed that his magic was more powerful than it usually was, making it quite a bit harder to control. While trying to fight the goat creature Cernunnos, he had to constantly be weary of how his attacks might rage out of control and could actually hurt the civilians or the village itself by accident. Because of his past, he never wanted to be the cause of a village getting sacked again, so he worked all the more hard at making sure places like that remained safe. While it wasn't his job, he always chose to make it so when he picked up things like these from notice boards or chose to hear the pleas of the people. Aside from that, just seeing bad things unfold in front of him was often enough for him to act on it.
With Cernunnos taken care of, he had come to realize how destructive his magic was when under these conditions, so he had chosen to actively remove himself from the world until the summer solstice was over. From the rather cozy cabin, he got to look out across a small portion of Sakuramori on one side, the mountains on the other side, and even a small portion of the ocean when he peered far enough into the distance from the western side. Looking out into the distance however, he could tell that the water seemed to be a lot more easy to see this time around. And that was exactly when his eyes picked up what they could not perceive before, which was a towering wall of water approaching the shoreline on a clear course of collision. Though the wave would just crash into the high cliffs that made up that portion of the coastline, he figured that there might be people or animals around there that might be in trouble if it hit. Picking up his coat and leaving Fellis to sleep it off in the cabin, Solmar moved outside and started running through the mountains and towards the cliffs with as much as his feet could produce.
Traversing the rocky terrain, the tidal wave became more and more clear, turning out to be a lot higher than he had imagined it to initially be from a distance, and faster to boot. Crashing against the cliffs, the wave also moved over it as it started flooding across the rocky terrain of the mountain. Not having anywhere to go or anything to hold on to, the water swept Solmar off of his feet and forced him along with the cold ocean waters. Being entirely at his mercy, he could barely see a thing due to the salty ocean water stinging in his eyes whenever he tried. Really not enjoying it whenever he was forced into a position where he lost control of what was happening, he summoned his sword and stuck it deep into the ground. Though it took a lot of effort, after a few more meters of being dragged along by the current, he finally managed to anchor himself into the ground and retain a bit of control. Almost half a minute later, it seemed that the water was finally receding back towards the ocean while taking everything that wasn't held down with it.
(1034)
Wondering whether he would ever truly be okay with the things he had seen, part of him knew that it had also worked to trigger memories he had been working very hard to forget. Memories of a time when he had left a small village in a similar state, bodies littering the streets up until the moment he got stopped by a local mage. Things like that made him think about Justice, and what it all meant. The way he saw it, while he had murdered the wraith that had killed all of those children and enslaved their spirits, all he could do was set their spirits free. All he could do was to free those that were still alive and make sure they got home safely. But that wasn't justice, justice would have been to make the wraith pay for it through some agonizing form of torture that would last for years, if not eternity. She had gotten off easy by dying, meaning she would not need to atone for all of the bad things she had done in life and in her semi-afterlife. Since Solmar himself did not believe in a heaven or a hell for people, he knew better than to hope that her soul would have been taken down to hell.
With the summer solstice still being in full trek, Solmar had chosen seclusion for a very good reason, something he had uncovered when he had fought against a being calling itself a god, though it looked a lot more like a goat. While it was indeed a powerful adversary, it was not that which worried him, but rather how his magic seemed to respond to the solstice itself. What with it being the longest day of the year, it seemed that his magic was more powerful than it usually was, making it quite a bit harder to control. While trying to fight the goat creature Cernunnos, he had to constantly be weary of how his attacks might rage out of control and could actually hurt the civilians or the village itself by accident. Because of his past, he never wanted to be the cause of a village getting sacked again, so he worked all the more hard at making sure places like that remained safe. While it wasn't his job, he always chose to make it so when he picked up things like these from notice boards or chose to hear the pleas of the people. Aside from that, just seeing bad things unfold in front of him was often enough for him to act on it.
With Cernunnos taken care of, he had come to realize how destructive his magic was when under these conditions, so he had chosen to actively remove himself from the world until the summer solstice was over. From the rather cozy cabin, he got to look out across a small portion of Sakuramori on one side, the mountains on the other side, and even a small portion of the ocean when he peered far enough into the distance from the western side. Looking out into the distance however, he could tell that the water seemed to be a lot more easy to see this time around. And that was exactly when his eyes picked up what they could not perceive before, which was a towering wall of water approaching the shoreline on a clear course of collision. Though the wave would just crash into the high cliffs that made up that portion of the coastline, he figured that there might be people or animals around there that might be in trouble if it hit. Picking up his coat and leaving Fellis to sleep it off in the cabin, Solmar moved outside and started running through the mountains and towards the cliffs with as much as his feet could produce.
Traversing the rocky terrain, the tidal wave became more and more clear, turning out to be a lot higher than he had imagined it to initially be from a distance, and faster to boot. Crashing against the cliffs, the wave also moved over it as it started flooding across the rocky terrain of the mountain. Not having anywhere to go or anything to hold on to, the water swept Solmar off of his feet and forced him along with the cold ocean waters. Being entirely at his mercy, he could barely see a thing due to the salty ocean water stinging in his eyes whenever he tried. Really not enjoying it whenever he was forced into a position where he lost control of what was happening, he summoned his sword and stuck it deep into the ground. Though it took a lot of effort, after a few more meters of being dragged along by the current, he finally managed to anchor himself into the ground and retain a bit of control. Almost half a minute later, it seemed that the water was finally receding back towards the ocean while taking everything that wasn't held down with it.
(1034)