“Hmmm? What brought this on? After you’ve spent so long running away from doing that?”
“I’ll be marrying Tina next year…and I feel like he should…know that…”
“Oh, I see… That does make sense. I doubt he’d care much, though.”
I’d imagined as much. My father had never really liked me, anyway. I doubt he remembered I existed at all.
“The Cerberi village,” Air recalled, “was in a world called Leen-El Dorado. I haven’t been there since I deified, so I don’t know what it’s like there now.”
“Leen-El Dorado… Thank you. I’ll go there.”
“You do that. I can’t come along, I’m afraid. Those who deified are forbidden from going back. I’m sure they’ll let you in, though.” Saying this, Air gave me a strand of his hair. I didn’t know what for, then the hair levitated in my palm, billowed out smoke, and suddenly turned into a small black wolf plush the size of my thumb.
“What is this…?” I asked.
“Think of it as a means of identification,” Air said. “During my time there, the Cerberi village was hostile to outsiders. But if you show them you’re my apprentice, they probably won’t kill you.”
“Kill me?!”
“This is all I can do to help you. It’d be easier if I could come along. But really, you’re an adult. You can take care of yourself. If they irritate you, just beat them up.”
I couldn’t find the right words. Air was my…teacher. And also, my brother and father. I could vividly feel that he was…worried about me.
“Thank you. I’ll be off then,” I told him.
“You do that…”
I enveloped myself in my black flames, closed my eyes, and opened my third eye to set the right coordinates. I peered into the endlessly expanding interstice between worlds, into the dimensional sea. Across space and galaxies. Between the nether and beyond the multi-verse…
This is amazing…so this is what crossing into another world is like.
“Ah…!”
When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a forest of giant trees, standing a hundred feet tall. The hair doll Air gave me floated up and began guiding me through the forest.
Did…did I really come to another world?
“Oh! Hello…I’ve never seen you here before,” a voice suddenly said.
I turned around and saw the source of the voice: a turtle-like dragon raised its head through the trees to peer at me. A dragon speaking was no surprise. But that’s not why I was startled.
It was because this dragon didn’t know me. I’d never seen this kind of dragon or even this kind of place in all my long life.
“I’m, uh…my name is Renge.”
“I am Riola, an earth dragon who lives here in the Dragon Forest.”
“Dragon Forest…”
The name was unfamiliar. I didn’t know of such a place in Wisty Air. I really have traveled to another world…
“I think I’d recognize a mature Cerberus like you…” Riola said. “Were you born in the village?”
“Well, no. I was born in another world… I came here to see my father. I will marry next year and, though he might not care much for me, I thought I could do him the courtesy of telling him.”
“True…”
“Is the Cerberus village nearby?”
“Yes. Would you like for me to take you there?”
“Huh? You’d do that?”
“Of course. I’m on a walk and it’s on my route.”
While I wasn’t sure if I could trust this dragon, I still followed them. After five minutes of walking, Riola stopped in their tracks and looked somewhere. I looked in the same direction.
“K-Karin… Not often I see you out in the forest.”
Riola’s voice was stiff. Standing in front of us was a tall man with long hair that extended down to his feet. He was dressed in the same Cerberus native dress I wore when assuming human form. The robe-like dress had a unique pattern to it: black with a white outline, similar to armored fur.
But the atmosphere about him was unique. Like he wasn’t a living being.
…A half-god, half-Mythical…
I could tell he was alive. But he didn’t give off much of a presence.
“I am Karin,” he said, looking at me. “I am chief of the Cerberus clan.”
“I-I am called Renge,” I said, unsure of how to approach him.
“Ahh, the half-human, half-Mythical Oborozuki left behind in Mitsuba’s world…”
I gritted my teeth. So…I really was abandoned… But I didn’t expect the clan leader to appear here! Are we that close to the village? Or did he come here to bring me into the clan?
“That’s Mitsuba’s denizen beast,” he said, noticing the doll Air gave me. “I see you’ve reached adulthood.”
“Yes.”
“And you’re here to report to Oborozuki that you intend to marry another world’s Holy Woman, are you?”
“Y-Yes, but how do you—”
“You’re the one who’s sharing his third eye with me…though I see you’re not accustomed to using it.”
“Ah, yes…it’s my first time…”
“Which is why I came here to meet you. Past here is the gatekeeper. They know why you’re here. But they likely will not let you in.”
They’re not going to let me enter the village? I guess that makes sense, since I just showed up without letting them know… Is that why Chief Karin came out to greet me?
“He’s here for you, Oboro. So you handle him,” Chief Karin suddenly spoke to someone I couldn’t see.
I looked up and saw someone on one of the large trees’ branches. His features were very similar to Chief Karin’s. He wore a robe with long sleeves and a long hem. His hair was longer than mine. His eyes opened sleepily.
I could barely remember his face and voice. That’s how long it’d been since I’d last seen him. But there’s no doubt…
“F-Father…” I said, my voice breaking.
Longing and inexplicable emotion brewed in me.
Why did you leave me behind? Why did you care so little about me? Why didn’t you take me with you? Were you…waiting for me to come to you? I tried really hard until now. I—
My mind was racing with thoughts and complaints. But I was an adult, not a child who’d lash out over a grudge. My father being absent and my becoming Air’s apprentice made me stronger and gave me a place in the world. Many people in the Mythical continent relied on me. In both Leishi and Tinaris, I’d found precious people who meant the world to me.
My life is filled with regrets. But I never would’ve had all these dear encounters if you’d have taken me along. All my life thus far has been based on my choices. And I’ll keep on choosing my future all on my own.
I…I…!
The tears overflowed. There was so much to say. But the words just wouldn’t come out.
“I will be off then, young Cerberus,” Riola said gently, seeing me tremble and shed tears. I could hear the Earth Dragon’s retreating footsteps. But I was too choked up to be able to thank them properly.
Father and Chief Karin remained silent, waiting for me to calm down. But then I noticed my father dozing off again on his branch. He…truly cares nothing for me…
Finally, hesitantly, I spoke. “I…I will be getting married next year. I met a woman who accepts me, and she’s the only one I’ll spend my life with going forward.”
I’d considered distancing myself from Tinaris. But seeing my father now made me overcome some line I’d drawn in the sand. I had finally come to terms with something I never realized was holding me down this hard.
“I shall live on in Wisty Air. So…farewell, Father.”
“I see…”
My father finally spoke, despite looking like he was sleeping. He said nothing else: just those two words.
“Did Mitsuba teach you the laws of the Cerberi?” Chief Karin asked upon confirming I’d calmed down.
Mitsuba was Air’s Cerberi name. Cerberi had the authority and power to kill gods, which required them to live bound by firm laws. Since I was half-Cerebri, of course, Air had taught me those laws.
I nodded. Chief Karin nodded back. “Good, then. Your children, too, will be born with the power of the Cerberi. You must teach them the responsibilities that come with that power. And if you cannot do it alone, bring them to the village. We will teach them what their place in the universe is.”
“Understood.”
Such was my responsibility for the blood flowing in my veins.
Of course, Air and the others had said they weren’t sure if Tina and I were capable of having children to begin with. But…I can consider all that when—and if—we have children. After all, I’d been born despite my mother and father being different races. It wasn’t impossible.
And if that happened, our children could also be burdened with my great power: the black flames, capable of killing gods and burning concepts when mastered. If our future children proved to have greater potential than I’d had, there was a chance training them would be more than even Air could handle. In that case, I’d have to rely on the full-blooded Cerberi, as opposed to a god like Air or a mixed-blood like me.
“I’ll be counting on you if that happens,” I said finally.
“…Make sure to bring your family along next time. My younger brothers are kind to women and children,” Chief Karin suddenly said.
“Huh?” I looked up at him.
But at that moment, Chief Karin teleported away. That just left me and my father, resting on the branch above me, and he probably wasn’t interested in talking. He’d never talked to my mother endlessly, either. Still, it didn’t feel right leaving without saying anything.
“Farewell, Father,” I said softly.
I opened my third eye and set Wisty Air as my next destination. I used my tail to fix my position and enveloped myself in the black flames. My father said nothing, simply seeing me off with his now-open eyes.
I won’t be a father like you. I’ll become the kind of father I always wished I had. So farewell…in every way that matters.
I won’t be left behind. I will…see Tina off when the time comes. I’ll let her depart for her next life in peace, so I can meet her again when she reincarnates with my head held high. And we have centuries together before that.
Thinking about it like that, as my journey back to Wisty Air began, life didn’t seem so bad anymore.