Tengu

393 AC - Halua disappears beneath the clouds, and I smack the rock wall with my fist. I feel an overwhelming anger take hold of me – rage from having suffered another defeat, from having let the Leviathan slip away once again. I immediately start thinking back to my argument with Basira, when she had called my intentions into question. Why the hell should anyone care about my intentions? "You claim to want to protect, but how do you intend to do that when everything you do is guided by hate?" I take my mask off and throw it to the ground. I feel the resentment and spite rising like bile. They churn in my head, constantly searching for an outlet. How dare she?! But as my wrath focuses on her, an intrusive thought starts to force its way into my mind. What if she's right?

I scream and fall to my knees. No, Sol. Don't let doubt gnaw away at you from the inside. I need to get rid of it before it gets to me. I scream again, letting my Avgrunn express itself. All my rage, exasperation and ire flows out of me as the shape of the Tengu materializes in front of me. "Your mission has two faces. It pretends to be a noble cause, but it's no more than vengeance at its core." Why does it think it can teach me anything? How can it be so hypocritical when that's exactly what it's looking for too? The winged demon lands on a floating rock, its face red with rage and its nose as long as Pinocchio's. Are we both simply lying to ourselves?

Rooted in Japanese folklore, tengu are mythical creatures with many faces. They were originally tormentors and malicious, but their image evolved over the years, and they eventually became pious and protective. Yet becoming a tengu always results from a mistake that must be atoned for: having chosen the path of anger, ambition, vanity and pride.

SOLEDAD