Break Stories (Title and Cover Work In Progress)

4 - The Truth

What is true and what is fake? That's a question some people spend their entire lives trying to answer. Today I'll answer that question. I know which parts of the world are fiction, made to cover up, deceive, and protect, and which parts are true to the nature of the world, Existences that exist because they exist. Well, that's of course unless I don't try to break the 4th wall. If that's the truth, then I have no reason to be explaining this part. Still, I'm going to keep telling this story. Not to deceive or to protect something, but to reveal the truth to those who are curious enough. By the way, I'm not trying to make my tsundere debut here, but I'm not really telling this story for your sake. No, instead it is to make you understand what goes into my work, which in the end is going to make you go, "Oh wow, Fabric All-In-One really puts a lot of effort into his work". You have to understand that I too am human, and that I too like getting praised. So, in the end it is me who ends up getting the best feeling out of this exchange of information. I guess you could say the same stays true for lies. Some lies may be for the better of those who are deceived, but in the end it's the one who lied that gets the true benefit. No matter how real or fake that benefit is.

A loud beeping sound filled the bus, waking up anyone who had fallen asleep. I was one such person. After all, I had already been working on this little project of mine for many months, and this was really just the ending. There was no way I was going to fail now, so I took this quite calmly. Better to get rest now and underestimate the enemy, than to overstress yourself and fail the job last minute. Though I was very certain that no enemies were being underestimated. My job here was simple, and I had already succeeded in doing the hardest part. What lied ahead was child's play.

I had already booked a stay at a relatively fancy hotel. The reception was actually really amazing, a nice coincidence to be sure. I didn't stay at the hotel for too long though, since I arrived at Kahenichi in the morning, having taken the night bus to get there. I decided to take a small stroll around the city before going to my main destination. To be quite frank, the town was pretty much in ruins. I had gotten a good impression about the place after arriving at that fancy hotel, but the rest of the town really was looking horrible. Although I had guessed this would be the case, it still surprised me just how badly destroyed the whole place was. The fact that such a fancy hotel could keep up was quite the miracle.

Other than the state of the town, there really wasn't much to note. Before the town was so destroyed, I had actually heard they had built a new shrine so I went to see that, but it was just as broken as the rest. The streets were also basically empty too, although I hadn't been to the town center and it was before rush hour so that might have had something to do with it.

After having strolled around town for longer than I would care to admit, I finally decided to finish this job that had been a good few months in the making. The place that the final battle was taking place was none other than the old shrine. a place I had a surprisingly close connection to, despite never having been there.

Ascending the stairs to the old shrine, I prepared myself for the worst. As the shrine came into view I was quite surprised to see the shrine being just as run down as I had imagined. You would think the new god here at least had the energy to build up his own shrine, but even that was too much work I guess. Reaching the shrine just a few steps away from the stairs I dropped 100 yen into the offering box. As expected, out of the came a god that looked absolutely hopeless. The fact that he showed up before me either meant he was looking the get something from me or that he already knew me.

"Hey there, do you know the way to the newly built shrine? I could only find two ones and they were both run down." I asked him with a slightly smug look on my face. "What are you here for? There is no way it's for anything good." He replied

It was that moment that I had noticed a massive mistake on my part. if a handful of salt was all he needed to take down the earlier god then I though that he wasn't prepared. His looks also gave away that impression, but since it was clear he didn't want anything from me, that could only mean one thing. He knew who I was. Instantly I leapt back, just narrowly avoiding a slash. I was quite knowledgeable when it came to gods, so I was able to sense him when he first showed up, but this time I didn't have to sense him. With a monkey's paw in one hand and a crabs arm for the other, this creature was nothing short of visible. I had prepared some salt incase he was as weak as the old god but that was not needed. The god came leaping towards me but since I was expecting it this time, it was not problem for me to dodge it.

"I didn't expect to see you so soon, Fabric. It's a shame I wasn't able to draw much energy from the city." the god said, tauntingly. "Don't you think there are better things to do than draw energy from innocent people that have already suffered enough from your curses? Maybe that is why you haven't been able to do a fraction of what the old god could." I replied. "Compared to my pain the people haven't experienced anything!" he said.

As the god dashed towards me one more time, I was able to take out a pendulum containing a scorpion incased in glass at the end of it. "It is said that scorpions poison gods!" I screamed at him. Suddenly, he was blasted into the shrine with a high force. The god that had before resembled a menacing creature was now back to the state I saw when I first met him. This time I of course was more cautious since I knew he was capable of deceiving. That caution was unneeded though. The god was now nothing more than a ghost.

"You are useless! The damage has already been done! You don't have a chance in hell to make this town into what it once was!" He screamed at me. "What do you mean? I just have to switch you out. Did you really think I would come here without a plan? Tell me this, dear god, what is my profession?" I replied. "Fabric All-In-One! You are an exterminator of gods! That's what you are known for and that is what you have shown to be today!" he answered. "Hmm, while it is true that I get a lot of requests to kill gods, that is not my profession." I replied. The god was clearly quite confused as to where I was going with this. "I am not one who slays gods! I am one who deceives them! I energetically elaborated. "A young girl killed herself by jumping off the bridge after meeting a cat? What a stupid premise. A man killed everyone in a hotel without making any sound? What kind of reality is that? Tell me, how did he get in the rooms? Wasn't there any security? What were his motives? There is no answer! I made the whole thing up!"

This was the moment I had spent months working up towards.

"But I know that all happened!" The god protested. "Do you?" I pressed him. "Yes, I saw it with my very own two eyes! I cursed this city! The sadness I had built up after so many years of never ending happiness had to go somewhere!" he explained. "By now you should know that the thing that make gods, are humans. The fact that you exist is proof that people believe in your existence.  The same is the case with curses. People believed in me that those tragedies existed, and so did you! But the curses didn't, and still don't, exist!" I explained. It was at the point the god gave up.

It is often said that to save someone, you need to sacrifice something else. In this case, by planning ahead, I was able to save a whole town by just sacrificing a god that only destroyed the town anyways. Although it may not seem like it at this very moment, this is indeed very much still a price though. A small price, but still a price. I am pointing this out to show you that sometimes, things do end well. Please do keep this in mind.

The god passed away with a smile on his face.