Descendants of the Gods

Chapter 81: Demigodly Way

KASDEYA ARGYROS' Point of View

"No."

One word. All it took is one word to change many destinies.

When the bright stone shattered under the tip of my dagger, so does everything around me. Parang nahuhulog na salamin ang kadiliman ng kweba.

Unti unting bumagsak ang mukha ng babaeng gawa sa bato kasama ng aking paligid, ngunit hindi nakatakas sa paningin ko ang nakakakilabot na ngiting gumuhit sa labi niya bago ito tuluyang mawasak.

I blink back the broken space I was trapped in, the feeling of something big weighted on my shoulders.

Napayuko ako. No blood in my hands, but why does it feel like I just killed a thousand men?

Tinitigan ko ang aking mga palad na puno ng dumi. Hindi ko pinansin ang digmaang nangyayari sa paligid ko.

I have always been selfish. Gagawin ko ang lahat para sa sarili ko kahit na kailangan ko pang tapakan ang ibang tao para makuha ang aking gusto.

For years, I taught myself how to trick people, have them wrapped around my fingers, and to become manipulative because I know that I need to sacrifice everyone else in order to survive.

Survive. I always say that a lot, don't I?

Para sa akin, iyon ang pinakaimportante.

Hindi ako yung klaseng tao na gustong mamatay ng maaga. Gusto kong mabuhay ng normal at walang kahirap hirap. To me, that's what living life to the fullest is like.

When I was still Katharsis' prisoner, I had to go through torture day and night. They never showed me mercy, I never expected them to, but that fear made everything suffocating and I always feel like I have to cling to life.

It made me realize that I need to be ruthless too if I want to get what I need.

My father's death is enough to make me understand the importance of surviving, but my desire deepened when I was behind steel bars.

I never told anyone about my experience, or how much I suffered before. Hindi ko gustong pag-usapan ang nangyari sa akin sa mga nakalipas na taon. It's a secret between me and Katharsis, one that I always thought I would take with me to the grave.

Everyday was a nightmare, but I needed to stay strong for myself because no one was there to help me get through it, to save me from the eternal damnation I was trapped in.

I adjusted and adjusted, to the point that I haywire my personality to fit in the mold the world had created. There is no time to entertain moral values and what is acceptable, or what the child in me wants.

I need to survive above all. If thinking about the clueless, naive child I used to be is considered as a hindrance to my ultimate goal, then becoming an empty shell with one purpose is my last resort.

Nothing else should matter. I will throw everything away, my innocence and my feelings, just to survive.

I force myself to mature so I can live another day.

After I escaped, alam kong hindi pa tapos. I became obsessed with the idea of being normal just to blend in. I would hold a pen to ink myself as one of the normal humans, but it's not enough.

My past caught up to me. My origins had always been hard to escape.

I had always fallen on the hands of misfortune before I was even aware of it.

Hindi ako naniniwala sa tadhana. I always thought that the concept of fates are too vague and ridiculous to create the monstrosities of the universe. In a world full of gods and beings that aren't as mythical as the common folk thinks, relying on destiny seemed like a weak source of hope and wishful thinking.