This is a multimedia webnovel with giant city-crushing monsters, a valiant man who dares to fight them, a hero who loses himself on a righteous path, and a darkness which conceives a profound love. But I suck at descriptions, so I strongly encourage...
"A cacophony of anguish now overwhelms my senses. Have I fallen into the tempest? Or have I become a part of it? I always hoped that death would be more fulfilling than this," Hatasuko whispered, but he could not hear his own voice over the endless cries and shouts all around him.
"You are not dead, Hatasuko. You were nearly killed by the Interfectus, but you escaped at the very last moment," said an unfamiliar voice from within the storm of screams.
Hatasuko could feel the presence of someone else inside the abyss of his own mind. There was no light in any direction, so he could not see the face of the newcomer.
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"Forgive me, but I don't think I remember your voice. Have we met?" Hatasuko asked.
"We have not. My name is Kurt, and I put myself back together while you were healing. But I am not important. What is important is that this world still needs you alive. You have to wake up before anyone else is lost," said the man in the tempest.
"But what the hell am I supposed to do? The last thing I remember is crashing into the ground outside the forest city. I remember that the whole sky was blocked by smoke. The Interfectus killed Lazaro. I haven't even tried to wake up since then. I'm starting to believe that I couldn't even if I wanted to. I've been locked in here at the boundary between the tempest and my memories; I can't even decide which one scares me more," Hatasuko confessed.
"I know that. I've been standing right here beside you, right at the edge of the tempest. I saw what happened to your mother. I saw what happened to Lazaro. That can't be an easy thing for anyone to come to terms with."
"It isn't easy, Kurt. I still have so many mixed feelings about Lazaro, and I never got the chance to sort them out. I feel like he died way before anyone was ready, but I guess that's the thing about death. I know that's a selfish thought. Besides, the world and its monsters don't care about any sentiment. They take anyone and everyone, regardless of how crucial their victims are. I just wish I could have found a way to reconcile how much I hate him with how much I need him," Hatasuko explained.
Since he stood at the edge of the tempest and his memories, Hatasuko could hear both the lost screams and his own shouts of agony. He could feel his anger from the day he challenged Lazaro with his fists, but he could also feel sympathy from the day when Lazaro explained how he become who he was.
"I know that closure means a lot to people, in fact I'm haunted by the reality that so many people crave it. But to tell you the truth, I don't think that's one of humanity's better traits. The one benefit in Lazaro's early death is that you don't need to decide if you hate him, since it won't change anything that matters. I know this isn't my place to say this since I'm dead and you're alive, but I really think you should be more solution-oriented," Kurt said.
