As he spoke the word "death" and pointed the kharga toward them.
Something inside the soldiers broke. Some fell to their knees, legs shaking uncontrollably. A few even pissed themselves, the stench spreading faintly through the air. Others clung to each other in blind panic, as if holding on could somehow save them.
Several men collapsed as the suffocating, crimson-black aura surged from the commander.. To them, it felt as if something stood behind the commander—
A towering red demon, half-formed, flickering like an illusion yet far too real to deny. For them, with each moment the air grew heavier with forgotten breath.
Then suddenly a sharp, mocking laughter rang out from behind them. The sound cut through the suffocating fear like a blade.
The soldiers turned.
The Monkey Man stood there casually, holding their comrade's severed head in his hand. He inspected it with curiosity, turning it left and right as if examining a strange object.
He laughed. He poked a finger into its nose and then on his nose. Pulled its tongue out playfully. The soldiers watched in horror, unable to look away.
Then, another sound of dull thud echoed as the headless body behind them finally collapsed onto the ground. The Monkey Man's laughter softened slightly. His expression changed but not that much.
He looked into the distance and spoke, almost gently, "Maybe you will come here again… for another person's life. But next time, no one will reach out to help you… if you are not willing to help yourself."
He paused.
"Go, brave traveller. May you prosper in your next life."
His voice dropped, calm and steady.
"You are free from the pain of this tiny life. May the eternal sun be with you. Go… walk a new path."
With that, he casually threw the severed head toward the sea. It spun through the air and vanished into the distant darkness.
The commander watched everything with a twisted amusement. "Oh?" he said, tilting his head. "And who is worthy enough to receive your shitty sun?" He smirked coldly. "Those slaves? Or that severed head?" He stepped forward slightly, the aura around him crackling. "They were all going to be sacrificed for a holy ritual anyway. Devoured by sea beasts. That was their fate." His eyes narrowed. "But tell me…"
"Why don't you think about your own little life?"
His voice turned sharp. "Do you really think that by running from here, you can escape my anger?" The Monkey Man smiled faintly. "Run?" he said. "Only foolish people run. Cowards run." His gaze sharpened. "But the brave… they fight with life itself." He leaned forward slightly, voice calm yet absolute. "Either conquer the world… or die without a grave."
For a moment there was silence, it felt that even air stopped to respect that line. Then the commander burst into laughter. Red sparks crackled violently from his body, snapping through the air like lightning.
"See?" he said. "That is the mentality of a soldier." His smile twisted. "Too bad… you are not one of them." He raised the kharga slowly, the blood still dripping from its edge.
"A bag of bones like you…" he continued, voice dripping with mockery, but his eyes burned with killing intent. "Tell me… do you have any last words for your damn life?"
That man suddenly stepped forward and jumped near the commander. Then, to everyone's shock, he bowed slightly and spoke calmly, "My life… it was never mine." His voice was steady, almost indifferent. "It was given to me by those who raised me… but now, I give it to this kharga."
Then he burst into laughter.
"Hahahahaha…!"
Before anyone could react, he reached out and sliced into his thumb instantly at the sharp edge of the kharga.
Blood flowed as it was cleansing the kharga and without any hesitation, he cut the tip of his thumb and raised it to his forehead, drawing a blood tilak upon himself.
Then, He stepped closer and with that same blood, he marked the commander's forehead as well. The soldiers gasped. The commander's eyes flickered for a brief moment. The man raised his voice. "Now… it is owned by this kharga. As your life is also being nominated."
He smiled faintly. "What is there to think about anymore?"
The commander stared at him and suddenly laughed.
"Ahahahah… nice… nice…"
His grin widened. "So… at least you understand."
For a moment, the two stood face to face, eyes locked in silence. The air between them tightened, as if even space itself dared not interfere.
Then the man asked quietly "What about your life?" The commander's smile did not fade. "After you die?" he replied. "What will you gain by knowing about my life?" He tilted his head slightly, voice mocking. "What a foolish thought… coming from such a wise and brave person."
His gaze sharpened. "Do you even know about yourself?" The man did not hesitate. "No, but even then… I know nothing will change."
He looked upward for a brief second, as if listening to something far away. "Still… I have a mission. Not like you."
Then, lowering his voice, almost muttering to himself, "Even if I die… I have to come back again. What a hassle…"
A faint, almost irritated smile appeared. "Even after death, I cannot rest. That little shit has truly bound me well."
The commander frowned slightly.
"Are you cursing again?"
The man shook his head.
"No."
"Just chanting a few words… before ending this foolish life."
He lifted his gaze once more, calm and unwavering.
"Remember this."
"More people like me will come."
His voice carried further now, echoing faintly.
"Life will prosper again and again in this land. Time will change. Civilizations will rise and fall…"
He paused.
"But our work… has always been only one thing."
"To give them direction."
The commander tilted his head slightly and asked in a mocking tone,
"Oh really? Then I will end them… one by one."
His lips curled into a cruel smile as if the thought itself amused him. The Monkey Man laughed loudly, the sound sharp and fearless. "How many are you going to kill?" he said, shaking his head. "Don't think your life is going to end like theirs. You are not an immortal being… just a woman-fucker."
He grinned wider. "So tell me… how many times can you cut our heads? Foolish thinking…" The commander's expression darkened for a moment, but then he smirked again. "So what?" he replied. "Even if I curse my own life, I am happy with what I have." He spread his arms slightly, as if presenting his existence to the world. "I can use my power however I want. My life is full of happiness… full of fun…"
The Monkey Man's laughter rang out again, softer this time, but deeper. "Life is fun… ahh… life is fun indeed," he said slowly. "If you walk on the right path." His gaze sharpened. "But you chose a different one. That is why you do not understand the meaning of life."
The air again grew heavier between them. "Remember this," he said, his voice dropping into something deeper as it felt like an echo. "This is your last lesson… before you die." A faint blue light flickered within his eyes. "Life… is just a painful journey. To find happiness, we do anything… everything… just to live. And yet, we cannot truly live."
He tapped his chest lightly. "Because pain is already inside us."
A pause.
"We are born in pain. We accept it. And then we walk a path where pain and happiness mix together… for something we call a greater good."
"Life is full of pain," he continued. "Or perhaps… it is just a lonely road, walked alone until the end."
He looked directly at the commander. "And you say your life is full of fun?"
He shook his head slowly. "No… that is impossible."
Then he raised his index finger and pressed it against his own chest. His eyes glowed faintly blue. "No one truly knows how to have fun in life." His voice softened, yet became even more dangerous. "We are all puppets of fate. You… me… every single one of them."
The wind stirred faintly again. "When you understand that, you can laugh at it. You can find your own kind of fun against it." His gaze hardened. "But if you don't… then pain will crawl out of you again and again, searching for its own end."
He exhaled slowly. "Such is life."
A brief silence followed.
Then he smiled faintly. "And you said you would kill us all?"
He chuckled. "Never possible." "You may be reborn… but only in the natural way. Not the way you wanted."
His tone turned calm again. "You received this chance because of karma from your previous life. But this… will not happen again in your next life."
The commander's smile faltered slightly. "Time will change," the Monkey Man continued. "But they will still come. Again and again. In every era. In every moment."
"To change the lives of those lost in darkness… those who need help."
His eyes softened for a brief second.
"Some of them will perish."
"Some will rise toward heaven."
Then his grin returned, sharp and mocking.
"I don't think I need to explain everything to you."
He tilted his head slightly.
"Even with that dick brain of yours… you should be able to understand this much."
A low, amused laughter escaped him—
"Hehehehehe…"
Commander asked, again in a mocking tone, "Then… it's fine. I will be reborn into a different life. But just like you, many people will be born like me. They will come again and again, meet each other again and again. What will happen then?"
The monkey man tilted his head slightly, a strange smile spreading across his face. "Destruction… in the face of eternal life."
Commander froze for a moment, then muttered, his voice slipping into madness, "Again destruction… again eternal life… ahh… again… destruction…"
His eyes twitched as he looked up, laughter barely contained. "But what does eternal life even mean to you? Why do you chase it? Why do you shout for it every day? Does even eternal life even exist?"
The monkey man suddenly burst into laughter, louder, wilder, almost echoing the commander's madness. "A frog in the well"
"Eternal… eternal… hahahaha… eternal life…"He raised his face toward the sky, voice cracking with something between amusement and pity. "Nothing is eternal in this cursed world. Either you accept death… or death will accept you. Life… is nothing but a mere illusion in our blinded mortal eyes."
Then, abruptly, he stopped laughing and stared directly at the commander.
"Do you want to achieve eternal life too?"
For a brief moment, silence swallowed the battlefield.
A faint glow flickered in the commander's eyes. The suffocating pressure he emitted earlier began to subside, replaced by something colder… sharper. The soldiers around him, who had been trembling under his aura, finally managed to breathe again, though their bodies were still drenched in sweat.
He slowly turned his back toward them, a smile creeping across his lips.
"Tell me… the path," he said quietly. "I will spare your life. That is my promise."
The monkey man suddenly leapt back onto his rock, his presence rising again like a storm gathering in the sky. He ignored the commander and instead shouted toward the soldiers, his voice cutting through the air like a blade.
"Life is just a journey of walking! A path given to you to choose!"
His voice echoed across the land.
"Either you choose… or you are chosen. You have to choose. Nothing matters before or after, but you must understand the fruit of your choice!"
The wind began to stir.
"No path is purely virtue… no path is purely sin. Once you walk it, you must accept it. Keep walking… or lie down and rot upon it!"
He pointed toward them, eyes blazing.
"Someone else will come along that same path, kick you aside, and continue forward! That is how cruel life is!"
The soldiers stood frozen, unable to move.
"Choose… or be chosen. Those who do neither… may get another chance… or may never be seen again!"
His voice dropped, becoming heavier.
"Eternal life is just a myth. Even the air you breathe is dying. Eternal darkness crumbles before a single candle. And even the eternal sun is stained by the sins of darkness…"
He leaned forward slightly, eyes narrowing.
"So tell me… how will you achieve eternal life… without first letting go of it?"
For a second, everything went still.
Then—
The commander roared with laughter, loud and unrestrained, his voice tearing through the silence like thunder.
"Enough… your blabbing!"
With that shout, he shot forward. In a single strike, clean and merciless, he cut off his head.
For a moment, time itself seemed to stop.
All the soldiers forgot to breathe as they watched the severed head fall slowly through the air, still carrying that same faint smile.
"Life is just an illusion…"
Those words echoed in their minds.
But that was only what the soldiers saw.
For the commander… it was different.
Before the head could fully fall, he saw something else. The man's head suddenly tilted upward, eyes glowing red, a devilish smile stretching unnaturally across his face. And in that instant, just as the blade passed through his neck, something moved inside his mouth.
Something… indescribable.
Something that should not exist.
The commander's body froze. His eyes widened in pure shock. The kharga slipped from his hand and clanged against the ground.
He couldn't stand.
Everyone saw something different, each trapped in their own terror.
Suddenly,
A flash of lightning tore across the sky.
No thunder followed.
Only light.
As the head continued to fall, the pressure that had been crushing them all vanished completely. The suffocating aura of the commander disappeared as if it had never existed.
Silence swallowed everything.
Only the faint shaw… shaw… sound of wind—or perhaps the after-echo of lightning—whispered through the air.
The commander snapped out of it, his voice unstable, hurried, almost broken. "All units… move to the ritual site immediately! Punishment… will be carried out after the ritual!" Without waiting, without even looking at them, he turned and walked forward. His steps were steady—but his mind was in chaos, churning violently from what he had just witnessed.
But after a few steps, he realized something was wrong.
Too quiet.
He turned back sharply. all the soldiers were frozen in place, their eyes locked onto something behind him.
Their faces… pale. Drained. Hollow.
A fear far deeper than before.
Slowly, the commander followed their gaze.
And then, even he felt it.
A fear.
Not of strength.
Not of death.
But of something unknown.
Something beyond understanding.
Another lightning flash split the sky.
And in that blinding white moment, they saw it.
Two headless bodies.
Standing.
Balanced in the posture of the king of dancers.
Then, It moved.
It began to dance.
At first, slowly.
Then faster.
Then violently.
Lightning began flashing again and again, illuminating fragments of its motion, each movement unnatural, each pose breaking the limits of flesh and bone.
The air trembled.
The ground quivered.
With every step, with every strike of its limbs, they felt it, a rhythm neither music nor sound.
But something like a force… pounding against their bodies, like invisible blows shattering bone and spirit alike.
Fear rose higher.
Some lightning bolts struck the ground near them, scorching the earth, sending sparks flying.
"Form ranks!" the commander shouted, forcing his energy outward. "All troops, prepare to face the danger!"
The soldiers snapped back slightly, but it was too late.
Fear, once born, does not leave.
And just when they thought it could not grow worse—
A thunderous sound erupted from below.
The ground beneath them trembled.
All the flames around them were blown out instantly, swallowed by a violent gust of wind.
Then, they heard a laughter from below. They realized, the head… the one that had fallen… was still speaking.
Its voice echoed, layered, distorted, filled with something ancient and mocking:
"Welcome… to the journey…"
"Land of curse…"
"Land of eternal…"
"Land of equality…"
"Land of love… hate… virtue… sin…"
"Birth… death… anger… calmness…"
TBC...