Free Web NovelChapter 12: Chapter 12: My Decision
There must have been other ways, where things could have proceeded differently. He had always thought he was skilled enough to do anything, accomplish everything. That was how he grew, with overwhelming confidence.
But here he was, staying still on the peak where everything happened, while the night had already dawned on him.
He looked above at the infinite stars. It was beautiful, but he couldn’t see the beauty in it anymore. He pressed his palms into the snow until the cold was the only thing he could feel.
His shoulders gave, and he lay back, staring up at the stars, still trying to find the spark the night sky once presented, reminiscing about their time together.
"I really miss you..." he spoke, his eyes still weeping on and on, when eventually, morning came. His golden eyes were red and drowsy, and he found himself lying in a watery puddle.
A puddle of his own salty tears.
He gradually stood up as the morning sun rose, casting its yellow light on him. The whole night he had been awake. The whole night he had been reminiscing about his time here.
The whole night, he thought about what he should do next. Revenge for his wife? Destroy heaven and hell in rage? Yes, he wanted it. He wanted to destroy the foundations of both realms and watch them crumble, never to be restored again. He wanted to do it. God, he wanted it.
But he wasn’t an idiot. He knew what heaven was capable of, what hell was capable of, having handled, fought, destroyed, and remade both worlds himself. The cold wind of the Himalayas breezed across his cheeks as he closed his eyes to feel it.
"I’m sorry, Father. While my thoughts go astray, I see now why the mission was SSSSS+ Rank. You predicted this, or... you already knew..." he said, watching the system mission before him.
[SSSSS+ RANK MISSION]
[Save the world. For the last time.]
[The extinction countdown has begun. The Golden Immortal, Second Heir of Creation, the one who has never once failed, has returned.
He was the reason humanity survived this long. He is now the reason it won’t. He isn’t angry. He isn’t grieving. He has simply had enough. That’s what makes him dangerous. Stop him. Not because you can. Because there is no one who can stop him, not even himself.]
[Reward: A note from the Creator.]
[Mission accepted]
The world was already against him. He didn’t know what it truly was, a mission forced upon him, a mission to handle himself. Was this a joke? A cruel, twisted joke? He didn’t know.
He felt their gaze, not his father’s, but theirs. Both of them. Two brothers who didn’t know better. He had felt their gaze for a long time. His lips wanted to say words, words he didn’t know he was capable of speaking.
Amon didn’t. He just stayed silent, as what he was about to do could render the mission true.
In some way, the System was right. He actually wasn’t angry. He wasn’t grieving properly. But that didn’t matter. He gazed down at the fog below. His ears caught noises and calls only he could hear, and he knew it was time, time for him to leave.
He dismissed the System screen. His body crackled with his unlocked stats and he was gone once more. Now, maybe for good.
After a while, near the peak, familiar Sherpas came, wearing thick jackets and armor. Cheering and the others, shouting Amon’s name. They searched around, calling for him nonstop.
"Amon!"
"Oh guardian!"
They called and called and called, but there was no reply. Cheering climbed near the peak first, his eyes in sheer awe, as what he saw was mind-melting in every way possible.
The others also reached his side, everyone’s eyes wide open with the same view, for what they saw was death.
Beasts, demons, even angels, their frozen carcasses laid bare for all of them to see.
"Did the guardian...?" asked one of them, a hint of fear in his voice.
"That matters not!" Cheering bellowed. "We came here for one thing and one thing only. Amon. That’s it."
The message was loud and clear, as everyone huffed, utterly exhausted. All seven of them had been climbing all night without stop, all on a hunch Cheering had. They didn’t want to walk forward.
But he did. Still walking on the blood-laced frozen snow, walking past the frozen wings and weapons and broken crimson flesh. Nothing fazed him. So nothing fazed them either, walking at his back.
"Amon!" Cheering shouted. "Where are you?! My father didn’t mean to blame you!"
Cheering knew who was truly at fault, himself. If only, if only he had stopped Nyima. He wouldn’t have had to see her cold. He wouldn’t have had to send her off to his mother.
"Amon! It was my fault, not yours! Please!" He shouted once more, his echo sounding more like a prayer than a call.
"The village nee..."
Cough!
Cheering felt his chest tighten, coughing again and again, his vision turning blurry, his companions rushing to him in a hurry.
"Cheering, breathe, breathe." They said, hauling his oxygen mask to his mouth. He had breathed the icy cold air of the peak for too long. They were near the summit, more than eight thousand meters above sea level. Lungs burned here if you weren’t careful.
If not for their Sherpa genes, they wouldn’t have made it this far, but even so, this was too much. Lhaso, Cheering’s wife, came near him. "Cheering, he’s not here. Let’s go back." she voiced, watching Cheering cough again and again, unable to bear it.
"The temperature drops every second, a storm is coming. We won’t survive it." another one said.
Cheering, still coughing, stood up, breathing heavily with the remaining oxygen, his eyes clear and strong. "You guys go. I will continue." He said, using his stick to stand, and started walking again.
He knew of a place. Amon used to bring him there many times, a spot where it felt like they were at the top of the world. He knew, he just knew, that Amon was there.
He kept walking when someone held his shoulder. He turned to see who. A part of him hoped it was Amon, but it was his wife, looking at him, her eyes full of tears. He looked back and saw that everyone had stopped following him. He already knew the look, and what it meant.
Cheering huffed as he held her hand gripping his shoulder.
"Cheering, please. Just stop. We can search for him, but we need to rest. You need to rest." She said.
"I don’t have the right, Lhaso. I don’t have the right." He said, pushing her hand from his shoulder. "I must find him, no matter what."
He walked, and walked and walked even more, until he could no longer see them. His feet were hurting, his knees dead with cold. He already knew his thumbs and fingers were gone, he couldn’t move them, couldn’t even feel them.
"Amon." He still called, but there was no answer. More than a shout now, his voice had turned meek, his insides shivering like it was the end. The only thing giving him any sense of warmth was his movement. He knew that if he stopped, he would die.
So he kept walking, until he saw the golden light.
Amon?
He thought, a flicker of excitement rising even though he was near death’s door. With every last bit of energy he had, he ran toward that spot.
"Amon."
He looked at the golden light, his hopeful eyes turning cold like the storm above him, for what he saw was just a small pond of water, shining golden for some reason.
Like his eyes, his heart gave way, his cough coming back strong, his oxygen cylinder empty.
I failed. Again. I always did. He thought. He knew it now, all his luck, all his confidence, it had always been because of Amon. Always at his side.
Slowly, he couldn’t move, his body freezing from the inside, gradually falling down onto the puddle, splashing. He had a bit of energy, to pull himself up but, he didn’t, he just let the storm eat him whole, his eyes slowly closing.
Haaa...just once... I wanted to be the one who saved you.
