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Last Embryo Volume 6 Prologue Part 2

As father was telling all of that to me, we have finally reached the furthest part of the cavern, located way beyond the secret passage behind the waterfall that we walked through. The chamber in which we have arrived was quite spacious and high-reaching, and the smell of the cavernous still air was mixing with the distinct smell of seawater, which intrigued me greatly. We were supposed go be quite deep underground, and yet, it looked like this place was still connected to the sea somewhere. And now that we have reached this underwater cave filled with a sacred atmosphere, father has finally let go of my hand, which he was still firmly holding up until that moment.

「Or at the very least that is what the old legends are telling us. . . . but I already know. If that monster ever awakens and we try to fight it, we would probably have little to no chances of winning at all. and we would end up getting destroyed.」

「. . . . . 」

「No need to make such a face, my son. That is how the fates must have ordained it, and if they have willed it so, then there is nothing that we, mere mortals can do about it. This is simply a part of our fate now. Since time immemorial, humans could never hope to go against the destruction that has bee foretold and promised from the day that stars were born.」

What my father wanted to tell be by that. . . . . . was that humans can never go against their destinies. He spoke these words with resignation and indifference that were so unlike him that it made me fear them more than the darkness that was surrounding us at all sides, that is how big of an impact they had on me. To a child like myself, my father was an absolute existence. Ans since he was the king of an entire nation, then that made him second only to the Gods themselves in my opinion. So when I heard him say such listless, decadent words that were completely void of any kind of fierceness or determination in them, then it would stand to reason that there was only one conclusion that I could have drawn from them: That the Gods, the king and my father have all but given up on the future of our country.

That realization made me feel incredibly sad and scared at the same time, but I was desperately trying to hold my tears in, because I did not want to show any kind of weakness unbefitting of the member of the royal family before my father.

「That is the truth about this country that I have accepted from the moment when I became its ruler and was made aware of it. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . but just because I chose to follow that path it does not meant that you have to follow in my footsteps as well, you hear me? You do not have to be that way.」

「. . . . Huh? What do you mean, father?」

「I am telling you that the way in which you are going to rule the kingdom does not have to be the continuation of how I chose to rule it. You are your own person, and so you should find your own way of ruling that is going to stay true to who you are, and to who you will want to be as king. So if you say that you are willing to resist your destiny and fight it in order to forge your own path, then I can grant you the means to do so. But in turn allow me to warn you that the price for doing so is going to be severe. Your very existence will be forgotten to history, and your true name is never going to be remembered by anyone, and it also means that there will be nothing left of the human whom you once were. Knowing all this, do you still want to challenge your destiny?」

「. . . . . . Yes.」

When his father asked that of me, for but a brief moment I could see his eyes being tinged with unimaginable sadness, but that lasted only for a moment no longer than a blink of an eye or a heartbeat. So I steeled my resolve, stood upright with my chest puffed out proudly and my head held high as I gave father my answer.

「. . . Very well then, my son. From now on, you should abandon the name that has been bestowed upon you at birth and start calling yourself with the same name that my father-in-law carried: 「Asterios」.」

「「Asterios」 . . . . It is the name of The God od the Starry Sky, right?」

Asterios, The God of the Starry Sky, a Divine Spirit said to be the father of every last star that shines on the canvas of the night sky every night. However, my father shook his head, indicating that this was not the case.

「This name is given to the one who would become the Avatar of the greatest of the Gods. It combines 「The Starry Sky」and 「The Light of Thunder」 to create something even greater, 「A Child of Stars and Lightning」. After you assume that name, your life will no longer be just your own. As long as you decide to inherit the name of Asterios, you will one day become the strongest warrior in all of Greece, and you will be destined to face that monster in combat.」

Then, father took out a scepter from his pocket and knelt down to embrace me.

「Right now, I am doing all that I can on my end to reduce the monster’s power as much as possible, so if everything goes well . . . . then together, we are going to throw a stone into the wheels of fate that turn this era of ours. But. . .yes, this is surely going to be a sin for which I am going to be thrown down to the very depths of hell.」

Father then smiled in a self-deprecating way while ridiculing himself. And since we were born in the times when the concept of heaven and hell has not even been established yet, there was no way for me to understand what in the hell my father was talking about back then. Also, it was not until far away in the future that I learned what actually happened after my father’s death.

「 . . . Now look, and burn that sight into not only your eyes, but also your very soul on the greatest of the sacred treasures of the Island of Crete. . . the miracle of Orichalcum!」

Father then stood up from his knees and raised his scepter into the air as if he wanted to pierce the surrounding darkness with its tip. And at that moment, it was as if the tranquil space around us have been split in half, filling the entire cavern with brilliant light. When I witnessed that light, which was incomparably brighter than the one emitted by the torch father was carrying before, I felt as if I was looking at the starry sky spreading out before my eyes.