CHAPTER 287: THE ONE WHO RECEIVES A NAME

 

～???’s POV～

――There was an endless darkness.

This was a place where vague beings like me simply drifted along with the current. A place like that.

I couldn’t even remember how long I’d been here anymore.

My existence had no name, no form. I only floated in the eternal flow.

There was no light, no sound, not even pain or touch.

Only time, melting away into infinity, quietly… gently… washed over me.

But then, one day—someone’s voice scooped me up from the bottom of that current.

Like a single ray of sunlight piercing a long, long night.

「Born from the stars, to the stars return—great beast, ensnared in that eternal flow. Now, be freed from your strange and twisted fate.」

A distant, distant echo.

And yet it unmistakably reached me.

Words spun for my sake, and magic worked for me alone.

It was such a warm, gentle voice and power.

As those words touched me, the scattered fragments of ‘myself’ slowly came together.

My consciousness began to take shape, and deep in the chest I had only just gained, I felt a heartbeat.

—Someone’s calling me.

A light as red as flame, as dazzling as lightning.

I didn’t know what it was. But my heart was drawn to it, hard.

A strange warmth and a pleasant trembling wrapped around me.

In time, the darkness became a shell.

Within the black egg, I drifted back into sleep once more.

But this was not an eternal sleep.

The warmth flowing in from outside gently rocked me in the depths of my slumber.

…Warm…

A voice like a soft breeze, tiny tremors like laughter.

Each one quietly shaped my heart.

This feeling… what do you even call it? …Maybe this is what they mean by ‘happiness’?

I felt presences outside.

Little flickers of light began to show through.

Sounds were drawing closer.

I shouldn’t have known any of it, and yet it felt nostalgic.

As if I’d finally returned to somewhere I’d been searching for all along.

The inside of the shell grew hot, and my heartbeat pounded hard in my chest.

More… I want to go outside—

With a crack, something broke, and light poured in so brightly it was as if time itself had stopped.

The light was so strong I narrowed my eyes just a little.

Flames flowed, lightning burst, and the first breath I ever took scraped through my throat.

So bright… but pretty…

I lifted my gaze and saw two people.

One bore lightning within, the other carried fire in their heart.

These are the ones… who called me.

I tried to stand, but my legs were still unsteady.

A soft breeze ruffled my fur.

With every step I took, a chill rose up from the ground into my paws. And tickling at my chest was a scent that made me thrill with excitement.

It was like the whole world was alive.

I was a little scared of what might happen next… but my desire to know won out.

When I stretched my nose toward them, the two in front of me slowly reached their hands out.

What’ll happen if they touch me… Will it be warm? Will it hurt? …But I want to feel it.

The smell of lightning and the warmth of fire.

Each time their fingertips brushed my cheek, my heart grew light and a strange, gentle feeling spread through me.

…Papa and Mama?

「This child… it feels like they recognize our mana. We need to give them a name.」

I didn’t understand the words, but I could tell they were happy.

After a brief pause, Papa’s hand touched me again—

「…Your name is—Yurai.」

The instant the sound 「Yurai」 rippled through the air, a shiver like an electric shock ran down my back, and all my fur stood on end.

My heartbeat thudded all the way in my ears, and something in my chest squeezed tight.

A… name…?

In the moment I was called, I knew my shape had been completed.

So that’s it… This is what it means to be ‘born’.

Papa and Mama both narrowed their eyes and smiled as they looked at me.

Seeing that made my heart grow warm and cozy.

「Kyuu!」

The sound slipped out of me all on its own.

My small body trembled, and my heart leapt.

My story began here.

――Behemoth.

The giant beast that had once shaken the stars now stood upon this land as a tiny life.

Even while it held power enough to be called a ‘Calamity’, its heart clung only to a single joy: its name.

Having learned the warmth of its parents, the little chest of that newborn life swelled with hope for the future and boundless curiosity toward the unknown.

And as for how that ‘little giant beast’ would one day bring about new disasters and new miracles—
for now, no one yet knew.