Aftermath

The next several hours passed by in a blur for Haganto. He vaguely noticed Alanus and the Malnora elves arriving at the remains of Filla Aethel. Haganto doesn’t remember how the elves reacted, but he does remember Alanus sticking by his side as soon as he arrived. The monster hunter doesn’t remember if the bard said anything. He did barely recall overhearing a somber observation from Tarron about how it looked like all their deaths had been quick, at least quick for Agron. It seemed that because of his weakened nature and starved mentality, Agron just wanted to kill. Haganto recalled not being sure if he should be grateful for that or not.

Haganto remembered helping the Malnora elves gather the...remains of his family onto a funeral pyre before setting it on fire himself. He stared at the flames for a long time. Until there were no more flames, just burning coals. Haganto remembered that.

But the most potent thing that Haganto had been aware of was the pain. It was like a harpy had kicked his heart so hard that it shattered into shards before said shards landed and got stuck in his chest. Haganto had felt and endured great pain before, but this was different. This was empty and agonizing and it just ached and ached without any sign of letting up.

Haganto found himself wishing that he had come back sooner. Then at least he could have given his family a chance to escape. And maybe Agron’s other victims, like the man from Bleakburn and Animo’s family, would have survived too.

But as he finally became more and more aware of his surroundings, Haganto recognized that there was no changing the past. No matter how much he wanted to see Alberad and the rest of his family again.

No, he had to do what he had set out to do weeks ago. What the Brazug tribe conceived him for.

If it was the last thing he did, Haganto was going to stop Agron from killing anyone else.

Freshly determined, Haganto got off his bedroll and started to pack up. He doesn’t recall when he finally laid down in a vain attempt to sleep, or why they were camping right outside Filla Aethel. Not that Haganto cared. All he cared about was hunting down Agron.

Haganto felt something bite his finger. It didn’t hurt, but it did make Haganto stop packing and look down. The culprit was Animo, who was silently looking up at Haganto, with his little front paws on the finger that he had bit. Haganto recalled now Alanus giving him Animo when he and the others arrived. He remembered now that as soon as Animo was in Haganto’s grasp, that the little weasel crawled straight up to the top of Haganto’s head and stayed there until Haganto laid himself down for bed. Animo must have rolled off Haganto’s face when the monster hunter got up.

And Haganto hadn’t even noticed. Animo had probably been trying to comfort him this whole time and Haganto hadn’t even noticed that he had been there. It was lucky that Animo hadn’t got hurt when Haganto carelessly got out of his bedroll.

He...he couldn’t bring Animo with him. Not when Haganto couldn’t properly take care of him.

With a heavy sigh, Haganto picked up the baby weasel and without a word, gently stroked his head. When Animo leaned into his touch with closed eyes, Haganto felt something inside of him break even more. He realized that he didn’t want to do this, to leave Animo behind. But just as his determination began to waver, the vivid picture of Agron killing Animo with a strike of his nails came to the front of his mind.

No, Haganto couldn’t let Agron kill Animo. Especially not after what had happened today.

“You need to stay here with Alanus,” Haganto said softly as he continued to stroke Animo’s head. Animo opened his eyes as if he understood what Haganto said and was confused about it. “It would be safer for you with him than with me. He will take good care of you.”

“I can, but I’m not sure if he would be safer with me.” Haganto stiffened in surprise as he turned around to see Alanus, sitting up in his bedroll, with his elbow on his knee and Grimoire on his shoulder. Thanks to the moon above them, Haganto could see Alanus’s eyebrow quite well. “Because as I pointed out before, nowhere is truly safe nowadays.”

Haganto had to force himself not to sigh or grumble out of frustration for realizing that he had woken Alanus up.

“Don’t worry, you didn’t wake me up,” Alanus said as if he read Haganto’s mind. “After today’s events...I couldn’t sleep.”

“Then you know why I have to do this,” Haganto said bluntly as he stood up, crossed the short distance between them, and held out Animo for the bard to take. “It’s much too dangerous for Animo for me to bring him along. At least with you, the chances of him being in battle are lower.”

“Fair,” Alanus said, not moving to take the weasel kit. “I am not the fighting type.”

“Then-”

“But that does not mean I can in good conscience take him. Or let you go alone.”

“And why not?” Haganto said, a rare vexed tone leaking out to underline his words as he clenched the hand that was not holding Animo. “I started off hunting for Agron alone, didn’t I? So why can’t I hunt for him alone again? After all, it’s not like I don’t deserve it.”

“Haganto,” Alanus said, sounding a bit startled as he put his leg down after taking his elbow off his knee. “What happened to your family isn’t your fault. You didn’t know. You can’t blame yourself for something you had no control over.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Haganto replied bitterly as he looked down at the ground. “You think that even if I had been here, I am arrogant to believe I could have protected them all? That I could have defeated Agron right then and there without any sort of preparation? I know that I am not invincible Alanus. But...at least I would have tried. At least I would have been there.”

“Haganto…”

“Look, I know that there is no use blaming myself. But I also can’t stay here doing nothing while Agron is somewhere out there, threatening to tear more innocent families apart. It is what I was born to do after all.”

With that, Haganto knelt down and gently placed Animo on the ground near Alanus. However, before he could completely let go, Animo squeaked and wrapped himself around Haganto’s index finger. Haganto sighed as he moved his free hand to pry the weasel kit off his finger.

“That isn’t what your mother thought.”

Haganto immediately stopped. For a long moment, Haganto stared at nothing in particular, before he slowly looked up at Alanus.

“What?” Haganto asked quietly because for all his life he thought that at best, his mother had been indifferent about him or at worst, despised him for being forced to give birth to him. Not that Haganto blamed her either way, the Brazug tribe had kidnapped her for the very purpose of giving birth to the monster, or monsters, that could kill Agron. He didn’t know much about her, except that she was a child of both a giant and a human and that she died very shortly after he was born. The ogres were more than happy to tell him that as a child.

So what-

“You aren’t the only one who saw the other’s memories in that mist,” Alanus explained as he looked down for a second before looking straight into Haganto’s eyes as if he had to steel himself. “I saw it right before you found me. You...you wouldn’t remember, you were just a baby. Your mother, I don’t know how, but she managed to get away from the ogre tribe and was running away. With you in her arms. She was bleeding and even though one of the ogres threw a rock at her head, she didn’t let you go. She just kissed your forehead, held you tighter, and kept on running.”

Alanus stopped explaining for a second but when Haganto didn’t make a sound, he took that as a sign to continue.

“Unfortunately...the ogres did eventually catch up with her, despite her long legs. They surrounded her, and even then, she desperately fought to stop them from prying you away from her arms. She kept screaming that you were her baby, that they couldn’t have you. In the end, the ogres decided that...it wasn’t worth to keep her around to give birth to another monster to kill Agron so…”

Alanus didn’t finish his sentence but Haganto didn’t need him to state the obvious. All his life, he had thought that his mother had died because of childbirth. The Brazug tribe had implied that and despite their mistreatment of him, Haganto had no reason to believe otherwise. It was another reason why he wouldn’t have blamed her if she had hated him because he essentially killed her. And perhaps, in a way he still did, but it was her choice. She fought to keep him with her. She died trying to protect him.

Haganto...didn’t know how to describe what he was feeling other than that it was overwhelming and a bit...warm.

“Look, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t hunt Agron. He does have to be stopped. Just that...calm down, make a plan, and don’t throw everything and everyone away for a single-minded pursuit of Agron. You’re worth more than that,” Alanus said before he pulled at his silver strand of hair. “Even if some people believe otherwise.”

Suddenly, Haganto was hit with a strong realization. Was the reason Alanus sought him out at the tavern that day and refused to leave his side after Bleakburn because he saw himself in Haganto?

Haganto felt something soft rubbed against his finger. He looked down to find the culprit was Animo, who was still clinging to his finger while rubbing his head against it.

He may have lost his mother, Alberad, and his other family members in Filla Aethel. But they had cared about him, and never saw him as a monster born to defeat Agron. And he still had Animo and Alanus. And Haganto now knew that they weren’t going to let him go.

That fact made the ache in his chest less painful.

“You know, if you wanted a friend,” Haganto said as he finally brought Animo up to the top of his head, which the baby weasel was more than happy to jump onto. Then he naturally cracked a little smile. “You didn’t have to pop out of nowhere in a swamp.”

A surprised look swam across Alanus’s eyes before a small, honest chuckle burst out of his lips.

“Thanks to Grimoire scouting ahead, I figured out what you were doing and wanted to help you out,” Alanus explained. Then an embarrassed flush graced his cheeks. “And I may have been...too excited and desperate to make a friend.”

“Friend,” Grimoire echoed, which surprisingly did not send Animo into a frenzy for once.

Friend. Yeah, Haganto liked the sound of that.

Haganto’s smile stayed for a few moments though, unfortunately, it did not take long for their present situation to come back to his mind.

“It is just as well I don’t leave tonight,” Haganto said as he got off his knee and sat fully on the ground. “I don’t have a good plan on how to find him.”

“You may not.” Startled, both Haganto and Alanus turned their heads to find Tarron standing there, arms folded with a determined expression.

“But I think I do.”

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