Epic of Caterpillar

435 The Fallen Heroes Laments... and Their Hope for a New Life

Our memories… are so dizzy…

What did we use to be?

I remember… I was… someone… I had… a mission.

And I… I had hatred…?

And I… I wanted to live more…

And I… I used to want to protect those dear to me…

And I… betrayed someone… was it someone important? My brother…?

And I… I was so foolish…

And I… I had obsessions…

We do not remember our names… we do not know who we used to be, but we know that we once were someone…

We are together now… it feels… comfortable. So comfortable.

We have never felt this comfortable before, this warmness.

We will never be alone anymore.

Were we friends? Enemies? Allies? Family?

We do not know… we shall never know…

Our memories… fragmented…

They disperse like the dust through the breeze.

But we remain the sediments of our true selves…

I used to protect people, didn't I?

And… wanted to do the same as well.

No, I wanted revenge… but for what?

I reached revenge… and it led me to nothing… yet I still do not remember who I truly was.

You did not have it so bad… I do not remember who I was… but I remember that I was never someone.

I was always suffering… in the void of my wicked mind… I am grateful that the memories of what I was are gone, I do not want to remember.

I want to be someone else…

Same… I always wanted to be someone else…

Do not worry, you are not alone anymore.

You will not have to suffer anymore, my friend.

I am your friend?

Yes, we are friends.

No, we are more than that.

We are family?

Yes, we are family… we will take care of each other.

Why does it hurt so much? To try to remember who I was?

Was I… in the wrong?

No, you never were.

I do not remember who I was, but life was always hard.

Life is hard when we are alone…

Perhaps we were allies before? But never truly felt like a family.

But we are gathered now, all together…

Are we really a family? Or are we one?

You are not alone anymore, we are not one, but many.

We are many… not alone anymore?

Not alone anymore.

I am so glad, thank you, thank you for being so kind to me…

There is no need to thank us, you are our family now.

Family protects each other.

We look for each other.

We love each other.

Thank you, thank you… I am so happy…

What is this feeling? I never felt it before, even when I browse through my clouded and fragmented mind…

It is a warm feeling.

The warmness of our consciousness connected, as a family, together.

I'm so happy… to not be alone anymore…

I think… I did atrocities before… was I a bad person?

No, you are not a bad person.

Really? Can you forgive me?

There is nothing to forgive you about.

But I was so small and so weak… I was so pathetic… and I died… so quick…

Did I have parents? I think I miss them…

Do not worry, we are small and weak alone, but together, we are strong.

Can I really become great and strong?

Together with us, we can.

Even if you are small, your help is necessary.

Every one of us is necessary.

We are together now, never alone, and never weak.

I… I suffered so much… why have these memories still linger through my mind?

Let me help you.

Ah… They are slowly dissipating… how did you do that?

I am with you now, there is no more suffering, we are with you now, there is no more despair.

Together… this happiness… this freedom… did I never had my own freedom?

I was always entangled in my family's rules… never free from the constraints of fate…

I do not remember who I was, but I remember what I went by, my death was horrible, and my life ended that day…

But you are not dead, aren't you?

No, I am not… I was given a second opportunity, with you, all of you, my new family.

I am so glad you don't feel bad anymore, we are so glad you don't suffer anymore.

We are together, let's hug.

I cannot hug.

Me neither.

We do not have bodies… or do we?

I have… we have.

This warmness… we must be together, closer… closer… let's become one, so we can always be together.

Yes, let's be one.

For now, let us keep sticking together…

Until we wake up…

From this endless dream…

I was once someone, and now, I am someone else…

Me too, we are all, someone else now.

Let us try… to be a better person…

Let us try… to see the bright side of life…

Let us try… to be stronger…

Let us try… to be humbler…

Let us try… to love…

This warmness that we feel, what is it?

It is not the warmness from our family, but something else, outside of this dream…

So beautiful… so mystical…

Who could it be?

I feel like we are being guided… to somewhere… by someone great…

Can we really do that?

Can we allow ourselves to once again be happy?

Yes… please, at the very least… let us try.

This presence… it feels so similar to the one… to the one who took my life…

Indeed, it is.

It is the same?

I do not know; I don't even remember who we were.

Should we hold grudges?

How can we do so? We do not remember any anger anymore…

And its warmness, this feeling of familiarity…

Whatever it was, it did it for a reason, right?

Indeed… let us forget this, and let us be reborn.

Reborn as one? This is exciting.

We want to see the world once more, the world of the outside…

The world is filled with colors, sounds, and life…

Let us become a new life.

Together… we will not suffer anymore, we will not be weak anymore, we will be happy, at last.

Happiness…?

Can we really attain it?

I once thought that I knew happiness, but it was not the truth…

Me too… below the facades of my fragmented memory life, there was only fear.

Did we always live with fear?

Yes, we always did…

None of us can say otherwise… it is an irrebuttable fact.

We once were humans?

I was another thing, not completely a human… an elf? With purple skin.

Purple skin? It must have been beautiful.

Thanks, you are so nice to me.

Do not worry, we are family now, we are all siblings.

I was once connected with nature… my mother was someone close to the forest… I always strived to protect what I loved… but even when I gave up my life, I failed.

Do not worry, my sibling, we are all together now. Do not remember such thoughts anymore.

Hm? My memories… they are all cleansed… the suffering, is gone?

See? There is no need to suffer, let us start anew.

Let's try to break out of the shell, we have been resting for too long already…

We cannot wait to see the rest of the world, the colors, and our family outside.

There is more family?

Yes, there must be… all those life presences… we have a big family outside…

Let us give them a surprise…

Yes, let us go.

Crack! Crack!

A ray of bright light hit us in the face, we were currently in one single body. All of our minds inside.

Perhaps, our souls had been merged.

We tried to open our eyes, and the light became brighter.

Colors… so many colors.

This is beautiful…

And the people that meet us, they were so many…

We really have a large family this time…

We can… barely move though…

Hm? True, let us check our bodies.

Oh?

Feathers…? Of various colors… so many colors…

Bird talons instead of feet… and long rainbow hair… pale white skin.

A small complexion, we are still a newborn baby.

Is this…? A harpy?

How ironic…

One of us remembers doing atrocities to harpies… although we had suppressed those memories, we still have the memories of knowing that he had them.

Now, we have become a harpy…?

Well, it is not bad, we can already feel our body being strong.

Being reborn as a demi-human might be for the best, isn't it?

Yes, we all agree with that.

Someone else came to see us, to help us get out of our shell.

It was… a beautiful harpy.

A dazzling young harpy woman. She had such a beautiful face.

And this feeling of familiarity… is she our mother?

One of us remembers her slightly… she was the one who took his life?

But now, she had given it back to us.

It seems that life is full of surprises.

There are no grudges against our mother, we cannot have one, we do not feel any anger.

We are filled with gratitude. Even the one whose life was taken by her is grateful to have been given a new life to repent.

Yes, let us try to have a better life.

She gently extended her wings as she carried us gently. The warmness of her chest was so welcoming, her smell, so nice…

Our mother is so beautiful.

We hugged our mother with our wings, it was hard, but we needed to show her how much we loved her.

She chirped in happiness.

Yes, mother, we love you…

"Uwah… my children… so you are one now? Will, you ever separate?" she said.

Mother is… sad?

She was worried about us, it seems.

Since we became one, she might have thought that something bad had happened to us.

There is no need to worry, although we are connected as one soul, we can separate whenever we want.

We all agree in making mother happy, so we decided to divide our bodies.

Seven people… so we are seven.

We are all kind of different, so colorful, each one has a color.

Mother was surprised and filled with happiness; she began to cry.

Do not cry, mother. We are here for you.

We hugged mother, as someone else came.

Who is she?

Ah… the one who had guided us?

Indeed… is she our mother as well?

Was she the one who took our lives?

She had given us new lives, a reset.

Let us give our all, to thank her…

"M-My children… I'm so glad you are capable of going back to normal… phew… you don't know how worried your mother was when you merged into one egg" she said.

Could she be our mother as well?

We were born from two mothers… how mysterious.

A miracle?

The miracle of our existence, it seems.

Let us hug them, let us show them how much we love them.

Yes… We want the warmness of our family.

Their embrace… so comforting…

"Seven chicks… Oh, gods… And they are so beautiful… My beautiful little children… Vudia, Ailine, Amiphossia, Ryo, Aarae, Valentia, Belle, Nirah, come see your siblings!" she said.

"Chupii… my child… my child… I don't think I have enough breast to feed you all…" said our harpy mother.

Our family was too big, it seems.

So many siblings… some are as little as us, and others are gigantic.

We have many big siblings to count in.

We never had such a family before.

All of them are hugging us… So nice…

Hm, some of us feel sleepy, and we do as well.

Time to take a nap, and wake up later…

This new life of ours, it is truly filled with blessings…

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