The Traveler: Martial Druid

Chapter 2

Katsuo opened his eyes but, the light was too bright to see anything.

'Ah, I survived.'

Katsuo rubbed his eyes to get used to the light but also noticed some peculiarities in his surroundings. He couldn't smell the characteristic odour of antisceptics. Also, the bad was too cold and hard almost as if it was a piece of stone.

"What!?"

Katsuo yelped as he finally regained his vision.

*Thump*

His heart started to beat in despair.

He was in a temple made of marble. There were, long endless pillars surrounding him and he couldn't see the ceiling, only endless bright light.

"Hahaha... FUCK!!"

This was the biggest joke he had seen in his life. For once, he had thought his life was going in a good direction. A girl he liked had confessed to him, there were only two more years till he could get a heart transplant and his parents were coming home.

If only... If only he didn't try to help that girl and let her die, none of this would have happened. Why would he even think that he could help her? He was a fucking cripple, he should have known his place and just watch as she got crushed by the sports car.

So what if he had helped her? His own family and friends were going to be the ones to suffer for that decision. This was the most selfish thing he could have done. He should have thought about the consequences before trying anything. Worst of all he couldn't even apologize to them.

"Do you regret helping me?"

Katsuo turned back to see a garden of daffodils that stretched without any end and in the middle of the garden, there was only a single table and two chairs.

She was there.

The girl he had saved.

She was sitting there while sipping her tea and gazing at him.

"*Inhale* What do you want?"

"You are quite the rude one, aren't you?"

Katsuo didn't waste his time asking meaningless questions like if she was a god or an angel. He knew that he was dead. He could still feel the sensation of his soul leaving his body very vividly. So the fact that she appeared right here meant that she was a divine being. Now, why would a divine being appear in front of him with a table and two chairs instead of guiding him to heaven or hell? It meant she wanted something from him.

"Excuse me, your highness, I have just died so I become a little grumpy whenever that happens" Sarcasm was dripping from Katsuo's voice as he talked back to her.

"Oh? So this isn't the first time you have died?" She asked with a glint in her eyes. It seemed like the concept of death intrigued her.

"This is the first time I have made it to the afterlife, yes but it isn't the first time my heart stopped. So what might you want from me?"

The girl didn't answer. Her eyes narrowed as she looked at Katsuo then she sighed and conjured a cup of tea in front of Katsuo.

"I will forgive your transgressions. I know that you are angry since you just died and you are projecting your anger onto me as I was partly involved with it. So drink some tea for now and calm your nerves, then we can talk about how I can compensate you"

Katsuo was about to fly off the rail and shout obscenities at her because she wasn't just partly involved with his death. She was the direct cause of it! Then the warm scent of the tea reached his nose and he started to relax. It wasn't even a question that this tea was magical and it cleared his mind from anger. It also smelled delicious for some reason so Katsuo couldn't keep himself from taking a sip.

"It's... delicious"

He couldn't describe it any other way. It was like puppies and rainbows dancing in his mouth while angels sang a holy hymn.

"I take it that you have settled down now?" The girl said with a smirk.

"Since we are both here I take it you can't bring me back to life in my own world?"

"Quite perceptive. Yes, from the moment of your death, your fate had been severed from the great loom of your world. The only way to bring you back to life is to spend a great amount of causality while getting the permission of your dimension's divine being. Unfortunately, that route is closed for us"

"Why? Because you are too weak that you can't even pay that amount of causality for the little old me?"

"No, it's because the gods of your dimension didn't allow for your reincarnation"

"What?"

"Simply because your absence wouldn't affect the grand scheme of things and it would be too much trouble to bring you back."

"Excuse me! I-"

"Don't start a tangent about free will and how every human decides their own worth. Even if we gave humans free will there is a set path you all follow. We just gave you the right to choose how you get there and you, Kazama Katsuo, were not necessary hence why your gods discarded you."

Katsuo couldn't even respond to that as he was not a divine being himself so how could he know how these things work? Unless an idiot would scream about their free will and whatnot, so he could only accept her explanation and shut up. Still, not being able to argue left a bad taste in his mouth. He didn't like how powerless he felt at this moment. Maybe this was the reason why all those protagonists from the webnovels he read were so hostile to gods. They just simply hated not being able to take the reins of their own life in their hands so they just destroyed the board. That way no one would be able to use them as pawns.

"We? So you are a goddess then?"

The Goddess looked at Katsuo as if he asked the most stupid question in the world. She sighed to herself as she replied to him.

"Aeternitas, the incarnation of the eternal river of time, eldest of the three sisters, the guardian deity of humanity and many more monickers to follow. You will find the rest when you make it to Hellariath"

"Okay then, so how are you planning to compensate me?"

Since he couldn't go to his own world Katsuo hoped that he would get to live in a magical world. One in which he had a cheat so that he could run wild as much as he wanted and not have to worry about the consequences.

"Depends on what you want"

Once she said that Katsuo had so many things he wanted to say but one specific wish overpowered them all.

"Can you let me talk to my family in their dreams and let me apologize to them?"

"Done, what else?"

"Wait you are actually going to allow that?"

Katsuo was flabbergasted as he had never expected her to grant him such a request. Usually wouldn't the deities not allow such things? Then Katsuo would have to haggle a compromise etc.

"What? Did you think I intentionally kidnapped you from your world and that's why I am not reincarnating you?"

Under Aeternitas' very true verbal attack Katsuo became as red as a tomato. He was under the illusion that Aeternitas needed some kind of hero for her own world, hence why she brought Katsuo here. After all, he was a martial genius, only his body was holding him back which a divine being like her should be able to solve easily. Then she would send him back home as a reward for vanquishing the demon king.

"...No?"

Aeternitas looked at him like she just saw a cockroach which made Katsuo feel even more ashamed of his own arrogance and then she snapped her fingers.

*SNAP*

Katsuo opened his eyes once again to find himself in a blank white space.

There was a bulky man with grey hair and a bushy beard, his father.

A slightly plump woman with green eyes, his mother.

Lastly a young girl in a ponytail, his sister.

Seeing them all together Katsuo couldn't help but cry. He wondered if they even knew he was dead just yet?

"*Sniff*...Mom?"

Katsuo called to her as she was looking around curiously.

"Katsuo? My baby, what happened?"

His mother didn't even ask where she was and what was going on. Even if she probably guessed she was in a dream she still chose to comfort Katsuo without a second thought.

"Mom! I am sorry. I am so sorry"

"Schhhh baby, it's gonna be okay. Everything is gonna be okay. Let it all out." His mother kept rubbing Katsuo's back as he hugged her and cried in her buxom.

"What's wrong with nii-chan?"

"Don't know, never seen him cry in broad daylight before?" Katsuo's father scratched his head as he tried to make sense of what kind of dream he was seeing.

He was aware that his son was suffering in silence. Sometimes he would find Katsuo crying himself to sleep silently but he could never bring it up. He needed to be strict for Katsuo's sake.

He had to be a stable mountain. That's why he had to push him. Only Katsuo could save himself. That's why Katsuo's father believed that love would be poison to his son.

Was this a dream to show that he was actually wrong? That he should support his son more?

No, there were still two years left. He could bond with him as much as he wanted after he got his surgery so there was no need to risk it. He just needed to keep doing the same thing but the words he heard next shattered all his resolve.

"Mom * Sniff* I am so sorry for dying ahead of you!"