Whose disciple?

I was floating above a giant battlefield where monsters and men were fighting for supremacy. The skies were darkened by smoke rising from the grounds which in turn was painted red by the thousands of bodies strewn across.

After a couple of seconds, my vision had reached its destination. A circle had been made in the center of the battlefield with two figures standing in front of each other.

One of the figures had big purple wings on his back, crackling with electricity. His arms were also covered by what could only be explained as another layer of skin, or rather, scales. Purple scales covered the arms, ending at his hands which seemed to have electrical claws protruding from them.

It didn't take long to figure out that I was looking at another version of myself, but this version was very different from my other vision. It looked almost like I had become more of a beast than a human.

In front of me stood a dark-haired woman, clothed in an exquisite robe and holding a large stave adorned with a glowing orange orb on top of it.

It was a figure I could never forget, even if it seemed like time had left its mark on her.

'Misa...'

Misa was currently about to engage in combat with me, as tears were running down her face.

"Miren! Please stop this! I know you're in there somewhere! Please come back!"

"RAAAARGH!"

However the dragonlike Miren didn't respond to her words, instead, he just unleashed a roar which sent out an electrical pulse around him, making a cloud of dust and dirt fly outwards. Men and women around the established circle had to brace themselves for the impact it made.

Misa quickly raised an earthen wall to block the attack, but the future me had already started his assault. Two purple flashes were all that had been needed for him to approach my lover. What happened next was the most horrifying sight I had ever witnessed.

I got to see myself impale Misa with my right, scale-covered arm, making blood fly out of her mouth. My whole entity was screaming, trying to get it to stop but to no avail. I was stuck seeing my lover gently raising her hand, putting it on my future cheek.

"I love you, Miren...."

****

I woke up in a panic, the short vision still burnt into my mind, in the infirmary.

"Blargh!, Splatter*

Before I knew it, I had rolled out of the bed and started to empty the inside of my stomach onto the floor.

Tears and snot quickly covered my face as I couldn't stop thinking about what I had been forced to witness.

After a couple of minutes, I was finally able to collect myself a bit, having already completely empty the contents of my stomach.

There were so many weird things about this dream. It felt like it was an entirely different me from my previous dreams.

The first Miren I had seen didn't use the [Wings of Thunder] at all and, although a bit crazy, was still well aware of his actions.

This Miren had almost looked like he had become some sort of half-dragon, with his scales arms, and big wings. He had also completely lost his reason, acting more like an animal than a person.

Two different visions, but the contents were both horrifying. In the end, Misa would end up losing her life because of me.

As I was thinking this, something clicked inside of me as I realized what these dreams truly were. They were visions of possibilities, the futures that could, or possibly even would happen if I didn't do something about them.

It was the only reasonable explanation I had so far. The fucked up thing was that so far, it appeared to inevitably end with me losing the one I loved the most, the only one I had ever felt like I could love.

I wasn't sure if this dream meant that I had somehow already managed to save Misa from getting killed by other humans, and I didn't want to take that chance.

This only meant that there were two things I had to prevent. Keeping Misa safe from others, while at the same time keeping her safe from me.

A hurtful conjecture was quickly made in my head, a thought that I never wanted to have but was impossible not to.

'Do I have to leave Misa?'

It was the most clear-cut, obvious way to prevent these futures from coming to fruition, but it was also the most painful.

*BAM!*

My tears started running once again, and I was unable to keep them from falling as I punched the floor like a child throwing a tantrum.

"Aaahhh!"

'I don't want to leave her... I want to stay by her side... I want to grow old with her...'

I didn't want to let her go, but even more than that, I didn't want her to die.

'Is this how it has to be? Is my happiness really impossible to attain?! What kind of sin did I do to deserve this?!'

My sadness started to get replaced with anger. Pure and simple rage started to fill my mind as I felt the unfairness of the world.

*Crzzt!*

Lightning started to coil around me, illuminating the dark room. 'If even the gods are against me then...'

"Seems like you are having some dangerous thoughts, little hare.

As soon as I was about to think something so incredibly absurd that most people would likely laugh if they knew, my master had somehow appeared before me.

Looking up at the white-haired old man, I couldn't help but feel ashamed about my outburst "Master... I..."

He stopped me from trying to explain myself, "It's okay, Miren. Although I don't know exactly what you are feeling right now, I can understand it to some extent."

He sat down on the bed and continued to speak calmly, "Didn't you already deal with the first vision properly? Doing everything in your power to make sure to shape your own future? If so, why would a second one make any difference?"

"But... What if I can't change anything? What if I'm not strong enough or smart enough? What if my choices will always ultimately lead to Misa dying?! Then what the fuck do I do?!"

I couldn't help but scream at the stupid old man, mouthing words as if he could even start to imagine or understand the pain of knowing I might ultimately be the cause of Misa's death.

Instead of getting another calm sermon with the principal explaining what I should do, a wave of extreme pressure got exuded from the old body.

"Agh!"

My hands got pressed harder into the ground, as I desperately tries to hold myself up from the floor.

"WHOSE DISCIPLE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ALLOWED TO CONTINUE SHOWING SUCH A MISERABLE DISPLAY OF SELF-PITY?!"

His loud words and pressure woke me up from my childish tantrum, instantly clearing my mind from my stupid thoughts.

As he saw my eyes clearing up, he withdrew his aura letting me get up on my knees.

"Are you back now? If you are, let's talk about what you saw and see if we can find a solution together."

'He is right... One or two possible futures doesn't matter. All I have to do is to make sure they don't happen...'

In the end, I told him about what I had seen, about how I had seen a dragonlike version of me taking the life of my own lover. As my words left my mouth, I couldn't help but feel sick again.

"Interesting... So something will corrupt you in the future, making you into some sort of military weapon which has lost its reasoning..."

He had already taken my thoughts one step further, connecting them with a possible external actor who might want to use me in the war.

While thinking like this it did make one thing clear; the principal already had someone or something in mind.

"Who would want to do that?"

His gaze hardened a bit as he gave his answer, "There are probably a number of both humans and demonkind who would want to use you for their own gains. However, it's still too early to try to single someone out."

I had already managed to calm myself down to such a degree that his words didn't phase me much, even though I had a feeling that there was something he concealed on purpose.

"I guess you will tell me more in the future..."

He only gave me a gentle smile as his answer.

"Oh, do make sure to clean up after yourself before the health teacher comes back. She isn't someone that you would want to think badly of you."

I looked to my side at the reeking pool of what had once been inside of me with a frown.

'Oh, right... There was that...'