There's something that no one tells you about that moment when you are in the face of death itself, and possessed by a sort of courageous spirit, decide to fight your strongest fear.

Being a Hero doesn't feel or look as good as the stories told you.

In fact, and if you're brave enough to trust my word, I can tell you that it feels like shit.

At that idealized moment of true courage, you feel stressed, nervous and so afraid that you begin to feel either stupid or suicidal. Is at that moment right before everything gets darker, when all the doubts assault you at once, and you begin to ask if you wouldn't have been better just by staying in a less dangerous, yet mediocre version of your character.

It's there when you discover that whatever you've had between hands it's important enough to put your life on the line. And that only if you get out of that place alive, that something proves itself to have real worth.

That's why when he talked, I got quiet for a bit.

— So, you did have the gut to appear —

And I stared at him blatantly, angry, filled with... anger.

There, he down-looked me as in our first encounter, and against all of my instincts, I held his sight, he seemed to be annoyed for a second.

— That should be my line —

I spitted out, trying to strike him. Then I walked a couple of steps aside, to be honest, a bit anxious. I didn’t want to look intimidated, so I proceeded to ask.

— What took you so long? —

— I was busy, meeting with friends, ring any bell? —

I stayed quiet.

— You know, the other day I was walking over Hemingway Street and I thought to see someone that looked really similar to me —

He was… right. As one of my chores before facing him, I had followed him only to realize he was having a completely normal life, I was sure that that was how I convinced him to come in the first place. He seemed to take a lot of care in his daily activities. The time he spent helping at home, talking with neighbors, and downtown doing chores was almost like he was trying to prevent himself from being caught. I eventually managed to solve that if I treated him with me simply appearing at some point, without context or explanation, that would mess up his facade. He agreed to meet immediately.

— I don’t know what you're talking about—

I lied.

— I didn’t know you were a stalker —

— I’m not sure if you can become your own stalker—

— What would that make you then?—

— Accountable? —

— That’s funny, now I know why I took your life in the first place —

— … —

— What? —

He asked cocky, and for a moment I had to center myself again, remember that this was a fight I would only be able to win with head and leaded feet. I stayed calm.

— Did the cat eat your tongue, Oli?—

— Yeah, well, talking about taking things from others —

I double-thought it, instead

He asked me straight-forward.

— What do you want? —

— My life back —

He laughed at me as if I was telling a joke.

— That’s more like it —

— It’s not going to be like the last time —

— Yeah, we'll see —

He said, stretching loosely his arms like in the school’s gym class warm-up.

— You caught me out of breath, it was a long night —

I said nervously.

— Well, I hope you do your best then, right? —

I swallowed, honestly not sure if I had thought through it enough.

— Let me tell you something about this world you surely don’t know, Oli —

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

He said, stepping further, gazing with his eyes, stained on a red light.

— There is a dim light that separates your world from mine, under which reality and dream merge —

I backed down a step.

— The place where myths, fables, and tales have their nest, here's where I lay, deeply intertwined with your nightmares —

— What the hell are you talking about?—

— You fool, haven’t stories taught you already? you got too close to the fire, and those who do walk with one foot in the dark and another in the light must do with open eyes —

— Who… what the hell are you? —

He smiled at the verge of the question.

— I’ll let you know as a favor, Oli —

Then he stood quietly in front of me, looking taller and stronger.

— Right now, I’m your worst Fear —

Then, retrieving his arm he dropped a blow over my left side, so quick that I was barely able to interpose my forearm. One last sentence he said as I felt my body being ejected by an overwhelming force.

— You should have listened to your instincts —

I was thrown away, like a toy, and dropped with a nasty sound that iterated whilst my body crawled over the sand.

Suddenly I found myself over my belly again, dirty and covered in mod, with a stab of pain across the whole right side of my body, telling me in screams that this wasn’t a play anymore.

At that moment looking at his estranged face I knew it, he had already realized, that blow was meant to erase me from this earth, but instead, I was standing up again. I couldn’t help but smile as I scratched the sleeve of my hoodie, wrecked by the blow, to reveal the Hex covering my left arm. The rune shining represented strength, and the whirling lines all across my limb the command “Seal”, contained within a thin line drawn around half of my body, going through my neck, chest, and waist in a diamond shape.

— What? you didn't expect it to finish so quickly, or did you? —

He buffed, kicking dust in front of him.

— That’s …. a bewitched marc? —

— Or didn’t stories teach you that? —

— … —

Stepping front, he threw himself upfront, shortening the distance, and with both hands this time, he dropped another blow from above. One hand I had to raise, with which I stopped him in the middle of his flight.

— Impossible… one of the Faenician Arts!? —

At that moment I could feel it, almost like it was vibrating, the strength flowing from his blow through the Hex into my arm. With little to no experience using it outside of the basement, I couldn’t tell how the command Seal would work or how much could the Hex withstand, only that whatever was absorbed by the Hex would be stored within a limit, after which the Sympathetic Rebound Effect would start spawning, most likely waiting now to crash half of my body. Maybe, I thought, it wasn’t a good idea to receive any more punches directly.

Quickly I jumped out of the way, letting him fall under his own weight, I reached into the leg pocket on my cargo pants, and pulled out the second card I had “hidden under my sleeve”. It was, literally, a piece of paper.

— What are you? Answer me! —

He pulled himself together, emerging from a cloud of dust, his figure took an intimidating stand from the other side of the pitching diamond. Like someone who’s about to throw something.

— Your answer first! —

I demanded back

— Are you one of Arden's students? —

— Arden? —

— You refuse to answer? —

Then standing from a few meters apart, he retrieved his arm and shrunk it like a boxer would do before a jab, a distorted wall of nothing shutter the void between us, menacing to completely swallow me. Only one thing I was able to say before.

— Please work! —

And before it could reach me, the wall split itself into a thousand breezes.

Standing in its way instead, the Hex drawn in the piece of paper shone, so bright, that the paper caught fire in my hand. I dropped it out of the impression.

We both stared at the void, speechless.