"You....you are joking, right? Kang is a Light hero candidate? What the hell is that suppose to mean?"

Xiao chuckled lightly at the words coming out from Lars, as it sounds like nonsense to him.

"Joke? What joke? Do you think I'm joking? Hehe."

Lars looked at Xiao with a confused face, while still maintaining the same disturbing grinning expression.

"Yeah."

"No, no, no, no! No joke, no joke! Hehe."

Lars playfully shakes his head and hands as to convince Xiao that all he had said was true, yet his action and attitude have made Xiao harder to believe his words.

"If so, what does it have to do with the monster that killed my family? Where did that monster come from anyway? And finally, who are you? Like where do you come from? How the hell did you get the key to my cell? How do you know about my situation....."

Xiao starts bombarding question onto Lars, for he had run out of patience dealing with Lars lunatic personality and bizarre speech-pattern.

"Wait! Wait! One at a time, one at a time. Hehe"

Lars scratches his messy hair while looking troubled with Xiao aggressive approach, which made Xiao settled down a bit as he waited for Lars to cleared his throat and begin to explain.

"The monster and I came from the same world, not this world, another world, my world, I believe the word Fantasy world should ring a bell to you. Alright that's first, and for the second question on what does it have to do with your family, well that goes without being said, your dear brother was the Light hero candidate, that means he can either be a powerful fighting force for the Alliance or a deadly enemy to the Demon God army. Hehe."

"So to render the strength of this so-called Alliance, someone from the Demon God army gave an order to the monster to kill my brother, and my parents got caught in the middle of its business, is that what you are trying to say? So why did the monster disappear before he had the chance to kill me?"

After Lars finished part of his explanation, Xiao concludes his deduction based on it, throughout the explanation, Xiao only focused on finding where did the monster come from and why did the monster target his family, when there were countless of other average families like his one.

Lars was touched by Xiao deduction that he clapped his hand with all his might, so much that his skin on his palm starts bleeding out blood.

"Such wisdom from you, my lord! That's right, it's exactly what you had just said! As for why you are still alive, that's a simple question, you were lucky, the monster, who I assume was the Umbra, they were a mindless creature that acts only through order, and they will activate an expiration timer once they completed their order, so basically you were able to survive long enough for the Umbra to hit its time limit. Hehe."

Xiao was quiet for a moment after he heard Lars explanation, he then started to chuckle loudly while covering his face with his hand for trying to contain his emotion.

"Hahaha! So I survived because of pure luck, huh? This is stupid! Thanks to this so-called Umbra, who disappear conveniently after it finished its business, I got treated as a madman who murders his own family!

While Xiao was laughing at how everything was played out to this, Lars started to laugh too with Xiao, even louder and sound crazier.

"And you were saying about something like replacing my brother to be the Light hero candidate, right? So am I going to join forces with this so-called Alliance, defeat the Demon God army and save the world?"

"Yes, yes, you are going to be a hero! Isn't this exciting?! It's going to fun, right?! Hehe."

Lars dances around the place with a jolly tone, ignoring Xiao who's about to burst out of rage.

"Fun? This ain't some video game or novel, you know?! My brother and parents were died because of some conflict in your world, playing as a hero in video games? Sure, it's fun, but becoming a hero and save your world, do it yourself! And why the hell is Kang the Light Hero candidate in the first place?! That doesn't make any freaking sense at all!"

"Oh, oh, hmm, even I'm not sure why Kang was chosen as a candidate for the Light Hero, and no no no, I am too weak and unreliable to become a hero now, and besides, you don't have any other choice, do you? Hehe."

"....What?"

Stunned by Lars's words, Xiao looked at him curiously, waiting for him to explain.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"OH, RIGHT!"

Lars suddenly shouts out loud without Xiao expecting it.

"What now?!"

"I need to tell you something now! Hehe."

"What...what thing?"

(For God sake, this guy is seriously fooling around! Patience, Xiao, patience, he is the only guy around who has all the explanation, I gotta play along, even he has something wrong in the head.)

Xiao was holding back his fist to resist the urge to punch Lars.

"If you choose to be the Ligh Hero candidate, that also equals going to my world, and that again equals to never coming back to this world, your world. Hehe."

Xiao nodded his head to show he understands Lars words, and proceed to asked him back:

"Alright, so this is the option for choosing to replace Kang, and you were saying something about choosing, right? What about the other option?"

"Oh yes, Of course, of course, of course! You can choose NOT to be a hero, I hereby propose another option."

"Okay, what is it?"

"Death."

"Death?"

"Yes, death. You die the end. Hehe."

Again, Xiao was stunned by Lars answered, as just looked at Lars with a confused face.

"That's right, don't forget about your death sentence, you are a killer remember? Everyone in this world wants to see your dead body, so the next option is, waiting to die. Hehe."

(I see....that's what he meant. Goddamn it! Lars is right, Choosing to replace Kang means I will run away from my death penalty to another world, where no one at my world will find out. But if I refuse the offer, I would only wait for my death to come.)

"So, what's it gonna be? Hero? or death? Do decide quickly, as we are running out of time. Hehe."

Lars took out a pocket watch from his pocket and shows it to Xiao.

"What do you mean we are running out of time?"

"Hehe! What do you think? This humble me is giving you a chance only for now, so what's it gonna be? Come on, come on, come on!"

Lars leans towards Xiao, putting out his ear to expect an answer from Xiao.

Xiao was silent for a moment, he was thinking, thinking the given option by Lars. To survive as a hero, or to die guiltless as a killer.

(As far as I don't trust this Lars guy, I don't see any other option left, no one at this world believes in me, and everyone wants me dead. Although I will have to say goodbye to this world forever...)

Xiao had finished considering, he faced Lars with a resolved expression and gave his answer.

"I choose the hero route, I have survived till this long, no way I am going to send myself to death! And I'm going to find the one who's responsible for my family's death, they took everything from me, now I'm gonna repay them the favour in full."

"Oh! Oh! Oh! Such amazing will power! Such a powerful quote! I'm so touched, SO TOUCHED!"

Lars giving thunderous applause once again to Xiao while bawling out tears from his eyes, each clapped spill out a bit of his blood from his reddened palm that still hasn't healed from his outrageous clapped before.

"But before that, there is a very very very, and very important thing we need to do first."

And once again, Lars changed his mood so quickly that the tears had already dried up from his eyes. Lars was inspecting Xiao's body while circling him.

"Hmm, as I expected, you don't have the potential to become a hero, so, this humble me shall give you the potential to become one. Hehe."

"Is...is that so? Well, how can it be done?"

Xiao asked Lars as he was clueless for what comes next.

"Right then, come, come, sit here, my lord, and we shall begin the hero-making ritual. Hehe."

Xiao followed Lars instruction as he sat on the floor, Lars sat behind Xiao and proceed to draw something at his back with his finger.

"Alrighty right, this will only take a few secs, just a teeny tiny of your precious time. Hehe."

Follow by that, Lars whispered an incantation so softly that Xiao didn't hear it.

"Bless thou who shall fall into the depth of vengeance, for thou shall host the great void, for thou life shall bound to the world, for thou shall end the fate of the world..."

Right after the incantation, something was forced into Xiao's body coming in from his back, and he felt something foreign has resided inside him, but only just a mere secs, before that sensation disappeared completely.

"Huh? What?"

Xiao got startled by that, as he turned around and looked at Lars with a worried and doubtful expression.

"It was nothing, nothing, no nothing, free your worry for you had just become an incredible hero, my lord. Hehe."

"....I don't feel any different from before."

Xiao looked around his body and made a few small jumps to see any changes in his body, but he felt the same as always.

(And here, I was expecting some kind of aura or beams coming out from my body, like those protagonists in the novel I read before, guess I was just stupid to expect anything.)

"You will be, not now. Anyway, time to hit the road, my lord! Clock's ticking! Hehe."

Right after Lars finished talking, he took a bottle out of nowhere and threw it to space, which then exploded and causes a space distortion, slowly forming into a portal.

"Right this way, step into the portal and destination we shall arrive, come on, hurry, hurry! Hehe."

Lars had already put one of his foot into the portal, asking Xiao to hurried up while Xiao was still shocked at the appearance of the portal.

"Hold on, one minute, please."

Xiao quickly regained composure and told Lars to give him some times, he then goes to a corner and changes his clothes, after that, he returns to Lars while wearing his school uniform.

"Oh? And this get-up is? Hehe."

"My school uniform, funny right? This is my only property, they took away my phone and everything else, since I won't be coming back to this world anymore, might as well just bring something to remember by."

"Oh I see, hmm, anyway, let's hit the road then! Hehe."

"Right...right."

(Seriously, something is definitely wrong with him, am I going to be okay with this old dude as my guide? But he is my only choice now, well, no choice but to brave myself for anything, and hope for the best in this new world!)

Xiao took a deep breath as if this was his last breath from this world, and steeled his resolve.

(Goodbye! This world who cursed my existence! And hello, new unknown world!)

Xiao expressed excited for the unknown world as he followed Lars from behind and steps into the portal.

The portal slowly disappears from the room, leaving nothing behind, and Xiao has officially vanished from this world.

****************

Yes, once again he remembers that moment where he gets to choose his fate, which he holds power to change his fate, he could have picked the decided fate, where he accepted the death sentence, and by death, he shall be released from all the suffering and agony, obtain a long-lasting peace, freedom and slumber.

Yet, he picked the wrong choice.