Rodent gasped as he was dragged underwater and pulled by the current. Bubbles formed around his mouth as he struggled and wiggled about, unable to grab anything as he passed along the smooth passage. He tried to push against anything to breach the surface… but found only open space around him.
He wiggled, struggled, and choked for breath as he could see nothing in the water. His hand covered his mouth to prevent more air escaping as his panic only worsened things. His mind struggled to clear.
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"You could never be a hero," Rocket said.
Rodent frowned. "Why not?"
"Because heroes can keep their cool under pressure." Rocket threw his arms up. "It's pretty much in the job description."
"It is?"
"Yeah! Do you ever see the hero choking when things go wrong?"
Rodent thought about this.
"And when everyone sees the hero keeping cool, they figure he has everything in the bag, so they calm down as well!"
Rodent clicked his teeth. "Damn it."
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Rodent blinked. He stopped focusing on trying to end this conflict and settled himself instead. He focused on his heart and lungs, calming the duo down and the crazed haze in his brain. He couldn't take calming breaths, which would end both of his issues.
But through force of will and closing his eyes, Rodent allowed the current to take him, twisting to how it tilted him and feeling the way he was carried, coming to feel a sense of prediction from it. He stopped feeling harm and settled, becoming loose and free, almost not caring if he did not take his next breath.
He enjoyed the ride and even came to smile, chuckling beneath the water and spreading out his arms. As the current took him further… it suddenly stopped as his back caught against a surface. Dirt and sand stopped him in place. Rodent opened his eyes to see a surface above.
Pressing his hands into the ground, he rose and breached the surface, taking a large gasp and breathing air. He coughed and choked a little bit, turning his head to hack out anything in his lungs. He then pressed against the side of his nose and blew that out, too.
When he came to focus on what was around him, Rodent found himself in a cave of sorts, a small one with a rock wall and four entrances across it. Red-burning torches were fastened to the walls, revealing the short dune that composed the ground.
Rodent blinked, planting a hand against the water and then the ground beneath, pushing himself to his feet and stepping out of the water. The strange part, though, as he stepped out, was that he did not drip. Touching his clothes revealed them to be dry.
Rodent scrunched his eyebrows together and looked behind him. There no longer was the small body of water he had crawled in. Instead, it was the dune he was upon now, a curved rock wall that touched the ground and had nothing on its surface.
"Hello?" Rodent turned with a hand next to his lip as he spoke to the ceiling. "Who's screwing with me?"
No answer.
His attention was drawn to the wall, the slabs between the door-framed entrances, where writing was chiselled. There were at least four of them. Rodent read the first one.
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BEATRICE FILA
A grandmother to a warrior family.
Buried by friends.
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Rodent stepped back and scowled at the ceiling. "What the hell is up with this? Are you using magical powers for this? C'mon."
He read the second one.
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THE WOODEN WOLF
An ordinary member of its kind.
Somehow, its last.
It breaks the totem that gives it life
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Rodent chuckled. "Ha! You kidding? My friend wouldn't do that." His fist pounded his chest with a fist. "We made a promise! You won't make me doubt that."
The third.
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RODENT
Listless among dreamers.
He lives their fantasies.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
Too weak to support them.
He perishes.
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"Dude! No shot that's how this story goes." He waved, backing away. "I'm here to reach the sword. Not play silly games." Going to the torches, he removed them one by one, tossing them into the entrances—their fires instantly disappearing. "You're going to have to do better than junk like this."
Tossing in the last fire turned the place into darkness, one where anything could be formed and come after the man, but Rodent only held out his arms and smiled, waiting. He didn't think, didn't focus on any particular feeling, and remained dumb and smirking.
The darkness didn't test him that way, instead, a light shone on ahead, a distance previously blocked by the wall, a great openness around the man.
Ahead was a circle of light forming ground, and in the middle was a stone platform, and in the center of that… a sword staked in the ground.
It was a simple sword that everyone had seen a million times; nothing special about it.
IT CAN BE YOURS.
Rodent tilted his head upward at hearing the voice, still smiling but not saying a word more. He watched a phantom of himself come and pull out the sword—people suddenly appeared and fell to their knees.
They praised and cheered.
HERO! HERO! HERO!
The phantom raised the sword, and the light from the ground swirled into it, causing it to shine as the scene changed. It was Dula Village, and Rodent stood on the chest of a fallen Steinith, holding the sword still, the people chanting around him.
YOU WILL MAKE A DIFFERENCE. BE IMPORTANT. POWERFUL. ABLE TO AID.
Rodent smiled and nodded.
The next scene was the phantom all dressed up, on a horse with the sword raised, many behind him doing the same as they charged ahead to a great battle.
WITH THE SWORD, YOU CAN BE SOMEONE, AND NEVER BE WEAK OR HELPLESS AGAIN.
Rodent clapped.
And the next scene was the sword still staked to the ground.
ALL THAT YOU DESIRE THE SWORD FOR… WILL BECOME FULFILLED… IF YOU PULL IT OUT NOW…
Rodent threw up his hands. "By all means!"
He strode toward the sword with a smirk and, pulling it out with a single hand, held it up in the air. He assumed a heroic, noble pose, like those he had seen in countless media. For a moment, he truly felt like a hero, like the chosen one, with power and importance placed upon him, the demands of the world set to be the rest of his life.
And before light could even be infused into the sword, Rodent tossed the blade over his shoulder and heard it clatter like any other weapon, turning around and presenting himself. "You think I'm doing this for praise? Get real!"
THAT SWORD WILL GIVE YOU WHAT YOU NEED! IMMEDIATE POWER AND STRENGTH TO—
"Who cares! I'm not going to have a sword cheat on my behalf." His arms dropped. "I'm going to get strong because I got strong." He threw up his hand. "I'm here for the sword and just the sword. That legend crap doesn't interest me."
YOUR PROMISES WILL BE—
"Dude. Who uses a magical, cryptic voice to guilt-trip people?" Rodent crossed his arms, and the light faded again. "You're not all-knowing. I made those promises because I know I'll find a way." He glanced around. "But it'll be my way."
YOU… HOLD NO ILLUSIONS… FOR WHAT THE SWORD MIGHT DO FOR YOU…
"I know it'll be enough to appease a giant brute for a little while." Rodent played it straight. "Beyond that, the next person who gets the sword can do as they like."
YOU REALLY BELIEVE YOU'LL GET THE SWORD?
"Listen—I've always been an idiot." Rodent tapped the side of his head as his eyes still glanced around for the voice's source. "And lazy. If I have to do something, I have to do it, and I don't think much else about it." He smirked. "Now, sometimes, I think about other ways how I'll have to do the thing—but it's rare I ever doubt it's possible."
HOW CAN YOU HOLD SUCH SELF-BELIEF?
"Laziness," Rodent responded, still standing in darkness, but it wouldn't have mattered even if there had been light. "I'm pretty dumb. But I'm lucky to know a lot of people who tell me what to do—it's pretty easy to believe in them." He shrugged. "I just do what they tell me and have faith in that. As for the self-conviction… I don't know."
He scratched the back of his head. "If you don't believe in yourself, you fail no matter what. But if you believe in yourself, the worst thing you can do is fail." He nodded. "Now I get it. I really do. It's hard believing in yourself and falling down—but after a while, you realize that's no big deal." He smiled. "But the thing is, if you believe in yourself totally, then there's the chance you'll succeed."
Rodent threw up his hands. "That's why I always just believe in myself. I give it my all and let the world decide the rest."
A FOOL. A F.O.O.L COMES FOR THE SWORD.
"Yeah." Rodent rubbed underneath his nose. "So what?"
NO. BUT I AM UNSURE HOW FAR THAT WILL GET YOU.
"Are you the one who decides that?"
NO.
"So why were you trying to discourage me with all this nonsense?"
BECAUSE IT IS MY SACRED DUTY TO WARD OF THOSE NOT WORTHY OF THE SWORD.
Rodent smirked politely. "That's quite the flawed system you've got there." He hummed. "What would have happened if I had let that light infuse that sword?"
YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN GIVEN AND CRUSHED BY THE POWER NEEDED TO BECOME A HERO.
"Most would be crushed by their dreams if they were suddenly thrust within them," Rodent said, sounding like he was quoting someone else. "For they have not developed the strength to hold or maintain them." Just then, Rodent turned around and looked at an exact place two feet shorter than him. "A friend gave me that lesson for free. It made me better and smarter."
Rodent glared at that exact spot. "What did you do to the last person you taught that lesson?"
THE UNWORTHY GAMBLE WITH THEIR LIVES—SUCH IS THE WAY.
"Established by who?"
AND WHO ARE YOU TO QUESTION ME?
"And who are you to have given ages worth of wisdom to people instead of killing them?"
YOU BELIEVE THE UNWORTHY SHOULD BE ALLOWED TO LIVE?
"How else are they expected to become worthy? Your game is rigged. I won't play it."
WE WERE CREATED BY THE SWORD ITSELF.
"Then you should have called the sword an idiot sooner."
SACRILEGE!
"Better that than the bullshit you're trying to pull here." Rodent stepped toward that exact spot and stood before it. "What are you going to do about it?"
The Thing grabbed Rodent.
Everything disappeared.