In this world, there was only one man whom I admired and that was the Hero. Maybe it wasn't the Hero himself but the idea that he represented. Someone that could save the  people and elevate the world around them. Watching the Hero was like seeing the best in people and the goodness that was still there. Now I know that there were no heroes.

I couldn't stand up as my body just wouldn't move.

He looked at me like he always had and I never felt more frightened. My mind was a mess and I was shaking uncontrollably. I felt the guilt in my heart boil up and over me. I didn't know what was going on anymore. I knew that the Hero had died and he was murdered by my own hands. My eyes looked at him as if he had never left this world. 

The Hero of the Veil, Gabriel, was standing in front of me.

"Why…" I said almost petrified. "Are you here?"

Gabriel looked at me as carefree as ever and pointed at me.

My soul screamed out in anguish. Emotions poured over me just like my blood, sweat, and tears. Has my time finally come for me? Have all the sins I've acquired accumulated to this? He was the true Hero and I was not.

"Y-you came for me?"

Gabriel nodded his head and there was joy on his face.

The light shined in a bright white and stopped flickering. Did I finally die? Was all this madness because of the guilt I felt in my soul? Did Gabriel come to bring me to the afterlife? Was this why my sins had come to haunt me? There were only questions in my thoughts as I looked at him.

I knew that someday I would face the consequences of my actions but I didn't think it was this soon. I prayed that whenever that time came for me I would regret nothing. No, I stopped praying, I only hoped now. Then a thought came to my mind and some resolve built up. There were still lasting regrets that would not let me go.

"I can't die yet," I said. "I have to finish things."

I shook my head and stood up on my feet.

The pain in my ankle had subsided as a surge of new emotions came to me. I had to finish what I set out to accomplish. I had to save the kingdoms and its people. I couldn't go away just yet and leave things half done. I had killed the hero and I had caused great turmoil. I wasn't a man who didn't face my consequences. I had to go north and I had to kill the Demon Lord before I could rest in the dirt.

Gabriel's demeanor changed and he drew his sword.

The Holy Sword in his hand looked the same as the last time I saw it. But, that was when I saw it on top of his casket. Is this truly the Hero come back alive again? No, this was a trick. This was a monster that was preying on my weakness. I will not go quietly as this monster tried to devour my soul.

"You dare Demitri?" Gabriel said. "I am the Hero!"

Gabriel stood tall and lifted his chin at me.

"No, you're not," I said. "I killed the Hero."

I drew my blade and pointed at the Hero imposter. Gabriel's face twisted into something I had never seen before. I had never seen the Hero face anything with hate and anger. The Hero had always kept a smile with a calm demeanor. He would not let anyone see his real emotions and nobody could decipher his real thoughts. This confirmed my feelings and I truly knew that this monster was not the Hero.

The monster slashed at me and I blocked it easily. I punched the imposter in the face and felt the shattering of his teeth on my knuckles. This was not the Hero, he would not let me have the first strike. I tightened my fists as I gripped my sword. The fake Hero went into a fury and started to attack me. This fake was too slow and too awkward at fighting to be the real Hero. I calmed myself and saw through this farce.

"Who are you!?" I screamed.

"I'm the Hero!" Gabriel said.

The imposter fought me again and I deflect all his strikes. Even with my broken Mithril sword, this fake couldn't penetrate any of my defenses. The true Holy Sword would cut through my Mithril blade like it was paper. This was a fake through and through. Who was this in front of me and what did they want?

"I AM THE HERO!" The imposter shouted.

"No," I said. "You're not."

I swing my blade and cut through the fake Hero. The monster couldn't even read my movements as blood splattered over me. The fake Hero was bleeding and suddenly vaporized into a black mist. I examined the blood that came on me and noticed it had all disappeared. This wasn't real at all and those things weren't the people I knew. I looked at the people and saw the façade for what it was, a trap.

Now all those people who stared and shouted at me before became afraid. I flash toward each one and stab them with my Mithril sword. The blade would easily slice through them and blood would splash only to disappear. Each time my sword would pierce them, they would vaporize into a black mist. Again, I had killed my friends even if they weren't real.

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These weren't the people I knew, they didn't come back from the dead.

After I finished the last one, I looked around me and saw nothing. My eyes went to the ground and I noticed it looked artificial. I stab my sword in the ground and blood emerged like a geyser. The ground began to rumble and shake. I knelt down and pressed my sword deeper.

"WHO ARE YOU!?" I shouted.

Then the rumble stopped and a vapor slowly crept away from the ground.

"WHAT ARE YOU!?" I shouted again.

Only a bright white light shone in the cave.

"Show yourself!" I said.

The lights started to flicker.

"Face me!" I said. "You coward!"

Again the lights flickered but now in a controlled manner.

My eyes stared straight and waited for whatever was supposed to come. I was ready for anything to appear. Darkness and light seem to flash like bolts of lightning. When there was darkness, there looked to be a white thread spinning itself in front of me. When there was light, a darkness seems to swirl in that area.

Something started to manifest itself in front of me and I held onto my sword tightly.

The darkness swirled up and formed a body shaped like an oval. The being stood over seven feet tall as its shaped formed. Tendrils sprouted from its face and tentacles on the side of its body. White teeth appeared in the middle of its dark body. They were large teeth but also flat and rounded like they were used for smashing instead of chewing. White lines outlined its body and eyes in the darkness.

I had never seen such a monster before, I didn't know what it was.

"Kekeke." The monster was making a noise.

The tendrils on its face seem to flutter about.

"What kind of monster are you," I said.

I held my blade in a defensive posture.

"You call me a monster?" The shadow said. "But aren't you truly the one who is horrific?"

The lights were flickering as the black shadow of a monster was moving around me.

"Your mind is a mess and I can see into your thoughts." The monster said.

Darkness settled for a moment and I could still see the monster with the white outlines of his body.

"You were trying to trick me," I said.

The monster gave me a smile with his large teeth and the lights flickered again.

"I was just trying to set you free."

I grimaced at its words.

"By tormenting me?" I said.

"Everyone lives and everything dies," It said. "I was trying to save you from the pain."

Its tentacles started to rub over its body.

"Why not save you while letting you sustain me?"

"You were trying to devour me?"

"Don't say it like that," The monster said. " I just happen to nourish myself on the thoughts and dreams of others."

"So you tried tricking me so you could drain my mind?"

"Yes and I wasted many of my minions but your mind is so deliciously tempting."

The light flickered and bodies started to appear on the ground around us. The bodies of Ghasts and Elves littered the ground. There were other things too but I couldn't tell from how rotten they were. Bones scattered everywhere that belonged to a variety of creatures. This monster had a mountain of bodies that sustained its life. I was shocked at the field of horror that laid around me.

"Who are you?" I said.

The monster moved its tentacles up as if it tried to shrug.

"I have no idea myself Demitri." The monster said. "But since I know your name how about you call me Nyarlathotep."

I never heard of a monster or a name such as that before.

"Nyarlathotep?" I said.

"Yes, it's an old name from a place I came from."

"Where did you come from?" I said.

Nyarlathotep moved its tentacles wildly and then curled some close to its teeth.

"Hmmm….some place far away." It said.

"Earth?..." I said.

The monster was shocked at the word and it tilted its body.

"How do you know that name?"

The lights kept flickering as I stared at the monster who looked back at me puzzled.

This monster was also a reincarnated being!?

What is going on in the world?