Hurts… 

It hurts…

Keira limped across the battlefield with one arm covering a giant gash on her left side, blood still dripping to the ground. Her other arm still gripped her sword tight even though there were no more enemies to slay. Her hazy eyes scanned the ground around her. Fellow heroes, agents of darkness, men from nearby villages that offered their help for the battle… Every single one of them was strewn about along with blood and gore, only few were lucky enough to still have their body in one piece. 

The female knight coughed up blood and finally let go of the sword in her hand. The blood on the back of her hand was jet black in color. She must have gotten poisoned. Fixing it should be as simple as getting a healer to chant a spell, but none of them survived. Keira laughed. She’s going to die. Painfully.

How many years had passed since she was transported to this world? Ten? Twelve? Her head hurt when she tried to recall anything. She came from a world without magic, where swords and shields had been made obsolete by technology. She had always dreamed to be a hero, so when given the chance, she made absolutely sure she wouldn’t waste the opportunity.

Years of rigorous training flashed before Keira’s eyes. She never skipped. Not even one day. Her fellow heroes mocked her, saying that she’s trying too hard. Well, look who’s getting cut into pieces now. Maybe that one day of not going to the festival with everyone was what saved her from being cleaved in half by the Dark Lord’s blade.

She had a gift. She was nimbler than most trained men. Stronger, too. Having a weapon in her hands feels so natural even though she never held one in her previous life. That, combined with eyes that saw a little bit into the future, and she was able to go toe-to-toe against even the Dark Lord. She didn’t exactly have a knack with swords, though. Her teacher even suggested she used an axe instead since those infernal creatures usually have spiky protrusions along their body that can easily halt sword slashes. However she refused, a knight just had to use a sword, you know? It felt wrong otherwise.

Still, she did great! She slayed Betelgeuse, the Dark Lord that has been plaguing this island for hundreds of years. Though it came at a price. A very harsh one. Six of her fellow heroes had fallen before she managed to chop that damn evil bastard’s head off, and she had to suffer a gnarly blow to her left side just to get that split-second opening… 

Keira stumbled and fell among the corpses. Strange. She didn’t think she’d lost her footing there. Perhaps she had lost too much blood. She tried to assess the damage, but her left side had gone completely numb… 

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Something warm flowed from her wounds and onto the ground. The mages cast some spells to boost her prowess before the battle began. Perhaps one of them helped staunch the bleeding, but the effects surely had faded away. Keira clutched her wounds with her hand, but it helped little, if at all. 

So she was going to bleed out before the poison took hold… Her vision was getting hazier with each passing second. She could feel pain all over her body, but just barely. It felt so strange. She thought dying would be more painful, but her mind was just filled with a sense of peace.

Her body relaxed, perhaps unconsciously. It felt warm, like being in a big hug. When was the last time she’s gotten a hug? In this world, all that had happened was training and battle. Everyone was always on edge. Now that she felt some kind of warmth, she started to remember her previous life. A life where she was hugged a lot by her family, though she could barely recall what her parents looked like.

Hey, she had a good run. She slayed a powerful dark lord. Even though there’s nobody left to see her achievement, someone would eventually run into this battlefield and deduce that she killed the Dark Lord, make statues of her, and immortalize her name in heroic tales and poems as Keira, the brave knight who slew evil with her ornate silver sword…

Keira grinned. That sounded nice. Shame she wouldn’t live to see it. Well, you can’t have your cake and eat it…

She closed her eyes… 

***

 "Oh, Sam? You found something? I knew it was the correct choice to keep you as a pet!" Johnny yelled at the slithering giant salamander. The beast navigated the field of red-black flowers without a care, ruining the petals that touched its poisonous skin. It stopped at a little clearing, and Johnny finally caught up to it.

"What are you smelling anyway, poison? Do heroes usually die from poison? Well, it looks like you found one, anyway, even though you can't see the marks like I do." Johnny smiled as he saw a red circle on the ground, visible to no one but him. He gathered his bangs and tied his dirt brown hair into a ponytail before starting to dig with his bare hands. "Alright, here goes!"

"We have... A set of armor with a big-ass gash on one side... Man, I can't even sell this to collectors. Oh, there's a dagger stuck on it's ba--IT'S CURSED DAMN IT," Johnny screamed and kicked the set of armor away. "Shit, my fingers are turning purple. Looks like we're paying a visit to the priest again today, Sam."

"Well, since I already got cursed anyway, might as well see what else we got here. Oh, there's something shiny sticking out of the ground. Dig that, Sam! I don't wanna risk my fingers crumbling into dust if I touch a holy weapon with them," he commanded, and the lizard happily obeyed. It did take a long time digging the thing out without opposable thumbs, though, and Johnny's entire arm has turned black by the time Sam is done digging, but he couldn't care less.

It's a silver sword adorned with various jewels on it's hilt, the shiniest thing Johnny had ever seen. He poked it a little with his elbow and felt no holy aura radiating from it, so he grabbed the weapon and inspected it with glittering eyes.

"Sam, you found something real good, huh?"