A tale a thousand times told: a hero comes to rescue the damsel in distress. Well, the distress part was real. Oh! Right. A hero comes and screams, "Fear not, princess, I shall save you from this beast!" and draws his sword. The creature—or the demon lord—well, you can call him a creature. He looks like a wolf walking on two legs, but about the size of a human, just a little bigger. Yet the hero was donning white armor and carrying a sword that, to be honest, was no bigger than a rapier. I thought the legendary sword was supposed to be bigger.
The demon lord says, "Well, hero, you rushed to rescue the princess quickly and took out most of my guards as well. But hero, a prophecy has been told. You will die this day, and you know prophecies always come true. Well, I don't need to tell you why, right? Without those prophecies, you wouldn't even be a hero."
The hero replies, while pointing his sword at the demon lord, "Well, you did your research, Demon King. But alas, if I were to die, I'll die taking you down with me."
Hey, wait, wait! If you die, who's going to save the damsel in distress here? And as I was thinking that, the hero charged at the demon king. With that, a magic sword appeared in the demon king's hand, and a fierce battle unfolded.
Cling clang, cling clang. Sparks were flying as the hero and demon lord clashed.
And I'm just waiting. I was holed up—well, literally held up by a chain on the wall. By that, I mean my cage is secured by five, maybe six, iron chains on the ceiling. If those break... well, no need to think negatively, right?
Did the sound below just stop? Oh, they stopped and are staring at each other.
Honestly, I don't get these staring contests. What are they doing? After a few hours—well, technically, like 10 seconds—they rushed at each other again. But this time, it was different. The hero pierced the demon lord's heart. He lost a lot of blood, and the hero was victorious. He went to a lever on the side and lowered my cage. He won. He really won and saved me.
The hero came to me and said, "Princess... you're safe now," before he dropped to the ground. I rushed to see what happened to him. His stomach was pierced, and he had lost a lot of blood. He said, "Princess, go outside. Some of my companions are out there. They'll take you to your family."
He couldn't even speak clearly, but still, he tried to calm me down. He spoke like a true hero, to a fault. With that, he lost consciousness.
But… I'm not that weak. I ripped up my clothes so I could run better and used the torn fabric to tie the hero to my back. I ran. I ran as fast as I could. And the castle began to collapse.
Meanwhile, outside, a warrior clad in heavy iron armor—short like a child but looking like a man—slashed a demon soldier with a giant axe and screamed to two more people fighting, "Looks like that's all of them!" They finished off the last of the demons and finally tried to relax a little.
The elf, clad in leather armor and carrying a bow bigger than himself, said to the rest, "Well, the hero Leon is taking his time." The girl, wearing a white robe and carrying a staff with a blue gem at the top, replied while approaching the elf, "Well, sir hero went to fight the demon king, not some run-of-the-mill thug."
The warrior approached them with a smirk. Both of them noticed it and asked at the same time, "WHAT?!"
The warrior replied, "Oh, nothing. Just nothing," and gave a sly laugh. They could hear the sound of swords clashing even from outside the castle—though not loud, just a faint sound. The noise stopped, and the warrior said, "Get ready. We don’t know if the hero won or lost."
The priestess responded, "Honestly, some friend you are. Don’t even trust your friend, huh, Grim?"
The warrior replied, "Well, it’s never bad to be cautious, huh, Velvet?"
The elf archer, preparing his bow, let out a sigh and shouted, "Honestly, you two, keep it down! I at least want to die without my ears being filled with your voices!"
As that happened, the castle began to crumble, cracking and falling to the ground. Still, the hero's party remained ready for anything. Velvet said, "Well, at least I hope he’ll save my little sister, Charlot. And what a cruel man, destroying his own castle just to get rid of his enemies. But I’ve got to respect him too. No one—demon nor human—would do that."
The elf stared at her, mouth opened.
Velvet said, "What?" The elf replied, "You really don’t know your own kind, do you?" and sighed.
A FEW MINUTES BEFORE:
I got up, tied the hero to my back, and the ground started shaking. Everything around me crumbled, and the roof began crashing down as I ran. The Demon Lord was truly desperate—or really clever. All this just to take down his biggest foe. I have to respect him. I can’t go through with this kind of plan.
Someone was screaming, "DAMN YOU, HERO! NOT ONLY DID YOU TAKE AWAY EVERYTHING FROM ME, YOU’RE EVEN TAKING AWAY MY LAST HOME, MY CASTLE!" Wait, what? No, no, I must be hearing things.
"I WILL DIE, BUT MARK MY WORDS, IN MY NEXT LIFE I WILL TAKE YOUR HEAD!" Then I heard a crashing sound.
I was running faster than the wind. I couldn’t even believe I was carrying someone on my back. This must be what they call fear making you do impossible things to survive.
I wasn’t out of breath or anything. I saw a light ahead, and without breaking a sweat, I made it to where the light came from and ran outside. There were three people waiting for me. I made my way to them quickly. I was safe, and I made it out alive with the hero. I was lucky. He was alive, and my sister started healing him. I fell down right there.
Someone caught me and said, "You did well, lass. Rest up."
AFTER A FEW HOURS:
It was nightfall when I came to.
I was sleeping on my sister's lap. She was smiling when I woke up, and she said instantly, "Well, the damsel in distress has come to. You did save the HERO. Who knew our little tomboy would do something so reckless?" She was glad to see me; she just didn’t want to show it. But the elf next to the campfire noticed and said, "Velvet, you don’t need to hold back, you know."
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Then she just hugged me—so, so tight. I thought I was going to die from lack of air. She kept hugging me, and the only thing I felt was trembling. She was trembling and said, "I thought I was going to lose you. I thought I was going to lose my little sister again." I did have a big sister who was two years older than me. She died when a demon attack happened—the first demon attack that started this whole war five years ago.
After she calmed down a little, she said, "You know, I can’t show you how I feel because we are royalty. But remember, I will always love you, my little sister." Sister Velvet acts tough, but she cried a lot when my big sis Elsa died. I was sad, but I never cried. I don’t know why. I just don’t cry. But that’s how I’ve always been.
Grim said, "Take some rest. We men will keep watch, isn’t that right, Elves?"
"Well, we need to give them some time anyway." And that’s how the day ended—with an elf and dwarf guarding, talking, and arguing all night, and two sisters catching up on old times and going to sleep.
NEXT MORNING
Well, the rocks were pretty comfortable. My body ached, and I didn’t want to move a muscle today. Then I remembered we were in demon territory. The hero was awake, looking at the sun. As I was rising, he kept staring at the sun.
"Like, won’t you go blind like that?" I tried it out. Well, it wasn’t hard to keep watching, but still, after a few seconds, I averted my gaze. Yet, the hero was doing it just fine. Well, we need to escape. They’ll take care of it at least, and an hour or two passed (about 10 minutes), and the whole party was awake, waiting behind the hero. Well, without me, of course. I was waiting behind the party.
The hero turned around and said, "Something is wrong. The prophecy did say I would die after I met the demon king. Yet, I’m still alive."
The thing was, prophecies were never wrong. They always come true. That means either there’s more time for the hero to live, or the demon lord is still alive. The hero said to everyone, "The demon lord is dead. I checked his castle. I saw his corpse, and that just means my death is coming."
The hero’s party was quiet, and I stepped up and screamed, "You know, if you’re gonna die anyway, at least live it to the fullest or something. If you aren’t dead yet, be happy about it! Like, we don’t even know when we’re gonna die. You’ve got a warning on when you’re gonna die, at least! Just stop moping and live!"
Everyone looked at me like I was some kind of monster, and the hero just laughed loudly and said, "She isn’t wrong, though."
"Well, sorry for dragging the mood down, and thank you, Charlot, for saying that. Well, first things first: We defeated the great evil and saved the world. But we can’t celebrate yet. We need to escape the demon territory, and we need to do it fast."
There was no need to come up with plans or anything. They just needed to go the same way they came in. Everyone got ready, and we headed back. As we approached the human territory, we saw a magic teleporter that would take us to the capital.
It was a stone circle, a giant circle, with a bent wooden pole placed from the side to the middle of the teleporter. At the end of the pole, a lamp was held. You can place a magic stone with markings similar to the place you want to go. My sister went there first and placed the magic stone. We were slowly making our way when arrows started flying in our direction. The elf must have sensed danger because he used his magic to create a wind barrier. We all started moving backward to where my sister was waiting. She was protected by the barrier that appears when a magic stone is used for the teleportation circle.
We could hear drums. It must be the famed war drums of the demon army. Even though they lost their leader, they were still willing to fight. This might be their last chance to kill the hero and turn the tide of war in their favor. Everyone knew that. If anyone was to survive, it had to be the hero. Well, we don’t need to think the worst. We all can make it. It isn’t even far.
As I was thinking that, a wyvern landed between us and the teleportation circle. There were only two fighters: the dwarf and the hero. One was injured—he wouldn’t show it, but I knew—and the other wouldn’t be the greatest match for a wyvern. The elf was protecting our backs with magic. Without thinking, the dwarf and the hero charged and killed the beast like it was nothing.
Well, at least it gave me a little assurance. They’re this good, even injured. The foot soldiers of the army were getting closer, and we were one step away from the teleportation circle. The hero got in, the dwarf got in, and then—
Me and the elf were blown away to the side by a charging beast that looked like a rhino.
The elf and I got up, and the elf said, "Well, looks like I have to save you. This time, don’t look back. Just run straight and make it back to your sister. I don’t want to see her sad face." It was obvious he loved my sister, and it was mutual. I’d known for a long time. But they wouldn’t just confess to each other either. But this wasn’t the time for romance stories. It was a battle for survival.
The elf said, "RUN!! NOW!!!" I focused some mana into my arm and said, "Wind Blast!" The elf went flying and landed inside the barrier.
Well, when it comes down to it, this is a time of war. A princess who can’t fight might be good for political marriage or something, but the whole hero party must survive to strike fear into the demon army. The demon lord may be dead, but he will return. When either a hero or a demon lord dies, they always get reincarnated. Well, it takes about 50 years, but the demon army knows this, and they don’t need to fear. They just need to keep the war going. For that, the hero must die. It’s simple, really. If the hero escapes alive today, they might have to surrender to the human army, and what’s one girl who doesn’t even have enough influence? I can only act as the damsel in distress, and it’s better for them to survive than for me.
Honestly, if they all survive, we will get peace. At least for 45 years. All of this went through my mind in a second. It was like the whole world slowed down, and I started remembering everything that had happened in my life—how I grew up. I had two older brothers and one older sister. My brothers were great, but my sister was a genius. I wanted to be like her, Princess Velvet. But I’d always be the tomboy who only made trouble for the rest of them, until the end. It’s better to end this way. This way, I’ll at least die a hero, right?
Well, time to smile. I gave the biggest smile to the hero’s party, and my sister was screaming and hitting the barrier hard. Even after all that emotional turmoil, she was keeping herself under control, consciously or unconsciously. She knew that if she took out the stone, the barrier could be undone. But it would put her friends in danger, and she was asking me, "WHY?"
Well, she’ll understand someday. The hero had the face of someone who understood.
This is the world we live in—a world that is beautiful, yet tragic at the same time. War is happening, and in about 2, 3, maybe 5 years, the war will end and peace will come. But in the end, this is what we got.
As I was thinking that, the creature hit me so hard that I was thrown into a tree and bled a lot. Anyone who saw me could say, without a doubt, that I was dead. With that, the hero came to my sister and said something to her. She just went back near the lamp, gave a little glance at me, and used the stone.
It’s a little weird I’m not losing consciousness yet. Oh, it’s coming, little by little. The world is becoming black. I’m happy, actually. I… did… the… right… thing… right?
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