Arc 3: Choosing Reality by Embracing Life
Road to a hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 9: lost hope
Gray wakes up, opening his eyes to find himself in dark room. His hands, legs, and neck bound by chains, a mana-dampening crystal hanging from his neck, and the most important thing is the man sitting right in front of him.
Gray: “Where am I, might I ask?”
Arthur: “In a dungeon, in a similar one that you held Jeremiah in.”
Gray: “So you’re the one that freed him then.”
Arthur: “Yeah, when we had dinner I had somebody track him down and release him, then I just wanted to kill your friends so I got Kioshi and Musashi out of the house.”
Gray: “Good plan.”
Arthur: “You’re taking this pretty well. I expected you to get mad, and start calling me names. That outburst wasn't in character for you either, what was with that anyway?”
Gray: “Look if you’re going to kill me, then kill me I don’t care. And that outburst you’re talking about was just me getting a load off my chest.”
Arthur: “So where ya from?”
Gray: “Uh...America…Oh, I can say it now, I guess it’s because you’re from Earth huh.”
Arthur: “Yeah, I’m from America too, what state? I’m from Oregon.”
Gray: “Oregon...I’m from who gives a damn, guess the location doesn't matter with the isekai.”
Arthur: “Weird that this place has thanksgiving right? And the same weekdays, as well as the months. I’m pretty sure people have leaked here for hundreds and thousands of years, crazy right?”
Gray: “What do you want?”
Arthur: “Just join the Sect already man.”
Gray: “Shit, really you’re an anarchist too, you’re from Earth, shouldn’t you know that this stuff is batshit crazy.”
Arthur: “Look I’ll get back to that topic later. I want to ask you, how did you get here?”
Gray: “I got hit…I killed myself.”
Arthur: “Same. I think we got saved right before we died, getting filled with mana, then warping here.”
Gray: “Yeah I assumed the same thing. We were like husks of people. The souls of the people that brought us here went into our bodies. Getting their powers, with our body.”
Arthur: “You still got the soul in your head? I got rid of mine a long time ago.”
Gray: “Yeah, she’s probably watching me through my eyes right now. How long have you been here?”
Arthur: “Bout twenty…twenty-five years.”
Gray: “Damn…I’ve only been here for a month. What year was it when you got transported?”
Arthur: “Nineteen Ninety Six?”
Gray:: “Nineteen Ninety Six!? I've been here for a month and I got transported in twenty-twenty one. And still I’m not gonna join you clowns yah know.
Arthur: “Yeah, yeah.”
Gray: “Wait…you’re a member of the Sect and now you’re THE KING OF WALGONIA!”
Arthur: “Yeah…been playing for two sides since I got here.”
Gray: “What are you gonna do?”
Arthur: “You’ll see if you come to your senses and join us. If you don't, who knows, your friends are probably gonna die.”
Gray: “So I ran away for nothing…”
Arthur: “Hey if it means anything to yah, I think you leaving them to make sure they’re safe was noble.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Gray: “Shut up, don’t you have king stuff to do?”
Arthur: “Nope, not until tomorrow, so I wanna sit here.”
Gray: “Dammit.”
Arthur: “Alright, unless you kill yourself, you’re not leaving until you join us. So I’ma tell you a story about what happened when I got here.”
Gray: “Fine, I’ll listen. Make it short though, my body still hurts from my match with Edward.”
Arthur: “Okay, if you make it through without being a dick I’ll give you a gift, deal?”
Gray: “What’s the gift, I hate surprises.”
Arthur: “Man, you’re no fun. I’ll tell you then, Azalea used the cloak of darkness, So since you’re here because of her, I’ll give it to ya, it’s sitting back there near the door.”
Gray: “Fine, tell the damn story.”
Arthur: “Alright thank you Mr depression.”
Gray: “I’m dying of laugher right now.”
Arthur: “Okay shut up, I’ma start my story. The tail of the Red Dragon. I don’t want to make it some sob story, but I have to stick to the details. Both my parents died in a car crash, I used most of my money to pay for the funeral, then my girlfriend broke up with me a couple of days later, then I go to work only to be told that I got fired. So I went to my parent's house, sat in my childhood room, then put the barrel of a gun in my mouth, though right as I pulled the trigger, I felt the air around me shift, I heard screaming, fighting, and heat all around me. I opened my eyes to see a battlefield, dead bodies on the ground, And before I could get my thoughts together, I saw a giant wolfman jumping towards me to bite my head off.”
Gray: “Damn, rough start.”
Arthur: “Tell me about it, though before that beast could kill me, an old man with pale white skin, and makeup similar to a jester, kinda looking like a zombie, poked the demi-human with his long fingernail, then in an instant, the demi-human exploded, covering the both of us in his blood. I fell to the ground, thinking back on it I think I was about to lose my mind, or what little left of it I had. Then the old man looked me in my eyes, smiling with his crooked and nasty teeth. You would think this would make me even more scared than I already was, but Nah, it reassured me, then he asked me a question I’ve wanted to hear my entire life. He asked me if I wanted to be a part of a family, something bigger than myself, to be his tool that would bring on a new world. And I said yes. I was truly excited about my future for the first time in my life.”
Gray: “So you got roped into something while you were losing your mind. So you couldn’t think properly leading to you going to a cult that likes to kill, destroy, and take over anything they want.”
Arthur: “You have no idea what you’re talking about. Have you never wanted to hear someone ask you that? Have you ever wanted to be a part of something bigger than yourself? You must have since you wanted to be a knight.”
Gray: “No actually, the main thing that made me depressed was the fact that I didn’t have anything I wanted to do, and in a way, I still don’t. I just want my friends to be safe, though I didn’t want to lie to them, so I didn’t. The only thing I have ever wanted in my life is a purpose.”
Arthur: “So wouldn’t you joining the Sect give you that purpose? You have the power and the drive to be a strong fighter, one of the strongest in the world!”
Gray: “Possibly, but I don’t want to. I just want to make sure everyone in my life is happy, that is my purpose.”
Arthur: “So leaving your friends to cry, and wonder about your safety? That’s keeping them happy. They were happier when you were with them.”
Gray: “At some point, I was gonna break. My ego was building, to a destructive degree, and I almost killed myself to win a simple fight, just because I didn’t want to lose to somebody stronger than me. They only knew me for a short time, they’ll get over it.”
Arthur: “So what were you going to do when you left then huh? Walk around, live in the woods, kill yourself?”
Gray: “Don’t know, I didn’t even have the idea of leaving until I woke up. I just had the idea and acted on it.”
Arthur: “You are the most impulsive person I’ve ever met.”
Gray: “Alright then, I’ll take that as a compliment.”
Arthur: “I heard you talking of a mask…so is this the real you, Gray?”
Gray: “There's no point in trying to act like somebody I'm not anymore.”
Arthur: “But wouldn’t you rather be that guy who’s always joking and training.”
Gray: “Of course,I would, but now there’s no point. If I had the drive to keep going, to continue to push myself every day as I did before then I would continue to call myself Gray Kyojin. But until then, if it even happens, I’m just Conner, the loser who doesn't care about anything other than himself. It’s easier that way.”
Arthur: “So you know it’s bad to act this way, though you don’t care because you don’t have a reason to.”
Gray: “Yep.”
Arthur: “So what will you do if you won’t do anything?”
Gray: “I don’t know…kill myself I guess.”
Arthur: “You say that so easily…Oh well, I guess it can’t be helped. By the way, The Sect is going to attack to castle later today, with most of the knights gone, along with the other candidates, It’s just a few knights, Kioshi, your friends, and some randoms. They will all die, and you can do nothing to stop it.”
Gray: “If there is nothing that I can do, then that’s it.”
Arthur: “You let the people you cared so much about die like that?”
Gray: “I have no reason to care. Gray cared about them, I don’t think it’s that simple.”
Arthur: “So you chose try to think of yourself as two different people to shift all your mental stress away from yourself. You’re insane.”
Gray: “I should be dead, so I just have to end my story and I won’t care anymore. It’s that simple.”
Arthur: “Well. here’s your present!”
Arthur Grabs a necklace with a moon-shaped charm on the front and places the necklace around Gray's neck.
Arthur: “There ya go, that’ll activate when I take this crystal off of your neck. Now, that charm is yours forever, well goodbye then, I’ll see you.”
Arthur leaves the cell, leaving Gray all alone.
Gray {So that’s it. I tried hard to make it, to use my second chance, but alas It was useless. Dammit, I’m sorry mom, dad, Rose, Soku, Opheilia, and Edward too, sorta. I made Musashi waste his time with me, and now he might die and I can’t do anything about it. That’s it then. The end of my road, In a dark, wet, dirty cell. Fitting for me huh. Welp that’s it then I guess the next time I open my eyes I’ll be nowhere or in hell. I hope it’s hell, then I’ll have something to do.}
Then without hesitation, Gray sticks his tongue out, closing his eyes, he goes to bite his tongue. He feels his body enveloped with mana, similar to the mana surge. This is much more powerful, overwhelming his mind, and collapsing to the ground. He feels his mind be forced in on itself.
Gray opens his eyes looking at a black foggy area, with a beautiful woman standing in front of him, dressed in black.
Gray: “This isn’t hell…AZALEA!”
Gray jumps at Azalea, his limbs are grabbed by black tendrils, holding him in the air. Azalea smiles at Gray like she’s happy about his anger. Gray head-butts her, causing Azalea to let him go.
Azalea: “So that’s it huh, you’re just gonna give up.”
Gray: “Yeah, that’s bout it.”
Azalea: “I can strike a deal with you.”
Gray: “What?”
Azalea: “I’ll let you live in a world of dreams, with no memory of this world, or the fact you’re in a dream.”
Gray: “And you’re part?”
Azalea: “I want your body, I want you to give me control of your mind, so I can resurrect myself and you can just be Conner Kyojin, leaving this Gray name and life behind.”
Gray: “Okay.”
Azalea: “Wait…REALLY! OKAY SHAKE MY HAND!”
Gray: “Just don’t kill Rosemary for me.”
Azalea: “I promise!”
They shake hands, enveloping Gray in a black mist, he sees a faint image of all his friends fade away in the smoke, with a man smiling at him, a man that resembles Gray, like a mirror image. Then nothing, absolutely nothing, then a noise, a ringing sound.
Conner: “Ugh…”
Conner wakes up in his room, answering the phone call.
Conner: “What…?”
Man on the phone: “GET ON! JOIN THE CALL DAMMIT! IT'S UPDATED!”
Conner: “OH FOR REAL? GOT IT I’MA JOIN HOLD UP!”
Conner sits down in his chair, turns his computer on, joins a group call, then plays his game for hours, doing nothing but having fun with his friends. Without a worry in the world.
END OF CHAPTER
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