Arc 4: What families entail
Road to a Hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 46. 3/4
Gray and Caesar run through the rainy city as fast as they can.
Gray: “EVERYONE’S INSIDE!”
Caesar: “THEY MUST HAVE BEEN SCARED BY ALL THE COMMOTION LEO WAS CAUSING!”
Gray: “SO CAN YOU PLEASE TELL ME WHERE WE’RE RUNNING!?”
Caesar: “I GOTTA SHOW YOU SOMETHING!”
Gray: “THAT’S COOL, BUT AT THIS POINT EVERYONE’S ALREADY FIGHTING, HELL THEY COULD BE DEAD!”
Caesar: “HAVE FAITH! LOOK WE’RE ALMOST THERE!”
Gray looks to see that they ran all the way to the western part of the city. He looks up to see the big walls surrounding the capital right in front of him.
Gray: “Now what?”
Caesar: “We gotta get up there. There's a big path up there that you can walk on, it’s similar to the Great Wall of China!”
Gray: “I can get us up, I can use the cloak.”
Gray grabs Caesar and shoots the cloak onto the wall, pulling them up. Over and over, Gray pulls them up the wall. And after a few seconds, Gray gets them up the wall and they land to look over the city. Compared to Walgonia's capital, it's strange. Because of the sea and constant rain it's always damp and salty, causing the mainly white and small buildings to decay and worsen in quality. The roads have followed a similar path, and because of the miles of tunnels beneath them, they aren't very sturdy, and while the surrounding forest that takes up the rest of the island is thick, the many small villages fill them up to the brim. Gray can even see the lights emenating from them on the other side of the wall.
Gray: “And now?”
Caesar: “Over there.”
Caesar points at the volcano with a big smile on his face. The sight of the city, the wonderous feeling of being so high up in the air and looking down on everything else, and the provocative feeling of war course through his veins, empowering his already pounding heart.
Caesar: “Gonna take your mask off?”
Gray: “No, why?”
Caesar: “I dunno…Oh here we go…right about...NOW!”
Gray drops his mask on the ground as he watches in awe as he sees it. The ground rumbles, the sky shakes, and Caesar steps onto the edge of the wall with his arms extented. And then it happens; Mount Solon erupts, and the rest has yet to happen. Lava spews and drools down the mountain at an insane pace while it also launches into the rain clouds, smoke and smog coming out of the top. It pours down the mountain and starts destroying the woods, covering any town in the way. The people are submerged instantly while their homes and history combust into flames before they're also drowned by the molten rock. Havoc erupts in the streets below, people running and screaming trying to get off the island. Packing their bags, grabbing their families and anything they could carry.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
Gray slowly turns to Caesar with a star-struck look in his eye to see Caesar's big smile. His broken, yellow, rotten teeth shape his terrible, disgusting grin. He feels a sharp pain in his chest, looking down to see Gray's hand piercing through his chest, heart in hand. Caesar looks at Gray, with his mouth full of blood. Gray pulls his hand back and falls to the ground. Gray starts struggling to breathe, and he begins pulling his hair as he sets into panic. Gray looks up to see the hole in Caesar's chest heal, the muscles reforming, and blood flowing back into his body. Caesar spits blood onto the ground and wipes his mouth, never even flinching.
Caesar: “Told you, I heal.”
Gray's eyes burn into that pure white once more, and his consciousness fades to black. Everyone watches the volcano erupt, Rosemary, Julius, and Calgary watch from the holes in the castle wall. Edward, Moro, the Red Arrows, and the Pirates watch from the bay. Soku sees something while being pulled underwater. And the most distraught of all, Beauregard and Leo stop all that they are doing to watch the coming chaos.
Leo: “Our…father was on the mountain…”
Beauregard: “Are home…it’s going to burn to the ground!”
While Leo was just starting to accept their homes fate, it happening so suddenly causes him to freeze up. However, Beauregard begins to be engulfed with despair. Everything he had worked on is going to be destroyed; his childhood is going to be destroyed; his lively hood will be burned away; who he is will be caught abalze.
Leo: “We need to leave, now!”
Beauregard: “This is it…I’ve lost everything…I’ll…I WILL KILL YOU!”
In an instant, Beauregard breaks his limits and punches Leo in the shoulder. The force, form, and backlash put onto Beauregard make it clear that after all the time he spent training, wanting to be strong, he finally achieved it, and broken Leo's shoulder in the process.
Leo: “The…dragon's fist…?”
Beauregard: “I did…it…I DID IT, I DID IT, I FUCKING DID IT! HAHAHA!”
Beauregard's seemingly permanent sternness in his eyes fades for a second. Happiness, he feels real happiness for the first time in a long time. And, ironically, he archives something he’s wanted his entire life while losing something he’s wanted his entire life.
Beauregard: “Now…neither of us is king…we’re barbarians.”
Leo snaps, calls his spear, and thrusts it at Beauregard. Beauregard catches it and tries to take it from him while he also begins to break down. Leo tries to get his spear back, so he snaps his fingers and waits for it to return, causing it to pull against Beauregard, but he remains still.
Flashes of Beauregard's childhood flash in his eyes. The moment Leo was born, the moment Leo got his spear, and the moment his mother died. The moment he became king. Leo looks out the window to see that the lava has already flown into the walls and begun to flow into the capital. Tears start to stream from Leo's face as he finally does it. He snaps his fingers, causing the spear to release his call. So Beauregard, still pulling on it, trusts it into himself. Beauregard looks up to see Leo crying, and while drowning in disbelief Beauregard slowly backs up to the giant broken window. He turns around to see his city burning. He takes a step backward, placing one foot over the edge. Leo nods his head and snaps to call back his spear. It repels from Bearugard's body and causes him to fall over the edge. Leo runs to the edge to see Beauregard lost in the smoke and fire. Leo falls to his knees and begins to cry. All he can think about is his childhood. His life before all the fighting, the pain, the deaths. All he wants is to return to that life, a life of luxury, happiness, and a seemingly endless future and a living loving family.
But Leo stands up and grabs his spear. He looks at the blood on the spears tip, his brothers' blood. Leo takes his headband off and uses it to wipe off the blood. The headband becomes more of a rag, a blood-stained and soaked rag. And he stands there, looking in the red reflection while the sounds of constant horror and bubbiling destruction echos below, reaching him at the top of his empty tower. The room of a king, and now he is such king. But he's now the ruler to a country soon to be wiped off of the map, and so he stops. This is until Leo hears Rosemary and Calgary fighting, and on top of that, he feels a hand on his shoulder. He looks up to see Julius smiling. This pulls Leo back into his right mind, snapping him back into place.
Julius: “Is it done?”
Leo: “It’s done.”
Julius: “Athens is gone, the volcano is much too powerful to deal with. The best thing to do is evacuate with all of the civilians down below.”
Leo: “Alright...but those people. Where do you think they’ll go?”
Julius: “I do not know, but some may wait for you. Others will retreat into Walgonia and try to build a new life. But there will be refugees, a lot of them. And they will need you.”
Leo: “Yeah…we need to get to Rosemary.”
Julius: “Agreed.”
Leo and Julius run off the help Rosemary, leaving Beauregard's room for the last time.
End of Chapter forty-six