Arc 5: The Heart Within
Road to a Hero:
Three chances in another world
Chapter 27. Conversations in the dark.
Inside a black and crack OD, Gray’s vision wavers. Dressed in his knightly attire, he drifts back and forth, walking in a misty void of nothing. Crackles of fire were heard near him. Without a thought in his head, he slowly steps towards it. The crisp wooden flakes danced in the light breeze, getting in Gray’s eyes. Gray makes it to the fire, into an area cleared of mist. A middle-aged man with Tied back black hair, pale scaly white skin, and soft black robes with a golden flower pattern sits by the fire, poking it with a stick to keep it going. Gray and the man lock eyes, giving Gray a look at his slitted pupils, very similar to Dema’s. A bit more of the mist clears, revealing a log for Gray to sit on, across from the strange reptilian man. He sits down, holding his head due to an oncoming headache, from how his vision keeps zoning in and out.
Gray: “And..you are? Mr. Misty man?”
The man laughs and begins poking Gray’s head with a stick. Gray swats the stick away, groaning in annoyance.
Zue: “Names Zue. And your affinity connected to me.”
Gray: “Hey, I’ve heard of you! You’re Zue Cromwell, King Cornilius’ brother!”
Gray continues shouting, causing his headache to get worse.
Zue: “Yeah, yeah...all of that...but, while I'm here I want to ask you something.”
Gray twists side to side, trying to pop his back.
Gray: “Oh yeah, lay it on…WAIT!”
Gray lunges forward, through the fire, getting face-to-face with Zue.
Gray: “YOU’RE DEAD! AHH SHIT! I’M DEAD! WE'RE DEAD! I DEAD!”
Zue pushes Gray back, causing him to fall through the fire and back onto the log he was sitting on.
Gray: “OW!...that doesn't actually burn.”
Zue: “You’re not dead…well not yet. You and your friend did pretty well against Arthur, though his dumbass didn’t try at the beginning. I see you’re pretty strong yourself, even if you’ve only been here for a few months.”
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Gray: “Zue, The Black Dragon and Arthur the Red Dragon. So did he follow in your Anarchist footsteps or something?”
Zue: “I don’t care about that stuff. I joined it because I was alone…or felt alone. But that was a long time ago and isn't important anymore.”
Zue’s head slumps down, consumed with overwhelming regret.
Zue: “My brother Cornelius was there for me at every turn…and yet when things got rough I convinced myself he never loved me…that he was using me. But I understand the error of my ways now, the choices I made…the thousands of lives I made my brother kill…ruining his reputation…I can never fix that.”
Gray sits back on the log, paying close attention to Zue. Gray attempts to feel sympathy for Zue, but somehow he just can’t feel bad for him. But he can understand him.
Gray: “So…what are we doing’ then?”
Zue: “You and Arthur ain’t dead. But you both are about to die. Your dumbass blew a whole in your OD and Arthur's is just empty. Though every second your OD leaks out the bits of mana you have. So here is my question.”
Gray: “Ask away.”
Zue: “Either you can die here, letting Arthur die along with yah or I can wake you up for a few seconds so you can kill him before you die. You’ll die the hero of Walgonia, with a satisfying end. Or I use a quarter of Arthur’s OD, give it to you, and use the broken bits of your OD to heal Arthur’s halved OD so he doesn't die.”
Gray: “Hmm, does him losing half his OD do anything?"
Zue: "YEAH! What did yah think? He'll lose half of his mana, might get sick too."
Surprisingly, Gray doesn't immediately choose to live. He actually thinks about it for a while. Die the hero, or live and possibly watch your friends, and your newly made family all die. Or they could live on and die of old age, dying peacefully. Death brings peace, and life brings fear. The horror of what could be, compared to what will be. Gray goes to bite his lip, a tick he’s had since he was a boy, but something he hadn’t done since the events at the castle all those months ago. He stops himself, wacks himself on the forehead, powers through the burning headache, and gives his answer. With a thumbs up, a sly grin, and hope from behind his trauma-filled eyes, it declares what he truly wants.
Gray: “I wanna live. Because as long as I die doin’ whatever the hell I want, then I’ll die peacefully. And I wanna make sure all my friends die before me, so I’ll know what’ll happen to them. As bad as that sounds…well, I guess you can’t make that sound better.”
Zue isn’t surprised by Gray's wanting to live, but he is surprised by the rest of his answer.
Zue: “So if somebody murdered your woman, what would you do?”
Gray: “I would kill them.”
Zue: “And if they’re too strong for yah’?”
Gray: “Then I’ll die trying.”
Zue scoffs at his answer, thinking of it as meaningless words, or words that would hold no meaning when the time comes true, even if he means it now. Zue holds out his hand, right in the middle of the feelingless fire. Gray shakes Zue’s hand, and when the flames turn black, the deal is done.
Zue: “By the way, you’ll have your memories erased about all of this, and you can’t kill Arthur when you get up, at least not immediately.”
Gray: “Wahh!?”
Gray is confused and surprised by this last-minute addition to the deal, but with their hands still shaking, the deal is set in stone. Then in a flash, the hole in Gray’s OD is healed, Arthur is healed just enough to not die, and Gray falls upward, landing within his own mind. Then with a quick nightmare, he sees flashes of a burned Athens, covered in black flames. Then he jolts up, sweating and out of breath. He finds himself in a white medical tent, wrapped in a full-body cast. With the sudden movement, his body began to roar in pain. Then at the same time, his OD begins burning. Though as fast as the burning sensation appears, it vanishes, as a quick heartbeat. Gray’s mind starts racing. What happened to his friends, how long was he asleep, where is Arthur, who won the war? His mind rains heavyweights of stress, fear, and confusion, ending in another headache. He attempts to bite his lip to push through the pain, but once again he stops himself, takes a deep breath, and just, simply, does nothing.
Gray: “I trust them.”
End of Chapter twenty-Seven