Arc 6. A seemingly endless loss
Road to a Hero:
Three Chances in Another World
Chapter 21. “Of great vertical extent”.
A heat, consistently burning. It has been burning for months, slowly building, spiking in times of stress, and now it’s burning hotter than ever before. But it subsides, seeping back into the pit of an OD, Gray’s OD. He slowly moves his head back and forth, feeling the moist grass on his face, but then he jolts awake when he feels something wet touching his face. He looks up, staring into the eyes of a strange creature. Brown fur, long antlers, standing on all fours, much like a common deer, but it’s wet and has frog-like features. It creeps Gray out, but once the creature sees that Gray’s awake it runs off into the forest. Gray shakes his face, smacks his cheeks, brushes his hair out of his face, then looks frantically for his friends. He stands up, feeling his broken bones, ripped muscles, and massive headache hit him all at once. He then tumbles over, watching as a note falls off of his chest. He picks it up, waiting for his eyes to focus so he can read it. Once they’re focused, he reads it aloud.
Gray: “Keep the people you trust far, and keep the people you think you can trust as far as possible.”
He sits there confused until he hears rustling in the bushes. He struggles to stand up, but he pushes through the pain to make sure he’s safe, but his fears are put to rest when he sees that the origin of the noise is Soku, coming to her senses.
Soku: “Ahhh…my…back…”
Soku falls to the ground, so Gray moves over to her, helping her up.
Soku: “What…the hell man…we got asses kicked…”
Gray: “You got that right…and here I thought we were progressing. We went from low-low tiers to low tiers. None of us could go up against Arthur and win right now, so what happens when we fight high tiers.”
Soku: “We’ll worry about that when we come to it…now…where’s everybody else?”
Gray: “They’re around here..”
Gray’s about to yell out for them, but he’s stopped when Soku covers his mouth.
Soku: “CHIll…I know your cloak is covering your mana. Lucky it’s still on by the way, but it’s not covering everyone’s, so don’t attract anything will yah?”
Gray: “My bad, let’s look around, it looks about dawn, you think Til left in that carriage?”
Soku: “I don’t think Til knows what time it is, let alone when it’s time to leave. We still need to work fast though, I think I can walk now, so let me down.”
Gray slowly lets Soku off his shoulder, then starts walking around. It only takes them both a few seconds to find the other, so they call out to each other. Soku struggles to lift Edward up, but he slowly gains consciousness once she tries to move him. Rosemary on the other hand is out cold, wholly drained of stamina. Gray goes to pick her up, though he’s having issues due to his own weakness. Even so, he pushes forward, caring for her while Edward and Soku walk out of the forest.
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Edward: “My legs are killing me…but compared to the backlash I would suffer before, this is miles better of a feeling, I mean can still walk after all.”
Gray: “That’s good, but you’re gonna have to hold out for a bit, I don’t really know where we are, I can only feel the forest getting lighter, so we’re gonna be a bit blind on our way out.”
Soku: “I would fly up…but I can hardly walk, let alone fly.”
Edward: “Let’s not push it, let’s just walk…and walk quietly at that, my head’s hurting.”
So they do, just silently strolling through the outer layer of the forest until they finally make it out. Still silent, they look around to try and find Til, their wagon driver. Gray closes his eyes, trying to focus on her spiritual energy, but nothing.
Edward: “Hey, over there!”
Edward points to a small blip a way away, a blip that looks like Til. The closer they get the more likely it’s their wagon, and surely enough, to go against their current spring of luck, it’s actually her. The bloodshot-eyed, blond-haired, cowboy hat-wearing driver waves to them while completely zoned out of her mind. She begins pulling the wagon over to them, stopping to let them in. With a small sense of concern in her voice, she begins talking very slowly.
Til: “Soooo…what happened….?”
Gray: “Nothin, just take us to Constal please.”
Til: “Will….due…”
Gray sets Rosemary down as they all get into the carriage, taking the strain off their bodies. Edward falls asleep almost instantly, but Soku and Gray stay awake for a bit longer.
Gray: “So…I noticed you’re still not talking to Peter…wanna talk about it?”
Soku: “You keep talking about this, and I keep giving the same answer.”
Gray looks away for a second, staring off into space. While doing this, Til leans back, handing Soku a handful of mushrooms.
Soku: “What are these?”
Til: “They’ll…make you…feel better.”
Soku, worn out and tired, pays no mind to this, eating a few of them, then hands Gray some, which he eats as well.
Gray: “Putting it off can be a problem, I would know.”
Soku shakes her head, then takes a long breath in, then out.
Soku: “You know he said, you know I’m mad.”
Gray: “I was there, but explain to me, why was it all that bad.”
Soku: “WHAT!?”
Soku stands up out of anger, waving her hand away, but due to her injuries, she falls over. Gray goes to help her but she brushes his hand away.
Soku: “ HE EMBARRASSED ME!”
Gray: “What? In Front of us?”
Soku: “I HAVE NEVER TOLD ANYBODY WHAT I’VE WANTED…and the first time I do it…THE FIRST TIME, HE TELLS ME I CAN’T!?”
Gray bites his lip, but instead of letting the anger subside, he lets it overflow.
Gray: “BECAUSE HE CARES FOR YOU! YOU SAID YOU WANTED TO BE A NOBLE RIGHT!? A KING! AND JUST BECAUSE YOU TURNED FIFTEEN, WHICH IS THE STUPID ADULT AGE IN THIS WORLD, YOU THINK IT MAKES YOU READY!?”
Soku: “I’M NOT STUPID, I’M NOT GOING TO RUSH INTO IT, I JUST WANT TO BE IN IT!”
Gray: “I KNOW THAT, BUT THIS IS HOW YOU REACT TO HIS SAYING THAT!? NOT TALKING TO HIM FOR MONTHS! HE’S SENSITIVE, HE DOESN'T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THIS! HE’S SUFFERING!”
Soku swings her hand back and forth, about to blast wind everywhere.
Soku: “WHY SHOULD I CARE!?”
Gray, enraged, rushes to Soku, scaring her. But instead of doing anything reckless, he just hugs her. She tries to push him off, but he doesn't budge. She tries and tries, but gives in, hugging him back. Tears start to fall from her eyes, she clutches to him as tight as she can, and lets it all out.
Soku: “I…just wanted…to tell you guys…to tell him…I trusted him…and he…threw it in my face…I’ll never like him again…not to that level at least…so why…why should I care…?”
Gray speaks from the bottom of his heart, trying to get through to her.
Gray: “Because you guys are friends…because we’re family…”
Soku: “No…I’ll never have a real family…not without Ophelia…NOT WILL OUT MY SISTER!”
Soku uses her wind magic to push Gray off of her, so he tumbles backward. She’s about to go on an emotional rampage, but something happens to both of them. Their vision blurs, their hearing wavers, and every single other sense in their body begins to plummet.
Gray: “Where…did…you…get those…mushrooms…?”
Soku: “I…got…them from…Til…OHH SH….it…”
Gray: “...Dammit…Sokuuuu.”
They both completely lose consciousness, blacking out.
End of Chapter Twenty-one