Arc 6. A seemingly endless loss
Road to a Hero:
Three Chances in Another World
Chapter 22. Double whammy
A fire consuming a city, the screams of people filling the air, and the pure fear of the situation running through Gray’s mind, a dream of regret. The flames consume all of his friends, so he’s forced to watch in horror as his friend's skin bubbles, and their blood boils, while he stands perfectly fine. He’s unable to feel, move, hear, or see anything else but this terrifying sight, so he’s forced to accept it, but he can’t. The flames turn a deep black before he’s kicked out of the nightmare and placed in a soft bed beside a sleeping Rosemary. A massive headache matched with confusion leads to fear, as he’s in an entirely new place.
He looks around the small cozy room, stumbling out to see he’s on the second floor of this homey cottage. He looks in each room, trying to find his friends, which he does. First, he finds Edward, sound asleep with his legs bandaged up, then Peter, then Lance, and lastly Soku. However, when he opens Soku’s door it causes her to wake up, groaning from the headache she’s suffering from as well. She rubs the side of her head, moving her hair out of her face, but she’s surprised when she feels something attached to her ear. Gray looks at it, beginning to chuckle, while Soku rushes to a mirror, and once she does she’s surprised to find an earring attached to it. She begins to panic, yelling at Gray to stop laughing, but her anger subsides once she looks at Gray’s ear. He looks at her, confused and worried, feeling his ear to find an earring on it as well, on the opposite side of Soku’s.
Gray: “AHHH! WHAT THE HELL!?”
Soku: “Not so funny now!?”
Gray groans in annoyance but he accepts it fairly quickly.
Soku: “So, where are we?”
Gray: “Um…I don’t know. I found everybody sleeping, so I guess we’re in Constal.”
Soku: “That’s pretty sudden…how did we even get here, we got drugged and then nothing’.”
Gray shakes his head, trying to remember what had happened, but nothing comes to mind.
Gray: “I dunno, but I guess we can just go downstairs and wait.”
Soku: “Sure whatever.”
So they begin to walk down the stairs, finding themselves in an open kitchen, where they find a good amount of food ready to be cooked.
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Gray: “Man I’m starving, but I also don’t feel like cooking…like at all.”
Soku: “Well we seem to be at a crossroads since I don’t feel like cooking anyway.”
Gray: “Welp, guess we’ll starve.”
Soku shrugs her shoulders, accepting their fate. Gray pulls out a chair from under the dining room table but stops once he feels something coming from behind a curtain on the other side of the room. The curtain, being placed in a doorway instead of an actual door, leaks cold winds, cold enough to get both Gray and Soku’s attention. They both slowly walk towards it, peeking through the curtain, and finding a drawer freezer leaking cold air from within. They open it, staring at a variety of delectable meats, which would be delicious if they ate.
Gray: “Nope, still too lazy.”
Soku: “Agreed.”
They walk off into the living room, sitting down. They both lay down on the two couches in the living room, dozing off. A few seconds pass to them, but in real-time hours pass, and they’re woken up by the sound of sizzling meat. They both force themselves out of their almost comatose state to at least get a look at the meat which smells as if it was made by a god. They are both sluggish, but they push on, walking back into the kitchen.
Rosemary: “Well aren’t you up late, it’s about to be six in the afternoon, you missed Julius coming by.”
Soku: “You should have woken us up then.”
Gray: “Hell, I’m glad to have gotten the extra sleep.”
Rosemary takes the meat off of the skillet and puts it on a large plate, cutting off pieces for them to eat. Gray and Soku then utterly devour the meal, eating all of it in just a few seconds.
Rosemary: “I’m…impressed.”
Gray and Soku then let out equally loud burps, patting their stomachs on top of it.
Gray: “Where’s Edward? Oh, where’s Peter and Lance on top of that.”
Rosemary: “They’re out picking out souvenirs.”
Gray: “WHAT!? WHY DIDN’T YOU WAKE US!?”
Rosemary: “I figured you’d wanna go out a bit later, I hear the nightlife here is exquisite. We’re going to have to find some animal masks to fit in though.”
Soku: “The hell?”
Gray looks to Soku, nodding his head in agreement.
Gray: “Yeah, the hell?”
Rosemary: “I’m a little in the dark about it too, so I guess we’re gonna have to figure it out or wait till Edward gets home.”
Gray lets out a loud yawn, stretching his arms into the air, causing all of his joints to let out a painful popping sound.
Gray: “Ouch.”
Soku: “Yeah, sounds like it hurts. But never mind that, let’s just go out, have fun, and all that.”
Gray: “I guess, we gotta get dressed and head out. We have our bags right?”
Rosemary: “Yeah, they’re in your rooms. Okay, let's wait a bit, and we can go shopping!”
Soku goes to stand up, causing all of her joints to pop as well, making Gray and Rosemary chuckle.
Soku: “Y’know, it’s only funny…when it happens to other people.”
Gray’s about to stand up, but he chooses it’s probably better to sit with Rosemary while she finishes eating, letting Soku go off.
Gray: “Um…we’ve all been doing so much stuff we haven't gotten time to ourselves…”
Rosemary sets her fork down, tilting her head down as well.
Rosemary: “I mean…this is our job, the best job in the world. We get to travel, help people, and do awesome things…it’s way better compared to what I was doing.”
Gray: “Well yeah I guess…but it’s…too dangerous…and I had forgotten about that. It’s been so long since we were just no match…and we just got our asses kicked so hard we were out for over a day. We could have died…you could have died.”
Gray tilts his head down, staring at his feet, feeling a bit nihilistic, but Rosemary reassures him by putting her hand on his head.
Rosemary: “If we aren’t put in danger, then everybody else is. And as long as something terrible doesn't happen, we’ll be fine. We’re in good hands.”
Gray says nothing, just repeating what Zhao’s note said to himself in his head. “Keep who you trust far, and keep who you think you can trust, as far away as possible.”
End of Chapter Twenty-two