Arc 6. A seemingly endless loss
Road to a Hero:
Three Chances in Another World
Chapter 35. Drenched in sweat
Gray, drenched in sweat, tumbles out of the villa and into the mud. Panicking, he begins stumbling around, trying to hide his presence from the guards. Hiding behind a wall, he watches all of the guards rush into the villa, attempting to get into Chezera’s blocked-off room. Gray removes his blood-stained mask, staring into it like it’s an entirely different person.
Gray: “What the fuck man…”
Gray hears another whistle, looking over to see Rupert waving at Gray. The guards turn around, pull out their swords, and run toward Rupert, Chester, and Orson.
Rupert: “Orson, put them in their place.”
Orson fixes his tie and begins ravaging the guards. He uses his large sharp teeth to rip the people into shreds, coating the white stone in dark blood. Gray stumbles to the ground, watching in horror as the guards are ripped to shreds, limbs are torn off, blood is everywhere, and screams fill the air. After only a couple of seconds, every guard is turned to mush, and Orson sighs at his blood-stained clothes. Orsons roar whilst he is committing such acrostics play over and over in Gray’s mind. Chezera’s dying noises, the horrific screams of the guards, Gray’s completely petrified. While engrossed in utter fear, Chester walks over to him, pulling him along. While drowning in fear, Gray begins falling into his psyche. His vision pears in and out, blanking between scenes, the broken town, endless marsh, dark figures of beasts in the distance, and the giant walls of Constal.
After a night of shivering and sweating, Gray’s unconscious body stumbles around the streets of Constal, finding himself in front of a small figure. His vision is skewered, almost completely black with only the outlines of things to understand where he is. Now, in front of him, is a red glowing figure, like he’s seeing in the infrared. Gray’s still scared, in fight or flight mode, and he’s chosen to fight. The person in front of him goes to touch him, and whatever’s controlling Gray’s body wants nothing of this. So Gray flows the cloak around him, creating four tendrils to protect himself with. Now, outside of Gray’s sense of vision, the assailant is revealed to be Soku, who’s just trying to help him. She sees his clothing, the same clothes he bought when they were going shopping, she sees his mask, an almost perfect recreation of the one Arthur had broken, and the most glaring sight, the cloak of darkness.
Soku: “GRAY! CALM DOWN! IT’S ME! SNAP OUT OF IT!”
Soku’s screams of nothing to Gray, due to the fact he can’t hear her. He shoots his cloak at her, so she’s forced to dodge. Blasting backward with her wind magic, she counters with a burst of even more wind, pushing him back. Gray’s barbaric grunts and movements are nothing like his normal style of fighting, which is animal-like. He leans forward, letting the weight of the cloak push him down, and lunges at her. While using the cloak like an appendage other than a tool, it simply flows better. He uses the buildings beside him to guide by, using the tendrils to crawl across them like a spider, and he sends himself flying at Soku. She takes a deep breath and slashes her hand down, creating a dull wind blade, which he dodges by using the cloak to pull himself down. She uses this to her advantage, sliding her foot forward, and pushing a wave of wind at him. Now, due to how close he is, he uses the tendrils on his left side, swiping at her. She allows him to grab her, so when he gets up close she uses her mark of providence to boost her power and blow a large stream of wind from her mouth at Gray.
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Unable to dodge, he tanks to attack, and it knocks the air out of his lungs, but he still pushes forward. He uses the cloak to catch himself and lunges at Soku once more, pulls back the tendrils, and throws them forward, picking up momentum and slamming into her. She stumbles backward and isn’t given time to think before she’s met with Gray close up and personal. She attempts to jump into the air, but he grabs her leg with the cloak and slams her to the ground. She looks around, panicking. The people in the streets look on in horror as this great figure is going to kill another, and Soku is unwilling to put in her full effort to stop Gray. Doing so may result in massive wounds or even his death, but her refusing to do this puts a stream of light into Gray’s mind. Right about to kill her with the wrist talon, which has just been unsheathed, he’s given a chance to stop it. His vision opens for just a second, being able to see her scared face about to burst into tears. He puts his full effort in, straining himself to the point of failure, which was his plan. He causes his cloak to burst, giving him control of his body back, and with a quick slash from Soku, breaking his mask, he can feel the cold wind on his face.
The second the mask is removed his eyes return to normal, leaving the spiritual state, and returning control of his body to him. He struggles to breathe, still filled with panic, but he’s put at ease with Soku's gentle touch on his back. Her soft hands pull him out of the hard pounding that is his mind. She tilts his head up, staring into his eyes.
Soku: “You good?”
Gray: “I hope so…”
Soku waves at the currently forming crowd, shooing them away. She then sits down beside Gray and quickly removes the necklace around his neck, taking the charm away and leaving Gray with a large weight taken off of him. He attempts to take it back, like an addict, but he’s quick to realize this, so he pulls himself away.
Soku: “What did you do?”
Gray: “...I…I…”
Gray’s hit with the memory of the previous night. Chezera’s warm blood touched his hand, the mangled guards, the decaying town, and the stress of it all. But he remains content, stands up, wipes the sweat off of himself, and smiles.
Gray: “I’m good. I had to do a job…with Rupert…but I took out a slave, and put us in good faith with him.”
Soku: “You…you killed somebody? For that evil bastard? Are you stupid!?”
Gray: “Hey, calm down, calm down. He figured out we didn’t stop the baron in the Ever-forest, so I had to do something else. And what I did was better.”
Soku stands up, frantically throwing her arms around.
Soku: “YOU JUST WENT ON A RAMPAGE! YOU TRIED TO KILL ME! For the past two weeks, you’ve been distant, but this? This is CRAZY! We need to go back to Walgonia, to Greenvale, and get you to help.”
Gray: “What!? We’re here till New Year. I understand your fear, but this is the job we fell into. It’s tough and stressful. I’m sorry for attacking you…I don’t know what that was about…but I’m gonna be fine.”
Soku: “Fine enough to tell Rosemary about it?”
Gray is once again filled with panic, glaring at Soku.
Gray: “I’ll tell her when it’s ready. But it’s not evil, so I don’t see the point. She won’t need to know.”
Soku: “Oh? So you’re going to lie to your lover, that’ll work out.”
Gray: “I’m not lying to her, I’m helping out from the shadows.”
Soku: “Doesn't sound like something a hero would do.”
Gray sighs, shoving past Soku. He quickly turns around, waving for her to follow, instantly repulsed by his actions.
Gray: “Sorry…I’ll tell her eventually. In a few weeks…but I need some time. Can you give me time? Please.”
Soku blows wind in his face, nodding her head when he can’t see. He’s confused, but relieved, so they walk back to the cottage, both counting down the days until they leave.
End of Chapter Thirty-four