Arc 6. A seemingly endless loss
Road to a Hero:
Three Chances in another world
Chapter 43. Jong and his amazing friends
While less than two weeks away from Constal, Jong rides in his wagon all by his lonesome. His soldiers are a few hours behind, but he’s leading the charge to assist Gray and Constal’s forces for the possible upcoming attack, and he’s not doing well. His frail body is dying, and every day it gets worse. He continues to scratch off his decaying skin, rubs his dry eyes, pulls out strands of his hair, and is currently delving into an illusion his mind brings to him. While in his daydream, his body has resorted back to a younger version of itself, and he’s surrounded by his old friends, who have all passed at this point. Musashi, wearing the basic Leviathan army armor, Gotsu, Edward’s father, wearing a thicker version of such armor, Jasmine, Edward’s mother also wearing the same armor, and Bjørn, Edward’s stepfather, wearing the monk gray robes. A notable thing was the fact that Gotsu’s hair was black and not white, even though all of the stories and paintings would tell you otherwise. But if this was just a subject of Jong’s depleting mind or something else was unknown.
Jong: “What? When did you guys get here?”
Gotsu: “What are you talkin’ about? You fall asleep or somethin’?”
Jong shakes his head, quickly getting back into the groove of things.
Bjørn: “Well, now to get back to what we were talking about.”
Musashi: “Ugh, can we let this drop already?”
Bjørn: “No way! You have the spark, intelligence, ability, or whatever you wanna call it! The truth! To think somebody out of the scribes can hold such an ability!”
Musashi: “I don’t care about that. What I care about is ending this damn war. If this tip is correct, then it could mark the endgame for the Demi-Human's last remaining forces, the ones who haven’t joined our side that is.”
Jasmine: “You guys are way too serious about all of this, it’s most likely gonna be a ruse. We just happen to find a guy that gives us this much information about a top-secret location for free and we didn’t need to beat it out of him?”
Gotsu leans over and responds with a rather flirty voice, which isn’t very fitting for his hulking nature.
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Gostu: “Look, some of us don’t need to beat up people to get them to be nice.”
Jasmine: “Like you would know that. Look, I hate to look at the downside of it, but there isn’t an upside. It’s a trap, no doubt about it, but depending on how big of a trap, we could be caught in the crossfire of who knows how many armies.”
Musashi: “Depending on it, I think we’re good enough to put a dent in whatever we’re going up against. We aren’t random soldiers, we are a part of the Leviathan army, we’re supposed to assist the knights, and that’s what we’re doing.”
Jong looks into the distance, and rubs his currently unscared face, stares into the distance with only one thought in his head, that he’s not strong enough to keep up.
Jong: “I’m just an officer, hell I don’t know why I’m here with you guys. But I’ll make sure I don’t drive us straight into death.”
Bjørn: “Don’t be too hard on yourself, I heard you’re in line for Commander.”
Jong quickly becomes ecstatic by the news, jumping up and down as a result of it.
Jong: “Great Commander Marshal knows who I am! I can’t believe it! Please don’t tell me you’re joking.”
Gotsu throws a dirty shirt in Bjørn’s face, getting him to shut up.
Gotsu: “You weren’t supposed to know about that…whatever, it’s too late now.”
Jong: “WOOOOOAAAAH! FINALLY! I’ve been in the ranks since I was fifteen, hell I’m almost in my forties! I was getting scared I wasn’t gonna make it! And It’s me!”
Jasmine: “Well I’m happy for you, and scared that Marshal will find out Bjørn told you.”
Bjørn: “Sorry, sorry. I kinda forgot.”
Musashi: “Whatever, we’re getting closer, I’d say we’re about an hour or two away. We should get our bearings together.”
Jasmine: “Is there a point? I mean we’re already dead.”
Bjørn: “Yeah, you’re right about that.”
The change in conversation confuses Jong, causing him to turn around and confront the cause of such confusion.
Musashi: “Jong, you don’t have to worry today, but you’ll have to worry in a few weeks. You’re dead, I’m dead, my brother’s dead, and we’re not going to Alfheilm.
Jong watches in horror as everyone’s bodies begin to decay. Gotsu begins choking on his own blood, Musashi’s body parts begin falling off, Jasmine’s head begins to swell up, and Bjørn’s bones suddenly snap out of place. Jong looks around with a face filled with terror and delves into sheer panic. He looks at his hand and watches as they shrivel up and begin to peel. He feels his face shrivel up as well, but he also feels his skin become scaly and rough as if he’s touching snake skin.
He freaks out so much that he falls backward and lands on the floor of the wagon, and he’s met with the worst situation yet, his friends begin grabbing onto him, trying to rip him apart. Their blood gets into his mouth, and their fingers pierce his skin and begin to tear it off. A burning heat fills his entire body, burning so bad it feels like he’s being cooked alive, and they begin removing his senses. Bjørn bites at his heart Jasmine digs at his eyes, Gotsu tries ripping off his limbs, and Musashi begins bashing his face in. The pain is so unbearable it would send even the sanest of people into insanity, but Jong remains strong, forcing himself to wake up. He comes to, drenched in sweat, blood, and tears, horrified from his dream, but he pushes the fear down and begins staring off into the open land once more, without a care in the world.
Jong: “What was I thinking about again? Man, I hope I get to Constal soon, this ride getting a bit boring…”
Jong begins falling into a nothing nightmare, and once again he has the same dream. Then he wakes up, falls asleep, and wakes up again. He soon repeats the same process over and over again, beating the horror every time, and forgetting it every time, with the only thing carrying over each time is just how tired and confused he is.
End of Chapter Forty three