Arc 7. Death to what came before
Road to a Hero:
Three Chances in Another World
Chapter 9. To Ravoria
In the room of an apartment building is a child lying on his floor. He looked to be around six or seven, drawing in a notebook. The art was just as good as any child's, being messy and uneven, but full of creativity. The young boy quickly stood up the moment he finished, running out of his room, through the hall, and into the living room, which also doubled as a kitchen. Sitting at the kitchen table, typing away at her laptop, sipping coffee, was the boy's mother. Her hair, just like the boys, was a light brown, but hers was a bit longer, while his was a bit curlier and a bit shorter. He joyously set his notebook on the table, getting his currently working mother to look at it. Even though she should be doing her work, she looks over without a second thought. Staring at her son's wide grin, she puts her finger through the hole left by his missing tooth and begins laughing.
The boy: “LOOK LOOK!”
With a small smile on her face, she picks it up, adjusts her circular glasses, and lifts the notebook into the air. Her mouth begins to move, but no sound comes out, as he’s not able to hear her voice. His smile turns to confusion, but just looking at his mother brings him joy, so his smile quickly returns. The happy smile, the warm air, and the bliss of the entire situation is almost overwhelming. The slight buzz in the background begins to drown out, as if the world’s zooming in on the small boy, with no idea what’s happening. His mother's voice begins to become drowned out even further, with flashes to a darker version of his mother crying while holding an aged-up photo of the child, Gray Kyojin on his first day of senior year.
The young Gray flashes back and forth to the older version of himself, until he wakes up while atop the flying Dema, with his current self. Gray begins gasping for the thin air around him, holding his chest lightly.
Gray: “Dammit… fell asleep again. Alright, refresh Dema. Can’t get into Ravoria because if I get spotted entering before I reach the capital, whatever surprise I have is dropped to zero. If I lean toward the right-hand side in Walgonia, I may be able to sneak all the way to the capital through the Ever-Lagoon, but it stops before the capital. On the other hand, the Ever-Bog, while being more dangerous, it’s grown up to the outer wall of the Capital…or so I've been told by some random villagers.”
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Gray stops talking to Dema, as he remembers she’s just a dragon and cannot understand a word he’s saying, or so he assumes. He lays back, staring into the morning sky, glancing over to his trembling hands. He closes them, closes his eyes to focus on the spirit energy around him, and attempts to use his awakened power. While still unaware of his talk with Zue right after the battle with Arthur, he’s unable to wrap his head around how or why he has Arthur's power.
He begins to try and heat up the spirits' energy, though he’s only able to get a few sparks out.
Gray: “Ugh, I’ve been able to get the flame out a few times, but it feels like I’m just getting lucky. And I was able to use a full aura when I was losing' it in Eclis, but now I’m forced down to this.”
He knows he produces the flames within the spiritual state, though he’s trying to use the flames without it. This is because he feels that it would make more sense to learn how to use it without assistance, though he has used it while within the spiritual state to try and get a feel for the ability. But something within him, his OD, feels wrong. Every time he uses the black flames, his OD crumbles just slightly, adding to this ticking time bomb within him, one that’s slowly spreading through his body. While he’s unaware of this, this sick feeling comes and goes, so he assumes it’s his body having issues with how long he’s been staying so high up in the air. With a map in hand, he puts his finger on La Bon, the town by the mountain he had left a few days ago. He then traces his finger to the small farming village he had left the day before, and to where he should be now. Still far off from the Guard Fog, which would mark the crossing into Valatrositce, he begins to ponder what he should do.
With the fear that he won’t be able to get into Valatrositce legally, going through the gap in the fog would lead to him appearing right in front of Valatrositce’s Capital. When they traveled before, they were in a hurry and left the city of Mier straight into the monster-filled fog, but managed to move at just the slightest angle to still appear in front of the capital. However this time, that may be a death sentence. He could stick to the border between Walgonia and Ravoira, but the Guard Fog would soon appear, as it coats the land blocking Walgonia and Ravoria from Valatrositce, so he’d have to go in either way. So he has to go through the Guard Fog, into the large Ever-bog, the enormous swamp filled with spirit beasts, and then right into the Capital of Ravoria, which sits beside the bog.
Gray: “It took eighteen days to get from Greenvale to Valatrositice’s Capital, and that’s with a much slower animal. It’s February fifteenth, and I left fourteen days ago, but I’ve been moving kinda aimlessly until now…so I’d say I’ll make it to the Ever-Bog around February twenty-sixth, maybe a bit later, maybe a bit sooner. But every day is wasted time, every day Rosemary could die, be more hurt than she already is, or literally anything bad. And I won’t sit aside and let that happen. Jimmy Alls is the guy to go to, Ravoria’s Rupert, the man who gets you in and out, he knows everything. I’ll have to find him, and I can find out everything.”
Gray begins to work on conjuring the flames once more, while Dema soars through the air, with a sense of peace, and a bit lonely. But every day he gets a bit better, his plan is furthered, and his goal seems more achievable.
End of Chapter Nine