The world has shaken. For the world has welcomed a greater strain on it.

The battle between an Epic borrowing a fraction of the power of a Myth against a fully fledged Lege was the only thing one needed to know just how great this battle would be.

“Face it Valde, you can never beat me using borrowed power that you can’t even properly utilize. It’s time for a change.” Gaelhe roared, causing tsunamis to form all around him. Such a majestic dragon laughed to itself.

Valde was completely defeated. He was sinking within the depths of the ocean, consumed by his mistake. It was unfortunate. Everything he had done was all for naught. Yet he still wasn’t dead.

“Valde, watch as the world takes a step forward. Ancient Tales can only do so much. It’s time for young blood to take over. The world isn’t as fragile as you think it is.”

Gaelhe raised the very ocean. Within the very center, Valde was quietly accepting his humble defeat.

A crowd of sailer raised their voices. They have been watching on this entire time.

“Gaelhe, the Dragon of Change, we appreciate you!”

“Such a foul enemy cannot even be matched to a single scale of yours!”

“Oh, Great Protector! Protect us from that fiend.”

Gaelhe didn’t show it on his humongous face but there was a slight emotion of joy. He had become someone he aspired to be. It was a dream come true.

Looking for a Valde, there wasn’t any way for him to fight back.

It was over for him.

Victory was finally achieved.

As Gaelhe was enjoying his victory, it was slightly hazed by a slight mist of darkness. Gaelhe was far too engrossed with the current events that he didn’t even manage to figure this out. Valde was overlooking everything from beyond the boundary. He watched on as such a majestic dragon was slumbering, dreaming its sweet dream.

Gaelhe’s body had fallen, he continued to slumber within his nest. Valde erected a formidable barrier that no power would ever be able to eradicate. Seals upon seals of pure restrained power was compacted within it. No one would be able to hurt Gaelhe at all.

“This is the best I can do for you old friend. It’s not as you assume, the world really cannot handle the burden of any more Myths.” Valde reached his hand out. It was pale, eerily so. Not a hint of darkness nor rotting stench came out of it. Valde touched Gaelhe’s head and sighed. Everything that happened inside this bubble would remain here for the rest of Valde’s life.

“By the time you leave, I’ll be long gone. Don’t resent me too much by then.” A sad smile.

Valde turned around, exiting this formation. He was going to let his closest friend slumber. Only receiving everything he could never have.

“It’s like he had said.” His fists were clenched. This was something he would never forget. Never even if he was soaked inside the Endless Blood. He will fight tooth and nail to never forget it.

A child’s imagination might be limitless but a child’s memory can only hold so much.

The Storyteller did not order Valde. He merely wished to enlighten someone who truly cared. As for whatever happened, it wasn’t his role to dictate what would happen. It was Fate’s role.

Valde left off to go somewhere.

“Where do you think he’s going?” A small critter questioned one of his many friends. Such a powerful person had just sealed their master away.

“To flaunt his deeds to the world.” Another feeble creature said.

~~~

Valde was in the middle of nowhere.

“Gaelhe, why! You absolute fool! Sache’s a completely delusional child! Why did you do it?!” Valde had isolated an island and entered it. He slammed his fists down on the dirt. His anger was rising the entire time.

Kneeling down on the ground and acting out. This was not something befitting someone who had just incapacitated a Legend. He didn’t use his overwhelming power. His human hands punched the ground. Yet the frustrations within his heart never left him.

“She helped you when I couldn’t but still… that’s not enough of a reason to let the world burn. She doesn’t even know what she wants herself. Immortality’s just a facade to what she wants in her heart.”

I don’t need a heart.

Valde’s psyche was assaulted by such a devastating sentence. The world itself resonated with this sentence.

“Sache managed to… why does she have a Fragment?” Valde looked straight above. Despite it being still sunny, his gaze approached the stars beyond. “Why bother? If I asked you, you would’ve just said it would’ve made for an interesting story.”

Valde checked his condition. His body was starting to break apart. The Storyteller had so much power that even his mere words would turn to reality. Such a terrifying power yet the only thing he ever did with that was tell stories.

“Nine minutes. Can I handle Sache before she creates Immortality?” Valde had the very world resonate with him as well. He activated his power as well. “If I can’t then everything ends.”

“Sache appeared before Valde.” Valde’s words seemed weaker yet the power contained within it was obvious.

Sache fell down on the floor before him. She looked around extremely confused, agitated, and furious. Looking at Valde, she directed all her anger towards him. A senseless scream.

Valde dodged to the side, tapping Sache’s head with his corrupted hands. It wouldn’t have been able to harm her but using even more power from his own Fragment of The Storyteller, he pushed through.

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

~~~

He was always by my side!

“Sache, haha, alright come down now.” A burly man carrying a small girl on his shoulders. He tried to bring her down yet the girl hugged his head.

“No! You promised me you would take me to see the birds!” Sache held on for dear life. It was as if she would die if she let go. “Noooo!”

“Hah… I really do spoil you sometimes…” It was a defeated sigh yet the joy it brought to Sache’s face was far too much. He smiled as well.

“Papa, you have to never break your promises, alright? I’ll tell Mama if you do!” Sache hugged her father’s head even harder. She enjoyed the trip as her father went up the mountains.

It was getting darker but she didn’t mind. With her father taking the wheel, she would always be safe. Reaching the peak of this mountain, he took her off and brought her to the side. They enjoyed the sight as the sun started to set.

“Sache, look, the birds are finally here. Let me hear how good you’ve gotten.” Although he was slightly disgruntled, the weight of life melts away as soon as he hears his daughter’s whistling.

Sache whistled.

The flying birds from above took a detour and sat all around her. Not even slightly afraid of her. Her voice alone lured the birds.

“Face what happened.” Valde’s voice suddenly changed the scene. His words attacked Sache’s weak mind.

The scene switched from a sunset view to dawn. Everything remained the same except for one thing. Sache’s father wasn’t there. She was singing to herself as the birds came up to greet her. Her legs were slightly reddish from the thorny path that it took to get here.

She would come up every morning before anyone was awake to practice her singing.

I was loved!

Back at their house, Sache’s father took Sache by hand and guided her back. He took his axe and dropped it off by the side. He entered the small wooden cabin.

“Honey, I’m home! Sorry it took a while Sache-” His face had just been sabotaged by Sache. She reached her hand out and covered her father’s mouth.

“Nuh-uh! He’s lying!” Sache’s intimidating tone did not work on her parents. It served to make Sache completely adorable. Everything she did had would make her parents happy.

“Oh? He didn’t guide you to the top of the mountain again? Really, you’re acting like a bad father.” The Mother feigned a dissatisfied look. She crossed her arms and looked away. “You’re not the man I fell in love with at all! Hmph!”

“W-Wait! Honey, all right… I did bring Sache up there but-”

“Oh! You brought Sache up the very dangerous mountain. Tsk, tsk, tsk, what would’ve happened if she fell down? Huh? Tell me!” She reached her hand out and twisted her husband’s ear playfully. He played along.

“Ow, ow, ow! Ouch! Sache really wanted to see the scene. I couldn’t let our daughter be alone like that. You know how love she loves the sunset.”

“But you would let your wife be alone in this completely cold house alone? The audacity. You’re sleeping outside tonight!” She kept raising the stakes while glancing at Sache. “Do you think your Father should stay out tonight?”

“Uh… no!” Sache came up and hugged both of her parents. Those two giggled to themselves and entered the hug. “Dad never leaves us alone.”

“Ahem!” The Mother nudged her husband. She raised her eyebrows and kept looking at Sache.

“I nearly forgot! Sache, you told us how much you loved singing right? We thought that since you liked it so much, we would get you something nice.”

Out came Sache’s lyre. It was completely normal without a hint of quality to it. One could even say that it was shoddy. Like a complete novice had made it. But the carvings into it were clear that it came from the heart.

“I love you.” Sache rushed out and hugged her parents. The warmth of this home made her worries all fade away.

“But how were they really?” Valde came over to correct the scene once again.

The house no longer had a burning, warm fireplace. It was cold and desolate. The winter air outside entered the cracked windows. It was completely shivering.

Sache saw a small present under the tree. It was a gift from her parents. She opened up it and saw a small lyre. It was the same terrible quality lyre she had received from the previous scene.

“Hey, did you hear?” A man took another sip from his cup. “The old man down the street lost one of his prototypes! Ha! What an idiot! He could’ve sold that for a bit of cash. He can’t even make anything decent, what makes him have the gall to create a lyre?”

“Gahahaha! Whatever happened to it?” The laughing man took another sip.

“Obviously… I stole it! Hahahahaha! That’s one way to make that cretin shut up! I threw it at that little parasite to play with.”

“Hahahahahaha!”

The stench of alcohol assaulted Sache's sensitive nose. She covered her nose yet it was far too aggressive. She coughed a few times before returning to normalcy.

Sache timidly caressed it. She took it and slowly went to one of the rooms inside. A woman was sleeping soundly within it. Her breath was weak and her pulse was weaker. She was nearing her limits.

Carefully, Sache sneaked up on her mother. She made sure to not make any noise while keeping her footsteps light. But as any old creaky house would have it, there was bound to be some kind of noise.

Sache gasped in the cold air.

The woman in the bed woke up and saw Sache sneaking up to her. She grew extremely furious. Even during her breaks there just had to be something to ruin it.

“I told you to stop bothering me with those useless Tales! I finally get a day’s rest after months of grueling work and you’re still here to bother me? Get out! Now!” She lost her temper.

“I’m… sorry. I just wanted to make you feel better.”

“You want to make me feel better? That’s easy! Leave me alone! They may be real but that's the thing, they care about it! No one cares about you!” She immediately came down and slept. Mumbling, “A drunkard and a stupid daughter. Just my luck.”

Sache stood in place. She wanted to speak up yet couldn’t.

The woman noticed this and viciously asked, “What the hell do you want?”

“You promised me… you would listen to one of my songs. I practiced really hard. They say if birds listen to you, you can even heal others-”

She bit her lip and got out of bed. She reached out to Sache’s lyre and grabbed it. Using her bare hands, she took the strings and ripped it all apart.

“Using your useless father’s stolen goods? You’re pathetic. Go do something good for once! You absolute waste.” She returned to bed.

Sache took the broken lyre and left. She looked all around the house to see if she could fix it.

Maybe I need to work harder. Yeah… if everyone likes my songs, my mother would definitely love it.

Finding nothing within her house. She set forth to journey outward. The blazing cold did not dissuade her from continuing forward. The warming thought of being accepted pulled her through.

Yet a malnourished child would not survive long in such a cold place. It only took her a few minutes outside before she fell down. She held this broken lyre in her hand without a single thought that ‘I’ll make it.’

She fell down in front of a workshop. An old man noticed her and brought her in. He gave her a set of strings and taught her a few ways to fix it on her own. Sache did not understand why such a person would help her.

This man ignored the question and kept on teaching her. Sache quickly learned everything and managed to figure it out on herself.

Sache clutched her tattered ragged dress. “My… I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. If you love music enough to try and fix it during this storm, I don’t mind giving it to you.” The old man leaned back on his chair. It was the very prototype he had lost. But seeing as it landed on such a passionate child’s hand, he couldn’t bear taking it away.

“Why’d you help me?” Sache felt such an odd feeling arise within her heart. This wasn’t like how her father would smack her away. Neither was it when her mother would chase her out. It was welcoming.

“I simply like helping other people. Making other people happy makes me happy.” The old man gave out a hearty laugh. He recalled something and quickly left, “Oh, the hot chocolate is ready. I’ll be back.”

Maybe if I help other people, I’ll be happy too.