“It starts with a poem:” Her lungs expanding for the expected longs verse

"There are four heroes."

"One for each of the demon kings’ vices."

"The hero of freedom is to break the chains and lead the flock."

"The hero of emotions is to unite our hearts and bring us together."

"The hero of love is to heal both the scared heart and the land."

"The hero of obsession is to fight the demon kings’ game and win."

"You are the hero of obsession." Her voice was filled with an unbidden aww and zealotry, yet I could feel the "but" ready to bite my own. It's the tradesman's special that brings in your attention. "But the three heroes before you were all corrupted." She finishes with a sigh, not one of sadness or worry, but more of a sigh that means she is forced to do something she doesn't want to do. I can understand having studied history in college, so either it was a while back or she doesn’t care about heroes’ lives. I’ll put my money on the former rather than the latter.

"Now before you ask, no, this was not the demon kings' doing." She raises her hands above her head, yellow vapor spilling from the palms. Huh. So, they do have magic. Neat. "The corruption source is but a part of the process of summoning heroes." The yellow vapor is now condensing into a flat, circular mirror. A part? So, you summoned me with what? A piece of uranium in my chest?

"The hero of freedom was an average woman." The screen shows a short woman dressed in a prestige-style school uniform. She appears unassuming, almost bland, if not for her glasses and freckles. “Her name was Kaiya Ito, she was summoned by a cabal of wizards who wanted to rid their lands of monsters.” The screen showing her summoning in with a flash of light in a floating ring. "She did not want to be the hero, but the wizards that summoned her did not care for her pleas." The image on the screen changed to show the same woman in chains.

“Branded with magics of both soul, body, they made her a puppet yet they left her mind to crumble to fuel her growth.” A now ripped women shadowboxing a wall, shockwaves of air visible with each thrust. "She was forced into a role, a role that was corrupted by the very circle that summoned her and the brands that bind her." Changing again, the screen now shows the woman in armor killing what look like goblins with an unreadable expression on her face.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

"They pushed and pushed until the corruption pushed her over the edge." The woman is no longer the same; chains and scars cover her body, one going across her face; one eye is now milky white; a dark star appears to replace the dysfunctional pupil. "With corruption in her veins, she tore her masters to shreds." The screen has now turned red, slowly panning upwards to reveal the wizard's body with his eyes missing; he is being stabbed repeatedly, even though he is dead.

"But she was not satisfied; who would be?" The screen now shows a calm meadow; the only thing off are the dark clouds in the distance. The large priestess breathing heavily and making no moves to explain further; what's wrong? Looking closer, it clicked.

Smoke. It was smoke. A village, no, a country, was being torched to the ground. Birds of fire, spewing cleaning fire, burning stone, wood and people alike becoming ash. Ash collected by ash and ember golems brought to a queen, her throne made of chains. Grabbing it she makes three more golems who jump into the massacre.

"As you see, the first hero fell, and from her ashes, Kaiya, the flame conqueror, was born." She ends with a flourish, the screen now showing an army of elemental flame and ash battling a scrappy-looking army of half peasants and half soldiers dressed in rags. The battle was both sad and amazing; men died in droves to take on the elementals, and mages at the back were throwing water and ice, freezing ash, and quenching fire. At the end, a crowned boy fought with Kaiya, fatally harming her, and as a result, she pulled off her chains, releasing a fireball that decimated the entire army. Only ash and a few singed chains are left bare.

"Now you may have one question before we continue with the lesson." She talks about what she showed me as if it were a movie. Her entire demeanor was "It was in the past" and "Stupid war, stupid reason" and I couldn't make heads or tails of it. So, I stated the obvious.

"Why are you teaching me this?" Why go to all this trouble for my sympathy, to tell me that this will happen to me like it did to my predecessors?

"To comprehend the churches' perspectives on what we must do with you to ensure the survival of all humanoids," she responds almost reflexively before rebutting. "But don't worry your head about that for the time being; I can promise you this: we will leave you alone if you do the same kindness for us."

I gulped at the ominous words.