Chapter 4 - (I Just) Died In Your Arms

Chapter 4 – (I Just) Died in Your Arms

Thanks to the crest granted to heroes, Rent now stands inside the changing room of an armorer, while Valian stands outside it with his arms crossed. “Just so you know, hero, if you get killed in there, I will not be able to help you.”

“Yeah, sure, if my shoes try to kill me, I’ll scream for you.” He replies from the other side of the door. Valian doesn’t reply, simply scoffing and walking in front of the door.

“While we're here, I might as well ask if you have any further questions about this world?”

Eventually Rent emerges from the changing room, his new armour features a black leather jacket with a single light blue stripe running down each arm, the jacket sits over a silvery-steel plate with a gap running diagonally through it revealing the dark grey shirt underneath, his pants have armour plating on the knees and outer thighs with the same boots he had on previously. To complete the look, he has a short and torn navy-blue cape draped over his arm and left shoulder and hanging from his back.

“Where can I get something to eat? Haven’t had anything since I got here.”

Valian’s mouth sits agape at the sight of his armour, trying his best to process it. “That armour seems wildly impractical. Firstly, that jacket of yours is unnecessary weight, secondly, that gap in the chest plate is right over your heart –the most vital area-, then your legs aren’t even fully protected, worst of all is that cape, it can easily...”

For Rent, it all drowns out into “blah blah blah” as he stares absentmindedly with Valian continuing his preach.

“And that colour scheme...” Something snaps in Rent when he hears that.

He approaches Valian and points at him directly in the face. “Listen, blue boy, since everyone here seems to be infatuated with the colour of the sky, I might as well blend it, this is coming from someone whose favourite is GREEN. It was between this and a blue duster coat with a black shirt. So, unless you’re both a fashionista and the Captain of the Knights, keep your mouth shut.” As he steps past him, their shoulders bump, and Valian just stands there gathering himself and his thoughts. “Now we gonna go dig out?” Rent asks, leaving the store.

“Dig out what?” Valian asks as he begins walking behind him.

“Eat something, moron.”

The two of them walk through the city, Valian always keeping himself practically against Rent. Enough for people to stare at them, the captain escorting a stranger. “There is a restaurant reserved for knights around here, if you are hungry.”

“ ’Course I’m hungry.”

When they step inside the restaurant, they are instantly met with a waitress, a sparkle in her eye at the mere sight of Valian. Most of the knights who come here are recruits or retired veterans, to have the captain himself here is a true blessing... oh, and the hero.

“C-Captain Valian!” She rushes over to him, notebook in hand, debating holding it out or not. “Do you mind handing an autograph?! I-I-I mean, how can I serve you?”

“Table for two.” Sounding unfazed, he asks.

The waitress sounds confused when she hears two, but when she looks to her left, Rent is staring directly at her with a look that can only be described as “really...?”

She leans into the captain, avoiding all norms of personal space and whispers just loud enough. “Who is this crook? This place is only for those officially knighted.”

“Harsh.” Rent mutters under his breath.

Valian groans and places his hands on Rent’s shoulder, causing him to tense up over the PTSD from being pulled, even in the armour, he is still fairly shorter than Valian. “He is the 13th hero, and since he was sworn in this morning, that by technicality makes him a knight.”

With scurrying hands, Rent searches his pocket for the crest and pulls it out, displaying it to her, to which she closes her eyes and nods. “Very well, pick a seat, captain, and we will be with you shortly.”

They pick a seat and sit across from each other as Rent stretches his arms and back with one long, drawn-out yawn and checks the menu-not that he can read it- but the pictures help. “Oh, I’m spending my 50k well after this, and you’re going to be my bag carrier. I walked through the market district earlier, it’s like a mall you’ve never been in your entire life-”

“We are training after this.” He interrupts.

“And who are you to make that decision?”

“Being a knight makes me your superior; therefore, I tell you what we are going to do. If you want to be the one to kill the King... you’re going to need to learn to swing a sword and build a physique, hiding it under 3 layers of armour is going to intimidate any foe.”

“How...do you know that?” Rent asks, genuinely concerned for himself.

“How could I not? Those nightclothes you wore don't hide your body as well as you think.”

Rent lets out a relieved breath and looks at the menu again. "phew For a moment there I thought you were peeping under the door while I was changing."

“Please keep that thought to yourself, it is my duty as a knight to respect privacy and then some.”

“Hypocritical. You’re telling me, there's been twelve heroes before me and none of them have had the need to slap you for being a weirdo watching others sleep.”

He simply shrugs and continues reading the menu. “The first four were summoned when I was simply a boy. As for the other eight...” Drifting away into thought, his fingers keeps tapping the table, and his breath becomes erratic.

“Valian...?” As Rent starts reaching out to him, the waitress approaches, knocking him out of it.

“Your orders, gentlemen?”

“I shall have the grilled chicken and bread.” Valian orders.

Rent starts pointing to a salad, but he stops, his arm doesn’t hurt that much, and he was fine when he woke up this morning without the pills, eh, screw it, might as well go all out for once. He points to a drawing of two breads, a piece of meat, and an egg. “I’ll take whatever that is.”

“A Vilocot. It’s called a Vilocot.” Valian says over the table.

“Yes...” When the waitress takes their orders, she leaves the table and Rent continues speaking. “Colour me surprised that the guy from another world can’t read whatever combination of tildes and apostrophes this language is.”

Valian rests his jaw on his fist. “Freniqua. And what are you talking about? Aside from the odd word or so... you’re speaking it fluently.”

“Eh?” He goes into thought for a moment; there’s only one conclusion to this. “Guess that makes sense, goddess lady probably gave me a translator. Whatever I say gets translated, and vice versa.”

Valian breathes out a drawn-out sigh before speaking. “A grown adult and illiterate.”

“Asshole.”

That Night

After a long day of walking around the town, getting a beating from Valian during training, and learning to read, Rent retires to his room, ditching his armour for the pyjamas he arrived in. He checks the doors are properly barred and sits on his bed, flexing and stretching before falling on his back.

“Been here all but two days... all I got was an ass kicking, dinner, and clothes. Agh, aren’t I supposed to be overpowered and have a bunch of girls? No, I’m stuck with that guy.” As he’s lying on the bed, he looks at his hand, slowly turning it. “What even are the ashes?” Suddenly, he throws his hand up and screams, “ASHES GO!!!” Nothing happens. Again, “ASHES! BURN!” Nope. One more time. “WITH THIS INCANTATION I SUMMON THE ASHES OF THE PHOENIX!” Nada.

“It’s not going to work like that.” A voice startles Rent from behind; it sounds familiar to him, and when he turns to it, it’s confirmed.

The goddess Theia stands in front of the window, looking out to the city before turning to Rent. “Enjoying this new place?”’

“Oh uh- goddess...” He scrambles to get up and awkwardly bows. “Yeah, it’s kinda nice here...”

She makes a pleased hum and walks around the room, she notices the armour and picks it up. “You should keep this piece safe.”

“Now what?”

“Now you train and get prepared to face the King and his army.”

Outside the room, Valian tries gently pushing the door open, but not only is it barred, he also hears Rent speaking with someone. He presses his ear against the door for a moment before stepping back and walking downstairs.

“Me against an entire army? Sounds fun.” Rent lets his sarcasm slip as he walks past her to the window, pushing it open and walking onto the small balcony. He leans against a railing and turns to her. “One thing I’m curious about, why me? Wouldn’t a marine or some decorated hero do a better job than me?”

She pauses, pondering what to say next. “I could’ve... but I’m not only the goddess of light and fortune, but of second chances as well. I send people like you here to prove –no- to show them they have a chance at greatness on Earth.”

“So, you’ve sent 12 losers like me before. How’d they end up? Dead? If patterns are anything to go by, I've got three days left at most before number fourteen comes strolling in here.”

“It’s not like that, Re-” “What is it like then?!”

Theia groans and sits on the bed; the room falls silent until Rent scoffs and turns around. “Least you could do was give me a cool sword or power, what’s the ashes do anyway?” He waits and waits, but with no response after a few seconds, he looks behind him to see the room empty. “Nice.” Is all he can say.

He closes his eyes and hangs his head, arms crossed over the railing. When he opens them again, he’s looking down...with Valian hanging off the bottom of the railing with a look of “whelp” on him.

“Hero.” That one word is all he says as he tries to hide the strain on his arms and face.

At this point, Rent doesn’t even argue; he just holds his hand out and lifts him onto the balcony.

Valian takes a moment to adjust himself while Rent just stands there. “Who were you talking to?” He asks, wanting to erase the thought of dangling several stories high.

“Nunya.”

“Nunya?”

“Nunya business. What do you want?” It sounds more like a demand than a question coming from Rent.

“The door was locked, so I had to find another way in to protect you.”

“My god, do you ever sleep?”

“I was prepared to practice micro sleeps while protecting you, but I chose to drink crushed up ground beans from the North that provide energy.”

Rent turns around and faceplants on the bed. “Caffeine junky. Good night, boss.”

“Good night, Rent.”

And Rent falls asleep just like that on top of all the blankets with his legs hanging off the side. Valian takes a seat on a nearby bench and observes him. When an hour passes and Rent falls deep asleep, he stands up and walks over to him, gently lifting him, moves the blankets, placing his head on the pillow, and wrapping him in the blankets. “sigh, Heroes.”

The next morning

It’s only nine in the morning, but Valian’s seemingly caring demeanour from last night has subsided as he hits Rent with a wooden sword on the neck as the two train in the courtyard.

“Your form is sloppy!”

Rent rubs the side of his neck and stands up. “Only because you’re using dirty moves!”

“As if a corrupted wouldn’t.”

“Not the point!”

Unbeknownst to either of them, Princess Sarada watches their sparring and training from on high while drinking tea on the terrace. She is approached by a maid who places a kettle on the table. “Your majesty, the tea you requested.”

“Thank you.” She says as she continues watching Rent getting tagged by the wooden sword constantly.

The maid notices Sarada’s gaze and follows it to the scene below them. “That boy, how did you know he was the hero from a simple claim?”

“Simple, the way he spoke, the way he was dressed, his lack of knowledge. I have seen it countless times before in the others... and well, if he was not, the crest would have turned him into dust.”

As the maid pours more tea into the cup, she chuckles darkly. “You were prepared to end his life?”

“Tradition.”

“I must suppose so... anyway, your majesty, the court requests your presence later. They feel the people are growing unruly without the rule of a leader... the lie cannot be kep-”

“It shall have to be. I shall deal with my father’s politics once the threat of the Corruption is dealt with. Until then, the people will just have to believe.”

The maid steps away. She stops for a moment to look at Valian and Rent, then looks at Sarada. “It is laundry today... I went into the hero’s room this morning to look for any; the only thing to be found was master Valian watching him as he slept.”

“Speaking with him does not help; he has been this way since...” Sarada’s words fall short as she places her teacup down and stands up, leaving it at that.

Afternoon

After a hard day of training, Rent finds a bench outside the castle to carefully sit on. Every bone and every muscle hurts; he debates even resting his back on the wall, but ultimately does so.

“For wanting to protect me, he sure makes me wish I were dead again.” He groans and closes his eyes, shuffling to adjust to the bench... until he feels another weight press down next to him. “Valian go away.”

“I’m not Valian.” A voice other than his states that, when Rent’s eyes open, he sees Sarada sitting next to him and holding out a glass of water that he gleefully accepts and downs at once.

“He didn’t follow you, did he?” Is asked through heavy breaths.

Chuckling softly, she shakes her head before speaking, “No-no, I gave him some paperwork, it will keep him busy until tonight.”

Rent rubs his eyes as he replies. “How is he your superior? Usually, it’s the knight who listens to the princess.”

“Believe me, I thought the same... but when my father set out to the Eastern kingdom during the first attacks of the corrupted, he placed Valian in charge- sighting my ‘inexperience’... tch, despite him only being two years older.”

“So, he’s technically the king?”

“Not quite like that, I make political decisions, attend to matters of royalty, and deal with the matters that the king would, with the aid of the court. But he is basically an overbearing caretaker who dictates what I can and cannot personally do.”

“Ha! Something we can relate to!”

She chuckles shortly. “In your case, it’s... he’s different. Sure, he told me to go to bed early, stay healthy, and protected me when it looked like the crowd got rowdy. But with you, he hasn’t slept in the past three days, his sword is always at the ready, and so much more.”

“It’s only because I’m the Ashbearer, turns out he overheard us.”

“Could be, but there is more to it...” Sarada rubs her chin and leans forward, debating whether to tell him or not.

Before she can even make up her mind, that voice interrupts them. “Hero.”

She lets out a tiny gasp as she looks at Valian standing there, focused exclusively on Rent.

“Do you not have those reports to read and sign?”

“Line fifteen of the upper-knight doctrine; ‘in the event that the captain has personal matters or matters of utmost importance, he is allowed to partially or fully give the workload to his most trusted comrade.’ It was handed down to Lieutenant Beran.”

Rent doesn’t even question the existence of the doctrine; he only asks, “Which matter am I?”

He can’t even get his answer before Sarada says something else, “There is simply NO way that is a real clause.”

Without any hesitation, Valian reaches for his pockets and, after a few seconds, takes out a small booklet and throws it to her. “Page seven.”

Quickly, she pages through it until she gets to there and then slides her finger down to line fifteen. Rent leans over her as they silently read it together. After a few seconds, Sarada speaks up, “Huh... did not know.”

“Clearly.” He sits between the two of them; there’s barely enough space for two people, so the three of them are squishing each other. Sarada shifts to get a modicum of comfort, Valian sits prepared for anything not minding being pressed on both sides, and Rent has been here for four days but has already come to accept this. In silence, the three sit there in uncomfortable comfort, staring at the distant sunset fading behind the western mountains. Eventually, Rent stands up, then Valian follows him, and lastly, Sarada.

Two days later

Having spent the last week training, Rent is more than ready for a break... unfortunately, however, Valian doesn’t care, even while it’s raining, the two of them are still in the courtyard, wooden swords in hand.

Valian keeps his back straight and sword outstretched; he moves his feet to find his balance on the slippery mud, with confidence on his face, he declares, “You are on the offensive today; if you manage to get a single tap on me, then I will purchase better armour for you.”

Rent prepares himself, bending forward but keeping his posture up, both his hands grip the sword tightly as he keeps it at his centre. “My threads are good enough, you can buy me a sword.”

“Oh, it will take a lot more than a tap to get you that, come at me.”

No hesitation, Rent lunges forward, pushing the mud out from under his boot as he rushes at him. His first thrust gets easily dodged by Valian, who positions himself to Rent’s left but thinks fast and takes the sword in his left hand and wildly swings at him with no form.

Unsurprisingly, Valian easily deflects this hit, throwing off Rent's posture. With his right hand, he takes Rent’s left side and tosses him to the side. Rent barely managing to keep himself from slipping on the mud.

“Take every fight like an exam, you cannot brute force your way through, like the questions on the paper, you must know the enemy and respond to it accordingly.” Valian teaches as he turns to him.

“Nuh-uh! It worked for me, and I got to university. Besides, you could also just memorize the stuff in the exam and answer that way.”

“I highly doubt an enemy would use the same move again if it did not work the first time-but enough, attack!”

Rent responds accordingly, raising his sword above his head and swinging forwards, another attack that is easily avoided by him, but he quickly spins around using momentum along with the sword. Valian dodges the first spin but must use his sword to block the second. While they push on each other with the wooden blades, Rent does something clever and tries to leg sweep him, only for Valian to catch him and do it to him instead, sending him crashing to the floor.

With Valian towering over and a smirk stricken on his face too, Rent quickly takes a clump of mud in his hand and throws it in his face, Valian of course manages to block it with his arm, but it does get a chuckle out of him, he takes advantage of the situation by jumping up and trying to swipe at him, Valian simply catches the flat ends of the sword with his hand.

“Dirty move, Rent!” His chuckle slowly fades, but a smile stays on the edge of his lips.

“Well, I didn’t pass my exams by studying.” Rent strains for the sword out of his grip, something clicks, and instead of pulling back, he thrusts forward, getting a tap on Valian’s chest and putting the two of them closer together.

Valian looks down at him, the slightest bit of surprise on his face and a wide smile on Rent, yet there is an air of “clever boy” from Valian, from this distance (or lack thereof) they can feel the other’s breath on their faces, almost as if frozen into the other’s gaze... only torn apart by the sudden and loud ringing of an alarm bell and a knight’s scream.

“CAPTAIN, H-HERO!!!”

Valian quickly pushes Rent away gently and diverts his attention to the knight. “What is it?!”

The knight gathers his breath before speaking again. “Corrupted... they are heading for the city!”

The joyous expressions fall completely as they look at each other.

Moments later, both run to a lookout tower where several guards and the princess are already waiting. The light grey sky in the distance turns blood red as an incomprehensible horde of the corrupted approaches.

“Gods...there must be hundreds of them...” A guard with a telescope mutters defeated before Valian takes the scope from him.

Rent runs up the edge of the tower, rubs his eyes, pinches himself, anything to make sure it’s not a nightmare. When he doesn’t wake up, he silently screams and facepalms.

“They are coming from the East, evacuate everyone from that side of the city immediately!” Valian says, handing the scope back.

“It is underway, captain... though we fear we may not be able to evacuate enough in time.”

“Deploy 75% of the knights to the east, equally distribute the rest to the north, west, and south. I want the best of the best to the east as well. Assign the guards to the checkpoints between the districts and at the castle.” This is a face of the captain that Rent has yet to see, a non-hesitant leader and worthy of his title, a far cry from the protective nuisance and hard-ass teacher he was a few moments ago.

“And the hero?” Sarada asks as their new hero stands there, already contemplating his reincarnated life.

“Yeah...!” He shouts and runs his hands down his face, the pain in his voice trying its hardest to hide away.

Valian quickly shuts down any chances at this: “The hero is in no condition to fight!”

He points to him. “Yeah, I agree with him!”

“You need to prove yourself to them, to the people that you, Rent Starté, are the hero we have been waiting for.” Sarada protests, standing up and taking his arm, giving it a tight and reassuring squeeze.

“That is an army of some freaky demon stuff, and I’m some dude with baby arms.”

“Your majesty, I must insist he stays with you inside the castle; there is greatness inside him, but for now...” Valian takes her hand off him and holds it himself. “Please...” The pleading is more desperate than demanding.

“Uhh, guys... GUYS!”

Both ignore him as they stare down, eventually Sarada succumbs to those hard and serious puppy eyes of his, she sighs and takes her hand back. “Fine, he shall come with me only if you leave him alone and defend the city during this crisis.”

“Thank y-“

The thanks are interrupted by the thing Rent was trying to warn about as a corrupted climbs the walls of the tower and jumps up. Rent can only catch a few glimpses of the creature before it is cut down mid-air by Valian. It was fast; he was behind him not two seconds ago, now he’s in the air, the trails of his blade still shining, he drops back down and points forward with his blade. “GO! I’LL COVER YOU.”

A guard grabs the princess and begins to run with her to the castle, while Rent hesitates, his gaze shifting between Valian and Sarada, until Valian screams again,” GO!!!"

More of the corrupted burst from the ground around the tower and climb up it as Rent runs as fast as he can, Valian leading behind him with his sword drawn.

As they pass the gate, one jumps right in front of them, granting Rent his first glance at a corrupted. It stands on all fours, not arms or legs, more like long and sharp claws, covered head to spiked tail in a dark red blistered carapace with tanned skin visible through the segments. The stomach has a large cavity in the middle with pumping veins running in and out. The head rears back and unleashes a bloodcurdling scream that goes high and low constantly, as its mouth sits agape, it reveals its short, almost human teeth. An overgrown insect infested by the pits of hell itself.

Rent screams at the top of his lungs for a solid few seconds, turns around, but trips as he tries to run. Luckily for him, Valian catches him before his face comes into contact with the floor and gets him to his feet, but Rent stands as close as possible.

“It’s always a giant bug... IT’S ALWAYS A GIANT BUG.”

In a flash, Valian dashes forward and jumps. Rent can’t even catch a glimpse of him as he cuts down the creature, one moment he was jumping up, the next he’s floating in front of it, surrounded by blood and trails of shining light.

When he comes back down, he at once grabs Rent’s hand and runs with him as more of the bugs climb over the walls. Running down a walkway, they are soon blocked by a handful of corrupted from both directions, only a few of them, but their sheer size and imposing appearance make it seem like they stand between hundreds.

The tight grip on Rent’s hand unwillingly lets go as he steps forward, the bugs rush at them from every angle, Valian begins his attack, jumping between both sides in a blink, slicing down the nearest ones all whilst shielding Rent to the best of his abilities. None of this makes any sense; the attacking party was ten minutes away at least. Did they burrow their way up?! Why are they only focusing on Rent? The princess is right there... this is no time for mental discussion, he shakes his head clear while continuing his dance between the groups.

As Rent watches the seemingly endless battle in awe, he can’t even begin to know what is happening; it’s just a splatter of blood with the occasional glimpse of Valian in between, leaving piles of the corrupted. He stumbles backwards, being caught on the railing... just as a corrupted climbs up said wall, masked by the noise of the battle, his gaze stops following the battle in front of him as he just becomes unfocused, trying to wrap his mind around all this. He never wanted to be here; he just wanted to go to sleep... to wake up the next morning and delude himself with a happy life, now he’s here, shocked, petrified-damn near frozen solid.

As Valian finishes the last of the horde, he catches himself and begins walking to Rent, whose face is stone hard, mouth agape, and eyes sponsoring his entire soul, every thought and emotion replaced with dread, even as he locks gazes with the one man he feels the smallest comfort around. Valian is a pain, damn near improbable... but everything he's done, he's done for Rent. There's no mask, no lies. He's doing this because he cares. Someone cares about him... someone cares about him... someone cares about him!

Time slows, and Valian screams. Rent hears what he’s saying but can’t register it; all he does is turn around to find a single corrupted jumping at him from behind, with one claw raised up.

Just like that. The bug swipes at him. Before even the captain of the knights and his sworn protector can do anything.

The slice cuts his back open even through the armour and sends him flying to the right. He does not hesitate to cut down the beast where it stands and ignores everything else, even the countless other corrupted crawling their way over the castle walls slaughtering down other knights and guards, his comrades and lifelong allies. No. He can’t lose him.

Running up to him, he gets to his knees and picks up Rent, wrapping his arms around his sides and holding him close. He tries to hold it all in, but looking down makes him fall apart. “Rent! Rent! Hold on, we’re going to get you to a healer!!!” He begs and begs, but nothing stops the bleeding.

Rent relaxes into his arms. “Don’t think anything’s gonna... fix a broken spine, bud...” His voice is weak, but he forces himself to talk even as his breath runs out.

“No! No! Come on!” This feeling, all this chaos, all this blood, it takes him back, back... unwilling to let go of Rent’s life, he pulls him closer and holds on tighter.

With the last pieces of his life, he raises his hand and takes Valian’s face in it. Nothing but a soft and small smile on his face. “Blue boy...”

His last words are spoken, and his eyes fall shut... causing Valian to let out the deepest, hardest, and soul-shattering heartbroken scream of his life...

Yet...

For a split moment, Rent opens his eyes and feels fine, the world has gone grey, and time has stopped frozen on Valian’s screaming face. He tries standing up, but can’t; he’s stuck in this perspective... until everything goes backwards, the scene repeats in reverse. From him getting swiped by the corrupted, to standing at the edge, to Valian’s fight between the two sides. It goes faster and faster as he sees the day’s events repeat out of his eyes, then yesterday and the day before that. Eventually, it just becomes a blur, and everything goes black.

Loop 2

Suddenly, he feels his back hit the ground with a thud and opens his eyes to see the same crystal from the temple above him. Standing up, he at once feels his back and entire body, yet there’s nothing. No blood, no cuts. Without warning, he has the urge to puke and does so on the temple floor, spitting out blood. His hands shake constantly as he stares at them and only one thought on his terror-stricken mind, “What just happened?”

Chapter 4 - end.