Final Chapter: Saving the World

"Why do we always get into trouble following your lame ideas hero!" Mateo said as he batted away a strange two headed dog-like beast we had discovered in a new area of Armata. 

"It's not my fault! The locals said this area was free of monsters! Figured it would be a quick exploration!" I sliced one of the monsters in half.

"Don't be mean to my husband Mateo...even if I do agree his plans can sometimes be silly." Alna kicked and cleaved one of her monsters.

"More so why am I here fighting...I'm not suited to this." Thalia had a long sword that was thin and perfect for her height. She pierced one of the monsters in the head and it made a noise...then went limp. We taught her how to use a slim sword, it was like my world's version of an Epee. 

It had been 10 years since our defeat of Slain. I was now 35 years old, believe it or not. I hadn't changed my style much, my hair grew a bit longer in the back and my suit was less business orientated but I still felt most comfortable in wearing business casual clothes. Yes, not hero-like by any means but it was me at the end of the day. 

As you heard Alna say, she was my wife now. We had been married for almost 8 years now. We didn't make it a big engagement and in her tradition it was meant to be that way, small and private. So obviously I had my party with us and we made it big thanks Mateo and Thalia working together on it. I was also a dad believe it or not. I had two kids already, a son and daughter. Ada and Nathaniel. Both were at home being watched by our babysitter who was ironically the slime doctor who saved me long ago. We quickly learned he was good with kids...strange enough. Though his babysitting didn't come cheap...

"How many of these monsters are there!" Mateo smacked a few more with his club, he had made improvements on it, small spikes pierced the blunt part and could do some real damage to anything he hit with it. 

"Not too many from what I can sense, maybe a dozen?" Alna answered.

"A DOZEN!?" 

"Quit complaining. We now know these things exist here, we can mark it down on the map as a dangerous area." I said. That was our mission to travel the world, give people SOULS and equally map the world as best as we could. We promised to not do it forever, a few others had decided to take that mantle up for themselves and the few guilds we helped establish in some of the crumbling cities said they would do it as well. Honestly, as we were all getting older, we noticed our bodies weren't quite capable of exploring dangerous locations without a higher chance of risk. I guess it made sense why heroes in anime were so young after all...

After we wiped out the strange two headed dogs we now dubbed Cerbers (a play on Cerberus) we headed back to the local city we had found, Titan. This place wasn't too far from Yonderdale but it did take at least a good four days on foot. We thankfully had our creative hero Mateo, he had mastered the HV finally and now it could get us around in a day. It still broke down occasionally but not because of his issues, it was mainly due to it just being an unreliable vehicle. 

"It's not my fault...even in my world HV's were only meant to travel a few hundred miles at best before we made new ones." Mateo told us.

"How unreliable your world is..." Thalia sighed. Thalia was now becoming quite more grown, the time stop from the forest had finally been lifted so with each year she was actually aging at a normal rate. Her looks were still younger than our own but she could pass as a college student now. 

"Listen...did I ever say my world had perfected cars like Mizuki's?" 

"Hey now, my world cars have problems too. Just not as many as our HV does." I laughed. I had shared with my friends everything I could about my world and they shared their own. Most closest to mine was without a doubt Mateo's but the magic in his made it equal parts more advanced. Still, technology is where our worlds differed. Every device in his world had issues and magic seemed to triumph. It was almost the opposite of my own world, where technology seemed to only advance but everything else stagnated. We all laughed and chatted as the HV sped down the paved road. 

******

Time marched on, our group of 4 never became anything bigger. While Alna and me had older kids now, we ensured that we didn't let them raise themselves too much. I won't deny our children took our best traits. My son was like Alna in many ways, tough but kind and always willing to help out even if he didn't grasp a situation fully. Meanwhile, our daughter was more like me strangely enough. Brave, good with literature and smarter than both of us combined. I'd watch them grow older as I joined them and they even went on their own missions when we decided they could. 

******

Years passed, I was now almost 50 and Alna didn't look a day over 20 but she too was growing older. I knew that I would unfortunately die before her due to her race's aging process versus my own but she said to me no one would ever replace me. I loved her very much and even when we were fighting dangerous monsters or dealing with Mateo's creations, our bond only stayed strong. I knew I would leave her mourning my passing but she was strong, she had our children and the others to lean on. 

One morning, Mateo approached me as I was writing something down in a journal I started keeping. I'll never forget seeing my friend now with white hairs and a long beard was strange but I saw my own reflection in the mirror and realized time was marching on for me as well.

"Hero...are you busy?" Mateo asked as he entered my chambers.

"No, Alna's out with the kids exploring a new city that we found but I told them I was going to stay home today...these bones can't be adventuring as much." I laughed.

"Truth, Thalia is the only one of us that looks like she can still spend another 50 years saving the world." 

"What did you want to talk to me about my friend?" 

"Ohh, I'm in the process of inventing something and I wanted to know if you'd be interested in maybe using it when its complete. I won't say it will be done anytime soon, maybe another decade or so but it's big hero." Mateo showed me a small gun-like device in his hands.

"You know you can just call me Mizuki man..." I laughed. Mateo only rarely called me by my name but I wanted him to stop saying hero. Those days were now getting further behind me. 

"Mizuki...as I said would you be interested?"

"Well, depends on what your invention is...my faith in your creations is...kind of non-existent sometimes."

"Name one thing I made that wasn't incredible!" Mateo shouted in defense.

"What about that flying air craft that literally only hovered ten feet off the ground and then exploded if you put even an ounce of weight on it?" I looked at my friend who rolled his eyes.

"Pfft...it worked though...kind of!" 

"Or the auto cooking device that was supposed to be like this world's version of a microwave...literally instantly burns anything that goes in!" 

"The settings were too high..."

"Or..."

"Fine, fine I get it. Yes, my devices are...not perfect. Still this one...it's close to it and will be my grand creation before I die." Mateo showed me the gun-like tool in his hand and handed it to me. It clearly wasn't an actual gun, there was no ammo inserted and it had only a small barrel that seemed to be triangular shaped. 

"What is this?" I asked holding it and pretending to fire.

"That Mizuki, is the way to teleport to another world." 

"Wait...really?" 

"Yes. I reverse engineered Slain and Slain Two's ability to travel worlds via their left behind DNA."

"You...did what now?" I was confused on how that could even be possible.

"Doesn't matter, what matters is this thing works. I've used it to send items to different areas across the world. So far, I can send an item almost 500 miles (we taught this world my metric system from America to help them gauge distance) from one area to another just by thinking about the place, shooting it, creating a portal and throwing the item in. The catch, it only works here obviously but the range is only increasing and I think I can figure out a means to send you home if you ever wanted to go back." Mateo smiled. His creation was amazing...I had always thought about one day going back to Japan just to see how much it advanced in nearly a half century but...would I leave this world for mine? 

"That's incredible Mateo." 

"Keep the praise for when it can break through dimensions. Again, its not done but keep that in your mind. I can send you and your family to your world." Mateo spun the tool in his hand and left. I was now left with a thought that I would entertain for years...would I leave Armata for Earth? 

 ******35 Years Later******

"It's done dad!" Ada smiled as she put the pen down. I looked over from my bed, raising my body even slightly was a challenge but I wanted to see it for myself. Our hard work...finally flourished and completed. 

"Ohhh can you bring it here Ada?" I asked my daughter, who looked like my wife and me mixed perfectly, our best features. She was now an adult but she still had teenager looks due to our mixed race's DNA. 

"Sure, here!" She ran over and placed the book in my hands. This right here was my entire story, penned by us both. I started it in my 60s and had her finish it when I got older and unable to write. 

"Did I hear its finished!?" Alna came through the door. My beautiful wife, her cat-like features were finally beginning to show age, yet she still had a younger look to her then me. She came over and kissed me. 

"Yes, it is finally done thanks to our incredible daughter." I gave a wink to Ada who kissed me on the cheek.

"It's a great story dad. Where's Nate, I'd love for him to read it!" Ada took the book from my hands to search for her brother. Knowing him, he was probably out training. His dream was to follow in my footsteps and be a hero for those who needed protection. I loved him so much.

"What do you plan on calling the book darling?" Alna asked.

"I haven't thought of a title just yet." 

"Name it and maybe we can spread it across the lands. It may bring inspiration to others." Alna said. 

"True..." I was about to say more when an old friend burst into my room.

"It's DONE!!!" Mateo stood before us, his body just as aged as mine and he walked with a large cane but unlike me, he was still able to move a bit. My old bones refused to heed their master.

"What is?" Alna and me asked together, we then smiled.

"The device Mizuki...the one I can send you to your own world! I finally mastered it. It will send items and people to different worlds!" Mateo probably couldn't jump at his age but his enthusiasm was doing it for him.

"How do you know?" I asked curiously.

"I thought of you world, I thought of Earth and then opened a portal. I threw in one of my tracking devices in there, one that mimics what you call a camera in your world. I saw your world Mizuki! It's still there, I saw one of those car things and big buildings! It seemed so crowded but I can tell its your world!" Mateo smiled, a smile I had never seen before. This was his final masterpiece and he did it. 

"You are a bit too late my dear friend, I already know I can't go back to my own world...my body won't move from this bed without being held. Besides, my world isn't ready for a cat-human and other oddities. Still, I have an idea...and Alna, I was going to tell you." 

"What?"

"The book...I was thinking of sending it through." 

"Book?" Mateo looked at me then realized.

"I finished it." 

"Congratulations my friend. We both finished our grand final works. Why send that book through?" 

"To share with Earth a record of other worlds existing and that I was blessed enough to do what few have done before." 

"You think anyone will believe your story in that world though?" Alna asked and she wasn't wrong. I knew from my world's perspective, most wouldn't believe in what seems to be a fairy tale at best. Yet, I wanted to share my story to those who didn't know it. Here, I was the hero. I saved the world with my friends. We slowly changed Armata in numerous ways. Maybe it would be considered just another novel in my world but who knows? 

"Dad, you finished the book! Good job!" Nathaniel entered the room holding my book with his sister right behind him. The two gave me a big hug and returned to me my story. It was bound in a material that was similar to leather from my world but equally not. It was dark brown, almost red in design with pages that were formed from Mateo's own hands. 

"What are you going to call your story dad?" My daughter asked with her eyes lit up.

"I think the story will be called..."

I was an Officer Worker Till I was the Hero!?