One throne, one Hero

Sunrise bathes the town and the Ranger Hero’s monument in warm sunlight, heralding the start of another day. Beneath the statue, Naoya, Ori, and Solenne prepare to continue their journey, this time with Solenne using Willow’s map.

“Everyone ready?”

“Yep, we’re ready,” Ori replies.

“Alright. To Merrowind’s Keep!”

Naoya makes sure to close his eyes this time and braces himself for the warp. But after a few seconds of waiting, he doesn’t feel any signs — no wind blowing through them or anything. Unsure if they are actually moving, Naoya cracks his eyes open, and he immediately regrets it.

They are indeed moving already, and even the smallest peek during the teleportation affects him with their tremendous speed, sending infinite sensations to his mind.

“And we’re here,” Solenne announces as they reach the snowy peak of a cold mountain.

“Really, Naoya? Again?” Ori checks up on Naoya, who looks like he just went through a hurricane.

“Didn’t Willow tell you to close your eyes? It’s meant to protect you from exposure to the warp,” the mage explains.

“I thought we weren’t moving yet,” Naoya says as Ori fixes him up with magic. “It didn’t feel like we were moving already, so I wanted to check.”

Solenne shakes her head with a smile. “You’re supposed to trust the process, okay? Let’s go. The entrance is this way.”

Naoya and Ori follow her higher into the mountain.

“Wait a minute, in my memories the entrance to the keep is at the bottom. Shouldn’t we be going down?”

“You really are an old man, huh? You probably only used that entrance when you were entering the Keep, because you made a new way in and out when you got your powers,” Solenne answers.

“Wait, I did?”

They stop walking, and the Archmage presents a massive hole in the ground, completely dark and reaching deep into the mountain.

“I did that? Oh, riiight… I did that. I remember now!” he says, recalling an ecstatic memory when he finally obtained his new powers and flew through the mountain in excitement.

“Congratulations on remembering. Now, you should also remember how far and deep into the mountain the Keep is, because we’re gonna be jumping down from here directly to the main chamber.”

“Yeah, I remember tha— Wait, what?”

Naoya has no time to react as Ori pushes him into the hole, his screams echoing as he descends.

“He’s gonna be fine, right?” she asks the Archmage.

“Ehh, he’s the Demon Lord anyway. He’s gonna survive a short fall.”

The two of them share a laugh before holding hands and jumping down together.

The fall is way longer than expected, and after a while, Naoya simply stops screaming, turning his attention to landing safely. Along the way, he passes by several rooms, structures, and open caverns inside the cave, filled with all sorts of interesting objects and sculptures, which Naoya recalls faint memories of, though not enough to understand what their purpose was.

What he does remember, though, is what Merrowind’s Keep is, and why he obtained his Demon Lord powers from here.

Merrowind was an ancient warlord from thousands of years ago who sought to unite the world under one ruler, his empire, believing it to be his noble duty. But in the end, he was defeated by the different factions, all united under a single goal, and the victors used his remains to seal off his dark powers and even more powerful army, which were given the name “demons” — which he had created himself using unknown magic.

After a long fall down through the entire mountain, Naoya finally sees the ground below and successfully lands in a deep, dark, and massive cavern. Ori and Solenne land a few seconds after him with a fireball following them, and they gather around.

“Alright, we’re in… now what?” Naoya asks, and the two girls give him a puzzled look.

“What do you mean, ‘now what’? Isn’t this where you got your power? You should know this place!” Ori tells him.

“Well, I don’t remember what I did here anymore. It’s so far back into the Demon Lord’s memories. Do you know, Solenne?”

“Me? I only know that the Sword Hero is here since he told me about it before he left. It’s my first time here, too.”

Naoya facepalms. “So we’re just stuck here now?”

At that moment, four pairs of red eyes suddenly appear around them, and they raise their fireball’s brightness to reveal four gigantic silhouettes of what looked like minotaurs, carrying large iron battle axes.

“Intruderssss…” the deep voice of the minotaurs whisper as they point their weapons at the three of them.

“Goddammit, I’m not in the mood to fight. Just let me reach the throne room!” Naoya gets annoyed at the sudden threat, and a purple blaze ignites in his chest. He unleashes a massive beam of purple fire toward the nearest minotaur, blasting it back into the cavern’s walls hundreds of feet away.

He turns to the other giant minotaurs and they all drop to one knee, bowing down to Naoya. They rest their battleaxe handles on the floor, and bright lines suddenly appear from them, tracing glyph patterns on the ground. The fourth minotaur who was blasted away reappears near the group and follows their lead, finally completing the glyph.

Naoya hears the girls clapping their hands behind him, and he faces them, turning off the flame in his chest.

“Wow. You were actually cool that time,” Ori comments.

“You should do that more often. Maybe it’ll make you more famous,” Solenne adds.

“One, I’m already awesome without the Demon Lord powers. And two, I think I’m already the most famous person in the world right now, or more accurately, infamous.”

The seal around the cavern disappears, and Merrowind’s Throne Room reveals itself. It is lit up by rows of undying flames, illuminating the mural-filled walls and grand architecture. At the far end of the room stands the mighty throne of Merrowind, stretching high into the ceiling.

Solenne scoffs. “How ironic. ‘Uniting the world for peace,’ but his throne stands taller than anyone.”

“Uhhh… is that who I think it is?” Naoya points at the anomaly near the throne, and all of them approach it.

“Yep, that’s him alright. And it looks like he’s figured out the secret to being young forever,” Solenne says with a bittersweet smile.

In front of them is a magical dome-shaped field around the throne, with specks of dust and rocks frozen in mid-air at its edges. And inside this area of effect is a man wearing a simple blue scarf and a silver chestplate, bent down on one knee and stabbing his immaculate steel sword into the ground.

“That’s the Sword Hero? What happened to him?” Naoya says as he reaches toward the man.

“No, don’t!” Solenne warns him, and he quickly pulls away. “That’s an area of frozen time. If anything enters that place, it’s never getting out unless time is unfrozen.”

“Ohhh, that makes sense. What happens if it’s just a part of something, though? Like my hand?” Naoya says as he reaches his arm toward the dome again.

“I mean, if you want any part of your body instantly amputated the moment you move away, go ahead. Everything that enters that will be frozen in time.”

“So why did the Sword Hero freeze himself in time?” Ori asks.

“I don’t know… let me check.” Solenne closes her eyes and scans the frozen time in front of her.

Suddenly, a glyph activates behind them, and a spectral projection of the Sword Hero appears.

“Yo. To whoever finds this, first of all, how?” He starts talking, and everyone listens carefully.

He stabs his sword into the ground and it transforms into a chair, where he sits down and crosses his arms.

“If I had to guess, there’s probably only one person who will find this, and it’s you, Solenne. If you’re not Solenne, then it’s gonna be very awkward, so I’ll keep this short and simple.

“I came here to seal off Merrowind’s throne. Even after we defeated the Demon Lord, those annoying obelisks kept appearing, and I’m tired of it.

“So, I decided to deal with it myself. Luckily there was a massive hole at the top of the mountain that led directly into this throne room, and that saved me so much time instead of getting lost in this labyrinth. If you went through the main entrance and had to fight through the entire Keep, I’m sorry you’re only learning about this now, but hey, you still got an awesome exploration experience, right?

“When I got here, I immediately tried sealing the throne. Oh, no, wait. I had to fight four giant minotaurs first, but like, I’m the Sword Hero so we can just skip that part. I used their axes to reveal the throne room, and there it was, the source of all those annoying monsters around the world. I immediately went to plug it off like a hole on a beer casket, but I could only do it for a while before I literally got tired for the first time in a very long while. Can you believe that? Me, the Sword Hero, got tired because of this stupid throne. If I was with my party, we probably could’ve pulled it off.

“But yeah, they’re not here anymore. Willow and Colton went on with their own things, Solenne and I stayed serving the kingdom. She got promoted to Archmage recently, and I got invited to become a general, but I rejected the offer. It looks like a lot of work and formalities and stuff like that. Not really a fan. I’d rather be an adventurer again.

“Anyway, where was I? Oh right, the throne. I explored the Keep for a bit to try and find clues on how to seal this thing, and blew off some steam on the monsters, which, by the way, were perfect dungeon material. I wish I could bring them back to El Mason Kingdom’s dungeon, but it’s a lot of hassle. I found nothing about sealing the throne, but I did eventually come up with a genius idea that I think Solenne would not have thought of.

“Alright, so here’s the plan: I’m gonna seal off the throne again, and then, I’m gonna freeze the time around it! Why, you ask? Because that way, the throne gets sealed forever, and I’m not even using up any aether to do it! Genius, I know. I am the Sword Hero after all.”

He stands up and grabs his chair, which transforms back into his shining steel sword.

“Although, of course, that means I’m gonna be stuck here forever, too. But hey, maybe I won’t even notice it since I’m literally frozen in time.”

He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. “I only learned the time-freeze ritual from Solenne before I left, so I never had time to practice it. If you’re watching this, that means I’m successful, and hopefully, it actually puts an end to all this demon nonsense.”

He rests the tip of his sword on the ground and looks directly at the Archmage.

“Solenne, if it actually is you, then tell me: how’s the world doing right now? Did my genius plan work? Is everything finally peaceful? If it is, then remember to spread the word of how awesome the Sword Hero is. That’s how I want to be remembered, at least.”

He smiles, and the projection disappears.

Naoya and Ori exchange tearful, heartbroken looks, and Solenne turns around to face the real Sword Hero, tearsfully smiling at her comrade.

“I don’t need to do that, Cass. Everyone already knows you’re the most awesome Hero ever.”