The Hero of Mezi

The first rays of dawn had barely crept over the walls of Mezi's capital when the prison gates groaned open.

A line of condemned prisoners shuffled slowly across the central square under heavy military escort.

Among them walked a little girl.

Her head remained lowered as a soldier dragged her forward whenever her steps slowed. Clutched tightly against her chest was a small stuffed bear. Unable to see the uneven stones beneath her feet, she stumbled. The soldier yanked her upright before she could hit the ground.

The prisoners came to a halt before the execution platform. The executioners stepped into position. An officer slowly raised his arm.

"Don't look..." a woman whispered as she covered her son's eyes.

"They're really going to execute a child?"

"She'll finally be forgiven."

"At least her suffering will end."

The soldier moved into place behind the girl. She hugged the stuffed bear even tighter.

"Mister...?" Her voice was barely above a whisper. "What's happening?"

No one answered.

The officer drew a slow breath. Before him stood the prisoners — each with a gray cloth tied over their eyes. His arm came down.

"Execute them!"

(...)

Two days earlier

"So... this is what they call a hero?" The old man's raspy voice cut through the night.

A clear sky stretched over the kingdom's most remote village, its countless stars scattered above thin veils of drifting cloud.

Small flames licked at the remains of a shattered wagon in the middle of the street. Doors had been torn from their hinges. Roofs sagged beneath fresh damage. Deep scars carved through the stone road, silent reminders of the battle that had ended only minutes before.

The smell of scorched wood lingered in the air, mixing with earth, sweat, and blood.

Amid the devastation stood an old man. His cane trembled against the ground.

"Not going to answer me?" Tears welled in his eyes as he stared at the warrior before him.

Resting beside him was a massive black greatsword forged from the rarest metal in all Four Nations: Noctrium. Faint violet veins pulsed beneath its dark surface, giving the blade the unsettling appearance of an ancient relic that refused to fade with time.

The warrior who carried it stood motionless beneath the night sky, wrapped in a tattered black cloak that stirred in the wind. Beneath it, worn leather and battered steel plates bore the scars of countless battles, repaired so many times they had become impossible to date. His dark hair fell loosely around his face, and a thin line of blood traced its way down from a cut near his temple. He paid the wound no attention.

The old man — the village elder — knew exactly who stood before him. So did everyone else.

Across all Four Nations, there was only one warrior who matched that description: The Hero of Mezi. The strongest man in the world.

"All this slaughter... for resources and coin?"

The Hero remained silent.

"How many families have you torn from their homes?" the elder asked, turning his gaze toward the villagers gathered behind him. Then he looked back at the armored warrior.

"Can you see them?"

“...”

"Then look."

The Hero's eyes swept across the village.

Wounded men. Broken homes. A woman desperately trying to stop her husband's bleeding. There was nothing before him he hadn't witnessed dozens of times on countless other missions.

"What good are your eyes..." The old man's voice trembled. "...if you refuse to see?"

The Hero didn't move. The village's debt had gone unpaid for years. The royal decrees had been delivered. The warnings had been ignored. The resistance they had offered that night changed none of it.

"Consequences," he answered.

The elder let out a bitter laugh.

"So that's how you justify everything? As consequences?"

The Hero met his gaze.

"Zero."

A woman's voice cut through the silence.

She approached through the ruins, sliding a pair of sai into the crossed holsters on her back. Her long black hair, tied into a high ponytail, still swayed in the lingering wind. A mask concealed the lower half of her face.

When she stopped before the Hero, she lowered it, revealing thin lips, a small beauty mark near the corner of her mouth, and an expression far too calm for someone who had just walked away from a battlefield. Her ruby-red eyes briefly settled on the elder before returning to their leader.

"The villagers have all been gathered in the square," she reported. "We should move quickly. The Colossi will reach the village within a few hours."

"And the warriors?" The Hero looked back at the elder.

Scrrrrkk...

Steel scraped against stone. The slow metallic rasp drew closer, accompanied by careless footsteps.

"The survivors are there too."

The man emerged from behind the woman.

Wrapped around one hand was a long chain forged from Noctrium, a curved blade fixed to each end, both scarred from battle. With a flick of his wrist, one blade traced a lazy circle through the air before dropping back to the ground with another grating scrape.

"There weren't many," he added with a grin. "But I'm sure they're thrilled to still be alive."

"Seven... you're an idiot."

"What? What's your problem, Three?"

"You were the one pinned to the ground when Zero arrived."

Seven's grin faltered only slightly.

"I'm still alive."

"Because Zero came back for us," another voice corrected.

An older man stepped forward.

Number Two.

The oldest of the Shadows. The man who had taught the Hero of Mezi how to hold a sword long before he had the strength to lift one.

Three glanced at the Noctrium chain lying across the ground.

"You couldn't even hold onto your weapon."

With a sharp tug, Seven pulled the chain back. The links coiled around his forearm like a living serpent.

"Not my fault. Recon was his responsibility." He jerked his thumb toward Number Two.

The older man's scarred face tightened.

"You were the one who ignored the order to wai—"

"What a disaster. You could have shown a little more respect for the Crown's property." The King's tax collector had finally arrived.

He was a short, round man wrapped in layers of expensive silk. Rings glittered on nearly every finger, and the royal crest gleamed from a brooch pinned to his chest.

Seven chuckled. Three quietly drove an elbow into his ribs.

The tax collector hurried toward Zero and bowed deeply.

"Hero of Mezi."

The Hero gave no response. The collector's smile never wavered.

"His Majesty never doubted you."

The elder stepped forward.

"The King sent his Hero and the Shadows... just to collect taxes?"

The collector looked at him as though only now noticing he was there.

"His Majesty has complete faith in the strength of his people."

"Even as an absolute ruler?"

The collector's smile widened.

"Especially because he is."

Turning toward the kneeling villagers, he spread his arms.

"Consider yourselves fortunate. Few people are ever granted the honor of meeting the Hero of Mezi... and three of his illustrious Seven Shadows."

A woman pulled her son tighter into her arms. A wounded man spat onto the ground.

The collector gestured toward the soldiers accompanying him. They immediately fanned out through the village, checking each home for anyone still hiding.

"Proceed."

He motioned to his scribe. The man flipped through the ledger.

"Village of Arvel. Southern frontier of the Kingdom of Mezi. Agricultural taxes overdue by three harvests. Protection tributes unpaid. Military provisions refused on two separate occasions."

"The crops failed."

"A regrettable misfortune." The collector smiled pleasantly. "Fortunately, the Crown accepts other forms of compensation."

A murmur rippled through the villagers. The elder's face turned even paler. The collector nodded to the scribe.

"The amount?"

The man checked his notes.

"Taking into account the original debt, accumulated penalties, and the cost of this operation... fifty units."

Silence swallowed the square. Even Seven's grin disappeared for a moment. The woman clutching her son began to cry.

"Say the proper word," the elder demanded. "Fifty slaves."

"There aren't fifty left!" someone shouted from the crowd. "You killed most of our warriors!"

The collector glanced toward the rows of shrouded bodies lying nearby.

"Then perhaps we should have been welcomed without resistance."

The elder looked back at Zero. The same question still lingered in his eyes.

What did they expect him to do? Defy a royal decree? That wasn't how the world worked. He was nothing more than a warrior carrying out his orders. Mezi supplied labor to the other kingdoms. In return, it received food, medicine, and Noctrium. Those resources sustained the army, protected the borders, and kept the roads safe.

Up close, it was cruelty. From afar, it was called order.

Before anyone could speak again, a scream tore through the village.

"Don't take my mother!"

Every head turned toward a house near the end of the street. Another cry followed. Higher. Younger.

"Big brother!"

Three's hands settled on the hilts of her sai.

"I'll take care of it." She took a step forward.

Zero raised an arm, stopping her.

"Stay here."

"Zero, it's only the soldiers carrying out the search."

He was already walking. Three watched him go but didn't argue.

"Let go of my brother!"

"Don't touch her!"

"Mom!"

Zero stopped in the doorway. A broken chair had been thrown outside. The dim glow of an oil lamp flickered within, casting restless shadows across the walls. The table lay overturned. Shattered plates littered the floor.

Two soldiers restrained a young man by the arms. Another struggled to pull a woman away from her children.

The youngest remained pressed against the wall. She couldn't have been older than nine. Her dark blonde hair hung in tangled strands, and her pale dress was stained with dust. She clutched an old stuffed bear against her chest so tightly that her small arms trembled.

"Don't take them!" she cried.

Her mother reached toward her.

"It's going to be alright, sweetheart!"

The soldier dragged the woman toward the door.

"Mom!"

The little girl tried to follow the sound of her voice. She took two uncertain steps before striking her knee against the overturned table. The stuffed bear slipped from her arms and she fell. Immediately, her hands began searching the floor.

"Where is it?" Her fingers brushed against broken shards of pottery. "Where's my teddy bear?"

Zero watched her.

She hadn't even realized he had entered the room. One of the soldiers noticed him and immediately straightened.

"Great Hero... we found two more fit for transport. The young man and the woman."

Seven appeared in the doorway, with Three close behind.

"And the child?"

"She's blind." Three studied the girl's eyes.

The tax collector arrived moments later, slightly out of breath.

"How many did you find?"

"Two fit for transport," the soldier answered. "And one blind child."

One of the scribes checked the ledger.

"Forty-nine in total, counting the survivors and the elder in the square."

The tax collector frowned.

"One short." His gaze settled on the little girl. "She's of no use."

"Then kill the girl," one of the soldiers suggested. "She's not worth the trouble of transporting. Besides, you can already hear those creatures getting closer."

"What...?" The girl heard him. Her body shrank into itself.

Seven loosened his grip on the chain. One of its blades struck the stone floor with a metallic clang.

"It would be kinder than leaving her here alone."

The Hero looked at Seven. Nothing more. That single glance was enough. Seven took a step back. The grin disappeared from his face.

"I was joking..."

He reeled the chain back in and walked outside. One by one, the others followed. They left the decision to the Hero.

The little girl remained curled up where she was. Zero walked toward her. His boots crunched softly over the broken pottery. She followed the sound, turning her face toward him.

"Who's there?"

He stopped before her.

"Stand up."

She tightened her grip on her dirty dress.

"No."

"You have to come."

"You're taking my family away."

"..."

"My mom said everything was going to be alright." Her voice broke. "Did she lie to me?"

The Hero of Mezi remained silent. The little girl waited for an answer he did not have.

"Ouch... where are you?" She began feeling across the floor again, searching for her teddy bear.

After a few moments, realizing she was moving farther away from it, Zero bent down and picked it up. He stepped closer.

"Don't touch me!" She flinched, trying to back away until the wall stopped her.

"I'm not going to hurt you."

"That's what everyone keeps saying!"

"Here." He held out the bear.

"You found it..." Without hesitation, she took it.

Barely ten seconds passed.

"Now let my mom go!" She struck his forearm with the stuffed bear. The blow did nothing. "Let my brother go!" She hit him again. Each swing carried less strength than the last, until all she could do was press the toy against his armor and begin to cry.

Zero didn't know what to do. He had faced entire armies. Broken through defenses thought impossible to breach. Slain Colossi larger than mountains. None of it had prepared him for a little girl crying in front of him.

"I want my family," she whispered.

His eyes fell to the tiny hand clutching the stuffed bear. For reasons he couldn't explain, an image surfaced in his mind.

A dark room. Two people kneeling. A distant voice.

I forgive you.

The memory vanished before he could grasp it.

"What was that...?" The words escaped before he realized he had spoken them aloud. He placed a hand against his head.

The little girl was still facing him. Waiting. She had already stopped resisting.

"Come." He helped her to her feet.

"Where are we going?"

"Outside."

"Is my family there?"

Zero looked toward her mother and brother as they were led away with the other prisoners.

"They are."

She took a step. A shard caught beneath her foot. She stumbled. Zero caught her before she could fall. The little girl clung instinctively to his arm and her tiny fingers wrapped around the metal guard covering his forearm.

The Hero of Mezi looked at that small hand. All his life, people had stepped away whenever he approached. This was the first time someone needed him to stay.

"You won't let me fall again... will you?" she asked softly.

"..."

Without understanding why he was helping a life so fragile — one so many considered worthless — the Hero of Mezi led the little girl out of the house.