The Debut of the Hero: Part Three

Samara sat on the ornate chair behind the enormous red curtain stretching along the front of the gate which blocked the great steps leading to the castle, trying to slow her breathing. The dress was exquisite, a shimmering blue thing which made her feel like a queen yet still felt modest. Her hair was done up, her makeup perfect, and her sword rested in a custom made scabbard by her side. The wind was calm, cold yet still, the sky blue and brilliant. Behind the curtain she could hear the thousands who had gathered for the mysterious announcement and after party.

They could not have asked for a better day to reveal her.

“Are you alright?” Alec asked as he squeezed her hand.

“Never better,” she lied.

“I could do better,” Hunter said, tugging at the collar of his suit.

“Knock it off. You look sharp,” Rose said in her own red dress, the blue brooch contrasting nicely with it. Lily nodded, most of her face covered by her concealing hair style.

“You look…mature,” Lily said.

“I feel like a liar,” Hunter sighed. He looked over to Riktar, who was dressed in his official knight armor with two other high knights. Red haired Furion nodded along as Riktar talked as white haired Iliya jotted something down in a notepad.

Samara’s gaze went to their swords. It was bizarre to her to think of the blade by her side being more powerful than all of them.

Her mind drifted back to when Riktar had first explained high knight swords to her, sweat on her brow from a heavy day of training.

“Why aren’t I training more with my sword?”

“We know your sword can bring you victory, you daft woman. Even without fancy skills, you’ll more than likely win against normal enemies. Right now we have to make sure you don’t get knocked down. Practical combat skills and all.”

“Why don’t you use your normal sword in training?”

“Because it might kill you.”

She had glared at him, unblinking, for a long moment.

“Ah, right. You probably never cared about knights and all. Us high knights have mana infused blades. They grant us powers while we use them. Takes a hell of a lot out of you, and if you aren't the one bonded to the sword, it'll probably kill you. Mana ain’t meant to go running through your body for long. My sword is called Iron Will. Makes my skin tough as steel and it strikes twice as strong. So unless you want a cracked everything, we’ll stick with training swords and punching. Sound good to you, lady?”

“It’s a whole other world for me, isn’t it?” Samara sighed as she sat in the cold.

“Don’t worry, mommy! You’ve got this!” Violet said, pumping her fist in the only poofy gown which had survived Rose’s revisions.

“Yeah! We all have your back!” Daisy cheered, her pigtails swaying as the flowers woven within them bounced about.

“Yes. You will do well, Samara,” Brigot said with calm confidence as she appeared behind Hunter’s chair.

“Stop stalking me!” Hunter shouted, falling out of his chair.

“I am doing no such thing.”

“Devil woman!”

“Calm down, kid,” Riktar said, walking over with a wicked grin plastered on his face. “We ready to go, Brigot?”

“Momentarily. I am performing last checks. The king and princess will stand before the curtain and speak. Samara, you stand center, Hunter on one side, Alec to the other. The knights will flank the family. You will speak briefly, people will clap, then we will transition to the commoner party. Understood?”

“Crystal. Good work, Brigot.” Samara said.

“Thank you, Mrs. Willingham,” Brigot said, blushing slightly.

Samara stood. Alec took one hand, Hunter the other.

“Alright. Let’s go meet the public.”

*

“…and it is with a heavy heart which I acknowledge all of these ills our society faces! War, poverty, crime, monster attacks closer and closer to population centers! I know, even as I sit in the high tower, how these things affect you!”

“I know why Mira told me not to let her dad rope me into listening to his speech drafts. The man can talk…” Hunter complained, cracking his neck. Samara shushed him, silently agreeing with him.

I never watched these things on the mana screen for a reason, she thought.

“But there is a light at the end of the tunnel, a ray of sunshine breaking through the gathered clouds! For we all know the story! In our world, when a time of darkness descends upon us, threatening to choke our life’s breath from us, there also comes a Hero! My citizens, my friends, I am here today to confirm the rumors which have burrowed through our society! Yes, this is the time of the Sickening! But it is also the time of healing, for our Hero has been found! It is with the greatest of pleasure I introduce you to the woman who will heal us…”

Heal us…

I have to heal a nation.

I can’t do this.

I can kill a tank.

I can kill monsters.

They expect me to save them.

I can’t…

I don’t…

Help me…

“…Mrs. Samara Willingham!”

The curtains flew open.

There they were.

Thousands of people looking at her.

No.

Looking to her.

She knew what was expected of her. She had to become the mother of an entire kingdom. She had to protect them from the world.

I’m only me, though.

There was clapping. Confused chatter. Clearly she wasn’t what they were expecting. As she walked towards the microphone, the king and princess beside it, she smiled.

She had to smile.

“Hello,” she stammered into the microphone. The word echoed over the courtyard.

“Oh no. I was afraid of this,” Alec said in back. “Your mother gets terrible stage fright when she is expected to speak. Has since high school.”

“What do we do?” Hunter hissed.

Alec thought back to their school days. Before they were dating, when they had only been friends. When she froze before the school at a presentation the principal had asked her to give. He had known of her nervousness, and back then he had done something which had finally gotten her to notice him.

He cupped his hands around his mouth.

He thought of their days as teens, when he had taken her stargazing in those long ago fields.

“The north star!”

Samara gasped and turned to look at her husband as he repeated those words from long ago.

“You’re brighter than the north star! It’s why I follow you! I’ll always follow you, Samara!”

She felt her heart slow.

Her brain cleared as she saw her husband and her family to his side.

And she smiled.

“Let me try this again,” Samara said into the microphone, spreading her arms as if to embrace the crowd. “My name is Samara Willingham. I am a wife. A mother. And, strangely enough, a Hero.”

With a sudden flourish, she unsheathed Mutterklinge and held it aloft, gleaming and glowing before the crowd.

“This is Mutterklinge! The Mother Blade! I…we will protect you all!”

The crowd roared.

Her family applauded and cheered.

Well, she thought, at least I’ve got the beginning of the speech taken care of.

*

Samara’s speech was nearly finished when the attack came.

The guns of the tanks fired into the sky, loudly echoing over the crowd as magical energy shot in glowing red columns into the air. The people screamed, ducking down as the shots rang out. Barely anybody saw the gleaming metal spike fly through the air, directly towards Samara’s head.

Metal clashed on metal. The spike embedded itself into the ground behind her. Mutterklinge was gripped tight in Samara’s hands, having narrowly deflected the attack.

“Those Hero instincts are as sharp as I heard!”

The spike retracted, flying back into the crowd and under the thin pale man’s coat. He clapped three times, loud and mocking.

“No…” King Allius muttered.

“Allow me to introduce myself, Hero!” the man with the greasy black hair said, bowing as his coat shredded into ribbons. From his back emerged ten spindly arms, each one the strongest steel, tipped with razor sharp spikes like the one which had narrowly missed Samara. They lifted him high, beginning to walk towards the stage.

“Kill him!” Allius shouted.

The guards charged. With cruel simplicity the front arms crashed into the guards, throwing them like toys.

“I am…well, I don’t have a name. The royals saw to it. I was called Subject Tech Mind, so let’s go with it. I am the leader of the group known as Zero Hour. And I do apologize, but I am going to have to kill you in front of your children.”

The man’s eyes locked onto Mira.

“I have experience with it. Don’t I, princess?”

Samara stepped in front of her.

Her gaze was set on the man before her.

There was no more time for training.

There was only a Hero's duty.

“Never," Samara said, prepared to fight. "A mother protects all of her children.”