Hero

Foreword: If you read Ch 5 before this chapter came out (at like 11pm Aug 25 lol), I thought 5 needed a lot of improvements and didn't convey the characters in a compelling enough way. So, I split 5 into 5 and 6, with a lot of additions/rewrites to both to better convey the character arcs. If so, please check out the new Ch 5 first before you read this - I sincerely apologize in advance.

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“You need to take the flower off her now! This is the last one, and it’s supposed to go to you-”

“I DON’T CARE ABOUT ANY OF THAT! She would’ve died if I didn’t give it to her-”

I stopped as I saw Mina open her eyes in her bed. She looked surprised, to find herself now in the sacred medicinal halls of the Holy Church.

I rushed over to her, followed by a priest awash with worry.

“Miss Mina, you must understand that your friend here took one of the last flowers from the Sacred Garden! They’re sacred guardian artifacts, only meant to be given to the Hero! Ren, I understand you care for her, but she’s only an acolyte-”

Mina interrupted the both of us-

“Ren… I can’t take this-”

The priest nodded his head vigorously-

“Exactly! Do you know what will happen if you fall, Ren? If you get Necrosis, and turn to one of them? Don’t be irresponsible-”

“IRRESPONSIBLE? Why don’t either of you get it?! I don’t need this! She’s going to die without it!”

Rather than convincing the priest, and cheering her up, this seemed to have the opposite effect. Mina looked away, and the priest shook his head. Regardless, I doubled down.

“I made a vow that I would protect her. I won’t break it.”

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Again, the usual scene I always found myself in. A breezy autumn sunset, as we leaned against each other’s backs, hands intertwined.

“If I die before you… Can I ask you to put the flower back where it came from?

“... Why do we have to consider something like this?”

She was silent for a long time. Finally, she spoke.

“Ren… I never told you about what my family did, right? My father was the Head Priest, my mother was going to become the Saintess. They gave that all up to raise me, when I was born. The Church was thrown into disarray, but they always cared for me… and then-”

Her voice, once bright and positive before this, began to waver, betraying her thoughts.

“Then, when our town was attacked… they gave their lives to shield me. Two wonderful people, who could’ve done so much for the world, for others, gave their lives for someone like me… nobody. I couldn’t do anything for them… ”

She continued, shaking.

“And you… Ever since we’ve known each other as kids, we’ve always been together. But ever since you got that sword, you felt… So far away. I can’t match you, Ren. I trained so hard every day, but you just passed me in an instant. I should’ve died 10 times by now, and you’ve always thrown yourself in front of me to save me. I know you care for me, but seeing you sacrifice for me, I just-”

Looking back, I should have said something, anything else. Rather than a cry for help, I arrogantly took her words for praise, and gratitude. Perhaps it was here, the moment everything began to fall apart.

“Don’t be scared. I’m the Hero, remember? Doing this much is child’s play. You don’t need to do anything- as long as you stay by my side, everything’s gonna be ok.”

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The Holy War was coming to a decisive end. It had been a grueling experience, generations of rationing, conscription, and battle. Eventually, we began to run out of hope, before we had run out of bows, blades, or soldiers. And in our time of greatest need, our people’s link to the Goddess, our patron saint and protector, was somehow severed.

In the final days, my party members and I were sent off on a desperate mission to the Demon King’s realm to take him down.

The Mages of the High Court had developed a serum, one they said would give us the strength we needed to take down the Demon King. Once the time came, we were told to all use it.

But once we reached the castle, it was empty, silent halls and dim lights, with not a sign of life anywhere. We searched high and low, until we found a room with a massive door. Knowing this was it, we all injected ourselves, and were forever damned.

Instantly, before we could open the door, we were surrounded by thousands of Demon Lords, all of different shapes and sizes of varying specialties. Gabriel instantly readied his axe, cutting down three in one blow. Brynn blocked off the worst of the offense with his shield. Mina supported all of us, and I cut our way out. With our newfound strength, we attempted to retreat from the trap, but it wasn’t enough.

The serum’s power did not last long at all, and soon it turned to the worst. Necrosis was spreading quickly through all of us. Unprotected by the Goddess’s power, Brynn and Gabriel were the first to receive severe symptoms, and we were all separated.

I was never able to find Gabriel. Brynn fell in front of my eyes, his own knife through his throat. As for Mina, I was finally able to locate her.

“Ren, stop!”

Panting, the both of us halted our run in a large hall, as our pursuers seemed to have lost us.

“Where-where are the other two?”

“Don’t worry about it and keep running!“

She stopped in her tracks.

“Ren… What happened to the other two?”

My breath caught in my throat as I explained, but I didn’t need to finish. As I recounted what happened with Brynn, she dropped to the ground, clutching her knees.

“He ran away from me… trying to save me… I wasn’t good enough to save them… to heal them… and Ren… you’re…”

I looked down at my right arm. Surely enough, it had begun to crystallize, cracking and splitting apart, blood seeping from the fissures.

“I’ll be fine”, I said quickly, pulling down my sleeves to hide it.

“Ren…” She walked over, pointing her staff at the wound. It did not shine with its usual light, and nothing happened. It, like my sword, had now lost its connection to the Divinity.

“She’s truly forsaken us… And I can’t- I can’t do anything for you… for them… It’s all my fault… again and again-”

She knelt down on the floor, shaking her head back and forth.

I began to hear noises in the distance. I couldn’t let her die here, I had to do something, I-

Panic set in, and I grabbed her shoulders.

“Mina! Get up! We need to go!… We’ll get out of this, I can save you!“

She froze. After a moment, she spoke, her thoughts spilling out, as if the floodgate had finally broken.

“You aren’t listening… You never listen- Is that all you see me as? Is that what Brynn saw me as? A burden, to be saved? I can’t do anything, right? That’s why you all have to sacrifice for me?”

“Mina, we don’t have time for this-”

“You gave me this flower! You pulled strings to promote me to High Priest, so I could join your party! I HAVEN’T DONE A SINGLE THING TO DESERVE ANY OF IT! All I’ve done is fail- am I just here to boost your ego? What a kind Hero I am, I’ve saved this weak, pitiful, useless girl, I’ve granted her wishes, I-”

I froze. All the emotions of the night were beginning to bubble up and boil within me. But it was not that, that caused me to snap. It was that in my heart of hearts, I knew there was a grain of truth in what she said.

“Shut up…”

“It’s always about you! You don’t care about me, I’m just a useless trophy you keep around so you can feel strong, feel noble, feel GENEROUS when you get hurt rescuing me, right?!”

I slammed my fist against a pillar.

“SHUT THE HELL UP!”

“DO YOU THINK THIS IS EASY? I’m doing this for you, Mina! Saving your life? Getting you promoted? That was your dream! Everything I’ve done for you, and THIS is what you say to me? How do you think I got this wound-

In my rage, in this hellish situation, the tiny drop inside my mind, the worst, most shameful hidden thought I had always pushed down, began to swell. And then, it flew from my lips.

-DO YOU THINK YOU COULD’VE DONE ANY OF THIS WITHOUT ME?!”

I knew what I had done, the moment the words left my mouth. The light finally left her eyes.

“You’re right. I couldn’t have.”

“Wai- I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it, wait!”

She bent down, picking the flower off of her robes.

Before I could react, she pressed it to my chest, and shoved me backwards with surprising force. Immediately, the black scales began to crack and spread throughout her body, as if it had been waiting for its chance to pounce.

“You deserve to live, more than I do.”

“Mina- MINA, WAIT!”

Now that her powers were heightened, she instantly froze me in ice. Realizing what she was planning to do, I tried to ignite my sword to melt it, but nothing happened.

“I know you care for me, a lot. You always have. I know that you would sacrifice anything to make me happy.”

I screamed, but nothing came out.

“If that feeling is love, then I think, even now… I still love you.” We stared at each other, her hand on the ice, almost touching mine, before she gave me one last smile.

She turned away, cracks forming across her skin, as the myriad Demon Lords began to flood the hall we were in.

I was powerless to respond, to tell her that I loved her, that she was amazing, that I only selfishly kept her by my side because I wanted to be with her, that I was sorry.

But watching was the only thing I could do. As she impaled hundreds of them with lances of ice, thousands more came to take their place.

They didn’t notice me. My life signs were too weak. She was killed before my eyes, but I knew in my heart of hearts that it was not a spear, nor a claw that had dealt her the fatal blow.

When I awoke 50 years later, I saw nothing left, not even bones. All I thought then, was that I wished it had been me, instead of her.