Don't

The first rays of dawn had only just begun spilling over the distant mountains when a gentle shake stirred Flint from his sleep.

"...Flint."

The young man slowly opened his eyes.

Hero Knight Kemal stood beside the dying campfire, his simple blue tunic in perfect harmony with the pale colors of the morning. The rest of the outpost still slept soundly, only a handful of Hero Guards quietly patrolling the walls.

"...Sir Kemal?"

The Hero Knight offered the same calm smile he always seemed to wear.

"Apologies for waking you. Would you walk with me?"

Flint blinked.

"...Of course."

He rose without hesitation, fastening the Bloodblade to his belt before quietly following after him.

Neither of them spoke as they left the sleeping outpost behind.

Morning mist still clung to the tall grass, brushing softly against their boots while birds gradually welcomed the sunrise from the surrounding trees. Ahead, the land gently sloped upward until it opened into a rocky overlook where the valley stretched endlessly beneath them.

Kemal stopped near the edge.

"...Beautiful, isn't it?"

Flint quietly nodded.

"It really is."

For a while they simply stood there, listening to the wind rolling through the hills.

Kemal was the first to break the silence.

"I've noticed your hands."

Flint looked down instinctively.

"My... hands?"

"They're rough."

Kemal smiled faintly.

"Not the hands of someone raised with a sword."

Flint couldn't help smiling.

"...I'm a woodcutter."

"So I gathered."

"My village didn't really need knights." He scratched the back of his head, "It needed firewood instead."

Kemal chuckled softly.

"I suppose every village has its own heroes."

Flint looked toward the valley.

"I don't think anyone honestly called me that."

"No?"

He slowly shook his head.

“I only cut trees."

Another comfortable silence settled between them as Kemal folded his arms across the stone railing overlooking the valley.

"What made a woodcutter leave home?"

Flint's answer came almost immediately.

"...I wanted to become one."

Kemal glanced toward him.

“A hero, I mean…”

"A noble dream."

"Berthram used to tell me he’d give me this coat when I did.” Flint smiled bitterly, “In the end he gave it to me anyway.”

"...Berthram?"

"The village elder… the man who raised me."

A warm smile crossed Flint's face.

"...I'm not sure I can keep my promise to him anymore."

The Hero Knight said nothing.

Flint continued anyway.

"I thought… if I worked hard enough… if I kept helping people… then maybe one day…”

He laughed weakly.

"...I'd become one."

His fingers unconsciously brushed against the Bloodblade, his voice becoming quieter.

"But yesterday… when everyone needed me… I just couldn't move."

Kemal remained silent for a while before quietly asking,

"May I ask you something?"

"Of course."

"What is a hero?"

Flint looked surprised.

"I..."

He thought for a moment.

"...Someone who protects people."

Kemal nodded slowly.

"A fine answer… But an incomplete one."

The man’s expression changed.

"Ordinary people protect the people they love. They protect their families and their friends.”

He turned toward Flint.

"But heroes… protect everyone.”

His crimson eyes settled calmly upon the valley below.

“That burden cannot fall on ordinary people.”

Flint listened quietly to the Hero Knight’s words as if it were some kind of doctrine.

"It is a lonely burden. But someone must carry it."

Flint lowered his gaze.

"No. I suppose not."

Kemal studied him for several moments.

"You are kind, honest and you care deeply for others."

He smiled warmly.

"Those are admirable qualities."

Flint felt his chest tighten.

"But kindness alone cannot protect humanity. And hesitation can cost lives."

His voice remained gentle.

"Yesterday proved that."

Flint closed his eyes.

"Yes… It did."

Kemal looked toward the Bloodblade resting at Flint's side.

"Tell me.” He leaned closer, "How did that sword come into your possession?"

Flint explained everything. How he found it abandoned in the forest near his village. The attack… what happened to the elder.

The conversation lasted far longer than Flint realized.

When Flint finally finished...

The Hero Knight quietly exhaled.

"I see."

He turned back toward the valley.

"So… you've already reached the same conclusion I have."

Flint blinked.

"I have?"

Kemal nodded once.

"You said it yourself. You hesitated. You questioned whether someone else should carry that burden."

Flint's heart sank.

"...Yes."

Kemal faced him fully, and for the first time since they had met, his smile disappeared. What replaced it wasn’t anger, but quiet conviction.

"Then entrust it to me."

The morning breeze seemed to stop.

Flint stared.

"What?"

"The Bloodblade."

Kemal's voice remained perfectly calm.

"If what you've told me is true… then humanity cannot afford for that sword to remain in uncertain hands."

He took one slow step forward.

"I do not ask because I desire power but because people deserve a hero who will never hesitate."

Flint looked down at the Bloodblade as his hand slowly drifted toward its hilt.

Maybe...

Kemal was right.

Maybe...

This had never belonged with him.

Maybe...

The greatest thing he could do…

Was to hand it over before he made a terrible, irreversible mistake.

Was he even qualified to carry that burden? Was he even qualified to hold the Bloodblade?

“Yesterday I thought maybe… someone else should have this.” He unwrapped the Bloodblade from his belt, holding it with both hands.

Kemal’s eyes widened in an instant, before he caught himself.

“Perhaps, you are right.”

Flint’s heart sank with realization.

“You can entrust it to me, Flint. I can carry it.”

The Hero Knight’s words carried across the cliffside with absolute certainty

“But… nobody else can draw it other than me. Maybe it’s bound to me or–”

“Don’t worry.” Kemal said without pause, “I have the means to reveal all its secrets. You won’t have to worry about it any longer.”

Flint’s fingers wrapped around the worn leather.

For the first time...

The Bloodblade did not whisper of power or certainty.

It did not hunger.

Instead...

A single word echoed quietly within his mind.

Don’t.

Flint froze, his fingers loosening.

The Bloodblade… was warning him? It had never spoken to him like that before.

His heart rate quickened at once.

"...I..."

Flint pulled the sword back almost on instinct, and suddenly the answer felt obvious.

He wasn’t ready to give up on his dream. Not yet.

And somehow, handing over the Bloodblade felt like doing exactly that.

Kemal immediately sensed his hesitation, understanding settling across his face.

"I see."

He closed his eyes for a moment, and when they opened again, the sadness in them had hardened into anger.

“You don’t seem ready to part with that sword willingly.”

“Sir Kemal?” Flint’s eyes widened.

His hand slowly reached toward the crimson lance resting against the nearby stone.

"Forgive me, but humanity cannot entrust that burden..." His fingers closed around the shaft. "...to someone who still doubts himself."

The morning wind swept across the cliff.

Flint’s face hardened as realization dawned on him.

“That blade belongs to a hero. Not an ordinary young man who cannot wield it to protect those around him.”

The Hero Knight’s stance deepened as he prepared to lunge.

Flint didn't answer.

His eyes remained fixed on the Hero Knight before him.

Only moments ago...

He had looked larger than life.

The man children idolized.

The man entire cities thanked and bowed to.

The man Flint had convinced himself could carry the burden he couldn't.

Yet...

Something felt...

Wrong.

Kemal hadn't asked what Flint wanted.

He hadn't asked what Berthram would have wished.

He hadn't even asked whether Flint was willing to keep carrying the sword.

He had simply...

Decided.

For him.

For everyone.

Because Flint was ordinary… and Sir Kemal was not.

Another voice echoed in his mind. The most familiar one he’d ever heard.

You decided for us.

Isla’s words filled his head.

Yesterday…

He had tried to decide Isla’s future for her.

Today…

Sir Kemal was trying to decide his.

Flint finally understood.

This wasn’t what heroes did. Heroes didn’t decide how other people should live.

They fought so people could choose for themselves.

Flint reached for the axe on his belt, drawing a breath.

“I thought you were a hero…”

“I am a hero, woodcutter. That’s why I am ridding you of this burden.” Kemal gritted his teeth, his heroic facade contorting into the face of a man overcome by silent rage, “You’d be wise not to refuse my offer a second time.”

“I’m afraid I have to. But I don’t wish to fight you either.”

Kemal didn’t even blink at his words.

“You won’t be fighting me. You are just displaying a futile attempt at resisting me.”

So there was no more talking to be done.

The axe finally rested in Flint’s hand again, weathered and ready as ever.

The promise he had made only hours ago echoed quietly within him.

I’ll never treat my life like it’s worth less than anyone else’s.

Being a hero was his dream. And that blade was HIS burden to carry. And so, he couldn’t hand it over because someone else had decided he should.

Kemal was done talking, instead he lunged. His lance punched through the air next to Flint’s face, making the woodcutter step to the side and swing over his shoulder.

“You can’t beat a weapon with a tool!”

The Hero Knight parried the blow effortlessly, before swinging the blunt end of his weapon right at the young man’s abdomen. Flint winced and stumbled back, as Kemal capitalized and attacked again.

He’s too fast. He’s not even going all out against me…

But Flint knew he could use that to his advantage. He stepped forward, shortening the distance with his stride and ducking beneath a heavy swing. His axe came up in a short sweep, drawing blood from the hero’s cheek as Kemal moved just in time.

Kemal stepped back, wiping away the trail of red.

“It seems you’re far more nimble than your physique would betray.”

The Hero Knight became barely more than a blur, stepping into Flint’s range and unleashing a flurry of attacks.

“But you’re still ordinary!”

Flint parried strike after strike, his feet instinctively stepping back with every block. A few of the strikes cut shallow marks across his face, shoulders and arms but the last one cut far deeper than Flint could have predicted.

“AGH–!”

Flint took another step, his back facing the cliff now, his crimson coat already growing wet from the fresh cut on his ribs. His left hand flew to the wound to check, coming out dyed in crimson.

This isn’t looking good.

“Last chance, woodcutter.”

Flint steadied his breathing, his face hardening as he prepared to strike back.

He couldn’t hand the blade over. Not to someone like him.

As he prepared to lunge, his back foot sank into the earth far deeper than it should have.

“Wha–”

The earth gave way beneath him, as his weight toppled backwards.

“WOAAAAH!”

The Hero Knight watched as the woodcutter disappeared over the cliff below. Kemal walked over to the edge, looking down into the ravine in silence.

After a few moments of silence, he exhaled.

"...What an unfortunate outcome. That will be harder to retrieve than I thought.”

"FLINT!"

A desperate voice shattered the morning silence and made Kemal turn on his heel.

Isla sprinted across the clearing with Furielle only a step behind, Murry and Ludmilla close after them. All four stopped abruptly the moment they saw the Hero Knight standing alone at the cliff's edge.

Isla's eyes darted frantically around the overlook.

"Where is he?"

Kemal regarded them calmly.

"He is no longer here."

"...What?"

Furielle pushed past everyone, running straight toward the cliff.

"Flint?!"

Before she could reach the edge however, Kemal stepped in front of her, lance still in hand.

Murry's expression darkened as his hand slowly settled upon the hilt of his sword.

"What the hell happened?"

Kemal met his gaze without the slightest hint of guilt.

"We disagreed."

"About what?"

"The Bloodblade. I requested that he entrust it to me."

"What the hell are you saying?”

"The truth. Your companion however, refused."

Murry's eyes narrowed.

"And so you attacked him?"

"I challenged him."

Kemal corrected calmly.

"He lost."

The words hung heavily in the morning air.

Isla took one slow step forward, seething with anger.

"Why.. why would you do that?”

Kemal's crimson eyes remained unwavering.

"Because humanity cannot afford for a weapon of that nature to remain in uncertain hands."

“And what exactly makes your hands any more certain?” Ludmilla’s eyes glared behind her glasses.

“Because unlike your companion, I understand what carrying such a burden requires.”

Furielle balled her hands into fists at her sides, tears glistening in her eyes.

"I don’t care! Where is Flint?!"

Kemal looked toward the valley one final time.

"Below."

Silence swallowed the overlook before heavy footsteps quickly approached from behind.

"They realized before I could stop them, Sir Kemal."

The familiar voice caused Isla and the others to turn.

Katarina emerged from the narrow mountain path with half a dozen Hero Guards at her back, each one resting a hand upon the weapon at their side. Her silver eyes swept across Flint's companions before settling quietly upon Kemal.

"It seems..."

She said calmly.

"...they've already figured it out."

The morning wind swept across the cliff.

“It doesn’t matter. This needed to end one way or another.”

Every hand slowly drifted toward a weapon.