[Vol.II Start] ~ The Hero’s Bug

“Amako!” A voice shouted. A voice I couldn’t recognise.

    Head upside down, a root wrapped around my ankle, all I could do was wait for sweet death as The alder’s ligneous extension responded to Erlkœnig’s command, one rushing forward to pierce my heart.

    And yet.

    Before my eyes, a silhouette suddenly occulted the root. He reached my height with a jump, freed me from my restraints with a blow of his sword. His hood falling back in the process.

    The King scowled as I hit the grassy ground with a muffled scream.

“Have no fear, I will save you.”

    Leaning on my elbows, I raised my head to glance at the young man standing in front of me. Bewilderment would be a weak word to describe what I felt.

    Short charcoal hair, dark grey eyes, he was all dressed in silver and brown. He held a sword bordered with gilding, its blade emitting a bluish light.

    His presence held no meaning, no sense. The Hero wasn’t supposed to be standing here, in Rathard. Not that night, not during the game’s prologue.

“You shouldn’t be here.” I whispered.

    The root corrected its trajectory, aiming for the Hero instead of my chest. Turning around, he managed to dodge and slay it. But his moves. His moves were clumsy.

“Amako, I-”

    Too clumsy.

“Focus on him, not on me!!! It’s not o-”

    That night, neither of us managed to finish our sentence since multiple roots surged from the ground near the Hero’s feet. They pierced his body from side to side. They took him off the ground as blood spurted out from his chest, from his back.

    Agape, all I could do was stare at the light fading from his gaze. Still etched in mine. Dripping with his blood, the roots kept ripping his body apart, until it began to change colour. Becoming translucent, the remnants of his flesh turned into droplets of water.

⛧°。 ⋆༺♱༻⋆。 °⛧

    My eyes shoot open. Darkness. Darkness all around.

    Ragged breath.

    Only after a short while do I realise that there’s no sound around. Unless… Perhaps distant snorting.

“Oh jeez, it was nothing but a nightmare.”

    With a sigh, I sit up in bed.

    It’s not often that I dream of that night. The night when the scenario of my game, Kingdoms of Sin, drastically shifted.

    Originally… it’s a classic RPG game where the player incarnates the main character supposed to save the world. Its lands corrupted by the sins the five primal folks committed, Ken the Hero travels from one kingdom to another in order to defeat the emissaries of the Taint. Once the five emissaries are defeated, the Rotten Lord awakens and the Hero faces the final boss.

    Of course, he ends up being victorious and the game is cleared.

    Of course.

“Failure of a boy…” I mutter. “You need to be alive to do so…”

    As my fingers curl into a fist at the memory of the hero’s unexpected death, something shifts on the side.

“Amako?” A soft, familiar voice arises, almost hesitant. Cautious not to be too loud. “Did you have a bad dream?”

    The pressure in my grip loosens as Timoria’s voice distracts me from my thoughts.

“Yes, no worries though.” I reply. “Nothing as frightening as a pregnant Tyffeon.”

“Wh-what…”

    A chuckle.

“Do you have trouble sleeping?” I ask.

    A short silence follows. Perhaps the time for her to nod and realise that I can’t see it.

“Yes… My mind won’t let me rest. Since it’s our last night in Toll Dubh, I can’t help but think about what awaits us.”

    Crawling on my bed, I reach for a knocker-made lighter and a candle left on the night table. Soon enough, I sit back in my bed. Facing the gorgeous cowmaiden who joined our party the moment we left Ard Ramalia’s kingdom. As I hold the candle between us, the flame flickers over the forest green orbs in her eyes. Her long and wavy charcoal hair falls over her lavish chest, as if to hide it more than the thin fabric of her nightgown does.

“Then, we shall as well make good use of it and share some restless time together, what do you think?”

    Timoria smiles at my words.

    We already put our mattresses together on the floor, earlier. It’s our last night sharing a comfortable room for who knows how long, after all. So we made sure to spend some comfy bonding time. Sweets included.

“Are you afraid of leaving?” I ask her. “Of the dangers eagerly waiting for us?”

    A quiet laughter escapes her lips at my theatrical tone, and Timoria shakes her head.

“There’s a bit of that.” She admits. “But it’s more that I wonder what we’ll discover this time. It was my first time visiting another kingdom, and Gnog Fontalamh is full of wonders I could never imagine before.”

“Ah, so that’s it! You’re growing a true adventurer’s mind.” I nod in approval before closing my blue-green eyes and reaching my hand to my chin. “I’ll miss Beluacor’s pancakes too.”

“I meant more the dungeon itself, and the creatures inhabiting it.” Timoria comments with an apologetic smile.

    As we both share a few chuckles, I can’t help but think again about the Hero. The next place we’re heading… will be one where we should learn more about him. Perhaps I’ll be able to understand where it all went wrong. Not that it can be undone now, but still… I want to understand. As the game scenarist of Kingdoms of Sin, I’m still kinda pissed by the awful turn the events took, the way it deviated from the original scenario. Even if it also allowed me to live longer than the prologue, by the end of which the Saintess was supposed to die. Betrayed by Tyffeon.

    It sure would’ve been pitiful to die so soon after getting reincarnated as her.

“Is there something concerning you?” Timoria wonders.

“Mmm… Actually, there’s something I wanted to discuss with you. I wanted to since we left Ard Ramalia, but somehow we didn’t get to.”

    For some reason, it seems to worry Timoria. Her expression becomes more tense, and she briefly averts her gaze.

“Yes…”

“Kitsune told me that you once met an amnesic boy brought to Makhlubi. He was called Ken.”

“Huh?”

    Seemingly confused, the cowmaiden blinks.

“She was expecting me to speak of something else, wasn’t she? But if it’s about what I think, I don’t know if I feel like talking about it…”

“I’m trying to gather information about him.” I resume. “The thing is, this young man was supposed to be the Hero able to free the five kingdoms from the Taint’s threat.”

“A hero?” Timoria tilts her head to the side. “Is this a future your Saintess’s powers let you see?”

    I nod. Convenient lie.

“And yet, instead of it, he died in Rathard. Trying to save me.”

“He… He died?” She reaches a hand to her chest, obviously taken aback. “I remember him, yes. I met him not long after he woke up. His mind was blurry. He couldn’t even remember his name. Lost as he was, we tended to him for a couple of days.” Timoria pauses to tilt her head, a puzzled expression shaping on her face. “One night, I checked on him after finishing work. But, as I was replacing the withered flowers, he woke up covered in sweat.”

⛧°。 ⋆༺♱༻⋆。 °⛧

“Amako!”

    Come to think of it, your name was the first name he shouted back then. It was so sudden he made me jolt, and I almost knocked the vase over.

    When he noticed me, he stood from his bed and walked to me in a hurry. I almost bit my tongue when he gripped my shoulders.

“The Saintess!” He urged. “The Saintess… Tell me, please, did she get summoned?”

“I… I… I…” I shook, unable to answer. “It hurts…”

    He let me go the moment he realised he was holding me too tightly.

“I’m sorry…”

    It took me a few seconds to calm down, but his gaze told me that he was genuinely worried. Although I had no idea what the reason could be.

“The Saintess..? She… Yes, the rulers performed the summoning recently.”

    Concern was etched on his face.

“I have to hurry…” He muttered. “I need to join her in Rathard before it’s too late.”

“What do you mean?” I blinked. “Rathard… how do you know where she is? I didn’t even tell you.”

“I saw it during my sleep… a horrific vision…” The boy scratched his head at the thought. “I need to speak with her.”

“Did you… regain your memories?”

“I think so. Partly, a part returned.” He paused, deep in thought. “I can’t stay here any longer.”

    And before I had time to suggest him to wait, he left as if his feet were burning from staying still.

⛧°。 ⋆༺♱༻⋆。 °⛧

    Timoria’s words couldn’t leave me more confused. For a long while, I remain silent, trying to make sense of it. Never in the game does he try to save the Saintess.

“He even knew my name.”

    In the game it’s after learning the Saintess’s prophecy, after her death, that the amnesic Hero decides to fight to protect this world. He remembers his name after the awakening of Ard Ramalia’s emissary of the Taint, which allows him to defeat them. And, in Timoria’s scenario, it’s after being affected by her benediction that he gets a terrifying vision.

    His fears awakened, he recovers pieces of his lost memories. A face with delicate features floats in his mind. That of a beautiful human woman. Until shifting to her corpse.

    But it isn’t me. Not the Saintess. Or… Well. Not that Saintess.

“Could it be… That vision Ken told Timoria about, it may have been triggered by her benediction. Before being tainted, she doesn’t control it well, so it might have happened. But then… Why wasn’t it the same as in Kingdoms of Sin? Is that some kind of bug?”