A Former Hero’s Journey : I just want to live peacefully!

Chapter 13

Tidbits of Information

There are five [Guardians of the World] as stated by the information found on ruins. However, there can be more. The first ever sighting happened 10 years ago in the southern part of the world, where a big Dragon, bigger than any [Ancient Class] or [Ancestor class] dragon was sighted among the clouds over the Kingdom of Ushur, a Southern Kingdom that shares its northern border with the Kingdom of Sholiy. Then massive amount of resources was poured on finding out about it.

It was revealed in Ancient text that the dragon's name is [Bahamut]. The figure of this dragon was found in various different ruins. One of the more ancient faded picture discovered in the Ruins of Amrita found that there were 4 other figures standing side by side with [Bahamut]. One looked like a figure of a crouching man, the other was a long serpent like figure, the other was something that looked like a whale and the last one was a turtle that had what looked like a cone of a volcano on its shell. However, the side of the picture was torn, meaning there could be others like them.

Theta Pov

Mira was excited. How couldn't she be? She was going to graduate along her friends. But she did not know why but the smile on Will and the others looked sad, as if there was something going on behind the scene. She ate the dinner with Will and the others but it did not have the same feeling of ..... intimacy? Like what it used to be before. Oh something is definitely wrong here.

Just as she finished her dinner she grabbed Will's hand and asked.

"Ok, what's wrong Will? What is wrong with everyone here? Why are you all looking so glum?"

Will just smiled. Not just his usual smile of happiness but a sad one. He ruffled her hair. She slapped it away in a playful manner and pouted.

"What is wrong? We are going to graduate together. But what will we do after graduation? They only taught us some reading and writing and bunch of other totally unrelated stuff. But I am excited! Super excited! Aren't you Will and everyone else?"

Will just smiled wistfully. Not just him but everyone there. She just didn't notice them. He smiled and replied.

"Yes we are, Mira. Go to bed, sleep. As they say 'Early to bed, early to rise.....'"

Mira completed it with a grin on her face.

"'Makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise'. Goodnight Will and everyone else. See you in the morning!"

She had found herself to be more talkative than before. Mira then left them to go to bed. Maya, one of the girls asked.

"Is it really ok? I feel like we doing something worse by bonding with her. We all have gone through hell, tomorrow she will. We had no consent to this matter of our fate but Mira? We did and we made her our family. She thinks we are her family. Are we really doing that plan?"

Will just closed his eyes in regret. He shook his head.

"We really have no other choice do we? She will break, she will stumble but she will come out stronger. I believe in it, that if there is no interference from that malice she would become stronger."

All the other children looked confused.

"Will, we have been keeping eye on her almost every day. But there has been no such incident with her. No one has tried to contact her."

His face looked serious.

"That's what I am scared of. It has expertly evaded us. I am afraid it will try to do something during the Graduation time. Most likely strike after we have enacted the plan. I do not know why but it seems to know everything about this ....... scenario. Like its reading a script off a paper or something."

All the children looked confused.

".....You come up with a weird analogy sometimes. Will."

"I know right. Even I am surprised by my own vocabulary."

"Sonia......you know what to do right?"

Sonia nodded, looking resolute as she clenched her little fist.

"I know; everyone will do it right?"

Everyone nodded. Sonia looked at Will.

"Give it to her then. Maybe after what we do, we will not ask for her forgiveness but we will silently protect her until our last breath maybe even more."

Will nodded as he smiled wearily.

The next day

Mira got up late. The day was cloudy and dark like it could rain any second. It was also strange because usually her friends would wake her up with them. She looked and found that she was almost late. She quickly tidied herself and went to have food. She was alone.

'Where is everyone? Will, Sonia? They didn't leave me, did they?'

The thought of her being left alone was scary. Now that she knew what family felt like, she was scared to be left alone again. She ran to the door, hoping at least someone was there.

She opened but outside was empty. She searched the spaces where they gathered but they weren't there. Tears involuntarily started to form at the corner of her eyes. Until she rested her head on her lap below the same tree that she would gaze people from.

"Yo."

Until she heard something from above. She looked above, it was Will, hanging upside down like the first time she met. He descended the same way as before, displaying his agility. Even Will seemed to think of that.

"Hey isn't this how we met the first time?"

She didn't speak she trembled and latched onto him. Will seemed to be startled. Mira spoke in a quivering voice and was clutching to his shirt tightly.

"Don't...... don't leave me alone like that. I thought you all had left me!"

Will just smiled and ruffled her hair like he used to do. Then some light escaped from his palm and got absorbed into Mira's head but she didn't seem to notice. Then his face looked grim before he closed his eyes in acceptance. He spoke one word.

"Sorry."

Mira just nodded but she felt that he was not saying sorry for what he had done but she ignored it. She let him go and excitedly jumped up and down, asking.

"So where is everyone?"

"Well you see we have graduation ceremony today which is held in 15 minutes. So everyone went to the main training field. That is why no one is here."

Mira pouted as she whined a little.

"But that is no reason to leave me behind!"

Will just scratched his cheek as he said.

"Actually about that….. nobody had the heart to wake you up when you were sleeping so blissfully."

Mira’s eye widened as she shrieked.

"You... you mean to say that everyone was there looking at me when I was sleeping!!"

Will nodded. She crouched as a depressed aura surrounded her, causing even her cat ears to droop down.

"Umu, that's embarrassing!"

Small talks were ensured. A shadowy figure atop the building seemed to looking at the disappearing visage of those figures. It gnashed its teeth. It was not supposed to be this way! He had reviewed her broken memory and tried everything it could to persuade her to accept him. But how those children seemed to have found out about this was damn right creepy. This was just a memory yet those 43 children seemed to be so lifelike that they were interacting with the girl actively. It seemed as those 43 children were not just a memory but some kind of ...... spiritual things like him. But it was now or never. This was the last chance he had; otherwise he will perish without the support from the main body of malice he had left behind.

 'But they are not normal, the boy almost saw me many times already.'

The time was drawing near. This will be last stand.

With Mira, both of them arrived exactly on time. She joined her other friends who were waving at them to show their group. They joined together. Mira was pretty excited. The whole of Theta group of 100 gathered together. They were the biggest group by far. A strict looking man arrived on a hastily made podium. Behind his was a table with cloth on top of it. He announced.

"I will be short and direct with you all! You are all getting trained to be Assassins."

The crowd murmured. Mira looked uneasy but Will and the others were looking more resolute. The strict looking man continued without a care.

"Therefore, everything that has been taught to you all will be applied here."

There was an uneasy feeling brewing inside Mira. Then it was confirmed by the next words of the man.

"You WILL KILL each other."

Mira felt nauseated. This can't be possible right? This was just a joke. She waited for the man to just laugh it off and say that it was joke but he did not do so. Instead he released his killing intent, scaring everyone including Mira. Will and others however looked defiant.

"You will kill until there are only 5 of you left. The one with the most kill will be the leader of this group and the remaining one will be his or her replacements."

Mira was scared as she clutched Will's hand. How can a man be so indifferent towards life? A boy of 10 screamed and ran away. The man continued.

"You all will take a knife and kill each other. Try to be smart-"

A cloaked figure appeared and silently slit the running kid's throat before vanishing. Blood spurted out of the wound as the boy desperately tried to contain it. He choked on his blood and died few moments later. Mira was scared as her eyes widened up at the scene.

"-and that happens. Time limit is one hour. Do try to be fast as there are only 50 knifes on this table behind me."

He then revealed what the cloth was hiding and it revealed to be many knives scattered around. The man disappeared and the crowd was pin drop silent. Then the crowd went into frenzy. Some had the idea to run into different directions but it was futile. Many cloaked figure descended before slaughtering all those children. More than 10 had already died this way. The rest were in panic looking at the table for their only chance of escaping alive. Mira was pale. Her eyes had watered. She looked at Will before saying weakly.

"Will....what do we do?"

Will just smiled before he looked at the surrounding kids.

"You know what we have to do right?"

All the kids around him nodded. This was why they were staying in front of the crowd. They all exploded into motion reaching for the knives in break neck speed. Will had grabbed her hands and dragged Mira as well. Even the disabled seemed to show unusual amount of vigor. As the other children were in shock, the group had already grabbed a knife for each of them before throwing the rest of unused knife away from the other children. Mira was shocked. Then suddenly she felt Will's hand leave her hand. Then Sonia stood in front of her.

"Sonia?.....Will?"

Will replied softly and sadly.

"You don't want to see this Mira nor will you want to hear it."

Her ears were covered by a sad looking Sonia. Then her eyes were covered by Will's hand. Then she was deaf and blind to the world. Will's gaze hardened as he said in a cold voice.

"Do what we must."

And it turned into a massacre.

Pitter patter

Drops of water fell from the sky.

After 5 minutes, Mira's eyes and ears were uncovered and she saw all red around her. Even the ground was stained by blood. Looking back, she saw her family of children who were bloodied with the corpses of children behind them. She stared at the cold dead eyes of the corpses. She felt her stomach churning and proceeded to empty her stomach. Will just stood there, smiling sadly. Mira could smell the blood whenever she breathed. She could smell the coppery smell emanating in the air. The assassins were all around her looking aghast. Even the strict man looked surprised at them. But all she could say was,

"Why? Why?"

Then Will crouched to her level.

"Because for you."

Mira seemed confused.

"For ... me?"

Then Sonia smiled wistfully before joining the group while Will was still in front of Mira. He explained.

"We were orphaned and abandoned. We were all taken in by an orphanage that worked as a double for the [Cult] where they experimented on us. There were hundreds of us but now? It dwindled up to 43. Even we were suffering from the side effects. Many of us even won't live a week from now. Even then we are used as cannon fodders for the other children to level up. In the end, we could not even choose how we die. But to die for you is still a reward for us."

Mira did not understand what they were saying. As all of them kept the bloodied knife at the level of their neck. Some of them were sad. Some had tears at their eyes. Some were even crying. But they all smiled at her in peaceful manner in the end.

"What are you doing?"

Will replied as he smiled in finality.

"At least, our death..... could help one of us to live."

Then all of them slit their throat at the same time without hesitation.

Fountains of blood rained as Mira watched with wide eyes. All of them dropped like marionette that had their strings cut off. Her face was splashed with the blood of Will as he fell down slowly. She could hear something like level up on and on but she ignored it. She sat down with a dying Will on her lap. He looked at her weakly. Drops of tears fell down right into his face.

"I...don't.....expect ..... you..... to.....forgive.... us..."

Mira looked into his eyes sniffling. Just a step away from bawling.

"Then I forgive you so.... live.... for... me! I have no one else left."

Will smiled peacefully.

"You will..... so live. Live for ... us ... who had .....our ....freedom snatched ..... right.... from the....start. Live because ....whenever you are ....... alone...... reach out to......your heart...... Know that ....we still live in you...... Our memory lives ..... within you. You will never be ALONE!"

Then he grabbed her small hand.

"DON'T LET THEM BREAK YOU!"

Before his hand slowly fell down. Few seconds later, a voice reached out to her. A daze looking Sonia, who was dying slowly reached out her hand to her. Her eyes were unfocused as drops of tears fell down.

“Was….. I-I….. useful… to…. you… Mommy?”

Her hand fell down with a thud. Her visage was replaced by Hayley’s for a moment. For some reason, a hollow feeling erupted in her heart. Then, finally she registered what happened. Her face scrunched up, her mouth was upturned. Tears ran rampant as she was crying and bawling before she even knew it.

She cried her heart out. The Assassins did not know what to make of it. This batch, there was only one survivor. Then the world darkened around Mira. There was a raspy voice.

"Don't you want revenge? For your fallen comrade? For having such an unjust suffering wouldn't you like for these 'things' to suffer?"

Her eyes looked dead as tear marks were on her face. But she responded in a daze.

"Revenge..."

Her dead eyes gained some vigor. The raspy voice seemed gleeful.

"Yesss, let them suffer for what they did. Your friends will surely rest in peace in heaven after you have avenged them. Take my hand, relinquish the control and let me set the world on fire for you."

A shadowy hand could be seen. Mira looked at it in daze.

"Set the world on fire....."

She slowly reached out to its outstretched hands. The figure seemed to be eager by the expectation in his voice.

"Yes take my hand."

But before she could take it, Mira glowed blue white. The source was from her heart. Then an ethereal hand appeared from behind her and it grabbed her hand. A voice she heard just before, once again filled her ears.

"So it was you!"

She looked back to see a glowing blueish white Will. He seemed to be angry. The most change was his eyes. It used to be brown but now his iris was rainbow colored while his pupil remained black.

"You wanted to take over her body? Not a chance in hell!!"

Then he glowed whiter expelling the darkness. The shadowy figure seemed to be in pain. It was angered.

"You....meddlesome.....KID!! How are you still alive and sentient!!!"

Suddenly more figure seemed to have come out one by one from Mira's body. They were revealed to be the children who considered her as a family. She looked around in shock. Just what was happening? Will looked back at Mira.

"I told you, didn't I? We all live in you as precious memories that can't be replaced."

Then he looked at the shadowy figure.

"I always had the ability to see something else while Sonia had the power to transfer our will or something like that to Mira. It was done as a sorry to her so that we will always be behind her and support her. No wonder it was strange. We are the remnants of the will of the 'first' time. That's why we appeared so life-like in this illusion when everyone should have been just a part of her memory."

Will and the others looked coldly at the shadow.

“And that is why WE WON’T LET ANY HARM COME TO HER WHEN WE CAN DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.”

The shadow screamed furiously as if he had enough.

"SHE IS MY DESCENDANT! IT IS HER DUTY TO REMAIN FILIAL TO HER ANCESTORS!! I WILL HAVE HER BODY!!!"

Before trying to forcefully grab her. Will screamed in rage.

"AS IF WE WILL LET YOU!!"

Then all of her friends surrounded her, joined their hands together forming a circle with Mira inside it. The shadow relentlessly attacked them. Slowly but surely it was winning over them. Will looked at Mira sadly. Then burst into motes of blue light and it got absorbed into her. Then Mira opened her eyes in the real world.

Kimiko Pov

Just as Kimiko was about to check the still girl, her body convulsed as if there were two things fighting inside of her. She quirked an eye at that. Then girl's body started to get smaller like what she had before yet her hair remained unchanged, still white. Then suddenly the girl's body opened eyes to look the surrounding frantically. She .... had some strange eyes. The iris looked like rainbow colored. Then Kimiko's eye widened a bit.

'No way. Those eyes.... they are the [Mystic eyes of Death]. They help to see the 'sin' surrounding the people. It is so incredibly rare that it is almost considered to be extinct…."

Then the girl's body convulsed and she looked like she was in pain. She looked at 'him' and pleaded.

"Kill me!"

Kimiko was surprised at that. She had thought surely that the girl would ask her for help. She asked, intrigued.

"Why? Don't you want to live?"

The Adventurer named Deena seemed to have formed a resolute face as she spoke so long for the first time.

"Live? Of course, I want to live. I want to live so badly. You won't see others who has the same determination as I have. But I am afraid of one thing above my desire to live. I am tired of being a puppet to others. I can hardly keep this .... thing, at bay. I don't want to be a puppet, used by others for their damned convenience. So please, I ask of you. Kill me before it can take control of me."

Before she gritted in pain and looked at 'him'. One of the eyes had gained a black coloring signifying possession of the soul. The maids looked at her pleadingly. They wished for her to save the little girl but she had no skills related to it. Kimiko sighed.

"Did you know that in Ancient times, people thought there were three different parts that make up an existence like us?"

Deena, or otherwise her true name Mira, looked confused. Where was she going on with this? Kimiko crouched to her eye level.

"The physical body, indicating the fitness or the vessel to host the other two parts. The soul, which has the information of the body like how it leveled up and at last the mind, that processes this information just like the thing that connects the soul with the physical body. When a person goes mad it is said because his mind was destroyed. There is no harmony between the soul and the body. In your case, the body was already a perfect vessel because of the [Bloodline] and your mind is already half gone."

Kimiko then grabbed her head.

"I really hated this skill. It was a blur of moment that I got this skill of mine. It is not destructive as some spell but it is quite lethal. Tell me girl, would you like to 'live'? I have only one skill but it really destroys your mind. But if your determination is the same then surely you will 'piece' yourself back up together. I do not know how long it will take but it will surely destroy the entity trying to possess you as well as all the 'friendly' entities as well. So what will you do?"

 Mira looked aghast.

'''''''''' Do it! ''''''''''

She heard everyone say it, resonating inside of her. She bit her lips before her gaze hardened.

"Do it."

She could feel the entity screaming at her. She closed her eyes to see the backs of everyone else. All of them were looking back and smiling towards her. Kimiko grabbed her head and used a skill.

[Mind Lull: Zero Exodus]

Then sound of glass shattering could be heard. The head of Mira jolted back and something like transparent shards of glasses could be seen going out of her head. The entity screamed as it went out of her head in the form of black tendrils and disappeared into thin air. Her eyes rolled in the back of her head and she looked catatonic. The maids were showing bitter emotions. She could feel it behind her. Lara asked.

"Was it necessary?"

Kimiko sighed bitterly.

"I may be powerful but I am not omnipotent. I cannot do everything by myself you know even if I desperately wanted to help her. This is already the best option. She is not dead nor is she possessed."

Leticia, the shy one, asked hesitatingly.

"Then can we keep her? You know till she gets better?"

Kimiko replied.

"If that is all of you wish for, then who am I to refute."

"Thank you...."

Somewhere else

Two figure could be seen racing along the roof at night. They were wearing black cloaks and mask to remain blend in with the dark. They were Assassins by profession, of the [Cult]. Then suddenly one of them stopped. His partner looked at him and asked.

"Beta, why are you stopping?"

Then the other, Beta, removed his mask to show a frowning male cat-kin underneath the mask.

"I don't know Alpha, but I feel something happened to someone important to me."

Alpha then frowned.

"Who?"

The cat-kin looked down.

"Even I don't know."

He clutched his hand over his heart.

"But I feel it was someone very important to me....."

Somewhere else

In a bustling town, a tall handsome man with blue eyes and blonde hair, wearing white formal clothes could be seen going inside a high-class restaurant. All the ladies were swooned by him yet his face still showed a displeased expression. He showed his card to the security who nodded and escorted him to one of the VIP rooms. Inside there was three other figures around a round table filled to the brim with fancy foods.

One was a giant man with a big jaw with almost bluish-black skin and blue tribal markings on his face who was frowning at the company he was getting. The other was a very fat man that was almost round in shape yet he was still eating with his hands. The last one was a slim and beautiful Asiatic lady who was wearing blue cheongsam with yellow flower design. She had a neutral expression. The blonde again frowned at the abysmal attendance he got.

"Is this all?"

The lady spoke.

"Yes, only we four. Getting others to wake up is a chore in itself unless you want some islands blown off the map."

The blonde just sighed. The lady asked again.

"Why have we been summoned, Bahamut?"

The big man just nodded while the fat man was busy eating to even notice. The big man frowned and stopped the hands of the fat guys. The fat guy looked at him with a killing intent so potent that if Bahamut had not erected a barrier in the room, the townspeople would have surely died of heart attack. But the giant did not even twitch and he was slowly powering up. Frost seemed to gather around him until Bahamut spoke heavily.

"Stop it, Frost Giant and World Eater. If not, you both shall face my wrath."

That seemed to stop both of them. The big man, Frost Giant, just huffed before receding his power while the fat guy, World Eater, just narrowed his eyes. Bahamut spoke again in his normal voice.

"And Leviathan, you know better than to keep them both in the same room."

The lady, Leviathan, just pouted.

"And ruin my entertainment. Never! So why are we gathered here today? What are the Gods planning this time?"

Bahamut just sighed.

"Just to tighten our watch on our territories. The Goddess of Fate has predicted that a great unrest is about to be unfold."

All of them, even the fat man, seemed to turn serious this time. Anything said by Goddess of Fate is most likely to happen. And if she predicted that a great unrest is about to happen then it will in a massive scale that will even get the attention of Gods. But to say they were understaffed would be better. After all, most of them were still asleep like Leviathan said. The Frost Giant asked.

"Is it the Golem left by Solomon? Is he plotting something?"

Bahamut shrugged.

"No, he is remarkable, reaching level 600 already but still he is nothing but an ant in front of us. If anyone was troublesome then it would have been the previous Heroes. Especially the [Sword Saintess] and the [Grand Magic King]. Only they are capable of battling us."

The World Eater asked for the first time.

"Then what should we do?"

Bahamut replied.

"Keep a close watch on your territories. We do not know the enemy yet so remain vigilant. That is all."

Then they all, except Bahamut, teleported to their respective territories. As for Bahamut, he just sighed as he looked at the plate piled up on the table. So it was also him this time to pay for the bills. After all, [World Eater] and [Frost Giant] just stayed in their remote corner of the world while [Leviathan] would blow up her money playing at some casino and flirting with young men. He sighed heavily, thinking of how light his wallet is going to be.

Edited: 26-Nov-2020 Grammar improvement, slight change in dialogue