I didn't understand what he meant. Dante's face was grim in contrast to mine. Titles? Effects? Are they curses? Have I been cursed by the Gods and just don't know it? Perhaps that would explain what my life has driven me towards. But it would be a sick twisted joke if it were true. I didn't have much belief in fate.
"Those words," I questioned. "What does it mean? What does any of it mean?"
Dante looked confused at my question. I was beginning to wonder if he knew something more than I did.
"What is a Reincarnator?" I said trying to make sense of my confusion.
Dante's eyes went wide as if he expected me to know. It was already a terrible scene for an adult to ask a mere child to understand the workings of the world. But Dante was no mere boy, he was far abnormal.
"You don't know?" Dante said posturing his hand under his chin.
I shook my head in earnest. My eyes moved toward the floor and then back to Dante who had seemingly produced a book from thin air. By the Four Gods, what is this boy really? I've seen many parlor tricks and misdirection on the streets of Bareth but I had never seen someone do it so casually. Where was he hiding this book in the first place?
"Do you.....do you know what reincarnation is?" Dante asked while procuring through the book in his hands.
Reincarnation? I have heard of it. I remember tales of religion to the south that talks about coming back to this plane of existence when you die. I know that the Church wiped most of them out. The Veil promised an ever-lasting Heaven which is a different afterlife than reincarnation. So I guess it was bad for business when another religion touts something than what they claimed.
"Yes," I answered fairly certain. "It's the belief that when you die you'll come back."
"Yeah, so Demitri, a Reincarnator is a person who's experienced that."
What? So that Religion was actually...right? But I felt like I'm forgetting something. It was then that the words he said long ago started creeping back and flooding into my mind. Yes, those words that the Hero said.
"No...," I muttered when it suddenly struck me."So then what the Hero said....It might've been true."
Yes, those words that he told me so long ago. That he was reincarnated here from another world. But why? But how? I just didn't understand. I tried to think deeper but it just seems to shock me to my very core.
"What?" Dante said as he looked up from his book.
I looked straight at Dante.
"He told me that he was a reincarnated person from another world," I said cracking my thoughts. "Someplace called...Earth."
Dante dropped his book as he became pale as a ghost at my words.
"The Hero?" Dante said. "He....was a reincarnated person?"
"If his words were true, " I said as I nodded my head. "That's what he told me. It's strange, though I was the one who killed the Hero and no one else had anything to do with it."
Dante looked like he was thinking of something.
"That must mean there are more reincarnated people in the world," Dante said. "Yes, no wonder."
"So the teachings of the Church are really a lie?" I said. "We come back to this plane when we die?"
As I finished my words, Dante gave me a look like he wanted to say something but stopped short of doing so. Dante looked to be biting his thumb in thought. He really looked like a normal boy to me now. There were many questions that raced through my mind but it seemed as if Dante didn't know either.
"Demitri, you can rest up....I'm leaving," Dante said gathering his book. "Although tomorrow, I might need your help."
I nod my head again to affirm when I heard him mumble something.
Dante left the room quickly but not before leaving a lantern at my bedside. I owed this young boy a lot, he has given me insight into some mysteries and has helped me from the brink of death. I felt ashamed to be an adult in his presence. Yet I just couldn't help be feel fearful as well, he knew about far too many things.
My thoughts and questions were swirling in my mind and it started to become a headache.
I needed answers to those mysteries and questions.
I wondered about the things he told me. I wasn't a noble but I had titles that he could see. Were they branded on me because of the deeds I've done? Now I knew I was cursed but I felt some consolation. Dante called me a savior and a true hero, I couldn't help but laugh. I always wanted to be those things but I know I'm far from it.
I stopped trying to think and laid on the bed, exhausted from the day.
My body started to succumb to the pain now that my thoughts dissipated.
My eyes wandered around the room, they felt tired. I glanced at the lantern and the little fire dancing within. It reminded me of that day, that day when I found out there were no heroes in the world. I blew out the light and darkness surrounded me again.
I closed my eyes and drifted back to that day.
It was half a year into the war between Kingdoms, I was standing with my companions. We were the Heroes party, all eight of us. The Hero was given command of the Royal Army and of course, we followed him. We all had been through the best and worst of things. Right now we were laying siege on the City of Glaive. It was the last city and the final line of defense before the Royal Capital of Solace, Windale.
I was sharpening my sword chatting with Helem and Martin. Cassandra and Silvia were with the Hero looking over the war plans. Camille was trying to rob the soldiers out of their money in a game. The little wizard Lizzie was wandering around like she usually does. These were the last days I remember us all together.
The siege was lasting longer than I expected. What I didn't know at the time was that we were just waiting. A messenger came through and went to the Hero. In the blink of an eye, the Hero came to us in a hurry and made sure we were ready for the information. The Hero glanced at me and Helem, it was going to be terrible news. Martin still had a smile on his face, he couldn't read the mood.
Martin looked like a giant of a man with a big belly but inside he was a gentle child. He was the son of a butcher and he wielded cleavers in battle. He had great strength for a young man and a big heart. The Hero delivered the news and Martin dropped down to his knees screaming. His hometown had been destroyed by the Solace army, there were no survivors. Martin's parents had long died in the famine but his siblings were still there and they were his world.
I couldn't console Martin, nobody really could when their loved ones die. He was sobbing in a dismal state and we all swore that Solace would pay. Now I know that we were waiting for this news before we could attack Glaive. The Hero and Princess Helen let those people die, they took away Martin's only remaining family. All my anger directed at the Kingdom of Solace was for nothing.
The Hero ordered an attack to quickly capture the City so we could move on to the Capital. The City of Glaive was heavily fortified and they knew we were coming. I was dressed in the armor of a Bareth soldier but I still wore my dark cloak. I wasn't a frontline fighter, my tasks were subterfuge. We had planned until night had come.
I had picked out some men to go with me, I only needed the quick and the agile. With a little magical help from Lizzie, we scaled the walls. There were only a few of us but we moved like mice in the dark. I took out guards as quickly and as painlessly as I could. They were my enemy but I didn't want anyone to suffer.
The men with me were a little sloppy in their movements and skills. I hoped that we wouldn't get caught and alert the city. Right now I had one job and that was to open the gates. The city was quiet and the people were sleeping as if there wasn't a war outside the walls. I thought I was going to liberate and save the people.
What I didn't know was that I was unleashing hell upon them.
We raised the gates and the Army of Bareth poured inside the city like a torrential flood. Screams echoed through the walls, the sound of metal seems to overtake them. People were running in every direction. I wouldn't have imagined the awful sporadic acts of violence that were being committed as the city was ransacked. Were we supposed to be their saviors? We were more like beasts.
I stood on top of the walls and watched from a distance, my breathing got heavier and heavier. This was the true face of war and I had taken part in it. I witnessed children fleeing with their parents away from the carnage. I watched as a mother clutched her child tight, hoping it would protect the baby. It didn't matter as a soldier's sword ran through them both. Fear and anger for the children consumed my thoughts.
I leaped off the walls and went down to the ground hoping to stop the madness.
Fires were raging throughout the city and it had truly become hell. The sounds of men screaming and the crushing of bones resounded near me. Martin was fending off multiple Solace soldiers but he had a crazed look in his eyes. He chopped and hacked at the men who died howling, becoming chunks of meat and flesh. I saw that he didn't need my help and my mind was on other matters. I quickly ran into the heart of the city and I heard shrieks.
Women and children were being surrounded by some Bareth soldiers. They were ripping their clothes and laughing. Beating some of them, torturing them, and mocking their very lives. Some of the children were boys who had their lives quickly ended. I could already guess what some of these dogs wanted. I ran up to them and stopped them from attacking the group of women and children.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!? THESE ARE JUST WOMEN AND CHILDREN!" I screamed in fury.
The soldiers were confused by my actions.
"They are just people of Solace," one of the soldiers said visibly confused.
"DOES THAT MATTER!?" I spat back.
"The Commander said to leave no one alive," another soldier answered. "We are following his will."
The Hero was the Commander of the Bareth Army.
"You're lying," I said as I drew my sword and pointed at them. "Liars, all of you!"
The group of soldiers seemed disgruntled as if I had crossed a line.
"The Commander told us we could do whatever we want!" Another soldier said as he took up a sword. "Are you a traitor? Are you a scum of Solace?"
They all seemed to grunt and clamor together like they were in the right. I could tell that some of these men weren't actual soldiers but vagabonds, bandits, and trash. Yet they dressed in the uniform of Bareth but their faces told a different story. They all looked at me as if I was mad. Finally, one soldier attacked me and I quickly opened his throat with my sword.
I needed that feeling so that I could show them the difference between us.
Some of the soldiers were frightened by my blade and by the way I took out one of their own. I postured myself again as if to expect another. Then another came as expected and I put my blade between his eyes. As I dislodged my sword from his skull, the blood spattered on me and I could see the fearful demeanor from the soldiers building. With their spirit and energy sapped away, I ended their regretful action with only my words.
"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" I roared and the smell of urine suddenly filled the air.
The soldiers ran away quickly before my fury. The women and children themselves had a stare of deathly fear as they looked at me. From what they witnessed from the actions of the soldiers and now myself, I could understand.
My expression was grave but I tried to tell them everything was going to be alright. I told them to run away as far and as fast as they could.
I watched them escape until they were stopped by someone.
That was when I saw him, our commander, our leader, our friend, our Hero.
All he did was a smile, that frightening smile as he murdered women and children.
His blade was quick but his actions were terrifying.
My heart broke.
--
The winds whispered, the trees trembled, and the skies wept when the mighty Hero fell at the hands of a black-hearted traitor. He had triumphantly preserved through a treacherous war started by the "Grim Dictator King of Solace." The people from both kingdoms of Bareth and Solace, young or old, men, women, and children. All had felled to their knees when they heard of his fall. He was a Hero that more than anything protected the innocent and had died to protect them valiantly from the black-hearted murderer, Demitri. ~ Eulogy for a Hero by Queen Helen.