How long has it been?
Almost ten years...I think? Stuck in this world full prisons. I feel like I'm watching a bad TV show.
Again sitting at the campfire eating this disgusting meat. By now I should be used to the taste.
Huh, where do those noises come from? I'm sure it's just another pack of wolves hunting.
Maybe I should really go back to the guild. . .
No, I don't want anything to do with these people anymore. People can't be trusted. At first everyone is nice to you and you make friends but in the decisive moments all this is worthless. Relationships only lead to endless problems and worries. I was always alone but never lonely. Over the years I have had many companions, most of whom have long since died. I think "pets" are the best companions, they know neither betrayal nor envy.
If only I hadn't been transported here as a hero.
I could have got rid of all these experiences, of which there were far more bad than good ones.
Haah, what am I even talking about? If only I hadn't been transported here!
It's your fault, that's right, your fault. Unable to protect your own country you forced students without any fighting experience into battle to solve your problems. Only to treat them as useless afterwards.
Thinking about it this way, I guess I'm the only one who thinks so now.
Most of our group died after the demon attacks. Even I almost got killed. We were filled with naivety and arrogance and were quickly thrown back into this cruel reality. Our talent exceeded that of most people but we lacked ambition. If we hadn't run blindly into battle, the others might have survived.
I am curious whether the others have expressed their condolences or have put on an unsuspecting and innocent face. I wonder what they're doing right now. Lizia is sitting on Michael's lap and both eat ice cream from the booth in front of the lecture hall. For a long time, I wanted to be the one whose lap she was sitting on. Even after their betrayal, I didn't get that thought out of my mind. Does Michael still belong to the basketball club? Is Lizia still a fan of this corny pop band?
Oh, the university, how beautiful it must be there now.
I was a newcomer then, along with Michael and Lizia. I had known them both since kindergarten, the three of us were inseparable at the time.
I still remember, In elementary school, we played a dirty joke on our teacher, Ms. Kight. First, we stole a ketchup bottle from the cafeteria. We smeared Michael's face with ketchup. When school was almost over, Michael screamed out loud. Ms. Kight came running up to us and was startled at the sight of Michael. To her, it looked like he had a heavy bleeding on his head. We were suspended for a whole week at the time. My mother was furious and banned me from meeting my friends. I wonder what she's doing today...
We were new at the university and had just received our timetable. Shortly afterwards a wormhole opened and the whole room was absorbed. We all knew that from now on everything was different. Our group consisted of almost 20 people, only a few had enrolled in our course of studies. Some tried to write this world off as a dream, for others it was the perfect way to escape from the reality of our world. Personally, I was not enthusiastic and so were my two friends. We all had people and moments in our world that we wanted to hold on to.
But everyone quickly realized that this was a long way off. We had been sworn to be the heroes of the new age to put an end to the powers of evil. That sounded like a boring action movie at first. If only it had been one. . .
Each of us possessed a skill board, on which our abilities could be seen. Our talent as heroes allowed us to quickly acquire many skills by simply practicing various other professions and crafts. Some devoted themselves to the handling of weapons, others to books full of magic and alchemy. Ultimately, it all depended on our determination. There were also two people who saw this world as paradise. Both spent their days walking in taverns or being charmed by prostitutes.
After one month it was time, the first wave of demons stormed towards us. Personally, I had put my diligence to the test during this time. I learned everything from magic to the use of weapons. However, there was no time to internalize everything, so I only knew the basic skills.
At first the two lazybones were caught, who had nothing to oppose the demons. They quickly died, their heads were cut off.
Our team of three had developed their own strategy. Lizia was a healer, she had concentrated at the church on practicing healing magic. Michael was one of the magicians, he had quickly smuggled himself under the arch magicians and not left them alone until they had taught him. I, on the other hand, took the role of the fighter. My self-confidence was a roller coaster. I was convinced of my abilities with the sword, but when I saw the other front fighters, I doubted my conviction. Maybe I should have focused on one area after all. I had the same problem at school, too often I could answer questions only superficially.
That's why I was never very good in any subject other than sports. But I didn't count sport among the other subjects. It was an area of my own where I felt most comfortable. I had a lot of stamina and perseverance, sometimes I exaggerated and was on the verge of a breakdown. Nevertheless, I would say that sport is my greatest talent. That was also the reason why Michael and I immediately joined the basketball club of the university.
So I went into battle with forced self-confidence. When I saw the demons, a cold shiver ran down my back. Such creatures were otherwise only found in fairy tales or it was the monsters under the bed in child stories. I couldn't think of anything but survival. So my sword moved almost by itself and I killed one by one. When I looked left and right, I saw that the others were less successful. It was a mixture of fear and panic. They fell into a rigor from which they could not free themselves in time. The courage they had been given before was only empty gossip. Their minds had turned off, they knew they were about to die. Before the impact came I noticed that there was hope. Not all the fighters were paralyzed, two students slaughtered themselves through the Horde and tried to keep the enemy away from the others. This gear almost opened, until finally they switched to long-distance fighting. A hail of arrows stormed towards us. The magicians barely managed to summon a barrier that covered most of the battlefield.
Unfortunately, I was outside that zone. My survival instinct ordered me to use one of the bodies as a shield. The dead soldier felt like he weighed a ton. When the impact started, I could barely stand on my feet. Little by little, it hit the body above me. Blood dripped on my armor and began to soak the floor. After a few minutes, silence returned. I saw one of the demons generals order the retreat. Their mission was successful, they had spread fear and terror in the human troops. First I informed myself about the condition of my friends. Both weren't injured, the barrier had protected them. But 3 of the 10 front fighters had not survived. We gathered their bodies and buried them in the garden of the palace. The next day there was a report about the losses. When I saw the number on the paper, I was shocked. Only 3 of the 20 heroes had fallen but almost 25% of the normal soldiers were exterminated. Something began to change in me. Instead of still being in shock, a few questions had formed in me. The attack was pretty uncoordinated. The troops were hardly divided, there was no fighting pattern and the abrupt retreat could only mean one thing. Only the weakest demons participated in this first wave. Although they had little combat experience, they had managed to accomplish their mission. This robbed me of the hope of a possible victory for mankind. What else could become of this kingdom if we lost ourselves to the replacement troops?
Suddenly I was torn from my own little world. It was Lizia who asked me if I was okay. I answered with a short nod and took part in the meeting again. On the day of the funeral, the cruel reality was thrown into my face once again. The deceased all had family and their best friends now had to carry them to the grave. We were quickly robbed of any morals and it took some time until calm returned. I couldn't just sit there and worked for almost 3 months on a plan to ensure our survival. The superhuman ability that I now had was my motivation and kept me going from day to day. I decided to concentrate completely on fighting with weapons. In the capital there was a huge library, in addition there was the hidden archive in the palace. I was amazed at the amount of information that could be found here. There were everything from fighting tactics to several fighting styles with different weapons. Soon I could call myself a professional. You could call it bragging, but I was by far the most ambitious of the fighters. The others were still frustrated and sad about the death of their friends. I had to learn to hold back, my expectations were utopian in our situation. My mind had hidden all feelings, which often frightened me. Especially when I began to disregard all emotions. For the others I had to look like one of the generals in the war who could only call the battlefield his home all his life. After almost half a year came the news about the stay of the demons. Apparently they were planning their next attack in one of the dungeons and were getting supplies of new monsters.
Everything seemed far too obvious and strange to me. So far they kept so covered only to suddenly release their position just like that?
Also the entries in the books of the archives said that demons were one of the smartest races. Their top priority was to be extremely careful and take advantage of the moment of surprise. It could only be a trap. Yet I was not authorized to give orders. This post was taken by another student of front fighters. He had a good nature but his still persistent naivety would sooner or later cost us our lives. That's why I tried with all my might to prevent the dungeon from being explored, but my attempt was unsuccessful. Lizia and Michael had always trusted me, but suddenly I realized that they were getting further and further away from me. They were the first to try to calm me down. Both wanted to assure me that everything would go well.
Actually, it was I who had distanced myself from you. Still, I was hoping to at least have you on my side. I quickly got angry and moved away from the group. On the one hand I was angry at the naivety of the others, but on the other hand I was angry at myself for not having intervened earlier. For me, optimism was a slow poison that would wipe us out sooner or later. I was forced to accept that it meant hope for the group. There was a touch of irony in the air that made me smile.
As expected, it came down to us going on a reconnaissance tour. I had warned my friends before and asked them to be extremely careful. If anything should seem strange to them, they should notify me immediately.
I noticed that my self-confidence encouraged my initiative. I was still not granted the role of leader. We went immediately into the cave without making a break. Without question, it was a stupid decision.
Did they just want to complete the mission as quickly as possible or were they really stupid enough to take that unnecessary risk?
In my head I had already excluded myself from the group. The more time I spent with the group, the less interest and sympathy I felt. But I forced myself to work with them, I couldn't afford to lose my friends and alone I wouldn't have a chance.
In the group I would have taken over the role of the constantly moaning know-it-all. Desperately, I was looking for opportunities to make suggestions or influence decisions. But everyone went with the flow and I couldn't understand that.
No one wanted to assume great responsibility or accept possible alternatives. It was not a group compulsion but rather an urge to belong to the group. The irony quickly became my new best friend, advocating my beliefs. After a few hours of walking, my intuition was right. In the distance we heard the cries of demons. As we walked towards it, the ground beneath our feet broke away. We fell into a big room where a huge monster was waiting. My guess was we woke up the dungeon boss.
It had to be a giant spider of all things. Most of the people showed natural body reactions and were frightened by the sight. Since many people switched to code red wif spiders were around, it quickly became clear to me that this reaction would only be intensified. I myself was spared the disgust of insects, for me they were only normal animals. As I thought, some of them fell into a kind of rigidity that they couldn't do anything against at first, even if they wanted to. Thus 3 men fell victim to the insect or better said to its poison, which was equivalent to extremely strong toxin. The corrosive effect made death even more unbearable. The fight lasted almost 30 minutes as we finally managed to chase the spider away. Although the magicians had studied almost every book, they realized very late that fire magic was the ideal weapon. So they blamed themselves for the death of their comrades. When we thought we were safe, a wall collapsed and a large troop of demons came towards us. This time they were heavily armored and built bigger. They posed far more danger than the first demons. In our present condition, we'd all be slaughtered.
So I forced them to cooperate by holding a sword to the throat of one of my comrades. Finally they woke up and followed my orders. I didn't care if I got hated afterwards. All I cared about was our survival. I saw big stalactites hanging from the ceiling in front of the wall. It was obvious that you had to use them to win the fight. But the reality looked different because only I thought this was a good idea.
"What if the whole cave collapsed?"
I was annoyed by the narrow-mindedness of the others. If we don't try, we'll all be killed anyway. Fortunately, I had the support of my friends in this decision. So we prepared for the attack according to my instructions. Thanks to the wind magic of the magicians, we managed to bury the army. It was no longer a problem for the fighters to kill the wounded demons. I began to execute one after the other to prevent that they could still start a last attack. But when I turned around I saw that I was the only one who had come up with this idea. Everyone was trying to find a way out of the cave. When I joined the group again many strange looks met me, which I didn't care about. I was aware before that something like this would happen. Even the friends who had helped me before ran ahead to avoid me.
The way back was quiet except that there was constant whispering about me.
How could I threaten another student? How can you be so horny for killing?
No one talked about me saving them with my plan. Both a possible second attack and losses on our side were prevented. It was fast and efficient. I didn't care about morals, it was the only way I could succeed. Back at the palace we reported about the events. All they mentioned was that they had survived by working together. If it helped others, I didn't care about my fame or my thanks. I didn't have any expectations from them anyway, they were more a task or a quest than my team. And so again almost half a year passed in which I studied the entire archive. One day I found records of other heroes summoned here. It was a diary of a boy who was transported here from London with his class. They fulfilled their mission but suffered heavy losses. In the end, out of 30 men, there were only 2 people left.
On the last page I found the solution to our problem. With the blood of the demon king a portal could be activated which led back to earth. So you were forced to do your job. I was relieved but at the same time very pessimistic. Never would we be able to defeat the demons. I decided not to tell anyone about it because their hope would blind them.
Lizia and Michael got closer and closer and finally became a couple. Actually I shouldn't have been annoyed but I couldn't help but feel jealous. One year later, after further attacks, the final battle was fought. Meanwhile only 10 of the 20 men were alive among them Lizia, Michael and myself. I kept trying to study more books but there was a lack of useful information against the demons. I didn't care what the group did, I still joined it so I wouldn't get into any big problems. But I wasn't really one of them, rather I worked alone and tried to correct their mistakes or optimize their way of working. As we looked over the wall of the city, we saw the huge army that would await us. On our side we had almost all troops from all regions. Numerically we were superior but everything decided in the real fight. On the table I saw the strategy worked out by the generals. The sight made me sick. Never would we have a chance to win, this plan was pure suicide. I spent all night secretly revising the plan. The next morning everything was presented and explained in detail. Fortunately for me, the strategy has been carefully adapted.
We had to rely on a diversion to isolate the vital point of the enemy. Once an opening is there, the ten of us will fight against the king. The soldiers job was to keep most of the army away from us. I expected heavy losses, but for me there could be no victory without sacrifices. It was my obstinacy for our survival that made me think so. I put everything on this one card that would decide our fate. It was the first time I had ever given myself full responsibility. Their life was in my hands and it felt strangely exciting instead of frightening.
When the battle began, I quickly realized that the losses would be even greater than I had thought. In the eyes of the soldiers I saw great fear, I had ignored the lack of motivation and courage. Once again my cold heart became an obstacle.
But the opening came up anyway and we stormed directly towards us. Only this time each of us had to take courage and believe with iron will. If this was not the case, the adrenaline would do the rest. Adrenaline is a powerful drug that can have devastating effects but also temporary "inhumanity". The consequences are arrogance and overconfidence. What I needed was a superhuman morale boost that only lasted 10-15 minutes. After that, the side effects could occur, if they were to make it at all.
My eyes went left and right, I was satisfied. There was no fear in their eyes anymore, but a will they had never shown before. Everyone had found and used their motivation. Suddenly two of us got distracted and disappeared into the crowd. As suspected, their adrenaline had shown its dangerous effect. Their blood thirst was awakened, there was only a kill counter in their minds. They wandered aimlessly and fought against the troops. I had already written them off, but I noticed that they were still of value. The kingdom's army fell faster than I had planned, but they gave them a morale boost that led to more fighting spirit. Finally we had reached our goal. The king was guarded by 5 arch demons, probably all generals, who were already in hundreds of battles. Before the battle, I had finally finished my ace up my sleeve. It took almost a month for it to be operational. After all, I had no blueprint and had to explain it according to my knowledge. In the next few minutes, quite a mess broke out. The group had implemented their own little tactic that hadn't involved me. But I was neither angry nor disappointed, rather I had expected and planned for it. They were my distractions to take care of the five obstacles surrounding my main target.
None of them dissapointed. Two of them died after a few minutes. It was like a bad Shakespeare drama, at least the characters in there had big and epic deaths. But the two were countered out after one blow. Their magic was far too weak to cause even a scratch. Eventually, they were burned by their own magic. Meanwhile, I had my ace ready. It was a revolver like the one known from the Wild West, just a little modified. The mechanism was about the same, but the bullets were cast with a powerful spell. Now all I had to do was hope that my chance would finally come. Finally everyone was distracted and I was able to break through. I successfully avoided the first attack and then gave him the decisive shot in the head.
It was almost too easy for me but the winner was determined. I was still on guard because never once a end fight was this short and one sided. The other demons behaved like a swarm of bees. Their queen was dead and so they immediately fled from the battlefield. It took a few minutes for everyone to realize it was over. Worried, I looked around for my friends. Lizia had suffered only slight bruises and scratches but Michael had a deep wound on his chest.
Lizia, with tears in her eyes, tried to close the wound but her magic was not enough. Besides us three, two others of our group had survived. A few meters away I saw the victims. The blood flowed from their mouths, their eyes were twisted. I carried Michael to the other healers, on my way was a path filled with a mountain of corpses. The others threw up at this sight, one even lost consciousness through the exhaustion. Then I went back to the battlefield to extract the blood. His blood had a blue color probably due to his royalty status, because normal demons had black blood. I filled it into a small ampoule and made my way back to the main gate. My adrenaline was used up and I almost collapsed. The next day I informed myself about the condition of the others and made my way to them.
When I arrived I saw Lizia waiting in front of Michael's bed, she started crying again and again. His wounds were almost healed but he didn't wake up. The next moment I got a punched in the face hard. It was the other two who accused me of not telling them that I had this kind of weapon. If I could have made several revolvers, the majority of our group would still have been alive. I lied to them that I had only recently come up with this idea. Although I had this idea in my head for almost a month, I never really thought about having several copies made. I felt guilty. It was frightening for me that it never really occurred to me. If it really did, I had repressed it. It was as if my mind had forbidden me to act helpful. I had saved them and won the war but I was the bad guy in the situation and I could totally understand that. But gradually these feelings of guilt disappeared and my senses returned to normal. Lizia was silent all the time but looked at me with an dissappointed look. Fortunately, Michael's awakening saved me from this bad situation. After a short summary Michael turned to me and thanked me. I was surprised and felt a touch of salvation. A light smile came over my lips.
After the reunion, I checked the war report. 30% of the soldiers had survived, even the general was surprised. I looked at him and he didn't expect it either. But I recognized less joy in his eyes than more relief. To his surprise, his suicide action still turned out to be a good plan. Hate formed in my eyes, he didn't have a hint of warfare. That's why I wondered how he got to this position. Without me we wouldn't be alive anymore.
After long reflection I decided to deliver the joyful news the next day, but I changed the truth a bit. According to my version I had only read about the portal yesterday. The room was now filled with joy and relief.
In three days there should be a parade for the saviors of this kingdom but nobody wanted to participate. Everyone wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. Finally they were able to escape from this traumatic place.
We snuck out of the palace at night without being noticed.
The portal was under the temple of the church, it had the sign of a star and around it stone formations were to be seen. I dripped the blood on the pole in the middle and the tips began to glow. Everyone stood on one, but the last one remained dark and the light began to go out again. Again I went to the stake to use more blood. My guess is there were two choices. Either the blood was not enough or the portal was half broken and the dark corner meant that now only 4 men could perform the ritual. Suddenly, I got hit in the back of my head. When I woke up after a short time I saw that the light shone brightly.
I noticed two evil looks coming from the left. It was the other two students who had knocked me out. I was right with guess no. 2, the portal was only accessable for 4 people. As I looked to the right, I saw Lizia crying. Still dazed I heard Michael assure me that everything will be fine and they will look for a solution. Probably they were forced to take part but did not offer much resistance. When it comes to survival, everyone decides to put their own good before the other's. Before I lost consciousness again I saw how they slowly disappeared.
Why was I abandonded? Yes, maybe the way I acted was cruel but it was neccessary to win this war and fulfill our role. Without me nobody would have had the chance to go back. If you only listended to me from the start we wouldn't have been in this shitty situation.
"Fortune favours the bold."
Hah, just another crappy quote that manipulates the minds of people. I was the most ironic thing I could think of.
Just how can I get out of here?
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Just what led Helio to this view of this world?
What did he experience the last ten years?
Stay tuned for the next chapter :)