Chereads / The Last Arthurian Heroes / Chapter 19 - The Realization

Chapter 19 - The Realization

Dianna ran faster towards the sound of screams and explosions. Bright flashes of light could be seen emanating from the capital. The Blood Red Moon, a phenomenon that could only take place when certain conditions were met. Only a few deities of the moon were capable of bringing forth such an omen. The most prominent one was about to witness the cause. She thought about the trail of destruction and death that was left behind Ulrich. She wondered how he was able to call forth the Blood Moon. Her divinity wasn't drained away enough to make him a god.

Her mind ceased trying to make sense of it when she finally made it to a clearing where she saw an unforgettable sight. Ulrich was fighting atop a hill of bodies, his own body being covered in blood and littered with injuries. She could see where some warriors managed to stab their spears into him. The unarmored parts of his body were also covered in cuts. He had cut down a large portion of the army, however, more and more seemed to be rushing out from the city. Dianna knew that it was only a matter of time before Ulrich would be overpowered. Even if he had the powers of a god, like most gods who fight large armies alone, he would still be overwhelmed and killed if enough demigods and warriors were to overwhelm him.

Suddenly, she heard a loud boom resonate throughout the sky. It came from where the sun was beginning to rise. She seemed to be the only person who paid it any attention. It appeared to be a comet emerging from the sun itself, however, Dianna realized that it was headed towards their location at an alarming speed. Multiple booms could be heard as it grew closer and closer. It would be a disaster if it continued and managed to land close by, the whole forest would be damaged catastrophically even though it was protected by magic.

Dianna used her divine power to summon her golden bow and made an arrow with all of her remaining power in order to intercept it. As she began to take aim, she noticed that it had a strangely familiar silhouette. It was still enveloped by a bright light as it grew closer and closer, however, it was clear that it was a humanoid that was approaching. The speed began to decrease to safer speeds, however, it was still too fast for her to make out. The army that was battling Ulrich noticed the bright light heading straight towards them, however, they were helpless to do anything.

The light then crashed into the army with a hard impact, instantly killing a large number of soldiers. What looked like arrows of light began to shoot out in all directions and pierced through many of them. The first thing that Ulrich, who had stopped his rampage when the light landed, noticed was a silver bow. He then noticed shining, gold, greek styled armor. The warrior was slaughtering a large amount of warriors, just like Ulrich before him. Ulrich noticed that the warrior was killing the fairies and decided to continue his fighting, deciding to deal with the warrior if he was hostile at a later time.

Dianna was in awe at the sight of these two, especially at their amazing combat prowess. However, it was shortly after seeing the golden clad warrior, that she began to worry even more. She recognized him as her twin brother, by the laurel wreathe he wore atop his head. On his face was a confident smile that didn't disappear, even as he unleashed a multitude of arrows made of sunlight into the army. Ulrich, likewise, was standing atop the hill of bodies, shooting arrows of moonlight down upon those who tried to climb up the bodies. The two whittled away at the army, causing many to retreat back into the castle. Apollo ceased firing his bow as soon as they began to retreat, however, Ulrich attempted to follow.

His golden bow dissipated, his magical energy was depleted, and he was unable to even summon the spears he used for most of the night. Because of this, he grabbed a sword from one of the bodies and proceeded to stumble and fall down the hill. He struggled to his feet, using all of his strength to push himself back up. He began to kill the stragglers and the wounded who couldn't run, but, in the middle of doing so, Dianna ran out and quickly grabbed ahold of him. Ulrich was too weak to react to her grabbing ahold of his waist, however, he was able to look over his shoulder and see Dianna.

Ulrich had begun to think he was hallucinating. He had lost a large amount of blood and couldn't properly see. The fact he was standing was a miracle in and of itself. He then heard a single heartbeat from his chest, which then caused him to scream out in pain. The Blood Moon then began to fall from the sky, revealing itself to be an artificial creation. It appeared to simply vanish as it fell, however, the blood on the ground began to crawl towards Ulrich, entering his body. His wounds began to heal and the silver aura he had, once again exploded into the sky.

Dianna felt the intense pressure of his aura, it was so powerful that it felt like she would be crushed. Still, she refused to let go of Ulrich. Ulrich was in terrible pain, however, his body and magic was all being replenished, but the amount of people he had killed reflected the amount of magical energy he was sucking up. Unknown to him, the Blood Moon was an ability that was made for war. It allowed a moon deity and those blessed by them, to be able to receive the benefits of the moon deity even when the sun arose. When the moon dissipated, all the blood spilled would turn into magical energy and be sucked up, completely restoring and even strengthening the warriors so that they may continue fighting, if needed.

Normally, it would be distributed among a large amount of followers, or a god. However, Ulrich was one man, not a god. The ability was never meant to be used by a human. All of the magical energy he was sucking up would eventually cause him to burst, if not stopped. Dianna began to try and take in his magical energy, however, it was flowing in too fast. She began to be overwhelmed at the thought, that Ulrich had managed to kill so many people that not even she could stop the flow. However, without warning, an arrow of sunlight suddenly struck Ulrich in the chest.

The massive amount of magic flowing into him was stopped. Ulrich fell to his knees before collapsing to the ground in Dianna's arms. The arrow slowly began to sink into Ulrich's body, merging with him. Dianna looked over at Apollo, who was now walking towards the pair. He had a smile on his face, one that reminded her of Ulrich, however, it seemed to lack the superior confidence that Ulrich's maintained. She looked down at Ulrich, removing the hood and helmet from his head. His body was cleaned of the blood, however, she noticed that his body retained scars of the wounds he received. They were clearly visible because of the cuts and holes on his body, armor, and clothing.

"So, this young human is the one you have chosen, dear sister?" Apollo stopped a few feet away and appeared to inspect Ulrich. Apollo's appearance was merely a more masculine copy of Artemis's, as they were twins. The key difference being, his short silver hair and golden eyes. "I must admit, he is an interesting one, especially since he was able to cause such a phenomenon without knowing the conditions. I must admit, fighting on the field with him felt a lot like fighting alongside you dear sister. It was very enjoyable indeed." Dianna, or rather, Artemis, didn't look away from Ulrich. She was still concerned about his well being, especially because of the tremendous toll his body must have been put through since awakening.

"I appreciate your help in stopping him Apollo. I'm not sure if I would have been able to use my powers against him." Apollo looked at his sister, he could tell that she was holding herself responsible for what had happened. She had already begun to tear up and was on the verge of crying. He saw her gently brush her hands through his hair.

"What are little brothers for? Besides, he's technically apart of the family now." Artemis quickly looked up at Apollo, who seemed confused at his words. Apollo slightly cocked his head,

"Wait, can you not tell? Use your eyes and look deep into his soul, it is quite the sight." Without saying a word, Artemis quickly used her divine eyes to look into Ulrich's soul. It was a deep blue soul without any sign of degradation, however, she noticed the color of silver begin to rise to the surface periodically, followed by a slight golden color. When she looked closer, she noticed that his soul was no longer defined as human. It possessed half of his human soul and half of Artemis's divine soul. Artemis quickly looked into herself and noticed no changes to herself.

The tiny amount of gold that had been seen must have been from Apollo's arrow. "What did you do to him? You stopped the effects of the moon but I can see from looking at his soul, that you did something. So what was it?" It was clear that she was worried, but she knew that her brother wouldn't harm someone she cared about. He smiled at her question.

"When I saw him going crazy from the Blood Moon, I looked into his soul to see why he wasn't immediately killed by the kickback of it and noticed the two forces inside of him clashing wildly. How he managed to hold his body together while going on this crusade of his, is a miracle. I shot an arrow of my divinity into him, to stop the flow of magic and to try and calm his soul by introducing a type of stabilizing agent. I thought it would dissipate, but it seems he absorbed it. It's fascinating, I wonder what would happen if he were to take in other gods' blessings. Tell me sister, how did he become like this?" He then noticed his sister looking at him with a sad expression.

"The Unseelied unleashed a great wolf, capable of killing gods, into the forest to kill me. It began to destroy the kingdom, so I decided to stop it. However, Ulrich was here and I could tell that he possessed great strength and knowledge. To be honest, I wasn't sure if I could kill it by myself, especially in this body. I could have discarded it to use my divine form, but I would have attracted some unwanted attention as you know. So, I brought Ulrich and decided to use my divine power a bit. We managed to bring it down, but I was careless and Ulrich saved my life from it's god killing teeth." She once again looked down at Ulrich and began to cry. She grabbed ahold of and began to hug him tight.

"I couldn't let him die, especially since he was only the second human man in my entire long life that I grew to care about. He's special, even you can see that. You know that I granted him my blessing, but I still couldn't protect him from something that destroys divinity. So, I made a deal with the All-Father. I offered up my entire divine being, in exchange for saving his life. I was attacked before the deal and some arrows were on the ground and my body was covered in blood from trying to save him. So, when I awoke from passing out from the deal I made, I found myself covered in a sheet with flowers, beside me. I'm guessing Ulrich thought I was dead, and with what you said about holding his body together, I guess it makes sense that he couldn't tell I was alive."

Apollo walked over next to his sister and placed his hand on her shoulder to comfort her. "It's surprising to hear that this human, no, that Ulrich means this much to you. To offer up your godhood is no small thing. What matters is that he's alive. You shouldn't blame yourself for everything that has happened up until now. When I noticed, I purposely tried to keep Helios and the other sun gods from causing the sun to rise, in hopes that he would acclimate to his newfound power. You've done an amazing job sister. However,..." Apollo looked in the direction of the Unseelied capital, noticing smoke rising from within the walls and archers beginning to take their place atop the walls once again.

"Brother, can you help me move him? I want to get him to a safe location before we decide what to do." Apollo looked at his sister with a puzzled expression. Artemis could tell that he was puzzled by her words. "He still hasn't fully acclimated to his powers, and I'm afraid that if he awakes with full access to them so young, that it will change him. I want him to gradually get used to it."

"Sure, but first, let me take care of those annoying pests on the walls." Apollo summoned his bow, however, before he could fully materialize it, Artemis stopped him.

"Stop, there won't be any need for that Apollo. I can hear the sound of marching feet. It's coming from the direction that I came from. It's most likely the Fairy Queen. Quick, we need to do something!" Apollo simply conjured a sword of light into his hand and pierced his midsection, before removing it.

"There, I sealed away the divinity inside of his body using magic. Normally, this would take much longer, however, since his divinity is a copy of yours, it wasn't as complex. He'll need to be careful in the future, because if he manages to break the seal completely, then he'll unleash a massive amount of divine power. If it has nowhere to go, it'll destroy him from the inside out. Keep that in mind sister." Apollo looked at his hands and began to wince. "I've reached my limit in the mortal realm, it's time for me to return sister. I wish I had more time to help, but Olympus has been having problems lately. Piece of brotherly advice, keep an eye out for the other gods, I fear a god-killing wolf will only be the start of your issues."

"Wait, what am I supposed to do now? I can't follow Ulrich home, my duties keep me bound here. I still need your help brother." Artemis was still unsure of herself. Apollo began to smile, as he had never seen his older sister act in such a manner, especially regarding a man.

"You doubt yourself too much sister. You forget, you are still a god, even if you have that mortal body, you can still bestow blessings. We sealed his power, so all you need to do is tell him that he has been granted the blessing of a goddess. His memories will be jumbled when wakes up. If you really care about him, then make sure to help him when he needs it the most. Goodbye , sister." As the sounds of marching grew closer, Apollo walked into the forest and slowly disappeared.

Dianna was now left with Ulrich. She steeled herself and began to drag him to safety. The archers began to fire their arrows, but it seemed like Ulrich had already taken care of any archers that were capable of making shots from far away. The arrows were all inaccurate and only a few were able to reach far enough to harm them, but they all missed their mark. Dianna was able to place him behind a tree and sat beside him. It wasn't long before the Fairy Queen and her army appeared.

The Fairy Queen, Tatiana, saw her adopted daughter and the young prince, who was wearing destroyed armor but looked relatively unharmed. She looked at the field of battle and noticed the large amounts of bodies on the ground and also saw the smoke rising from the Capital. It was clear that most of the work was already done, however, there was still something to take care of. She ordered her soldiers to take Dianna and Ulrich back to the Tree of Life and to watch over them.

As they were transported in the back of a carriage, Ulrich managed to gain consciousness and was able to see the many bodies that littered the battlefield. They passed through the various villages and saw the many bodies that Ulrich had killed. All were nearly unrecognizable. Since Ulrich had no real weapon, it was obvious what was used to kill them. As they passed through and saw each sight, Ulrich had multiple headaches as his memory would flash a scene of what he had done. Each one showed how he killed most of them. Some of the memories were incomplete and didn't show how each person was killed. Only certain ones, but these memories were the ones that became stuck in his mind.

Ulrich hadn't killed a person before that night, but now, he was remembering almost each person he killed with magic or weapons made of pure magic. Each time he closed his eyes, he remembered their faces and could hear their screams and pleas for mercy. Dianna saw that his eyes were open and tried to speak with him. Even though he felt relieved to see her face and hear her voice, he couldn't concentrate on her long enough to take him away from the memories. He mistook her death at the hands of Fenrir and proceeded to go on a killing spree.

She had explained many things to him, but left out any part about divinity. "In the end, it was something that I never should have left out. When the queen returned, we decided to change the story of the moonlight hero so that you would never find out the real reason you went out like that. You did do it to avenge me, to protect the fairy forest, which is why you ran when you saw that little girl. I am sorry Ulrich." Back inside of Camelot's throne room, Dianna had finished the true story of the Hero of Moonlight.

She had expected anger, an outburst, or something resembling emotion to come from Ulrich. However, there were no words that came from his mouth. No noticeable emotion on his face. Instead, Ulrich simply grabbed Excalibur and stood up from his throne. The only thing noticeable, was that Ulrich had grabbed Excalibur by the blade and not the handle. His hand began to bleed profusely because of the sharp blade, cutting through his blade resistant glove with ease. No one in the throne room could tell what Ulrich was feeling, not even his sister.

He looked around the room at the fairies. He memorized each face, then looked back at Dianna, no, Artemis, and simply closed his eyes before turning and walking towards the hallway which led to his garden. He noticed Alicia standing by a pillar and finally spoke. "Alicia, please provide the fairies with the sashes that were prepared. From now until I return, you are in charge of the throne room." His voice was cold but calm. He then reached atop his head and grabbed the crown, looked at it, then proceeded to place it on her head. "I believe the crown suits you better than me, little Rose."

He then began to walk down the hall, which was lit with torches, however, as he passed each one, it seemed as if the flames themselves froze solid. It seemed as if a shadow itself was passing through the hall. What Alicia didn't realize, but what Ulrich did, was that a shadow was passing through, it was the shadow of his former self, the shadow of the King, Ulrich Pendragon. Inside of Excalibur, Viviane was using every ounce of her spirit to try to contain and ease Ulrich's heart. However, his feelings were so intense that it was causing Avalon to experience snowfall.

She called out to him, "Ulrich! Please, listen to me! I know that thy heart is breaking and becoming frigid, but my beloved, thou has to know that everything that hath been done, was done because the goddess cared about thee. Thou can't allow thyself to be overcome with hatred nor depression! I ask thee to remember the love of thy friends, family, and even the kingdom!" She pleaded to him, but was met with only two words.

"I understand." Ulrich then proceeded to walk into his garden and just stood and viewed it. It was decorated impeccably, each flower, tree, bush, fruit, and vegetable were maintained to perfection. It was the only place that Ulrich felt truly at peace. He looked over at the area of the garden he ran to after he returned from the forest. The bench was still there. He walked to the middle of the garden, where there was a monolith placed to remember all that carried Excalibur. At the foot was a slab of marble that was a part of the immovable monolith. Ulrich grabbed Excalibur in a reverse grip and proceeded to stab it into the slab, and by extension, the garden grounds.

He then walked over to the bench and sat down. He remembered what happened when he came back. Everything was coming back to him from that day. He clenched his fists tight, causing more blood to spill from his wound. "Nina, I never thought that I would feel the way I feel now. Though, I can't even really describe what I am feeling now. I mean, I'm talking to air right now, since you aren't even really here. I know that you would be able to say something to me that would help me make sense of all this. I think only you could understand, since something similar happened to you. I guess that's why I came here. To the one place that I remember where you made me feel like I would be okay. That I wasn't a monster, but it turns out that I was exactly what I feared I was." Ulrich could feel the cold darkness inside of him.

Ulrich never knew of the promise Nina made with his mother. Just like the promise, however, there was something else that he wasn't aware of. Trapped in his own dark thoughts, feeling like there was a box that was growing smaller around him that was filled with its own darkness, he began to feel cold and could feel the cold darkness begin to take over his entire being, running through his veins and into his heart. He knew that it would take him over, and that he would no longer be the same.

Perhaps, he needed to become what he felt that he was, a monster, to overcome the gods' invasion. To become embrace his divinity fully and throw away his humanity. As those thoughts echoed in his mind, causing him to become unaware of anything around him, he felt a warmth grasp his hand. A warmth that was familiar, a warmth that also radiated enough light to begin to chase away the darkness. That was when he heard a voice that sounded like an angel to him in his current state, a voice that chased away the echoes and memories of screams and pleas from that night. "A promise is a promise, and promises should never be broken. I think I remember promising you that I will always be there for you, for as long as you need me, my dear cousin." He then felt a familiar feeling, two arms grabbing him and pulling him close, though this time, it was his chest that had a face in it.

The darkness faded away enough for him to finally be able to see what was happening. He opened his eyes and saw a sight that he was sure was a hallucination, but he knew it was real. As soon as he knew that it was real, he grabbed ahold of her real tight and suddenly felt a sense of relief. "If you need to cry, then cry. Just remember that I am here for you Ulrich, just like I was that day."

"I'm a bit too old for such things, but I'll definitely remember that you are here for me, Nina. That is a promise."