A man trying to sleep on his chair inside a house close by the lake suddenly heard the voice of someone calling for him from outside his door and almost fell on the floor.
"Mmm...? Wha...?"
Once again he heard the voice calling for him outside disrupting his attempts to sleep. This time the voice was also knocking on his door creating even more noise and making it even harder for him to close his eyes. The man finally gave up and moved towards the source of his inconvenience.
"What...?"
"Could you open up? I want to talk to you!"
"Do I need to open the door...? Can't you just come inside on your own...?"
"You seem to be angry at me so I rather not push you too much!"
"..."
"I'm waiting...!"
The man opened the door and came to face with a beautiful woman on a amazing dress floating slightly above the ground.
"Now there is my champion!"
What awaited her was a man with black hair, wearing old dirty clothes on his body and an absolute look of despise on his face.
"What do you want...?"
"Is that any way to talk to your benefactor? Seriously Marceus what happened to you? You used to be such a cute kid before always going on about how you were going to erase all evil for me and all!"
"... What do you want...?"
"I'm here to take a look at how my favorite sword is doing. It's been ten years since you holed yourself up in this cabin and stopped doing the job I gave you. Where is the partner I gave you?"
"My partner... ?"
"Yeah, what was her name again? Sala, Zala, Sasa... "
"... Sarah...?"
"Yeah, that one! Is she here?"
"Sarah died twenty years ago. She was bitten by a poisonous monster and lost her life three days later."
"Ah! Did that happened? I could swear that I had given her immortality too."
"... That was Ashley... She died fifty years ago... "
"She died too? How did she die with the immortality I gave her?"
"She got sick of your immortality and found a curse to break it. After that, she just lived her life and ended up dying naturally of old age..."
"Oh my... It's a good thing that your silver energy makes you immune to curses then! You are not dying on me anytime soon! Hehe!"
"..."
"What about the rest? That strong buff man with a weird sense of humor? That Weird guy that was obsessed with opening a restaurant? That one girl who didn't want to use you because she wanted to learn magic and become a witch?"
"... Died saving a kid that was drowning, died being attacked by bandits and died trying to learn some kind of spell called "explosion" and accidentally killed herself..."
"My... I guess bringing people from your world did not help me at all..."
"..."
"So I guess it's time to go back to the original plan then... Let's try to find a partner for you in this world after all!"
"... Can you do me a favor?"
"Sure what is it?"
"... Can you let me die?"
"What? Why would you want to die? You still haven't completed your job of erasing the evil from the world!"
"... It's impossible..."
"Pardon?"
"The evil in people is born from their desire to obtain something... Every time I try to peacefully help fulfill that desire I'm actually just taking something from someone and giving it to someone else... The person that received it will be happy but the person that did not receive the thing will be sad and will eventually turn evil..."
"..."
"People that did not receive love, money, food, a place to live... they will look at those that did got it and think to themselves "It should have been mine!" and those who did receive it will just enjoy the comfort of the thing they gained and completely ignore those who wanted it..."
"..."
"Erasing evil would mean to erase pain... And you can't just erase pain for everyone... For someone to be happy another one needs to be sad... Some will be able to handle it and some won't... And those..."
"..."
"To erase evil would mean to just erase good too... But by that point, you might as well just erase everyone so nobody can feel pain..."
"So... Should I just erase everyone?"
"... Who knows... All I know is that no matter how many people I save, no matter how many foes I defeat, no matter how many disasters I stop... A few years later, two months later, or even a day later, something else will appear to cause chaos again..."
"Are you saying that my dream is pointless?"
"... Yes... You've asked me to help you create a world without evil... Create the absolute truest form of world peace... I tried every method I could think of for the last two hundred years... And I can safely say... It cannot be done... Your dream is in fact pointless..."
"I see..."
"..."
"It seems like someone has lost all its motivation!"
"..."
"Well, what should I do Marceus...? You are my champion... I can't just have you quitting on me with a job left unfinished!"
"Just let me go... I'm tired of having to look at you... I'm tired of watching the people I care about die... I'm tired of fighting a battle that never ends..."
"My, Marceus... You're breaking my heart right now... I really wish you would just try one more time!"
"It's pointless..."
"Yeah... I think you won't be going much farther with that aptitude of yours..."
"..."
"Ugh... I really wish I could get the old Marceus back... Such an energetic kid..."
"..."
"Oh! I know! I have a way to make us both happy!"
"..."
"You said you want to be free and I want my living weapon back! What if I reset you?"
"... Reset...?"
"You played games in your world, didn't you? Let's start over from the beginning! I'll take away your memories and put you back in the body of a child, plus I'll remove your immortality!"
"...!"
"Got your attention? This way the "you" right now will be gone and I will get a brand new Marceus to play with! What do you say?"
"Do whatever you want..."
"Ah, we can't have that... You still haven't got a new partner... How about we make a small game out of it...?"
"...?"
"I want you to return to the kingdom and make an announcement. You are quite famous right now after all. There is not a single soul that doesn't know about the invincible sword chosen by the gods! I want you to reveal to the world that you are back and that you are up for the taking! Instead of trying to search for a partner for you, let the people decide among themselves."
"I used to have partners... And you took them away from me..."
"You're still mad about that...? Fine, how about this? You listen to my little request and I'll free your little buddies."
"... ... ... You promise...?"
"Sure... I only imprisoned them because they were distracting you... If you have no memories of them there is no way they will get in our way!"
"... ... ..."
"Well, what do you say?"
"You will free my friends...?"
"Yes!"
"You will remove my immortality?"
"Yes!"
"You will get rid of all my painful memories?"
"As if a baby like you who only barely lived for two-hundred years would have painful memories. Try reaching a hundred-thousand like me and then we will talk... But yes! All gone!"
"... And all I have to do is go to the kingdom and literally ask them the fight for me?"
"Mmmm... You're right... "Fight" might send the wrong message... How about "find" instead? However can find you can keep you! Just like I did! Hehe!"
"You swear on your name as a goddess?"
"Oh... So you know about divine contracts...? Someone's been busy... Very well, I swear on my name ************ that if you agree to my terms, I'll agree to yours!"
"Deal."
Marceus extended his hand towards the goddess and she in return let out a gentle smile.
"I knew I could count on you my cute little champion! Can't wait to start working together again!"
The two of them shook their hands and on that day, a contract was formed.
A week later Marceus finally managed to reach the kingdom and made his announcement.
He revealed to the world the little lie that he and the goddess had come up with. That his age had finally started to take his body and that he would soon perish. That he asked for the world to find his "son" after he is gone and to help raise him to become the next divine living weapon that will fight to bring peace to the world!
"If you are able to find my son Marcus, you will be worthy of wielding his power however you want it!"
After saying those words he left to return to his cabin and fulfill the rest of the agreement.
The goddess started to raise her hands on the broken man who begun to feel the changes in his body and mind.
Before the last bit of his former self was gone he left a small whisper inside his heart that he was hoping could reach his friends.
[Please find me...]
After a few seconds... The man known as Marceus ceased to exist and the child know as Marcus was born. A small kid with silver hair wearing a blue shirt and black shorts. In front of him stood the goddess admiring her new toy with pride and excitement on her eyes.
"I'm glad I changed your appearance a little bit... Didn't want to make it too easy for them to find you after all..."
"..."
The child stared at the goddess without saying a word.
"Nice to meet you, Marcus!"
"...!"
"Yes! You! Your name is Marcus! I would like you to do a favor for me... Do you like heroes?"
"...?"
"My, how cute you are... Oh right... Before I forget it..."
The goddess snapped her fingers which confused the little Marcus in front of her.
"Oh don't worry... It's nothing you need to concern yourself with!"
While the goddess continued her conversation with the small child, a group of statues located in the deepest parts of a cave on a faraway forest started to shake and make cracking sounds.