46 years ago. I was born into an average family, My parents were clothiers, they had a humble little booth they would set up every week in the weekly market, that would just barely pass them by. They were both old, but that didn't stop them from working hard to put food on the table. We had lived a peaceful life, and I was satisfied with it. I would play out with the neighbors' kids while my parents were at the booth, and would attend writing and reading lessons which my parents made sure I could with what little extra they could save.
I grew up without much care for anything, I thought I would simply continue living there and die doing son. That I would take over my parents' booth and live off of it just like them, That I would eventually get married and have my own child. That I would die with everyone whom I had known and grown up with... Sadly, childhood dreams are nothing but dreams.
One day, when I was 12, I woke up normally. There was no one home, I walked around our small home shivering asking where my parents were. Suddenly the entrance door was thrown wide open and smashed closed in an instant, alongside it my parents ran in. My mom latched onto me and sobbed as she told me everything will be fine. My dad tried to calm down my mother as he held himself back, I simply stood there confused.
Later on, I had asked my dad what happened. Trapped in our home, windows closed and doors locked, he spoke to me calmly. He told me about what had happened that morning alongside the new announcement. Two men in hoods had walked into the capital, and walked right into the middle of it, there they shook a man's hand and formed a massive magical barrier which would let anything in, but nothing out. Forming that barrier the two magicians bodies were stripped of life. After all, creating something so powerful would be unimaginable for a human, but with the sacrifices of ones life... A lot was possible.
People were thrown into a panic, suddenly locked in they were told to act calmly by the guards of the royal family. Eventually a spokesperson came out and spoke, He told everyone of how a heavily contagious virus had spread among the people of the kingdom. A virus which with every second could randomly take your life, but would immediately take your life at the age of 80, and alongside that would extremely weaken the body over time... It had turned out to be true, All those who were above the age of 80 were found dead and shriveled up.
My father told me that, scared for my well being, my mother told him to lock ourselves in. I as a child had been terrified, for a moment I had wished my dad wouldn't have told me that, but I then realized how hopeless the whole thing was. A magic barrier that had trapped us, a heavily contagious virus, and death that could take you at any moment.
At least, I was given a lot of time, until 70, I was 12 so I had 58 more years to go, I was sure by then some cure would've been found. But, then I remembered... while I had time, the person in front of me didn't, not as much as me at least. My mother had given birth at a late age, They could barely afford living for themselves so they had delayed having a child. Both of them were at the age of 50 at that point.
20 years... It was definitely a long time, but not enough. I immediately dismissed it and moved my though train elsewhere, what now? Eventually my mother had calmed down, and my father spoke to her, he told her that locking ourselves won't do anything, and that instead they should talk with the people outside and figure something out. My mother, finally back to her senses, reluctantly agrees. The streets were empty, most had probably thought of the same thing as my mother, though they will too eventually open up.
We then noticed another family moving through the capital heading towards the path that lead to outside the capital. They had probably held on some false hope... and so did we. We followed them hoping for that magic barrier to magically open up and let us out, but sadly life wasn't so nice. Instead we were met by a mob of people all shouting and screaming as they kept smashing at the translucent barrier separating them from the outside world.
I didn't understand the full-scope of the situation, but watching my parents desperately join the mob, even my father who I had seen as a wise unmovable figure, I couldn't help myself but question, how did life end up like this?
Time passed, People slowly got used to the current life, The royal family had locked themselves in their castle and kept all resources for themselves. We would get outside help, food and medicine, every month which would be split by the hero of the capital. He was the only gold adventurer who was trapped alongside the capital, surprisingly even though it was the house of many gold and above adventurers, none was left in the capital when the barrier was setup.
He had taken over the everything with his strength that overwhelmed the regular people, fairly treated everyone. Even though his ways were questionable, he couldn't trust others so he took to his own hand. Life continued inside, though it was noticeably a lot more dismal. You would hear about a person taking their own life every other day, even those close to you. One of my friends had even committed family suicide.
The virus had shown it's affect after 7months had passed with how everyone had slowly weakened, and on top of that with how little resources we were given, people had grown malnourished. But, that was the last of my concerns... All that I could think about were my parents, I couldn't take it. Them dying without seeing my own kids, without them becoming grandparents, without them meeting my wife.
I promised to myself, that I would an end to it, All of it. I was finally able to put my reading and writing lessons to use, I had sneaked into one of the doctors' homes, which's owner had killed himself, and started reading. From then, I would spend everyday from 8am to 12pm in that stinking home, The original owner had hung himself in the bathroom, so I locked the door and blocked it with a couple of chairs in an attempt to remove the stink, It had barely made a difference.
It didn't stop me from studying, I picked out his notes, started matching them to the books, and did all that I could to 'Study.'. The whole studying thing had made me lose the friends I had as I would ignore them to study, but if it meant my parents life I didn't care. 3 years later, I found that I wasn't the only one under such a presumption, many older people than me had also started studying as or improving themselves, they understood that if anyone had a chance against this virus it was the people living among it. One of them had generously taken me under his wing and helped me with my studies.
The 4th year was a devastating one. The then king was announced dead, He had reached the inevitable age of 80 and was killed by the virus, no other announcement was every heard from the royal family, and nor were they ever seen again. It was snap back to reality, if the king of the land wasn't able to escape it, who were they to? Riots started, people for the first time, greedily grouped together and decided to attack 'the capital's hero's home, where all the resources were kept. They all failed. After all, everyone had grown weak, and with the difference between them and a gold adventurer they hadn't even stood a chance.
Many of the doctors who I was among were taken their own lives week by week, month by month. To say it was surprising would be ignorant, but thanks to indomitable human will. Even among all that, most continued to study, to adapt, to find a way through this. No matter what it took, my teacher and his colleagues continued their studies.
7 years later. The population had dropped down from 500,000+ to somewhere around 430,000. Among those deceased, was my mentor. He had failed, At some point he had done his ultimate experiment only to produce no result. After many years of experimenting, to fail that bad... He had raised the morale of the people by telling them about how this experiment was going to end it all, yet he failed all of them, unable to take the guilt, he took his own life. I didn't blame him, I was close to myself... But, that day my mother thanked me, she told me that even if it was fake hope she was glad to have had the chance to look forward to something once.
I had planned to tell my mentor about it, but the next time I went to meet him he had moved on. I took over everything and continued the work on my own. But you see, Lena, something was weird. As much as I had experimented, as much as I had studied the bodies of those who passed by the 'Virus', and as much as I had taken care of the symptoms of others... Nothing would come up. Just absolutely nothing, From the dead to the living, Not a single clue of a such a virus existing.
People were indeed growing weaker, And some were indeed dying by the age of 80, but just nothing would come up. I studied those who had survived the age of coming, and the corpses of who didn't, just nothing would come out if it. It was all so futile... As for those who survived the coming of age, all I could do was label it as their body getting used to the virus. They were still growing weaker, so the main problem was still unsolved.
The few doctors of our group were split after my mentors death, our motivation to stop the virus had subsided. They had spread around the capital to take care of as much people as possible instead, while I stayed in my place. I still had my parents, which who were extremely happy with how I had turned out. I took over my mentors position and became the main medical caretaker for all of those who had lived in the north-west section of the capital.
3 years passed. The virus had gotten my parents hard, Fortunately they were still alive, but they were bedridden. It had taken too much of their strength and rendered them immobile. I hate it, the seen of my caring mother writhing in bed, and my father, who had seemed invincible to me, needing someone's help to the simplest of actions. But, I couldn't show it. After all, I had become the symbol of hope for the people.
At some point they had thrown all their hopes onto me, and all I could do was smile and act optimistic. If they were to see me dejected, the man who takes care of them and is acting towards ending their misery, then how could they look forward to tomorrow. So, I smiled, for everyone I smiled and laughed the days off. It had even made my parents slightly happier, so I smiled as hard as I could. I had created a fake optimistic version of myself that was still believing in finding a cure...
...But then, It just all came together, because of one man. A man had visited my clinic, Which was simply my home as I had wanted to stay close to my parents. I had it expanded by tearing down the wall and mixing it with the deceased neighbors house, so my parents would sleep and rest in the next room while I focused on taking care of the patients in the other. The man had looked around 30 to 40 and had an extremely healthy body, which was uncommon with how malnourished everyone was because of the lack of resources. He told me that he had asked for someone to depend on and I was the one the people were pointing him towards. I had taken up most of the people's medical problems around me with most of my day being now spent on taking care of others.
He spoke to me kindly and asked me to treat a slight scratch on his arm. I just went along with it and wrapped a small piece of cleaned out cloth around it, I didn't have the supplies of an actual hospital nor clinic, so all I could do was make up some DIY stuff to replace it. The man gently laughed at it, he thanked me and left. From that day on, He would visit me every day with another minor injury asking me to treat it.
When I asked him where he got it, he would honestly answer saying he did it himself. He was one considerate man, he made sure to not visit on days with a rush or when I'm deep into studying, and when he thought it was a good time he would keep me company.
4 months passed and this continued the way it was. But, something about the man felt wrong, each day he would visit me he would look older, as if he was rapidly aging by the second. In a mere 4 month period he had looked like an 80 year old. Asking him of his age he told me it was indeed 80.
The man who had looked 40 at best was now telling me his actually 80, I questioned the man. He then for the first time he spoke of himself, He told me that he was from the outside, He had entered the barrier 5months ago, the day before he visited me, in an attempt to find a successor.
He then told me about this curse, The Hero.
He spoke of his ability, the power given to him, the power created by a man who wished to raise humanity to the top. I didn't understand what he was getting at, nor if he was speaking truthfully. It sounded crazy, I did indeed spend most of my life trapped in here, but a plan to overcome The Demon Lord? that's just batshit insane. A creature that had tormented humanity for so long? A creature who had changed the climate of this world? A creature controls an army of monsters? And they want to top it all with a single human?
The man's story felt like nothing, but old man rambling. But, when your shown a live demonstration, you just can't help but believe. In a moments notice, the man pulled out a knife he had prepared around his neck and slit his own throat. I just couldn't comprehend what happened next, even though I had seen him slit his own throat, moments later his body simply put itself back together.
That was the first time I had seen such a thing, even through the countless books I have read, not once was such a thing mentioned. 'The Hero.' Or whatever it was, It was real.
The man then told me his true motives with coming here. The Hero truly had the power to surpass the demon lord, but it had to be under the right conditions. It can generate an infinitely large amount of power in theory, but to practice such theory is impossible... Or simply inhuman. The Hero is a core of mana that can be transferred from one person to another.
Once it gets transferred it will suck in all mana and beings in a massive 5km radius. Everything within it will become one with the core and increase it's output, alongside that it will transfer all information and memories of the past owner. So, as long as they had enough living beings within that radius the next owner could be that much stronger.
So a dying capital like that was perfect for this, many people trapped in one barrier awaiting their inevitable death as they live painfully. It was just all so perfect... The old man talked, he told me about how he had chosen me as his successor, about how he had seen me as a selfless and strong person who will use that power for good... And I punched him.
For the first time in my life, since that fight when I was 5 years old or something, I had clenched my right hand so hard it was turning red and I rammed it into his face. He wanted me to take my parents life, so that I could fulfil his ambition of taking down The Demon Lord. I jumped onto him and continued hitting him. As hard as I could I kept at it.
To take over the life of over 300 thousand people, even if it meant taking down The Demon Lord that was too insane. Once I was done I got off him and sat back down on the chair.
"Are you done?" he asked as his face bled.
I told him to get out of here and he did as such.
The next 3 weeks he spent doing nothing but trying to convince me, I paid him no mind.
A week later.
I woke up, I had slept on my desk that night. I stretch my arms... Or so I try, I was paralyzed. I couldn't move a muscle, I shouted for someone, "Help! Help!" I said... And he walked in, he told me that he had something to show me, so he carried me on his back. All I could do was barely speak, so I couldn't retaliate what-so-ever. He carried me to the room next door, where my parents were. There I was welcomed by my parents both smiling gently.
"Do it Octan, You don't have to worry about us... As long as you will continue on living we will be happy!" my mother spoke in her gentle voice.
"Don't worry about us boy, We've lived more than enough!" My dad was barely able to talk.
"See Octan, They understand... You don't have to worry about any of this." The old man said, despite how weak he looked, he was able to carry me with no effort.
I retaliated telling him to put me down, I told him how my parents weren't in the clearest state of mind, their words shouldn't be taken as just. He then walked out, He walked through the streets. He made me forcefully open my eyes to the ruined buildings, weak bodies, and suffering children of this capital... But even then, I believed they should be given a chance. To kill so many... That was just wrong.
He then walked right to the center, where it all started. Where the two magicians had setup the barrier. He placed me on a chair he had prepared, and placed his arm on me. I tried as hard as I could to move, but my body wouldn't respond. I screamed and shouted for help, but no one was there to answer.
"I will not do as you wish, I will take this curse to death with me, you understand?!" I shouted at him.
"...Even so... I believe you will come to understand eventually, you have 74 years after all." He spoke as he closed his eyes.
"You're a good person, Octan." ...those were his final words.
And then moments later, Evulsa was no more.
20 years ago. The kingdom of Evulsa, a kingdom that once stood at the heights of humanity, A kingdom that was raised by the outsider's science to grow itself beyond what was imaginable, Nikolovia before Nikolovia. Gone, not a single person of its past left...
...Besides me.
Some time later... I woke up with information and memories that weren't mine. But I didn't care. I simply bent to the ground and continued smashing my fists into the ground with no goal.
Suddenly my weak body was given strength, suddenly my clueless self was given knowledge, and suddenly I had hated the human race.
I do not know what the man before me knew.
But the hero, wasn't a righteous thing at all.
If anything It was a manifestation of The Human Ego.
Multiple kids were soullessly experimented on, many villages were wiped out, and now hundreds of thousands of people were killed. All to fulfil a single person's wish.
Everything I had worked for, The goal I placed everything upon, my parents who loved me till the end, and the people of Evulsa all killed for a single persons gratification.
If that was what humanity stood for, Then I wanted nothing to do with it anymore.
That's why, Lena, that's why I had shut down myself, and neglected human civilization.