The false hero

We pressed forward to end this living nightmare. And to do that, we had to go through a time portal. Luckily one was right here in the capital but when we informed Lex about the situation, he told us to not go through it.

- Do not go through the time portal in the capital.

- Why not?

- It would be suicide, since we would be walking to the center of the enemy's army. You see, this capital has been there even before King Joshua's reign. There is a good chance that he himself might be right there commanding his troops.

Then I ask.

- Then why would we not go straight to the enemy and finish the job?

- You wouldn't survive. There is a time portal about two hours walk west from here. You should go there.

- Why in that particular one?

- Just... Just trust me on this one. You see when you go through there.

In the end we agreed to head to the other time portal. Though thinking about it, we would have probably died if we had gone through the portal in the capital.

And with around a two hour walk west from here, with a couple patrols beaten up, we finally arrived at the time portal Lex wanted us to go through.

Just like when we were close to the portal in the capital, the air just felt wrong. You wouldn't go through the portal absentmindedly as you would feel the wrongness in the air. No animal would go through it. Yet we were going to go through one. Lex also told us that he obviously would not be able to guide us once we go through the portal. And so we went through it.

When we opened our eyes past the time portal, what we saw was completely different. We saw flourishing fields, with sun shining throughout the horizon. After the initial shock was gone, we decided to head to the capital with more subtlety. But then we were surprised to hear a familiar voice.

- Hey you! Stop right there.

Who we saw completely surprised us. It was Lex himself.

- You two, what are you wearing?

- What do you...?

- Why do we have some kind of connection formed between us when we just met? Explain yourselfs!

- We just came through the time portal and then...

- I see. So you came past this portal right here. So it is somehow connecting the past and the future. So which have you come to?

- Future? I think.

- I see. Fascinating. So if you two came from the future. Then that would explain the connection between us. I mean, I must have made them myself. I understand now.

- You do?

- Of course I do.

- So... if I understand correctly. You are the past version of yourself, and these rings that future you made, were made so that you would pick their effect?

- That is the compressed version, yes.

- So what do you think we should do from here on out?

- Let me take a look at your rings.

Lex touches my ring.

- Hhm. Yes. I understand now. We should be headed south-east of here. I will show you the way.

- You know where we should be headed? How?

- The future me made instructions to where we should be headed. And where we are headed is King Joshua's tomb. Or the future tomb for now. Currently it is the place where our target is controlling his army. A fort of some kind

- And you just know where it is?

- Well, the future me was there once before and he gave me parts of his memories. The same way he was given memories when he was in my place.

- And you two apparently can just do that.

- I can't. I haven't developed this type of spell yet. But the future me has.

- I see. Lead the way then. I guess.

While I still was baffled, we started walking towards the fort our enemy was at. And during this walk Aktor decided to ask for our opinions.

- So do you two think Joshua is a vampire?

- Why do you think that?

- With all the blood and stuff I figured that would fit the picture.

- I mean there is a chance it is.

Lex decided to answer.

- I don't think he is one.

- Wannabet?

- Sure. Let's bet favors.

And with that, we walked in a peaceful landscape. We walked for hours and it got dark, so we decided to camp near the road. When the morning came we heard passer-byes coming from the direction we were headed, so we decided to ask them a couple of questions.

- How do you feel about king Joshua?

- He is our hero. He unified this land with heroic feats.

- Yeah. He defeated one of the more oppressive lords into submission just by himself. His power is on another level.

- Absolutely! Don't want to get on his bad side. Lucky us he is a kind and understanding king.

- I see. Thanks for talking with us. We are headed towards the place he is at. We got some business with him.

- Oh. You are. Then please be respectful. He deserves it.

- We will keep that in mind. Good luck with your travels.

- Same to you too. Have a wonderful day.

We kept moving forwards. Knowing full well these people will not look kindly to us anymore once we defeat their hero king.

And so we were at the fort. Soon to be grave to the king Joshua. There were tons of guards standing in front of us. Me and Aktor were ready to fight them, but then Lex stopped us.

- Wait a minute. I deal with them.

He started casting a spell of some kind towards the guards when one of the guards started walking towards us.

- Hey! What are you doing!

- Too late.

Lex releases the spell and the guard starts to act confused.

- Where am I? What is this place? Why am I wearing this armor?

Then Lex started talking inside our heads.

- You have nothing to fear. You were under a spell that controlled your will. But now you are free to go. I firstly suggest that you leave this place. Take the food you can and start traveling north of here. There is a town that might welcome you.

The voice stops.

- What was that Lex?

- I countered the spell that was controlling them and then talked telepathically to the people in this fort. We can't rest though. Joshua is still free to do whatever he wishes. His former guards are in danger. We must hurry.

- Right.

We head inside the fort and see no one on the towers. Then we decided to check the basement of the fort and suddenly it becomes clear that someone really invested in it. It looks like a newly built ruin.

Heading deeper inside, we get to a chamber of sorts. And then we saw him. The source of our problem.

King Joshua. His race seems to be beastfolk. A feline of sorts. Sitting on what looks like a throne. There are six armored corpses lying in front of Joshua.

The room is lit by magical lights. And when we look down, we are standing on metal bars. And below us we see a giant pool of blood. This is where all the absorbed blood must have gone. This chamber. It obviously smells like blood and iron in here.

Then Joshua decided to start speaking.

- You dare come to my home. Take away my guards. And come here with not even greeting a king of this land! You are a bunch of peasants, I tell you. Now what say you?

Aktor starts.

- Before we go further, I must ask you something first.

- How dare you ask me...!?

- Are you a vampire or something like a vampire?

- How dare you accuse me of being a vampire!? Sure, My grandfather on my mother's side was one, but that does not make me one. You hear!

- Damn. So close. Now that's out of the way. We are here to end your rain.

- Ooh. You are here to do that? And what gives you the right? I am the hero of my time and I will be remembered as was long after I'm gone. Which won't come anytime soon, since I have this blood keeping me alive for centuries to come.

- We, at least the two of us humans, are from the future you are leeching that blood from. And we have come here to end you.

Joshua starts standing.

- You are welcome to try.

Aktor rushes towards him and decapitates him. His head starts rolling on the ground.

- Well that was easy. This can't be it right? He is called a hero for some reason.

And then we saw it. The head starts spewing roots. The roots go towards his body and reconnect the two parts. Then Joshua starts smiling.

- You see!? This is why I can't die. I have planted a parasite inside my body that will keep my body together. The parasite is also riddled with curses to keep it under my command all the time. And the blood you see here. The magic that I require to cast when I'm healing myself is taken from this huge pool of blood. You see, I am a blood mage who has reached the immortality all mages seek. And when I need more blood, well my loyal subjects won't mind lending me some of theirs for their king, now would they?

Lex states.

- So you are immortal as long as there is blood?

- Precisely!

- So all that we need to do is get rid of this huge pool of blood?

- That would be the case. But no matter where I or the blood I am connected with is, you can't stop me, for I have casted many spells on it so it will not be diluted.

- I see. Now it finally makes sense.

- So you finally understand the futility of your actions.

- No. I understand what needs to be done in order to defeat you.

- I beg your pardon?

- In the future where these two come from, you don't rule the land. And in fact, you are sealed away.

- That is impossible. For my mind control to work, I have to be present.

- You are. But you are sealed away. Waiting for your freedom for thousands of years to come. But you can't be freed by no one except for the one who sealed you. Me.

- That can't be true. No. That is a lie! A big dirty lie! You dare to come here and lie to me like that!? You are an absolute disgrace!

- Well then. Let's get this over with. You two take care of him while I'm casting the spell on him. It will take a while so get ready.

Me and Aktor raise our weapons.

- Get ready to dance Nor. It is going to be a rough ride.

- Ready.

In a fit of rage, Joshua says.

- I won't let you!

He sends a volley of spears made of hardened blood. We dodge but one narrowly scrapes me. Then he sends another volley of spells at Lex. Aktor tops them with his spear, rapidly swinging it.

- I keep protecting Lex. You try to slow Joshua down by cutting him to pieces.

I charge toward Joshua and he just keeps spouting spell after spell. It is hard to keep dodging them but I must do my best.

I see a small opening in his attacks and decide to strike. I sever him from right shoulder to left waist and the attack stops for a second. The regeneration starts quickly and even during it he casts multiple spells at me, Lex and Aktor. I dodge my best but some of them hit me. I bounce back up and try again.

The spells cast are amazingly rapid and strong. I can now see how he was considered to be a hero. I keep on dodging and trying to find an opening, but I just can't find them for a while. Aktor keeps blocking attacks coming at Lex and it looks like he isn't slowing down.

And then I see an opening. I rush in and strike thrice. Once in the neck, then to the waist, and then I try to slice his head open and I succeed. The volley of attacks slows down but won't stop. I keep slicing the body and the head to pieces as much as I can and the rate of attacks are slowing down. He seems to be focusing more and more magic into healing. And I keep slicing and dicing.

A while was spent on this and finally Lex gets ready to finalize the sealing spell. Then he casts it and a coffin of stone is formed and the pieces of Joshua are flown into it. The struggle is finally over.

- Then on to the next problem at hand. The blood. I'm going to cast a spell that will disintegrate the blood and its magical connection to him in due time. The spell is simple enough but it will take a long time to get rid of all this blood.

Lex casts his spell.

- And now we need to seal this whole place, so that no nosy person will get in here. Though I doubt there will be anyone who can break the seal on the coffin, but just in case.

We can hear noises coming from the coffing.

- NOOO! THIS CAN'T BE! I DEMAND YOU LET ME OUT THIS INSTANT!

There is silence for a while.

- Yah. You are not getting out of there for a while. I can't stop your magical connection to this blood but I can stop you from using any new spells from inside the coffin. Enjoy thousands of years of isolation.

- CURSE YOU! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE! YOU HEAR ME!? I WILL BE YOUR DESTROYER!

We decide to head out of the now tomb of Joshua and Lex locks the door with a magical key. We can still hear Joshua yelling at us from the outside.

- Now it is time to get rid of the time portals. There seemed to be something that is connected to this at the top of one of the towers. Let's head back to it.

We climb one of the towers and we see nothing and I ask.

- Are you sure there is something here? I see nothing in here that could be it.

Lex casts a spell at the center of the room and suddenly a device with a shard of some kind inside of it. And I ask him.

- What is this?

- The source of these time portals. And this shard seems to be a fragment of some god relating to time.

- A fragment of a time god!? That's amazing!

- Correct. But very dangerous. I shall take it so I can safeguard it. We can't let anyone with a creative mind take it. Or there will be massive consequences.

- I'm not sure I trust you to have it. But if in the future you haven't screwed up anything in the present, I suppose it is the best option available.

- Thank you. Now let me take it.

He takes it from the machine.

- Now it is time for us to say goodbye. I will give this key to the next king of this land and tell them why it needs to be kept. You will head back to your time and take care of what remains of king Joshua.

Aktor says.

- Agreed.

- Yes. Then we will see in the future. Until then, farewell.

And then we suddenly appear near an old ruin. It must be the tomb of Joshua. Then we hear Lex's voice from the ring.

- Hey. So how was the trip?

I decided to answer.

- You couldn't tell me about all of that?

- I didn't want to make you feel like you had no freedom of choice on the matter, so I decided to stay silent. I will help you open the seal in the tomb from here once you head in.

We decided to head inside the tomb with the key we had and finish all of this. Once we were inside the chamber where Joshua was sealed we saw that the pool of blood had turned into a pool of water. Though not as full as it used to be.

Then we headed to the coffin and opened the seal. We saw a wery quiet man lying there, slowly moving to get up. Then he tries to talk.

- Ugh. Uuh. Umumum.

He is just spewing random voices out of his old looking mouth. We started to feel a bit sorry for the guy and Aktor decided to end this by stabbing him in the heart with his spear.

- Ugh.

Aktor started talking quietly

- Now your torment has ended, old friend. Though it was one of your own making. Your immortality is now over. Now. Rest.

A little tears started flowing in Joshua's eyes.

- Ugh.

So ended the story of the hero king Joshua. It is now your time to pass on.

- Goodbye.