A Hero‘s sacrifice

Genre: Dark, Drama, Angst

…

When the legendary hero Leon died sacrificing himself for his people, the whole kingdom of Caelzin was shaken.

I had accompanied him in all his heroic deeds. I had been by his side from the start. That's why his death hit me so hard.

I've known him since I was little and we were best friends. However, only Leon had been blessed with magical powers. He was an outstanding magician and also an excellent fighter. For this reason, the king of Caelzin quickly became aware of him. It wasn't long before he was named the country's new hero.

I, on the other hand, remained a simple human being.

I was also neither good with a sword or a bow, and many of the hero's followers saw me as a burden for his party.

But Leon didn't care. It was important to him to have a friend by his side. And i admired him for that.

I tried my best not to be a burden on his travels. So I took over the planning and tactics of our combat troops. It wasn't long before I knew all about the political machinations and goals of the kingdom.

But In the process, Leon and I became estranged. Our duties and responsibilities were simply not the same. That's why it was actually foreseeable that we would grow apart after a while.

Maybe that's why I didn't cry at the announcement of his death. I didn't even shed a tear at his funeral either.

Don't get me wrong, I wanted to cry. I really wanted to. But my body refused.

Maybe it was because I already had a certain hunch back then...

Leon had changed a lot in the last years.

I noticed that he didn't look the same as he used to. His happiness was missing. As if everything good in him was sucked out of him. He was like an empty shell, drained and tired of his duties.

I had advised Leon more and more often to take a break. But Leon laughed only slightly at that: "Heroes don't have breaks. You don't understand that.", he had only answered with a painful smile.

He talked to me like we were in two completely different worlds. We probably were.

However, he was still my best friend. I didn't want to let the others take advantage of him and drain him like that.

But Leon silently put up with everything. "That's the sacrifice that the hero has to make." He just explained to me at the time. As if I hadn't understood that long ago.

Still, I didn't want to just accept it just like that.

More and more often I saw that his smile wasn't real anymore. It looked fake. like a mask. But the others didn't seem to care. They only saw him as the hero. the idol. The savior of the helpless. Not as a human being.

And I found myself getting more and more angry and frustrated about it.

They took and took more and more of him.

They took parts from his life, his personality, his helpfulness. His existence. They all screamed greedily for help and attention when they got into trouble, but none of them even thought of going to the hero's aid or to give him any attention in a caring way. Selfish as people were, they swallowed everything they could get. Like flies on a carcass.

After a while it became clear to me that Leon didn't have much longer to live under these circumstances.

I shared my concerns with the authorities, but it all fell on deaf ears. Either they didn't want to admit it or they just didn't care. Ultimately, however, this is also irrelevant because it would lead to the same result: Leon would die in the foreseeable future. Probably from overexertion. They were working him literally to death. With no prospect of a break or a retirement.

Nobody wanted to help me or support me. So I sought help in a place where I should never have sought for help…

The demons were considered the most dangerous beings in this world. They were insidious beings who spread nothing but fear and lies. It was forbidden even to enter their realm.

Nevertheless I still did it. I did it to save Leon from these disgusting people. I couldn't find any other solution.

After some strife, I entered the realm of the demons and begged the demon king to save my best friend from the humans.

The demon king just grinned maliciously and asked me what I could offer him in return. "Everything", I had answered him. At that, the Demon King's grin only deepened, sending a shiver down my spine.

If I had known then what that bastard was up to, I would never have submitted to him and his plans. I would never have agreed to leave the human world behind forever to loyally serve as the tactical advisor to the Demon King.

And so it was that the demons attacked the people of Caelzin. Unannounced.

Many humans lost their lives in this merciless attack. And I could only watch helplessly.

I had made everything a thousand times worse.

Without me, the team of heroes was tactically at a loss. I betrayed my own people. Just to save my friend. And even that didn't work. Because the demon king was a traitor. He saw no problem in 'helping' my friend by simply killing Leon. It had been a trap from the start.

Still, as the Demon King speared Leon on his poisoned sword, I thought I heard Leon whisper a low, relieved 'Thank the gods... it's over' before collapsing completely lifeless in such.

Maybe the demons had taken away my humanity, too. Maybe that's why I'd only felt something like relief inside of me. Maybe that was the only way to free Leon from this cruel suffering...