12: The True Fate Of Heroes.

He stood there, bounded by the chains as he stared blankly at the floor. Nothing made sense to him anymore, the world which he now existed in was more warped than he had originally thought. The chains mysteriously shattered by themselves and he fell to his knees, his gaze still fixed on the floor.

[This is no time to beat yourself up, boy. I have a really bad feeling about this building and I think it's best you leave immediately]

He didn't give a single reply to the voice and kept on staying there lifelessly, the building began collapsing and the top floor immediately began shattering.

[You're going to die if you stay here!]

" And what if I want to die!"

[…]

It was a moment of silence between the both of them but the building wasn't going to wait. With each second the collapsing speed of the building began increasing and it wasn't long before a huge mold of concrete fell to his right.

[You're not forgetting that that infatuation of yours is still in the building right?]

As much as he was about to ignore the words, the last few words quickly sparked a new life in him. Ciara was still in the building and he could save her if he hurried.

Slowly, he got up from the floor and tried to run forward but another obstacle fell right where he was. He was quick to sense it and moved out of the way, continuing forward to the exit.

Just as he was about to reach the exit, stretching his hand towards his door, the wall collapsed on him along with the door with the door and it was a sudden blackout for him right after that.

He slowly opened his eyes a few minutes later, looking up to see nothing but darkness and the dim light coming from the sky. Huge amounts of concrete had fallen on him and most of his bones had been broken.

He was barely clinging to life. The rubble hadn't even left him space to see the world in his last moments as thoughts began flooding into his head.

" I just wanted a world where everyone could be happy. Equality and understanding, nothing more. So this is realism shitting at me, obvious right from the start." He mumbled, tears slowly rolling down the side of his eyes, " When did I ever want to be the hero, when did begin wanting this life? Who made me believe I was strong enough, who was it that gave me hope that I could save anyone, why did get to live in this world?"

[No matter how hard you try, the fact that you're a human being will never change. I can't say I understand much about human emotions but you're being a little too emotional here for who I've always known you to be.]

[Tell me now, what happened to the boy who went crashing through roofs, disorienting auctions, and giving people hope for another possibly bright tomorrow.]

" Yeah right!" He screamed, causing blood to spew out of his mouth, " It was the same hope I had with me all this while and look where it got me. I always looked at things from one angle. What if… their lives would have been better if I had just left them alone? What if they were happy with how things were going for them, if my endurance got me this far then… there's could have too."

[So then… you'll just stay here and cry over being a failure]

" Yeah and so what... What better way could there be for me to die anyway?"

He lay there, staring away blankly in the midst of the darkness while tears continuously rolled down his cheeks. The pain of not being able to save her haunted him regardless.

Meanwhile, just outside the building, the two women watched as the building quickly crumbled to the ground. Their hearts went racing after it happened and quickly ran towards the rubble in search of particular people.

*****

Inside a dimly lit room, Leo lay on a bed with the upper half of his body completely bare. He continued to stare at the ceiling with a book firmly held against his chest.

" You'll be closing the inn soon right? It's almost dusk, who knows what thieves could be waiting for the right time." He said, turning his head to the said to see a woman walk in through the door.

" Like I would have been worrying about all that if your knights actually did their job right." She said, closing the door behind her, " now leave so I can change my clothes."

He turned his gaze away in disappointment, sighing as he slowly got up from the bed, " I'll be right downstairs, just call me if you're in need of anything."

She kept her eyes glued on him as he slowly walked out of the room and as he did, she slowly walked towards the mirror that was by the side of her room. A faint smile appeared on her face as she slowly ran her fingers through her hair.

Her eyes were an emerald green while her hair was as brown as tree trunks. Her slightly circular face greatly smoothed, making her reflection in the mirror shine as bright as ever.

That was when she felt a warm, light touch on her shoulders and a familiar voice slowly whispered into her ear, "Your beauty never fails to shine."

Her face instantly turned bright red and she quickly turned around, stretching out her right hand in an attempt to slap him right across the face.

" Let's not act rashly now okay." Leo grabbed a hold of her hand with the usual warm smile on his face, " I just came to tell you I'm leaving and to take my clothes as well."

" You could have at least knocked on the door." She said, pointing towards the exit to her right, " and creeping up to my shoulder, that can be really annoying."

By the time she was done talking he had already put on his clothes and white furry coat, approaching the exit he said, "Your lacking of eloquence is quite unfortunate, it should have been my job to correct but it seems that my love for you has led to me being corrupted instead."

" Just shut up and leave."

In the blink of an eye, he appeared right next to her, wrapping his arm around her neck as he slowly placed a kiss on her forehead. She didn't try to resist in any way, seemed like the simple kiss was all it had taken to tame her.

" I'll be leaving now." He said, slowly approaching the door.

" Yeah, sure." She said softly, staring at him, her cheeks slightly red.

As soon as he was out of the building, he quickly began walking down the street. Dusk had already set and night was fast approaching.

At some point, he reached out his hand and Fred's came flying towards him after a few seconds. It had a letter gripped by its feet which it immediately handed to him.

He quickly opened up the scroll and his widened immediately after reading the contents that were written on it. With the scroll folded once more and held by his left hand, he slowly closed his eyes.

A sudden surge of energy began to build up inside him, and he opened his eyes to reveal a red burning gaze. Flames slowly began to surround within a parameter around his feet and they quickly began to grow bigger and taller.

The flames continued to grow in height and width, enveloping him entirely. After a while the flames instantly vanished along with him and the only thing left was a wide black scorch mark on the ground.

He appeared amidst the pile of rubble, quickly sensing the faint presence of mana from countless other-worlders, but he could neither see nor sense any strong presence which depicted that someone was still alive.

It began raining soon after and he slowly began to walk away, looking around for any clues as to where the three could be. Then, he stopped by a pile of debris which seemed smaller compared to the other side.

" Could this have been built apart from the main building?" He thought, staring intently at a particular spot.

He could sense the faint presence of the familiar mana, but this one was different compared to the others he felt. A huge surge of wind surrounded him, and the debris was cut into pieces in split seconds.

All the tiny rocks were immediately blown away and he looked down to see a strange humanlike figure lying there on the ground.

He recognized the mana well, but the body he was seeing didn't match the person who owned it in any way and for some reason, it seemed contaminated as well.

Ears that stretched backward and were pointed, fangs that stuck out of his slightly open mouth, and the fact that he was still breathing even after most of his internal organs had been crushed. He wasn't human in any way.