Chương 6: Hero

Hours later, the city of Gram was silent. The streets were ruined. Homes had been torn apart. Trees had been chopped down or burned. Bodies lay scattered across the roads, left among broken weapons, shattered doors, and pools of drying blood. The Crows were gone. Those who had survived the massacre had most likely fled toward Artem. Only the dead remained. Then a child walked through the ruined city. She had curly blond hair and wore a black dress.

A butterfly mask covered her face, and golden butterflies drifted lazily around her as she moved through the wreckage.

"What a pain," she sighed. Her voice was soft, but her tone carried the weariness of someone far older than she looked.

"The hero candidate I had in mind is missing." One of the golden butterflies landed on her shoulder.

"Stolen away by a mere lesser." She continued walking until she came across a body. Unlike the others, this corpse had been treated with care. Its wounds had been closed. Its severed parts had been sewn back into place. The child stopped beside it and looked down.

"The useless older brother," she said. Noah Fafnir lay before her, still and cold. She tilted her head.

"He could make a useful hero candidate." The butterflies around her began to glow.

"Between the prodigy child in Longinus and this failure, the choice would normally be obvious." She crouched beside Noah's body. Then she went quiet. The golden butterflies circled above him, their wings shining faintly in the smoke-filled air.

"Yes," the child whispered.

"The winds of destiny seem to favor you." She lifted both hands. Light gathered in her palms.

"As the God of Hope," she said, clasping her hands together, "the Lumiar of Destiny…" The ruined street brightened around her.

"As the one who has prevented seven other apocalypses from befalling this world…" Her butterflies multiplied, filling the air like drifting sparks.

"I choose you, young Fafnir." The light grew stronger.

"You shall be the Hero of this era." The child stood over Noah's body, her mask glowing with divine radiance.

"In my name, Lux, one of the four primordial gods of this world…" She spread her hands.

"Ability Activate." The butterflies descended.

"Miracle." Golden light poured into Noah's body. The stitches holding him together vanished. Flesh, bone, and blood reconnected as if death itself were being undone. The wounds closed, leaving only markings behind. A thorn-shaped scar formed around his neck, and matching scars appeared where his arm had once been severed. Noah Fafnir's body lay whole again. Then, faintly, his fingers twitched. Noah woke with a sharp gasp. He shot upright, breathing heavily, one hand clutching his chest.

His eyes darted around the ruined street as fragments of memory crashed back into him. The clearing. Inari. His arm. His head. Death.

"The fox-masked man," Noah said, forcing himself to stand.

"Where did he go?" His legs shook beneath him.

"I need to stop them." He took one step forward. Then Lux hooked her foot around his ankle and tripped him. Noah hit the ground hard.

"Hold your horses," Lux said with a small chuckle.

"You have just been revived. Show some gratitude." Noah pushed himself up, finally looking at her.

"Who are you?" As he spoke, his hand moved to his neck. His fingers brushed against the scar there, a thorn-shaped mark circling his throat where the blade had killed him. Lux stood in front of him, golden butterflies drifting around her.

"My name is Lux," she said.

"God of Hope." Noah froze.

"The one who has preserved the balance of this world for seven eras."

"God?" Noah muttered. Of course he knew that name. If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Everyone did. The Church of Hope was the only official religion in the world. For seven eras, the world had been threatened by an apocalypse. Each apocalypse came in the form of an individual granted tremendous power, born for the sole purpose of massacring life across the world and slaying the gods. And each time, that apocalypse had been stopped by a Hero chosen by Lux.

Noah had even been named after one of them. His ancestor. His great-grandfather. The Sixth Hero, Noah Crest. Lux smiled at him from behind her butterfly mask.

"I have chosen you as this world's Eighth Hero." Noah stared at her, unable to speak. Lux tilted her head.

"You were not my first choice." Her smile did not fade.

"But you are the only one I have." Noah stared at her.

"How can I become the Hero?" he asked. His voice shook.

"I couldn't even stop that fox-masked man. I'm too weak." His hands curled into fists.

"I always was." Lux stepped closer.

"You simply had no control over your ability." Noah looked up.

"Until now." Lux took his hand gently. Her fingers brushed against the black spots on his skin.

"Your ability is called The Ladybug," she said.

"It allows you to absorb the suffering of others and place it onto your own body." Noah's eyes widened slightly.

"In battle," Lux continued, "you can expel that negative causality in the form of dark attacks." The golden butterflies drifted around them in silence.

"The reason Gram prospered for so long was because of you. Without realizing it, you were absorbing the suffering of everyone in the city." Noah looked down at the marks on his hand. All this time, he had thought they were a curse. Lux's voice softened.

"To sacrifice oneself for others is the mark of a hero." She released his hand.

"No ability is more heroic than yours." Noah's breath caught. For the first time in his life, the black spots on his skin did not feel like proof that he was broken. He was not useless. He was not cursed. He simply had no control over the power he had been born with.

"If that's really true," Noah said quietly, "will I be able to become stronger?"

"In theory, yes." Lux placed her hands behind her back.

"Normally, I would strengthen you with my ability. However, I already used a miracle to revive you." She tilted her head.

"So you will have to grow stronger on your own." Noah lowered his gaze.

"But I have faith you will manage," Lux said. He looked back at her.

"For whatever reason, your destiny is utterly radiant in my eyes." Lux smiled beneath her butterfly mask. Noah slowly stood. Then his eyes widened. For a moment, he had been so overwhelmed by Lux, by his revival, and by the truth of his ability, that he had forgotten everything else. His family. His home. Gram.

"My home," Noah said. His voice tightened with panic.

"We need to go back to Gram. Quickly." Lux went still.

"Are you sure you truly wish to return there?" Noah stared at her. His hands rose to cover his mouth.

"You don't mean…" Lux turned away from him.

"Come with me." Golden butterflies drifted after her as she began walking through the ruined street.

"It is best you see for yourself." Noah followed, his legs heavy beneath him. Lux did not look back.

"So when you face your enemies…" Her voice was calm.

"You will not be held back by a fickle concept such as mercy." They reached Gram soon after. Noah stopped at the edge of the city. For a moment, he could only stare. The city he had walked through that morning was gone. Houses had been reduced to broken wood and stone. Trees that had stood for generations had been cut down, their massive trunks lying across the streets like fallen giants. Corpses littered the roads, left where they had fallen. The air smelled of smoke, blood, and death. Noah took one step forward.

Then another. His legs moved before his mind could fully accept what he was seeing. He ran into the ruined street, eyes searching desperately through the bodies and wreckage. Then he stopped. A pool of blood stained the ground ahead of him. There was no body beside it. No sword. No final trace of the man who had fallen there. But Noah knew. Somewhere deep in his chest, he knew exactly who that blood belonged to. His knees weakened.

"Dad…" His voice broke.

"Dad, no." Noah stumbled closer and dropped to the ground beside the bloodstain. His hands hovered over it, trembling, as if touching it would make the truth real.

"Where is his body?" he whispered. Lux stood behind him, golden butterflies drifting around her in silence.

"The corpses of those descended from primordial monsters are quite valuable," she said.

"Families such as the Fafnirs carry blood that others would gladly steal." Noah looked back at her, horrified.

"The Crows likely took him." His fingers dug into the dirt.

"Why?" Lux's voice remained calm.

"To make weapons, perhaps." Noah's face twisted.

"Or to be eaten." The words struck him harder than any blade. Noah lowered his head, shaking. His father was gone. Not buried. Not honored. Taken. Used. Reduced to something valuable only because monsters wanted what remained of him. Lux looked toward the manor.

"Shall we head inside?" Noah did not answer immediately. His eyes moved to the old Fafnir manor. The windows were broken. The front door hung open. The home he had left that morning now looked like a corpse of its own. Inside were the answers he dreaded most. His mother. Isaac. Isabelle. Noah forced himself to stand. His body felt colder than it had when he was dead.

"Y-yes," he said. His voice was barely there.

"I have to." He took one step toward the manor. Then another.

"I have to see it." Lux followed without a word as Noah walked toward the remains of his home.