True Heroes - Chapter 7

“Hey……..”


“Hey..”


“Hey!”

Dazed, Zach opened his eyes.

The world around him was white. Completely still and motionless. There were no walls and no ceiling. Heck, there probably wasn’t a floor, but he had to be sitting on something.

The only thing that stood out in this place was the girl standing over him. Shock and surprise filled Zach, followed closely by fear. Only a minute ago, he had been accepting the diamond from Gabora. Then……. He couldn’t remember anything after that. Now he was here, alone with this girl. What had happened!

“Oh good, you're awake! I was starting to worry.”

The girl smiling over him was a simple one. She had a friendly face with white, almost silver hair tied back in a bun. She wore a white coat with a popped collar that almost looked like a cape at the right angle. She wore it along with a red skirt and a bronze bracelet with designs etched into it. At her side was a sheath, probably housing some kind of sword. She stood with an aura of confidence that would seem like arrogance if she didn’t have a genuine looking smile to go with it.

Zach squinted at her with a cautious look. He had a guess as to who this girl was, but he couldn’t be sure just yet. This could be anyone. He couldn’t let his guard down just because she appeared friendly.

“Hey, don’t give me that look. I didn’t want to be meeting you like this either..”


She looked off into the nothingness around her returning her attention to him. She leaned down and offered him a hand. “My names Thelia, but maybe you knew that already…?” She looked at him hopefully, as if she expected an answer.

After a moment’s thought, Zach took the hand, and slowly rose to his feet, still a bit perplexed by the not-floor below him.

“My name is Zach.” He paused to think. “And you… are one of Sialus’s student’s, right?”

She raised an eyebrow, and her smile stretched into a grin. “Yeah, that’s right! I’m glad you know, or that’d be a whole other problem. Anyway’s, It’s good to see you’ve made it here in one piece. I can only imagine the troubles you’ve dealt with.”

Zach looked around. Not a thing in sight. No barriers in any direction. This was either an illusion or a dream. “So just where are we right now?”

Thelia looked around before realizing what Zach meant. “Oh this? To put it simply, were inside my gem.”

Despite the fact that made literally no sense, Zach believed her. He was beginning to just accept the crazy impossible things that occurred in his life. He just had to adapt to his new surroundings and move on from it. If he paused to think about every occurrence, he would be thinking forever. Something did bother him though. Zach couldn’t shake the feeling that he had heard this girl somewhere before. Her name, or maybe her… Oh hey!

“You were in a dream I had yesterday! Just your voice though…”

Thelia’s nodded. “Yeah, that was me. I had been getting little glimpses of you from in here, and it was driving me mad, so I had to do something! I’m glad you got the message, though it was rushed, and a bit more dramatic than I would have intended. I had no idea whether I’d get to talk to you before we were forced into a fight, so I had to include as much as I could.”

Zach flinched. That’s right! They didn’t have that much time. The monster was still alive, so they needed to get back as soon as possible to finish it off.

“About that…. There’s kinda a monster that we need to kill…”

Thelia nods.

“And it might escape if we don’t hurry……”

Thelia nods again.

“So can we talk more later?”

Thelia nodded one more time. “Of course. If what you say is true, then we should get on with some basic training so you won’t fall in combat.”

With one hand, Thelia went for the sheath, and reaches out to Zach with the other. Her grin shifted into one of determination and glee. “So, are you ready?”

Without hesitation, Zach shook the hand. This was when things started getting fun. It was about time.

Suddenly, the whole room they were standing in started shifting. Loud noises erupted from all sides, and the center of gravity started to tilt. Thelia’s grin turned to a look of shock and frustration as she was forced to one knee.

“Somethings messing with the gem! We must go see what it is.” She looked at Zach intently. “Quickly, you need to wake up.”

What. “What!”

Thelia gave him an exasperated look. “I’ll explain later. For now, just try to focus really hard on leaving. Make a mental image of yourself leaving, and make it happen!”

She said it like it was easy. How could a person wake up from this kind of sleep, if it even was sleep! Okay, lets slow down. It’s simple. Just….. Focus… Focus on waking up... (whatever that means.)

The room continued to shake. Zach closed his eyes and clenched his fists. Slowly, he became calm. The danger ceased to matter, and the noise became quieter. Faintly, a door appeared from within the darkness. It began to open, slowly, slowly….

-----

Everything was going nuts. The monster was here. This was really bad!

Rose felt a deep fear in the pit of her stomach, the same fear as when they had escaped the beast only a day ago. As she rushed through the corridors of the inner temple, she only focused on moving forward. She had to buy time. Zach was still unconscious on the floor of the vault entrance, and Gabora was running to find something to help finish the monster.

They should have been more careful, hurried more, done anything to ensure that the monster would be defeated quickly. Now it was here, and it’s main goal was getting her. Rose didn’t even want to think of what would happen if she was caught.

As she ran, she looked down at the emerald enclosed in her hand. Why hadn’t she done what Zach had? Was it broken?! This thing was supposed to get her going! All it was right now was a waste of time! Rose thought back to her speech in the treehouse. “If you hadn’t stepped in when you did, I wouldn’t have gotten out of there. No chance. I just stood there! Doing nothing!” Rose grimaced. What was she going to do!

As she burst forward into the sanctuary, She was quickly subdued by dust that hung in a thick layer in the room. Her eyes stung from it, but that wasn’t the worst part. Standing right in the crushed remains of the entrance was the Shadow. Its bruises showed, but it looked just as terrifying as it had before. By this point, Rose was just sick of this thing. Every time things were looking up, this thing just had to come and ruin everything!

The beast looked around, seemingly scanning the room, before setting its gaze on her. It stood completely still, like an animal stalking its prey. Slowly, it started walking towards her. This was just like before! When it had cornered them at the lake, it had done the same thing. And that meant…. she had to get out of the way!

Like a gigantic bull, the Shadow came charging forward, teeth baring, straight at her. Rose dodged out of the way, sliding out only a few feet out from the monster before it crashed into the back wall, exposing a fresh hole in the crumbling stone.

As Rose tried to get up, the beast turned around faster than she could have expected, trying to swipe her with it’s claws. Only a quick jump backwards saved her from the deathly blow, sending her tumbling backwards down into the courtyard.

After failing to prepare for the landing, Rose plummeted knees first onto the courtyard floor, sending a jolt of pain into her system. The Shadow came stomping down after her, causing the whole temple to shake, and forcing the chase to continue.

She had to stick to the tree’s. It was her only chance of getting away. If she could just stall for some time, Gabora would come back. He would be able to do something. He had to!

Running full sprint through the grove was no easy feat. It took all the ability she could muster just to keep from running into a bush or tripping over a root. Branches seemed to swipe at her as she pushed past, and she wasn’t getting any faster. But the monster was in hot pursuit, and if she made even one mistake, it would trapple her. So she would just…. have.. to keep…. Going!! NO!

Rose was on the ground. A rogue vine sat as the sole culprit. It seemed like their was only one thing to do. Get up, and keep going. But as Rose tried to move, her muscles seized up. Her body was at its limits. She was stuck.

She could hear the monster getting closer. That thing, with its whole zero eyes, and it's big old bite, had managed to catch her. As the frightened girl turned to face the music, a thought appeared from the back of her mind. She had done something. She had stood up, and ran head first into a situation she couldn’t win. To save her friend, to buy time, to try to help! It didn’t matter how it happened. She did it, and maybe, just maybe, it would mean something in the end.
As the monster pounced into the air, teeth poised and claws bearing, aiming for her, all she could do was stare. This was i-

“HHHHHHAAAAAAAAAH!”

Careening through the air like a misfired bullet, the monster was sent flying to the front of the room, spraying rocks and debris everywhere in the process. But what had hit it! Where had it come from! How had….

All Rose could do was stare in awe as the boy landed before her. He wore a red coat with a popped collar and blue jeans to match. At his side was a silver sheath, and the blade to go with it shining a brilliant gold in his left hand. Slowly, he turned around, and it became very clear who this was. His normally blonde hair was now a shade lighter, his green shirt replaced with a white one. But behind all that, the face was the same. Standing before her was Zachary Widrow.

“Are you alright?”

The look he gave her showed concern and anger, but most of all determination. Yeah, she was okay. But that didn’t matter one little bit. All that mattered was that in that moment, help had arrived. Rose could only manage a nod and a thumbs up before she collapsed back onto the floor. She had went the distance. It was Zach’s turn.

Zach quickly nodded back before turning back around to face the monster, who was struggling to get up from all its wounds. It let out a primal screech, sending sound echoing throughout the room. It looked as battered as a monster could be. It’s mangy fur now stained with soot and burns. Its head displayed the backlash from the magic strike used on it the first time it had attacked them. Its body was covered with bruises and scratches from all the walls it had hit. This was not the face of a bloodthirsty sentinel. This was the face of a wounded animal, with no will of its own, and no purpose but to instinctively seek out the mana it’s master so desired.

As the monster shook itself off and limped back onto the main floor. Zach took an offensive stance, keeping his focus only on the Shadow. Slowly, he started moving towards the monster, matching the pace it had approached them at the lake.

“Zach!”

Zach risked a glance back, startled, but not worried.

“Please. Don’t let it suffer any longer.” It didn’t matter if it was terrible, if it had nearly killed her, or if it had caused so much trouble. It was a living thing, so it deserved that kindness. In it’s short life, it had only experienced pain and battle. Let it at least escape that.

Zach nodded, before returning his attention to the Shadow. Once again, he started slowly approaching, picking up speed as he crossed the ancient floor. The beast followed suit, giving all it had to rush the young warrior, jumping into the air, bearing its claws, roaring with all it had. Zach closed the gap, jumped high into the air, and stabbed full force into the monster.

It was over.

As Zach landed, the first Shadow stayed airborne, levitating in space. Then, violently, it started shaking, its limbs bending in ways they shouldn’t. In one small poof, it disintegrated, leaving nothing behind but some dust hanging in the air.

-----

“You really like fainting, don’t you?”

As Zach opened his eyes, shakely attempting to sit up, he found himself laying on the couch, back in the treehouse. As he blinked to clear his vision, he could see the look of distaste (or maybe concern?) cross Gabora as he examined him.

“You really shouldn’t be moving around right now. Your body is still a bit brittle after what you did at the temple.”

Zach sighed. They were safe.

“Where’s Rose?”

Gabora sighed and glided over to his place on the window. “Oh, she had to leave for business in town. She did ask me to have you call her when you awoke. She was really worried about you, and not without good reason.”

“She left? When was that?”

The owl looked over at Zach, furrowing his owl-brow. “You’ve been here for a few days now. Her leaving was very reasonable, considering she stayed here a whole night after the attack.”


The boy relaxed. Rose must have been shocked. Seeing her new friend fighting a monster 10 times his size with nothing but a sword and a bit of mana, he must have seemed insane. He had only half known what he had been doing. Only the disembodied voice of Thelia giving him instructions, combined with the adrenaline that came with rushing in to save the day, had kept him from getting clawed.

Looking around the room, Zach spotted the jewel sitting on the mantle. It glittered in the firelight, despite the dust that should have covered it. The feeling had been incredible. Mana flowing through him, everything felt a little bit clearer, like he was a lense that had finally been cleaned.

But it hadn’t been easy. Thelia’s voice was very quiet, and he still had no idea how exactly he had powered up the way he did. But at least now they had the time to slow down and ask questions.

On the table next to him sat his keys and phone. Somehow, neither were damaged. As he lazily reached for them, he could see notifications flash across the screen. A missed call from Rose, and…… 20 texts from John. Fun.

On top of that, he had apparently disappeared off the map for a few days, so that probably came with some concerns. Just thinking of coming up with all the excuses and lies just made his head spin.

But as he looked out through the window, taking in the rising sun, he smiled. The world was safe, at least for now, and he had gotten through a tough spot. At this rate, things could only get easier, and if you didn’t count the whole ‘almost dying’ business, his first weekend in Sollice hadn’t been too shabby. And now, no matter how much he might wish it otherwise, he was pretty much a superhero. No matter what the context, that was cool. So he smiled, rested his head, and fell asleep, because heroing is exhausting.


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Author's Notes: This chapter is nice. It wraps up the first main conflict, while also asking about 20 other questions. It gives a smidgen of development for Rose, and wraps up with a fun action scene. This chapter also marks the end of the “let's get the show on the road” arc. Most of the main cast has been introduced in some capacity, and the city of Sollice is (mostly) safe. I’m happy to be able to get into a more “normal” set of chapters, focusing on lore-building and the more “slice of life” aspects of this series. That means I get to write more John, so i’m pretty happy. I would also like to note that, as i’ve been writing these first set of chapters, I learned a lot about story structure, and how to properly start a series. While this is by no means an awesome start, or even a good one, It serves the purpose. And for those enjoying this read, It’s only gonna get better from here. :D