The Hero's arm twirled in the air as the crowd watched, spinning and spilling its blood over the fighters in the arena, before landing miserably on the ground.
The Hero huffed in exasperation. It took just a moment for him to lose his arm because of his lack of attention. Thinking too much about the Fairy, he was going to lose this fight.
He could not deny that the blade that had cut his arm was well sharpened, it had an exceptional edge that coupled perfectly with the speed of its owner who was a courier, it was as if he had cut through butter. In front of him was a fairy, an elf and another mole - a reminder: a mole is a giant mole that digs by rotating on itself, rare were those who had the gift of speech. A team that complemented each other thanks to its composition, which was arranged with a very fast foot soldier who came to hand-to-hand, aerial and underground attacks, and a good archer who could keep him at a distance.
What a mess, again... If I had Ymir, I would have swept them away with a backhand of blade and ice... Now, I will have to show ingenuity and speed.
- So you're all going to fight me?" the Hero asked with a laugh.
- We were able to witness your exploits against the giant lizard-man and the judge Triface, whom you defeated with astonishing simplicity," explained one of the champions.
- We couldn't afford to go to war with each other while you were with us.
- I understand, I understand... But do you think that with this simple organization that benefits you, you really have a chance to defeat me?
- Only the gods of destiny in the Pantheon of Razomer know the answer," the fairy retorted, thrusting her sword into the arm of the fallen hero.
- If they can defeat the Fate of the Hero of the Legend...," laughed the Hero, "ah! I think this is mine. Can I have it back?" demanded the Hero in the most polite tone.
- Probably not. Flame Magic: Organic combustion.
Crimson flames shot out of his arm and wrapped around it, bubbles of flesh bursting from his limb before falling to ashes in front of the Hero. The Hero instantly understood that his opponents would not give him any advantage, if they had to use the worst tricks to take him down, they would.
- Either.
A few minutes before, in the princely boxes.
The Fairy was watching her new champion's game, bothered by the events of a few days ago. She was partly ashamed that she had taken refuge behind her friend after seeing the barbaric execution of the Alpha Fenrir Hero. She knew he had done it to protect her! But to see a body, even that of a beast, torn in two by a being of almost the same physiognomy, the same build as her, who was speaking to her in such a friendly manner only a few minutes before this abominable act...
Why did violence have to rule the world?
Marine saw her looking pensive and with her eyes in the dark, left her seat next to her champion and came to sit on the vacant seat next to her to see why she looked so serious. Marine was not really a friend of the winged fairy. They were classmates, she found qualities and faults in her, but as far as this story of the Feline's offspring or the fact that she was wingless, she didn't hold it against her. It wasn't her fault... It wasn't so bad after all... Anyway, she didn't seem to have the same ambition as the Traitor Queen and had worked hard to be on par with her fellow princesses despite her non-existent wings.
The Fairy told him about the assault she had suffered from the Fenrirs and how the Hero had saved her, and that instead of thanking him, she had fled.
- And you think he blames you?
- I don't know. I haven't talked to her since that day...
- If he fights with the other competitors, it's because he doesn't really care, concludes the fairy princess Marine.
- Surely...
- You'll just have to apologize at the end of the game...
No sooner had she finished her sentence than they saw the Hero's arm fly through the air before ending up on the ground in front of its owner. The Fairy's eyes widened at the amputation of her champion; she screamed in horror at the Courier's action.
Marine rubbed her cheek with her tongue when she saw this scene.
... if he gets out of it..., Marine added perplexed.
The fighters went on the attack and assaulted the Hero. The moped sank to the ground while the fairy flew away and the steed circled the hero at full speed. So he was cornered in a formation that he made that he could be attacked from all sides without knowing where the next attack would come from. And the blows did not wait; they rained down from everywhere: from sword blows to claw blows to rains of magic arrows, remote controlled or not. The Hero had no way to fight off his opponents with one arm bleeding profusely and with the seal of restriction blocking all his powers.
The audience seemed to agree that the four children would defeat the hero of the legend and began to question his legitimacy.
Globox in the royal box thought the same thing:
- How can he be the hero of the legend if he easily gets his arm cut off? Finally, our queen could have easily defeated him.
Queen Audiselia did not say a word. She observed the scene with great interest without showing it; she could see that the Hero was behaving differently. She had seen, from the beginning of the fight, that he was not concentrated and that he must not even have noticed that he had started, given the way he was standing.
This idiot also had the absurd idea of coming to confront "experienced" warriors without armor.
She wondered if it was the event with the Fenrirs that had disturbed him so much that he was so unable to provide a worthy resistance. Perhaps she should have intervened...
The Hero ended up with his body lacerated by the attacks of these fighters, riddled with arrows, both physical and magical, which disappeared after having reached or missed their objective. He had protected himself as best he could, with his one arm and avoiding that any of his vital organs or his spine be hit. Out of breath and weakened, he dropped to one knee.
By mutual agreement, the four fighters decided to finish him off by cutting him down from all sides; it was the cyclotaupe that, coming alone, from the ground, attacked him by spinning on itself to make a hole in the human's chest.
But suddenly, by an unexpected miracle, the Hero got up and pushed his arm away. He threw a right into the face of the burrowing mammal, caught it by the leg and sent it against the fairy, who received it with full force and fell to the ground. He had succeeded in disrupting their group cohesion, so he could take this opportunity to turn the tables. He charged at the elf, who threw a volley of arrows at him that the Hero barely dodged. He ran at full speed towards him, flashing a murderous smile, and almost reached him when the courier interfered... which the Hero had planned.
He leaned on his right foot and put him a kick in the jaw with his heel, letting him spread out on the ground thanks to the inertia. Then he ran towards the elf and broke his bow in two before moving towards the fairy, crushing his back with his foot and grabbing his wings.
Everyone in the stadium started to scream, the queen got up from her seat and opened her eyes wide; the Hero had just committed a more than unforgivable outrage: he had touched the wings of a fairy. His greatest pride, the most sensitive part of his body. Was he going to commit the unthinkable?
- Stop it, you human! shouted the people in the stadium, you have no right to do that! Waste without magic!
The Hero pretended not to hear and asked his opponent to turn his face to the side and look at him out of the corner of his eye.
- Let me be clear! I'm in a really bad mood and I don't want to stay here forever. So, I'm going to make you a proposition: you give up or I'll pull your wings off like a fly.
- You wouldn't dare...
The Hero's gaze became even harder.
- Want to bet?
The Fairy's blood ran cold when she heard her champion's threat, how could he do such a despicable thing? Especially in a country with a fairy majority, he was about to commit an unforgivable sacrilege to a nobleman! It reminded some of the mutilations that Men have done - and still do - to their fellow creatures outside the walls.
Guards began to gather at the entrances to the arena, archers began to aim at the Hero's head. At the slightest command from the queen, he would become a human cactus.
Audisélia was biting her nail, hoping that Elena's son would not make any false move, he would sign his "death warrant" and his banishment from the kingdom, forcing her to "kill" him and she could do nothing about it.
- So make up your mind," insisted the Hero, "because I really don't have any time to lose.
The elf took out his two daggers from his back, but did not want to tempt the devil. This human seemed so unpredictable that he might, on a misinterpretation on his part, execute his threat. The courier stopped him by placing his hand in front of him, glanced at the moped who nodded, then turned to the elf for his opinion, who was reluctant, but also reluctantly nodded, knowing the importance of his decision on the outcome. By mutual agreement, the courier was able to declare:
- We give up if you release the fairy.
The Hero looked down at his hostage to see if he too was willing to forfeit. Gritting his teeth, he could only give in, he just hoped his princess would be sympathetic to his abandonment.
Caesar declared the victory of the champion of the wingless princess.
The Hero released his opponent's wings and left in the direction of the boxes, the fairy insulted him with all the names of possible birds and asked him if he really had the attention to tear off his wings, like the other representatives of his ignoble race, if he had not declared forfeit.
- No," said the Hero, "my mother raised me too well to enjoy torturing innocent people or people who have done nothing to me. But I have a piece of advice: you should refrain from insulting other people's mothers, you could lose more than your wings.
The Hero walked away and the fairy spat, in her beard:
- Human demon...
The queen and the princess both collapsed in their seats, and both said with a sigh of relief:
- Idiot!
- You know that this is still a serious crime, they were reminded.
- You can't judge a person who doesn't know the laws harshly," they said.
Audisélia turned to her bodyguard Sawyer and asked him his opinion on the young human's fight.
- The same as when you "tested" him: too many openings, not receptive enough, has bursts of concentration and puts himself unnecessarily in danger, he overwhelmed, but it must be admitted that he still has the same guts as in the throne room, exceptional speed and strength, although they have been reduced by the seal of restriction of evil, and he easily manages to turn the situation, Sawyer noted, however, he should not bring in external feelings to focus on those arising from his fight.
- In addition, it has the same capacity of regeneration as Elena, pointed out to him the kidney, admiring.
- I've seen this. It's even much larger. It took a lot longer for this one to regenerate. Did each generation of heroes get stronger? he wondered.
- Will your curiosity lead you to train him?" asked the queen with a smile
- Yes, yes..., she sighed.
This suggestion tickled the ear of Torn's son's companion.
- What? You're going to train him?" said Globox.
- You're a seasoned veteran of many wars, you don't need me to train you...
- I'm not talking about training me!" Globox snarled before whispering to them, "I think you're out of your mind to take him under your wing when he went after our queen. And you want to help him get stronger? It's bad enough that Lady Audiselia offered him a place to live and the right to stay here, even though he's a human...
- Who is the hero of the legend," the queen intervened, "I don't remember that I have to ask your opinion on a decision that does not concern you. If I want to make him my son, which of you will stand up to me?
- All this because he is the child of this miserable human..., he grumbled in his beard, lowering his head in frustration.
- You'd better say it to my face and look me straight in the eye," said Audiselia, facing him.
No one had had time to see the queen move, they only saw flashes after she found herself in front of her bodyguard, her gaze as cold as ice and as empty as nothingness, her chest bent toward the ogre. Even Sawyer understood that he had gone too far in his words. Anyway, as soon as it concerned the girl she was in love with, she never managed to be impartial. Of course, it annoyed her when she behaved like that for mere words, as if she didn't know about the lives of the newcomers to the kingdom, perpetuating hatred towards humans because of the story of their former lives.
Knowing how dangerous the queen was, he had no desire to confront her. Since her coronation, and long before, she had never deserved her nickname.
- No ma'am, I have nothing to say...
- I hope so.
Audisélia returned normally to her place, waiting for the next fight.
Globox walked out of the room and ran into his lifelong companion, Detsine.
- Why are you sweating?" asked the bald counselor.
- I thought she was going to execute me on the spot.
- What a great honor!
- Thanks, but no thanks. I have a mission to accomplish and I want to see it before I die.
- We all do.
Then, Detsine approached Globox and the two of them began to have low masses.
- If not for the fights?
- As we expected, he won with breathtaking ease. Plus, Torn's son will be coaching him.
- Damn," said Detsin, kicking his leg, "we must find a way to stop him at all costs.
- You saw that even an Alpha couldn't stop him as his strength was reduced, and even now it's diminishing despite his remarkable regeneration capacity..., Globox despaired, the other coward has played us well by running away from his responsibilities! he raged, how long before he gets out?
- One week. But do you think it could be of any use?
- It remains the closest to the Wingless-Princess, we will find a use for it no matter what.
- That's right... Well, get your act together before she wants to use you as a lightning rod.
- Roger, you've got it!" Globox replied, making the ok sign with his hand.
Then they both went their separate ways.
Finding himself outside the Coliseum, his weapons deposited in Beneltig's locker - for he had not yet put his name on it -, he looked at the azure and guessed that he had finished earlier than he had expected - at the same time, if these opponents were not sleeves, the fight would have lasted longer, no moment, the other three did not think that it was only the fairy who had given up. Afterwards if he did something to her, he would surely receive a penalty, seeing how they were on the lookout when he had grabbed her wings. Even the winged monsters he'd faced before had never screamed so loudly.
That being the case, he didn't care. If they were stupid, they were stupid!
But he, too, was finding himself silly, for he didn't know anyone in any part of the city, so he had no place to go to pass the time except home. But the queen still hadn't provided him with a generator to run his electronics. Maybe he should go to the library to keep himself busy? But wasn't he still going to be denied access because he was human? Besides, he hated walking around the streets of the city in the middle of the day: the contemptuous looks of the townspeople towards him infuriated him.
This mixture of fear and disdain infuriated him, and the Queen and the Fairy had forbidden him to use fear to gain respect.
He could only suffer in silence.
These stories of racial discrimination annoyed him, whether among Men or among Faerie; he would like to just live his life in peace.
Speaking of which, he hadn't noticed, but people were starting to surround him, in a distant way, but they were, all the same, threatening, towards him. Their looks did not bode well.
He began to contemplate the place that the people of this kingdom called the Nether, before he heard screams coming from behind him. The hero turned and saw the fairy running after him. When she got to him, she coughed up her lungs, out of breath from her run. He stared at her, puzzled, saying nothing, wanting to know what she wanted from him.
Once she caught her breath, she took his hand and led him to the castle. At the entrance, she identified herself to the guards - even though they knew who she was - and after two or three detours through narrow corridors - the Hero couldn't remember ever having walked down such paths - they arrived at an elevator. Inside, the Fairy made a magic circle and in its center she wrote the number "minus twenty-seven", in Oli'Ane, and the elevator started, and they went down the floors.
- Where are you taking me?" asked the Hero.
- In my secret garden.
- Generally, the "secret gardens" are diaries, he pointed out to her.
- Generally. But not necessarily, she retorted.
When they reached the twenty-sixth floor, the elevator was no longer standing on any ledge, it was floating in the void, the Hero smelled a pungent odor in the air, a mixture between that of petrichor, that of the ocean, and a particularly pestilential odor...
Where the hell was she taking him? To a garbage dump where she could bury him without him ever being able to come up, like one of the old heroes.
As the elevator reached the ground, the Fairy was the first one to get off, the Hero didn't feel like following her in this unknown place where it was as dark as outside the kingdom - although the room where they were was quite well lit in blue luxinite, and not yellow like the one in the city or in the underground prison. And that smell that invaded his nostrils bothered him more than anything else, it seemed familiar, but he couldn't place where he had smelled it...
- Are you coming?
- Answer me first. Where are we, Princess?
- You will see it with your own eyes. You don't trust me anymore? she said, laughing.
- Liking you doesn't mean I trust you completely.
- What do you mean?" she asked in surprise.
- Outside of these walls, I have always thought of the people and creatures I meet: either they are enemies or they are potential enemies. Whether in their words or in their deeds, they will lie, and thus betray me, though I feel no animosity towards them.
- Ah..., said the Fairy sadly, then why did you follow me without a word if you don't trust me and why...?
- Because I'm immortal so I don't have to fear you since you can't kill me and you said you wanted to show me something, but more importantly, I wanted to see if it had anything to do with what happened yesterday. I wouldn't be surprised if you came to the same conclusion I did.
It was at this phrase that the Fairy understood where he was going with his tirade about trust. She grabbed his hand again and said:
- So come and see what I have to show you without being a nancy boy.
The princess led the hero through narrow winding corridors as if they were in a sticky tower, but the floor was made of an unknown material. It was sometimes viscous and sometimes remarkably solid, he touched the walls and recognized a material he had been in contact with before, his sense of taste reacted to its contact. This meant that the Hero must have had some in his hands and tasted it before, so... they were inside a creature and this repulsive smell must have come from both its entrails and its natural waste.
The Hero wondered how a princess who was so clean and had never known insalubrity was not bothered by these foul smells.
The corridor widened and they arrived in a more open space overlooking a precipice. To their right, the Hero discovered a fluorescent blue lake. He was sure that it was not water that it contained. He wondered if the tree with the raised roots drank from this strange water.
- It is with this "water" that we create the miraculous water, the Fairy explained to him, usually, they are contained in small vials, but you were entitled to a bath, which is still rare to be noted. Normally, it's the nobles closest to royalty, the fairy princesses and the queen who are entitled to it.
The Hero said nothing. He felt a tone of reproach in the Fairy's voice. He had just told her the truth. They didn't know each other that well. She didn't have to take it so hard. It reminded her of when he had brought the bodies of Astarte's parents to her, why was she so angry with him, as if it was his fault? Not only did he hate Men, but he had trouble understanding them.
There was a time when everything was simpler.
The Fairy led the Hero into a cave, she grabbed a blue luxinite torch, lifted her dress and dropped some stardust, which she took out of a pouch she had on her ankle, onto the torch, whispering words that were inaudible to the boy's ear. The torch changed color to its usual yellow and lit up the entire cave. The Hero saw a regiment of huge lettuce leaves inside, the Fairy returned the torch to its place and told the Hero to come forward and help her take down a leaf. They each took one in their hands and the Fairy went to one of the walls of the cave and inscribed it with her fairy dust in Oli'Ane; a secret passage opened up. The Hero watched the Fairy try to pass with her giant lettuce leaf until she tripped and fell on her hindquarters. She wiped off the back of her dress and looked again, but it was obvious that the lettuce leaf was not only too heavy for her arms but also too big, and the same gag unfolded before his eyes - at least it allowed him to admire the shape of her buttocks (that's from his lecherous mind, not mine). After a while, they had to move on, so he grabbed the lettuce leaf and carried it through that passageway that led... outside the kingdom.
- What?" exclaimed the Hero.
- Yes, there is not only one passage that leads to our kingdom. Come on, now get down. Someone is waiting for us.
Stairs were in front of him. He descended the steps one by one, watching carefully where he put his feet until he reached solid ground. It had been so long since he had seen the dark night of the dark world that this planet had become. This place was lit only by the five, six small active volcanoes around them that could erupt at any moment. The rough, dusty and cracked ground, this inhospitable environment, although it was the first time he was in the land of Kano, was more than familiar to him, although the danger was the same everywhere else. Speaking of which, wasn't it dangerous for the Hero to end up with a fairy princess outside the kingdom? There was little chance that he would cross paths with any slave traders or highwaymen in these volcanic lands, but the beasts that lived in this hostile place could not be far away. He was unarmed and not as strong as usual, could he protect her properly?
The Fairy snapped him out of his thoughts by pushing him on the back and telling him to move on. There was nothing to contemplate in this gloomy land. They moved forward until the Hero came across something, he shifted the leaves from his face and discovered a black mound. He touched the mound with his fingertips and realized that it was skin, a scaly skin.
So they were inside a beast a few moments ago.
They continued on their way to the place where the Fairy wanted to go and she told the Hero to put the leaves down.
- It's time to call her!" said the Fairy.
She whistled a big blow, using her fingers, and there was a great earthquake, the earth began to rise, the Hero was close to losing his balance and falling on the Fairy but managed to keep himself in place and an explosion of earth burst out of the ground and a huge reptilian head faced them.
It was a monster!
A true monster as told in the legends!
The Hero had never seen one before, he had faced giants, griffins, minotaurs and other such things that were rare on this continent, but this thing was more like a dragon than a talking humanoid that he could meet on his way.
The man's whole body tensed; he didn't know what to do in this situation. If this thing came after them, neither of them would be able to get away.
- Hi, Lily! How are you doing?
The creature exhaled air from its nostrils at them and looked at them intently.
How could she address that thing as if it were her friend? thought the Hero.
Even if she didn't seem to show any animosity towards them, nothing said that she wasn't dangerous.
- Don't be suspicious, Lily! He's my new friend!" she shouted, waving her right hand at him! He's a little shy so greeting people doesn't come to mind right away," she threw a dig at the boy.
Princess pushed him in front of her and told him to say hello.
- Uh... Hi...
- Here, the great hero of the legend who is more afraid than the one he has to protect, how funny.
- What are you talking about?" cried the Hero, "this monster could devour us at any moment!
- No, she is too old for that, her diet is only composed of vegetables like lettuce.
Then the Fairy raised her head to address the huge creature.
- I don't know if they fed you or not, so I only brought you two leaves so you wouldn't want to eat or end up full when they feed you!
The creature with the head of a reptile lowered its head and opened its mouth, the Fairy grabbed one of the leaves and using all her strength brought it to the mouth of the animal.
- What is this?" asked the Hero.
- Don't say "that"! she reprimanded him, it's a world turtle. One of the oldest species that exist on Fayiera Terra. It is said that some are so big that they are able to carry entire planets on their backs! But ours has only been carrying our kingdom since the age of the Fighter-Kings.
- And they named her Lily?" laughed the nameless Hero.
- No way, banana! You're stupid, a little, replied the Fairy without a name while tapping on her head.
The watering can! He didn't expect her to catch him off guard like that. Nevertheless, although she displayed this smile when she said that, he suspected that it was not because of a well sharpened cackle, but just that she asked him a simple question as if it was obvious for him who was not from here.
- And how am I supposed to know that?" replied the Hero in a nasal voice.
- Well, if you came to school maybe you would know, potato! replied the Fairy, sticking out her tongue, in truth, you could really come...
- Noooo, the laziness in real, refused the Hero, I could no longer sleep in.
- You really have a sorry way of life waking up at the zenith," sneered the Fairy, putting her hand in front of her lips, "I wonder how you got so strong.
- Fate allowed it, that's all," he shrugged.
The Fairy was surprised by the voice he had just taken, the number of questions increased and all of them began to flow, at a bewildering speed, in his mind to the point of confusing him.
Not now, she calmed down, I mustn't tell him about it. He would take me for a madwoman, already that nobody believed me at the time.
She diverted the subject to the turtle Lily to stop thinking about the voice she had just heard from the mouth of the young man with the face hidden by the curse.
- Like I said, her name is not Lily, it's a little name I gave her. The Fighting Kings didn't do cute.
- I quickly heard about them, I don't know where...
- It must be me because of the knowledge I bring to you on a daily basis," she boasted, shaking her hair.
The Hero flattened her cheeks with both hands and looked her straight in the eyes while saying:
- From the bottom of my heart, I hope not because of the way you're showing off.
- Just kidding!
- I know. Go back to your explanation, it sounded interesting," he said, releasing his cheeks to the air, "I had heard that they were not choirboys.
The Fairy noticed that the Hero's hands were, though scabby, fine and somehow soft. They were not the hands of a lumberjack or a mason as most guards had. She wouldn't say he really took care of himself, but rather that he was lucky to have such beautiful hands in a way, too bad they were covered by that "stain".
- The Fighting Kings were a trio of warrior fairies from Eastern Europe...
- But there is nothing to the east, recalled the Hero, everything was destroyed by "solar" beings and the area must still be radioactive, he said.
- One is particularly false, the other is totally false, rectified the wingless princess, the radiation caused by the attack of these "children of the skies", as they were called by the first earthlings, so the Men of the old times, disappeared in more than seven thousand years, you know. And for the Eastern region: yes, a large part was vaporized that day, but there were created several islets, islands and peninsulas, that's where the regent siblings and the turtle Lily come from.
- They were kings at the same time, so?
- Right," nodded the Fairy, pleased to see he was following, "they didn't live very long, so they took turns in life. But before they were the worthy founding kings of Sylvania, they were just young warriors who decided to travel the world to fight powerful people around the world, just for fun.
He burst out laughing at this reason, completely crazy in his eyes, to learn that people gifted with reason went to waste their time fighting against strangers just for the pleasure of the fight... Men like we make more of them, then they are surprised to die earlier than women.
- Most people when they hear this reason, they are outraged, you laugh, said the princess, surprised by the reaction of his champion, you are very strange as a boy.
- But wait, your first kings are shonen like guys.
- "Cho-nein"? What is this word? Is it an insult?
- Of course not! I learned it at the Library by reading foreign books in ancient Franca that the ultra-powerful computers of the city of Vicenti have translated, they are stories where the main characters like to fight and become more powerful with each fight, he exclaimed, they are the same, it ends me!
It was the first time she had seen him so passionate in what he was telling. He was hilarious by this story that all his people, be they fairies, orcs, ogres, goblins, Treemen, lizardmen and others, knew from their youth. The Hero laughed at them, more out of amusement than genuine mockery, he seemed to really admire them. It really made it less terrifying to see him laugh out loud - if he could put on the glasses she gave him, it would be even better.
- You laugh but it looks like you.
- I don't think so, I don't particularly like fighting.
- Did you? Yet during the fight against the queen you seemed to take some pleasure, noted the Fairy.
- How can you say that when I ended up in a bad state?
The Fairy had a tense smile while looking him right in the eyes, she did not believe at all the false scandal of the Hero. This one sat down and had the same wrinkling of lips drawn in length as her.
- It's the adrenaline, not the fighting," he corrected.
The Fairy puffed her cheeks not understanding what he was getting at.
- Basically, you see in sports... Do you play a sport?
- Yes, the bullet repellent! You'll have to come and see how strong I am, she boasted.
- Well, you see when you win, that feeling of intense stress when you are facing a huge difficulty or fear: "I'm afraid of losing", "I'm afraid of dying"... That's being on adrenaline.
- So you are looking for sensationalism?
- Indirectly for me, it's nice to live but I'd rather take naps than be under laser fire from crooked cops in big cities.
- This is probably what the Kingfighters were looking for at the beginning. New challenges, but then their journey went wrong, as soon as they were out of their paradise islands...
The Fighter-Kings, accompanied by their pet turtle, traveled throughout Europea, discovering places they never thought existed. Places they had heard about from men and women who had gone on a quest for knowledge of this world or a quest for adventure. But their stories always ended in disillusionment and despair of what they had experienced during their long journey. Each time they told them about their experiences, they said they had been confronted with the worst horrors that could exist on earth, terrible things, terrifying people... Many of them had left and never returned.
However, that wasn't going to stop the trio and the turtle. If this world was so dangerous, then they were bound to find people capable of testing them in combat, whether physically or intellectually.
Djabel, Thor Björn and Bartholomew were three brothers born of a different father. Their mother was a great romantic who fell under the spell of the first man who came along, but they only considered her as a woman easy to fool to satisfy their baser instincts - fortunately for them, she was not very fertile otherwise she could have been renamed Fonzi (thanks for the ref). And the luck for them was that they were all born from the seed of a fairy, so that they can indeed be considered as blood brothers.
Despite the love affair of their mother who had died when they left their native village, they loved her with true love and did not judge her on her insatiable quest to find true love.
However, this leniency was not to everyone's taste and they were often insulted as sons of whores by other children or adults of their village, often leading them to fight in senseless face-offs. And as time went by, they got a taste for it, they wanted more, until they were feared on most of the surrounding islands. However, they were not considered by all as bandits, Thor Björn, the intellectual of the group, was the man who brought the most innovation to the villages, despite his inability to use magic. He understood it and taught it to others to help him realize phantasmagorical projects for the common good, his brothers were his labor force but did not shy away from the task. It was thanks to them that they were able to link the islands, using bridges or portals - different from ecapses - to facilitate communication between them and to ensure that no community was isolated.
They already had the soul of true leaders in them.
That's why, when they left, even though they were real louts, the inhabitants of these islands couldn't help wishing them a real goodbye full of sadness. Ratasquel - the turtle that accompanied them on each of their wanderings on each of the islands - followed them although they did everything to keep her in Zastarinn, however, in front of her determination, they finally gave in.
Nevertheless, what was supposed to be a journey of initiation, ended up as a journey of tribulations, going from tribulation to tribulation facing the horror that was this world plunged in darkness, only the evil remained. Tortured, beaten, stunned, ... they ended up like the majority of Fairy folk or Men, full of naivety, who travelled outside their native lands without knowing anything about the outside world: used against their will. However, it was when they had to fight in an arena for the pleasure of rich humans that they developed a deep hatred for this race. They succeeded in developing a great knowledge of magic, which gave them enormous magical power to break free from their chains and their captors before burning down the evil city.
After this unfortunate experience, they made a decision: to found a haven for all the fairies of the world, but throughout history they knew that a city, although hidden, would always fall if it remained in the same position; people would, undoubtedly, find it. So, knowing the exact nature of Ratasquel, they grew it with a powerful axcel spell to a size smaller than its current size, but large enough to build a village that they could protect it and its inhabitants.
Using the wood of the mystical forest that was grown on the back of the turtle, they built the first houses and managed to obtain the protection of the White Spotted Deer. It was said that they were an emissary of the divine pantheon, and through him they could communicate with the gods and the dead. But even for the chosen ones, it was difficult to see. It was this deer that gave them, at their request, a tree that all the inhabitants of the kingdom knew because it was from its flowers that the blue-blooded fairies were born: Java-Aleim. But Thor Björn, thanks to the knowledge he obtained in the different human and faerie cities they had visited, managed to modify it so that all the offspring of this tree would have their blood. However, so that the royal fairies would not have the genes of their different fathers, they broke down their DNA so that there would only be the blood of their mother in the "Tree of Life", which caused the birth of only female litters - which bothered the Warrior-Kings a little - but this modification also led to an upsurge of royal-blooded fairies, whereas a royal fairy was supposed to be born uniquely right after the death of the previous queen. Then they established a secret magical pact with the archmages of a certain place concerning the protection of their people, which only the queens know the nature.
This is how the village of Sylphidia was born, before becoming, generations and decisions later, the kingdom of Sylvania as it is now.
- I can see the similarities, the Hero admitted, but the purpose is different: I have no desire to save anyone.
- Yet you saved me!
- When I say "saving others", I mean that I don't have the desire, nor the conviction, but if I see someone in danger, of course I'll go and help them like I do for you, although I'll get a lightning bolt on the head as a reward.
- Stop, I already apologized for that.
- I'm just kidding. I don't blame you or the queen...
- But I want to apologize for running away from you, when all you did was protect me from the Fenrirs who were a mortal danger to me, and the violence you showed was only proportional to the ferocity of those beasts.
- It's okay, I'm used to being thought of as a monster, I've told you that before.
- If it is serious! she got excited.
- No need to get on your high horse...
- Yes! she insisted, I have to because I do not want you to believe that I consider you a monster! It is just that I am afraid of the brutality, because of all the attempts of assassinations that I underwent... Of course, before yes, but now, you are my friend and never, my friends, whoever they are, will be pariahs in my eyes.
The Hero stared at the black sky, pensive, tilting his head from left to right.
- Okay," said the Hero, "I'll believe you. I'll trust you, kid! After all, I said you were my friend too!
She was delighted that he was not angry with her as the fairy godmother had told him. It is true that she had defended him by claiming that she considered him as her friend, but now, she really considered him as her companion.
He got up and lifted her from the ground by passing his arms around her body, the Fairy cried out in surprise.
- But what are you doing?
- I think we've spent enough time here, I wouldn't want anything to happen to us on this volcanic land.
Careful the guy, thought the princess in spite of the fact that she was incredibly embarrassed that one could carry it thus.
They went back up the stairs to the kingdom, she helped him by wrapping her arms around his neck. Then comes to him a question that all the kingdom asks itself.
- By the way, how is it that you managed to kill Triface? He was a being that no one had been able to defeat in the entire kingdom and he had the ability to have the strength of the three King-Fighters combined.
- You have to know how to read Hebrew.
- "Lebreu"?
- A dead language dating from well over seven thousand years ago, long before the fusion of the worlds, the main language of the Christian Bible or the Torah.
- You know a lot... Did you learn it in this "Torah"?
- No, I acquired them in spite of myself and I received the indication of how to undo it, he remained evasive the question, otherwise, how is it that you are friends with a maxi giant turtle?
She thought, for a few seconds, before answering:
- I don't really remember... I think I was lifted off the wall and thrown out of the kingdom. I fell on the back of Lily's neck and rolled to the ground because she had her head stuck in it. When she lifted it up, I met my new friend Lily.
- Wait... Did someone drop you or swing you into the void?
- I would say according to my memories and the few recollections I have of it... I was thrown out, she concludes.
- But! People are bad here!
- It's like that for all the wingless, but even worse for me, as I'm a royal thoroughbred. But I'm not the most pitiful in this kingdom...
The Hero ruminated in his beard; he couldn't believe that someone could do such a horrible act to a child who must not have been very old if she had almost no memory of it. She could say that he had some similarities to the Shonen Kings, but he was most like her.
That's why he had decided to be her champion instead of resuming his quest for revenge against Nemesis Second. If he could at least help someone in his life before he died, that would satisfy him.
- And you did nothing?
- I complained, then moved on. That's it.
Once arrived at the top, she jumped out of the arms of her champion and arranged her dress, before remaining motionless.
- Actually, the other day I was supposed to introduce you to my parents, but with the giant wolf attack and the inconvenience it caused, I forgot so... if you don't have anything special to do tomorrow...
- Well, I could, it's going to be complicated but..., I think I can fit you in between nothing and... nothing.
The Fairy jumped for joy and jumped on the Hero to thank him.
- I'm going to go ahead and prepare everything, see you tomorrow!
- But I don't even know where you live!
- In Java-Aleim, I would wait for you, she said already far from him.
The Hero breathed out in incomprehension, before chuckling stupidly; this casual girl was an enigma to him. She looked silly but was smart, feared him but admired him and kept wanting to see him... An impossible girl, in short.
Suddenly, when he got inside the turtle, in this giant salad room, he felt hands grabbing his throat, he struggled as he could, but could not touch his opponent, until he heard whispers in his ear.
- You're slacking off.