Stay connected through empire
Out of nowhere, the entire story shifted completely. If before, it was a rather exciting adventure fantasy story, then the last chapter of the story was a dark, gritty, and horrifying fantasy.
All the jovial atmosphere of adventure vanished as if it was never there in the first place and all that was left was despair.
After discovering the reason for this sudden change in the atmosphere, the hero decides to go fight the dragon himself. Many were opposed to the idea as no human should be able to fight that thing and live to tell the tale.
However, the hero didn’t back down and pushed for it. He ignored his family’s pleas and his friends’ worry as his entire focus was on one goal. He knew that if he didn’t go then the entire village was bound to die due to this extreme weather. There was no time to fear the future or worry.
‘He’s going there knowing that he will sacrifice himself… That’s admirable.’ Arthur thought to himself as he eagerly turned the page.
The hero then leaves the village and heads toward the mountains where the headless dragon lives. The adventure through the harsh environment took a long time, almost killing the hero in many instances.
He faced great threats from monsters to hunger and to the horrifyingly hot weather. However, with sheer determination and worry for his people, the hero was able to survive through it all with a smile.
Arthur couldn’t imagine the struggle of going through all of this just to save his village from death. The sheer mental power the hero had took him by surprise. Something about him gave Arthur a very profound feeling.
‘He’s really strong. Far stronger than me.’ He thought to himself.
Eventually, the hero reached his destination. The cave where the headless dragon supposedly lived. Arthur expected a final battle between the hero and the headless dragon. However, that was when things took a sharp turn to an unexpected outcome.
“What…?”
Walking inside the cave, the hero was ready to fight the gruesome monster. But, much to his shock, when he walked deep enough into the cave, he found a large skeleton of a dead creature.
The creature had no head but the entire body was still intact. Resting there, the hero froze in place in complete shock. It didn’t take a genius to realize that the carcass was that of the dead headless dragon.
“No way… He traveled all of that just to find the dragon dead?” Arthur frowned. “That’s… cruel.”
Arthur felt the hit the hero received as he stood there, trying to make sense of the situation. After everything, and after that long journey that almost killed him, he found nothing. So, the hero sat there as he rubbed his face.
it took him months to reach his destination only to get absolutely nothing. It was crushing, to say the least. However, even more than that, the hero felt even more confused as to what caused the wave of heat that hit the region if it wasn’t the dragon.
‘I wonder if it was just an odd time of the season that caused the rise in heat. It felt like the dragon was simply blamed because they thought it was some sort of god.’ Arthur thought to himself.
Changes in weather weren’t uncommon even on Earth, so it was easy to believe the far more dangerous Divine Realm would experience these changes far more often than the real world.
“This really sucks. He literally did all of that only to end up wasting his time.” Arthur shook his head. “What is he going to do now?”
Reading the next several pages, Arthur was surprised to realize that the hero quickly picked himself up and left the cave heading back to his village. Even with that feeling, he didn’t lose hope. A few months was already a lot of time and he didn’t know what could’ve happened to his people.
All he could hope for was to find them alive and well. Hurrying back, he crossed large distances faster than before, desperately trying to reach his destination as soon as possible.
However, even that journey still took three months and that made it almost a year ever since he left.
Reaching the village, the hero quickly notices something weird. The walls of the village had no guards on top of them. Apart from that, he also could see large bite and scratch marks on the wood.
“… Don’t tell me…” Arthur muttered as he felt a chill run down his spine. He had a bad hunch and it seemed the hero felt the same as he hurried inside the village, only to be met with a horrifying sight.
The entire village was completely destroyed as monsters roamed around freely. The smell of blood and death filled the place along with the raging dirt storm. Old, rotten corpses could be seen everywhere, buried under layers of dirt. Some were still fully intact while others were dismembered and only their skulls were left. The hero stood there, empty-minded.
Then, he sat down on the ground and started crying and screaming at the top of his lungs. All the regret in the world fell on his shoulders. He regretted leaving those people, he regretted following his desire rather than his duty, and most importantly, he regretted not being strong enough to protect these people.
The very last words of the story were something the hero said.
“If I cannot protect my people, then what purpose do I have in life? The adventure was never something for the weak… I was never meant to be. It was never meant to be.”
Reaching that sentence, Arthur didn’t know how to react. Reading it again and again, it kept resonating in his head. However, deep down, he couldn’t fully understand the meaning of it. His heart took it, but his mind didn’t grasp it.
“…” Arthur pursed his lips. “… This is brutal. Why did the story suddenly change this way?”
He thought the book would end with the hero slaying the dragon and saving his village. But, instead, he ended up dying, being eaten alive by the monsters, surrounded by the destruction and death of his village.
There was no worse end to someone than this one. He had lost his dream, hope, and even his loved ones and all of that because he wanted to be something, to be a hero, to be the one to pull his people from the mud.
But, as he said, it was not meant to be. The Divine Realm is cruel to the weaklings and favors the strong. Those who have the power can bend fate to their favor while those who’re weak must abide by the rules of the world and face the consequences.
It was not fair, nor was it right. But, who said the world was supposed to be just or morally acceptable? The Divine Realm was a twisted place clad in a beautiful robe of mesmerizing regions and exciting mysteries.
However, once a person digs, and they dig deep, all the darkness hidden beneath will surface again.
A//N: Don’t forget to give the book some golden tickets for good luck! :3