Hero Dyes - Blue

Yosin, Son of the Sage: The plan was flawless. The timing was perfect. Our number was grand. The layout was blueprinted and the time spent on mastering each step of this attack was air tight sealed… If that was so, then how did I end up in this condition? I could feel the blood dripping through my hands as I held the arrow that was lodged within. The right side of my body felt weakened. I can feel life draining from just that side alone as my left hand tried to pull the arrow out. At this point, pain was irrelevant. It was strength that was the problem. I had none. My hearing was going as well. My father’s screams could be heard all through Geminis I’m sure. I’ve never seen him use such powerful magic before. He was slaughtering knights here and there just to finally break a moment where he could rush to my side as I was bleeding out on my knees. Him drawing near to me made my body weaker as I felt gravity pull me towards him. He slid on his legs and caught me as I lay within his arms. Tears streamed onto my face as she continued to shout at me.

“You let them die, Yosin!! You never sacrifice your life for the heroes!! I’ve told you this time and time again! LET THEM DIE!” He roared with such compassion and hatred. The battle continued around us as he cradled me while weeping. We were so close to Mangus’s throne room. I wanted to see her fight. I wanted to witness her victory. I knew she could defeat him. That was why I protected her. I saw the archers on the balcony trying to hide. I knew they were aiming at her since she was at the front of all of us, charging in like a raging bull.

“My son, what have you done?” I heard my father whisper as he buried his face into my shoulder. I couldn’t talk, there was too much blood in my mouth. Then the silent ringing came. It hushed all other sounds as my vision began to blur. Darkness was moving in like storm clouds covering the sun. I tried to apologize. I tried to say something but it was over. I failed, like he knew I would…

“I curse thy, son of the Hero Dyes sage. Live forever, until the tyrants end to start a new age. By the Geminis Dragon, become immortal. We, the Dark Geminis, revive you.” Who was that? Those voices that sang to me. It echoed into my soul. It breathed life into my body and cleared my mind of weariness. Death backed away with each phrase. A strong blinding light warmed my flesh. Was this a miracle? Was this magic? Was this-

“Wake the hell up!” My father’s rage filled voice interrupted my gloriest awakening. Sadly to say, it wasn’t his words that actually woke me up. I suddenly felt pain sliding across my face as my eyes popped open and nearly flung out my head. I blinked a few times as I took a deep breath. I frantically looked around before setting my sights on my father. He was winding up for another slap until our eyes locked. We just stared for a moment. We said nothing to each other as all emotions escaped us. Then he slapped me again.

“Damn it! Why the hell did you do that!” He shook me uncontrollably until I managed to shove him off me. I rubbed my cheek and adjusted my jaw as I glared at him. If my eyes could speak alone they could be cursing him out right now as he helped me to my feet.

“Alright! I get it, I messed up! Now where are we as far as our plan?” I asked as I ripped the arrow out of my chest. No blood came forth because of this action. I felt the wound heal instantly. I felt renewed and empowered to take on this tyrant myself. Yet again my father expressed his anger as he wacked me on the head with his hand.

“Idiot!! I warned you! I drilled it into your skull! Had I not placed that spell on you as a pup, you would have been dead!” I perked up with confusion as I heard this. I quickly spun around and ignored the raging battle around us. Swords were clashing, men and women in armor were dying, battles cries, grunts, moans, the struggles of trying to stay alive were spinning around us, yet all of It was such a blur I couldn’t tell who was who. Were the knights of Magnus winning, or were the alliance members giving them hell? I was so awe struck by my father’s words that I didn’t care about any of it. My mind couldn’t piece together what he meant.

“No… No you didn’t. I mean, if you did, it was for nothing. The Geminis brought me back. You had nothing to do with my return to life, father.” Oddly enough he didn’t argue back for a moment. He didn’t even express his anger towards my words. He simply sighed and rubbed the back of his head as if his next words were going to be painful to tell me.

“Throughout the many years I’ve been alive, I’ve never had children. When we finally had you, my wife begged me to do something to prevent your death. All of our friends, my brothers and sisters, their children and partners were hunted down by the tyrants and killed. Your mother didn’t want the same fate for you. So she had me place a spell upon your fragile newborn body. Should you ever die, your mother’s life would be taken instead. Once that happens, you would become immortal. She believed you would one day take this quest and die. She also believed I wouldn’t go with you. Guess I proved her wrong.” I gripped his shoulders tightly as my eyes started to water. He kept looking away from me the more I tried to burn my teary eyes into his. Finally after struggling with him we locked eyes. I slowly and calmly asked my next question while taking short breaths to prevent any weeping.

“Father… Are you saying that at this moment, my mother is dead?” He didn’t want to reply. He looked around a bit before fixing his attention on me. Was there a need to reply? He literally just said it, yet I couldn’t believe the truth of the matter.

“We should get going. The battle has carried onto the next corridor. Beyond that is the throne room-”

“FATHER!” I roared as I shook him again. I wanted a direct answer and he wasn’t delivering. I wanted him to say the words in hopes that he would feel this aching pain in my chest as well. I suddenly felt something within my heart change as his expression twisted. His eyes started glowing as his hand slowly lifted up to my chest. My heart had become afraid of the man I admired my entire life.

“Boy… Move aside before I make you wish you were dead.” Something else spoke for him. His tone of voice was inhuman. It sounded like two people were speaking and none of them were his own voice. Fear gripped me as I quickly released him to stop his next action. Once I stepped back my father returned to normal. I noticed the transformation of his golden hair returning to its original color from the fiery red it was a second ago. He huffed as he walked past me and patted my shoulder, signaling me to follow him.

“Did you ever love her, father?” I asked slowly as my voice trembled.

“No…” His reply was quick, too quick for me to believe him.

“Out of all my wives, I cherished her the most. Love has no meaning when you’ve stated it as many times as I have. As vile as it sounds, she was my favorite. Beyond that, love had nothing to do with it.” My body couldn’t stop shivering. Hearing my father talk this way was unsettling. Who was this man before me? I followed him as the agony in soul subsided.

We had to step over several dead bodies as we made our way to the other corridor. Most of them were Magnus’s knights, which was a good thing for now. As we pushed our way through the large double doors we spotted the tyrant immediately. He was standing outside the door that led into the throne room, as if guarding the content within. All of his knights were dead. The Dye Hero alliance members surrounded him yet nobody attacked. We soon spotted Bridget in the middle of the swarm and pushed our way to her.

“Your plan failed.” My father spoke with such irritation towards her. She rolled her eyes and shook her head lightly.

“How was I supposed to know they had knights that knew magic?” My father squinted his eyes with disbelief. I couldn’t help but feel the same. Was she not part of his army from the start? How did she not know this indeed?

“Also, my team that was supposed to meet us from the inside were discovered and killed. So, for improvising on the spot, I’d say we did pretty good and got where we needed to be.”

“All thanks to Ulrik.” He added. She sighed with annoyance as she turned towards him and glared.

“You think I’m unworthy of this quest, don’t you?” She dropped her guard for a moment as she placed her hands on her hips and tapped her foot to settle her aggravation.

“I believe Ulrik was right. You’re too fixated on achieving something that is unreachable.”

“Father, isn’t that what we’re doing, technically?” My father scowled at me with such a fierce stare that I winced in preparation of being whacked. Instead, he simply ignored me after giving me the death stare. At least I won brownie points with Bridget as she smirked and winked at me, as if thanking me for taking her side. To be honest I wasn’t. I was just salty from finding out that my mother is dead, and my father has no feelings towards this fact.

“You plan on killing him, or are you going to lead this tyrant to slaughter your alliance members first before you act?” We both blinked a few times as the moment my father started speaking she had already moved her way to the frontline. He sighed and shook his head.

“I hate this part.” He told me, watching her grip her swords as she stared the tyrant down.

“Wait, she’s going to fight him alone?” I asked, to which my father apparently knew better. He slowly shook his head no and pointed to the balcony above us. Archers were ready as they took aim at the giant cloaked tyrant. Just like the other corridor behind us the only other exit was the stained glass windows and the double doors behind the tyrant.

“No, my son. She is going to get them all killed, and then take the victory strike.”

“How do you know this? How can you tell?” He glared at Bridget as he paused for a moment, waiting to see if she would send the swarm to their grave. He looked at me with disapproval as he spoke.

“Bridget is weak. I felt it when I pinned her against the tree the first time we met her. The only thing that gives her strength are the twin swords she carries. I’ve heard many tales of her heroic deeds from the alliance members that hail from this kingdom. All of them have her swords in the midst of it. They talked about her speed, her agility, her overwhelming strength. They compared it to Excalibur. Much like King Arthur was untouchable with his sword, the same rule applies with her. Her swords give her power. Without it, she is the weakest fighter here.” I set my gaze upon Brigdet after hearing this. Worry and fear started to slither into my mind. If this is true, perhaps my father and Ulrik were right. If that is the case then why even select someone so weak? It then dawned on me that I never asked my father the reasoning behind the amulet’s selection. Why were we unsuccessful all these years? Centuries upon centuries this has carried on. Did the amulet not want us to prevail? Was there something else we were missing?

“Lord Magnus!” Bridget shouts as she grips her swords tightly and slowly moves into her fighting stance.

“Your reign of terror ends today.” She proclaimed. The tyrant said nothing back. He just pulled out an awkward looking ax-like sword and clanged its blade on the floor. Just that simple motion alone shook the entire room as it chipped a chunk of the floor that flew off to the side. As the room felt silent I couldn’t help myself as my feet moved on their own. Instead of moving towards the action that was about to spring up, I was moving back. Further and further I felt the pull of panic bring me away from Bridget, from the tyrant, from my father who simply looked over his shoulder and said nothing to me.

And then I ran… Once Bridget’s battle cry echoed into my heart, I sprinted while shoving past the men and women who were about to die. My heart was beating so fast as I lowly repeated the words ‘no’ to try and convince these poor souls to save themselves. I broke free of the rushing mass of warriors ready to die. I placed my hands on my thighs as I felt the contents of my dinner coming up… It came up… The sounds of horror penetrated my ears as I heard the screams of defeat like a haunted chorus choir. I couldn’t take it, I couldn’t stomach it. I didn’t want to witness the slaughter. In order for my body to stop shaking my mind summoned the darkness to blanket me while I dropped to the floor. All sound and feeling escaped me. When I wake up, this nightmare will be over… Unless the real nightmare presents itself, and my father tells me that Bridget is among the slain. As I drifted off into a deep sleep from exhaustion I could only repeat one phrase in my mind.

“Don’t die… Blue Hero…