Hero Dyes - Blue

Yohan: As we walked towards the palace I couldn’t help but think that our quest was going to end here. There was so much I needed to learn about these tyrants, and I’ve been doing this song and dance for decades, maybe longer than that. All of this seemed new to me, which brought some excitement to my old bones. It was like the thrill of the unknown was awaking my senses. My hunger for this quest was rising once more. Having said all of that, there was one thing I could be sure of. My heroes were going to die. I don’t know when, and I don’t know by which tyrant. What I do know, is that these tyrants have evolved and become something more complex. This wasn’t the same quest I had several decades ago. It seemed like a much harder feat to accomplish.

“You still don’t trust me, correct?” Gil spoke and broke my train of thought. I looked at him for a moment before shrugging.

“I know of you, I just never knew your true identity. There was an old saying some sages tried to pass around. ‘Beware the gift giver, he is the mask of Masque.’ So, seeing as you’re leading us to your ‘master’ I’m assuming-”

“Don’t call him that!” Gil nearly shouted as my words seemed to offend him.

“He is not my master, nor does he own my actions. Sure, I may come from him but my desire to be free is my own. How would you feel if you were told you had a life before merging with a tyrant? I had a family, friends, lovers maybe, possibly an animal companion, all of that was stripped away because some mad mage decided to use me for his sick creation. Until one day, that creation doesn’t like the ‘soul’ it has. The dark magic swelling inside decided I was a problem, a hindrance to its growth. I was cut out like a rotting tree limb! They tried everything to remove me from Masque, but nothing they did completely worked. I’m bound to him simply because of the curse that was placed upon him.”

“You figured this out later on and tried to help the sages free you.” I interrupted, more like I finished his speech for him. He simply nodded his head to confirm this and sighed.

“Yes, I did some horrible things.”

“You even killed several Dye Heroes at first, didn’t you?” His eyes narrowed as if wondering how I knew such things. I could see it in his eyes that he was trying to deny it. He gave in and nodded his head as his expression changed to sadness.

“I did. I killed a lot of them, actually. Sometimes I was by myself, sometimes I teamed up with Masque. It was like a game for us. The only difference was our deaths.” My eyebrow raised in confusion as he stated this. Was there a difference when they died? Why would that be the case if they are both under the same curse?

“Each time a Dye Hero killed Masque, he would dissolve. However, every time I died, my body remained and I 'slept' until Masque brought me back. In fact, that was how we tricked some Dye Heroes. I would pretend to be Masque, so when they killed me, he would show up and slay them without warning. In a sense, I don’t matter in the grand scheme of things. In order to get rid of this curse Masque needs to die, not me.” I pondered on his words, trying to think if any other sages had mentioned this in their journey-scrolls. I shook my head as nothing was coming to mind. It did make me question this curse that was placed upon the tyrants. Something wasn’t right about it. Not to mention that any time a tyrant kills someone, they all dissolve. However, unlike the tyrants, they never came back.

“Listen to me, Golden Sage, your hero isn’t going to survive her encounter with Masque. You are fully aware of this, correct?” I sighed at his warning of her failure, which was already stated by others. I nodded my head and rubbed the back of my neck with annoyance as I spoke.

“From what I have gathered from her lover, Ulrik-”

“Wait… Ulrik the Demon, High Knight of Lord Magnus? He is still alive?” I looked at Gil as his words baffled me. Demon? Still alive?

“Explain what you know, and quickly.” I demanded as my eyes burned for the knowledge of this Ulrik person.

“Well, Lord Magnus is not just an orc. He is actually an Oni, something similar to a demon according to the land from which he came from. He summoned three Tengu spirits to inhabit his strongest knights. The three knights are Leon, Ulrik, and Finnor. Something happened to Finnor I heard, and his Tengu spirit was killed. I’m not sure the exact details-”

“Bridget killed it.” I interrupted as I started to piece everything together. My mind was swirling with so many questions. Indeed, much has changed since I halted my journey.

“I’m sorry, you’re saying the woman behind me killed a spirit that causes chaos and destruction whenever it is released. Am I hearing you correctly?” Gil couldn’t believe it. I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t have believed him either if I didn’t have that talk with Ulrik before I left his camp.

“From what I gathered, Ulrik told me that her two swords are not ordinary swords. The Lady of the Lake gifted her those swords.” He gasped and thought hard about this information I gave him. He snapped his fingers and nodded.

“Right, that makes sense. Only something as strong as her swords could kill a spirit like a Tengu. Maybe there is hope for her after all.” I shook my head no in response to Gil’s optimistic view.

“I don’t think so. Masque is going to feel the energy coming from the swords and instantly remove them from the playing field. He has done it before, which makes him one of the hardest tyrants to kill depending on which Dye Hero you have. I’ve only known heavy magic users to win against him. She is going to need something to keep her ground other than her swords. If not, she’ll be dead within minutes.” Gil looked at me with much concern. He knew my words were true. It was like he was debating if he should help us or not. He finally sighs out of frustration as he looks at his merchant cart.

“I’ll give her three masks, Golden Sage. Only three.”

“It won’t work.” I quickly replied with more annoyance filtering through my voice.

“The only thing she’ll accept is Excalibur. The Lady of the Lake gave her twin swords called Sol and Luni instead of Excalibur. Ever since then Bridget has been doubting herself and trying to work her way up some invisible ladder to achieve Excalibur.” Gil looked at me with the most dumbfounded expression I’ve ever seen. It made me smirk a bit as I contained my urge to laugh.

“My, my… You have your hands full.” He comments as he takes a quick glance at her. He smirked a twisted grin as he spoke again.

“What a fine woman to fantasize about though, right?” His words made me blush even though I didn’t want to. A few perverted scenarios played quickly through my mind, as they have done before. I cleared my throat to bring my mind back and waved my hand dismissively at his comment.

“That isn’t important, her death is though.” Gil huffed as I brought him back on task. He rolled his eyes and looked at his cart again.

“Tell you what, Golden Sage. I’ll turn three masks into hair clips for you. Tell her to wear them as a symbol of your faith in her. Make the story cheesy and sappy. That way, she’ll be able to activate their powers when she is pushed to her limit. Will that help her chances?” I thought about this for a moment, considering how this fight might go, then nodded with a smile of delight.

“Yes, that would help her a lot, actually. I’ll tell her afterwards I guess.” I shrugged at my last comment. I thanked Gil with a nod and smile as he replied to my thankfulness with a smirk. He then pointed to the palace entrance and smiled.

“We’re here!!” He shouted behind him. Bridget and my son caught up and joined us as we marveled at the sight of the large structure before us. As we did, I saw at the corner of my eye Gil doing exactly what he said he would do.

“Stay here, I think our guide is hiding something.” I lied and joined Gil as he finished up the last mask. Watching him mold the mask like putty was amazing. Once he was done he handed me all three hair clips which felt indestructible. He even changed the designs and made the base of the hair clip look like the Hero Dye amulet.

“Alas, I bid you adieu, Golden Sage. Good luck and I hope to see you and her again. Have faith in her sage, she’ll die eventually.” I nearly exploded into a full laugh as he joked about Bridget. I quickly contained myself as he smirked and waved goodbye.

“You know, I don’t want her to die.” I commented as he started to push his cart.

“I know. It is you who wants to die… Don’t we all?” His last comment sent my mind for a loop. I tilted my head in confusion as I thought about his words.

“Wait, where is he going!” Bridget shouts as she rushes to my side. I shook my head and stopped her from chasing after Gil.

“Masque already knows we’re coming. This is as far as he could go. He doesn’t want to be in the middle of this, nor be used by Masque to stop us. The closer he gets to Masque the more he will likely be manipulated by the Count.” Another lie I spewed out. Actually, it was more like a theory before I had that long conversation with Gil. Either way, my son and Bridget bought it. I didn’t like lying to my son, but I needed to keep this hidden for a little while longer.

“Come on, he is waiting for us.” I added as I took the lead. For once, I was right without meaning to be. Several puppets lined up to greet us as we headed for the entrance.

“Come on in! Come face me Golden Sage! Bring your best Champion! I’ve been waiting to play!” Their unified words sent my skin crawling. They pushed open the gate and led us to the massive stairs in front of the palace. Once we got to the top they opened the large door where more puppets greeted us.

“Welcome! Hurry! Do not delay! We’ve been waiting to start our Masquerade Charade!”

“Please tell me they aren’t going to do this every single time.” My son asked in a whisper. I simply shrugged and tried to keep my brave face on as I stared at all the masks guiding us towards the ballroom. It didn’t take us that long to reach the doors. Once they were opened my eyes widened at what we saw. A large sphere floated above us as it swirled a dark blue and purple color. A faint sound could be heard from it, like souls collectively crying out for help. In fact, they were souls, as we saw smaller orbs coming inside from the outside balcony attached to the ballroom. Right below the orb, floating several inches above the ground in an awkward sitting position, was Count Masque.

His mask wasn’t any different than the puppets that greeted us. His jester outfit was high end though. It was split between two colors, one half was black and blue while the other was black and gold. A bit of silver outlined the cuffs on his wrist and ankles, and the cuff covering his neck. His jester hat had six points to it, all of them hung dark purple orbs at the end. His long silver and black hair reached down to his lower back. It was very similar to Gil’s hair, only much longer.

“Hello, my wonderful guest.” He spoke with a muffled voice as he twirled around in the air, then landed on his feet with his jester looking shoes.

“I see you’ve decided to pay me another visit, Golden Sage.” He adds, walking towards us as his puppets left us alone and closed the ballroom doors. I tilted my head as I noticed something. For one, I have never seen Masque walk before. He always just floated about and moved through the air. Secondly, his walk was very feminine.

“Father, you said Count Masque was a guy, right?” My son quickly whispered as the tyrant drew near. He noticed the same thing I did, which left me speechless as I couldn’t properly answer that.

“I’ll start off with introductions, since you seem to be a bit nervous.” He said as he stopped, leaned on one hip, and reached for his mask while gripping it tightly. He squeezed it so tight that it shattered into pieces. As it crumbled off of his face, we all gasped as this entire time I was completely wrong. Her beautiful and gorgeous face could clearly be seen no matter how much white makeup she was wearing. She was going for a clown or mime look I suppose. Either way, it couldn’t hide the face that she was clearly a woman. Her devilish smile grew as she enjoyed our surprised expression.

“Warrior, Champion, Dye Hero of the Golden Sage! I am Count Masque! The Queen of Puppetry, and the Reaper of Souls. Nice to meet you, Knight of the Twin Swords…”