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Chapter 289 - The three heroes
🕑 Added 2021-08-04 13:00:07 +0000 UTCThe tales of the Three Heroes shouldn't be something new for you. After all, most of us grew up with those stories, but just in case, let me tell their stories again.
The devils came. Destroying everything in their path, crossing doorways despite what we believed to be possible. Unlike how that happened the previous time, these monsters would sneak to other rooms on their own, devouring, feasting, and following their instincts of destruction for months on end. The creatures were animals, yes, but they were all but mindless. Each showed a cunning that transcended even the kings and queens that attempted to defeat them. However, after losing the battle against the devils, a deal was struck. Instead of annihilation, the kingdoms chose subservience. Among such folk was Undine. After losing her best friend and partner during an attack, the mighty mage vowed to not allow anyone else to feel that kind of despair and to get revenge against those beings for all the pain that they caused. She went on a journey to strengthen herself and, a few months later, returned with the power to bend the flames to her will.
Being among the last truly powerful people alive, Undine was a beacon of hope. Hope that was quickly extinguished when the twelve devils joined and demanded that the mage be offered as a sacrifice. However, Undine, the noble hero, accepted her fate and went alone to the city where the twelve devils lived. Her intention was clear, defeat the devils who were kind enough to present themselves to her. When she arrived, a battle started that lasted for almost a full day. The ground shattered, and the skies were cut. Poison and doom covered the city, the lightning and decay could be felt from beyond the doorway, and a rain of fire showered the entire room. By the end, the entire landscape had changed. What once was a beautiful kingdom was now a scarred wasteland, but the devils had been destroyed, and Undine, the Firebringer, had fulfilled her mission.
Most people overlook the tragedy that gave Undine the drive to fight the devils. I do hope that she got some closure after all this work. Still, that story is my favorite, but I suppose it would be best to start at the beginning.
Believe it or not, once upon a time, the MAZE wasn't this endless expanse of possibility. No one was able to go past the 8th layer. People only saw a massive wall in the middle of the room, stopping anyone from passing. The barrier would burn every hour and fix any damage that it had received. To all effects and purpose, that was the end of the MAZE. In one room, where people mostly lived as lumberjacks on a forest that was rich in redwood. There was a man who always tried his best to support his family. He lived a humble life, and together with his wife and daughter, they were happy. Being among the community's oldest members and having earned the people's trust, they considered Kahn the village leader. Unfortunately, things changed when two kingdoms in an adjacent room went to war. Due to the increase in the need for materials for weapons and barricades, the people of that small village started to be harassed by both sides of the conflict, even when they weren't a part of either kingdom.
Things became even worse when a general demanded an absurd amount of redwood to be delivered in one week. He asked for the entire forest to be cut down or burned so his enemies wouldn't be able to use those materials. If they failed to meet his demands, the man would come and conscript the entire village. The women would take care of feeding and cleaning after the soldiers, and the man would be forced to join the fight. However, by doing that, the people wouldn't have any way to survive. Their food came from the fruits of the redwood and the gold they got from trading the logs to other rooms. Fulfilling that request was the same as destroying the village. Kahn didn't know what to do. The older men and women wouldn't survive a journey to a room far away, and neither of the two kingdoms would accept them as refugees after they sold lumber to their enemy. To make things worse, the general's men were blocking all the room exits, and it seemed like there weren't any other options but to accept that abusive request. Frustrated, the village chief walked towards the wall while trying to come up with a plan. With a hothead, Kahn started punching the wall. It wasn't something productive, but with each punch, his mind became clear. So he kept hitting it, again and again. For almost a full hour, his fists hit the stone wall. With a final strike that was supposed to just signal the end of his tantrum, the wall broke completely and revealed not just more of the forest but a doorway without anyone blocking it. Kahn quickly went back to the village and called everyone on this new path, finding a new home in the next room. The first wall had been broken, and now we knew that these barriers could be destroyed.
I know this one is not that exciting, but we should always remember where it all began. Kahn, the Wallbreaker, only became a hero because he didn't have another option. He wasn't looking for glory or fame, just to keep his family safe. A curious fact that most people overlook is that this new room that Kahn had found was home for a large village of elves. Elves that greeted Kahn and his people with open arms and protected them from the war between the kingdoms.
Now, let me tell you about the big one.
There was only one word to describe what was going on, and yet, calling this a rampage was like calling the ocean 'a place that has some water.' Whatever this was, was much bigger than what anyone could understand. Rampages are crazy, but they have order. They have rules. This was just madness, pure, unfiltered madness. Countless monsters were charging forward non stop. The only thing that delayed them was when they found a doorway. For some strange reason, they had to wait a couple of days before going to a different room. I say strange, but the fact that they could cross a doorway was already something that should be impossible. To make matters worse, every kingdom and country was only thinking about themselves. As long as they weren't in the rampage's path, they couldn't care less about all the death and destruction.
All of that changed because of one man. A knight, clad in black armor and surrounded by a golden aura, reached out to every single king and queen inside and outside the MAZE. In the span of a month, he had meetings with over two hundred rulers, yet that wasn't enough. Most didn't care or were too afraid to help. Having to give up the plan of rallying troops, Cyrus attempted to stop this rampage through another angle. He sneaked inside the room where the monsters currently were, searching for a leader, a boss, a person. Something that was causing all that madness. However, what he discovered was much worse. The monsters were waiting in front of three different doorways, and among them, there were species that never should've been born. Creatures that were snakes with the limbs and the tongue of a frog, spiders that could fly with the wings of a bird. Tigers that had the same amount of teeth as sharks, as well as their fin. The monsters weren't simply moving and eating. They were breeding and changing, and their levels were added. He noticed two different monsters, both level 10 taking care of another creature, a mix between the parents that seemed to be just a newborn but was already level 20. He kept searching and found several other creatures in similar situations. He even witnessed the birth of one that seemed to be the third generation. A monster with so many parts could only be called an abomination, and the beast was already at level 34 when it came out of the egg. He killed the baby and ran away with its body.
With that new information, Cyrus ran back to the kingdoms and shared his discovery. Some were still dismissive of the danger, but those with more knowledge understood that the monsters could turn into something terrifying if left alone for long. For now, only relatively weak creatures had done that, but if those on the deeper layers had the same type of offspring, no one would be able to defeat them, and if the monsters keep breeding, again and again, the results could be creatures that came out of nightmares. Rallying under the same banner, all the civilizations inside and outside the MAZE gathered in the room where the massive rampage would strike next. With Cyrus at the front, expanding his golden aura to buff the entire hundred thousand strong army, they defended the room and killed every single one of the monsters who were trying to invade.
It is said that Cyrus used his spells to strengthen the whole army, but I think that is an exaggeration. Even if the imagery is very heroic. In the modern world, the record for most people buffed at once is held by a controller who was level 65 and managed to buff 20 thousand people. Saying that Cyrus did five times that when he wasn't even level 50 seems like a big stretch.
Notice how I spoke of civilizations, and not humans. For during this fight, all races joined together to push back against the creatures. Oddly enough, Undine is the only Hero whose actions affected only the human race. Although, if left unchecked, scholars agree that the Devils would've become a problem for everyone.
Anyway, now that you remember what the human Heroes did, let's talk about the others, shall we?
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A knock on the door made Hera look up from her tablet.
"Are you still up?" Lena's voice came from the other side.
"Yeah, just a minute," Hera closed the book after bookmarking the page she was on and put on her robe before leaving her room. After Rutigan confirmed that Boothudurn would be a part of the guild, he also offered Hera to remodel her home so that Lena, Alex, and Bonnie could have their own rooms. A couple of dwarven architects had started learning about other styles, and they were itching to try making houses with more than one floor. Not that Boothudurn didn't have that, but there were some techniques and frames that they never considered, and now, Hera was enjoying having a room that wasn't directly by the kitchen.
"Hey, what's up?" Hera asked as she left the room.
"I just got a text from Ninleyn. He said he can come by, but it will take him a little over a week to get here," Lena explained.
"Oh, really? I guess the leader of the Order would be deep in the MAZE?"
"Not really, but it seemed like he has something to do in a couple of days, so he has to take a detour. But he will explain everything to you and Bonnie. And… well… there is a thing you guys have to do as part of the Order. I actually had forgotten about that and got a big scolding," Helena sighed.
"You got scolded?"
"Yeah. It's kind of hard to deal with an elf that is over 300 years old."
"He's that old? Should he be moving around?" Hera asked.
"Don't worry about it. Elves live to 400, so in human terms, he would be like 70, 75? But one of the spry ones, who does yoga, goes jogging and things like that," Helena explained.
"Right. Well, I still have to get used to that age difference. It's hard to even see Risli as over two hundred years old," Hera scratched her neck.
"You'll get the hang of it. And did you start reading the book?"
"I just started. The first chapter just had a lot of information about the author, and then it talked about the three heroes and what they did. It wasn't that big of a story either. It felt like hearing someone tell them around a campfire, or a grandma telling it to her grandchildren."
"But it's good, though, isn't it?"
"It is. I was worried because it is so small, but I think I'll get the gist of it," Hera nodded.
They kept talking for a while until Bonnie and Alex arrived at the door, "Guys, we are home! And don't come downstairs without putting some clothes on. We have a visitor."
"Who is it?" Lena asked.
"We won't say. Just tell Hera to come quickly!" Bonnie replied.
A few minutes later, Hera went to the living room of their new place and saw Mark sitting on the couch. The crafter jumped up as soon as she arrived and went in for a hug.
"You are really here!" tears formed on Mark's face as he embraced his lost friend.
"I am. Sorry for not calling you sooner. I kind of got swept away by everything," Hera hugged him back.
"That was really mean of you. How can you leave me hanging like that."
"The same way you can joke about asking me on a date."
With that, Mark took a step back, "Are you really going to throw that in my face now?"
"It felt like a good way to break the mood, and I know it's selfish of me, but I'm done with the whole, 'you were dead' thing. To Blue and I, you all only thought we were lost and not dead," Hera shrugged.
"Still, can't I at least hug a friend without getting harassed?" Mark scoffed.
"Fine, fine, you drama queen," Hera giggled and hugged him again, "So I guess you are staying with us tonight?"
"That's the plan. Since there are no hotels here, Bonnie invited me over. Is that ok?"
"Fine by me. I can also introduce you to Silah. She's my girlfriend and a blacksmith. I'm sure she will have a million questions about crafting for you," Hera smiled.
"Sure, I'll love to talk to a dwarven crafter too," Mark nodded as he let go of the hug again.
"Great, I'll go pick her up," Hera walked towards the door.
"Stop by the construction of the guild. Someone was looking for you. Ask for Brian," Alex said.
"Really? Did they say why?"
"Nope, just that they had some things to go over with you."
"Ok, I'll be right back. Make yourself at home, or help the girls with the moving if you are up for it," Hera told Mark before leaving the house. If the guild was calling her, it had to be for something important.
##### Author's Note ####
I believe this is the first time I wrote about the three heroes in length. I saved those stories for way too long XD
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Comments
Aldous Russell
Thanks! "To all effects and purpose" should be "To all intents and purposes". "In one room, where ... in redwood. There was a man" should be a comma. "and the man would be forced" should be "men". "With a hothead" should be "hot head". "called everyone on this new path" should be "to". "non stop" should be "non-stop". "How can you leave me hanging like that" should have a question mark.
