Book Two Chapter Forty Nine: Motivating the Hero’s Journey Aftermath

Book Two Chapter Forty Nine: Motivating the Hero’s Journey Aftermath

The being inhabiting her childhood friends body gave her an anguished look.

I know it doesnt seem like it, but I am your friend, he said. I want to help you.

No, youre not my friend, she said, shaking her head. Youre not the boy I grew up with.

All the times he had seemed so alien to her. When he hadnt understood anything about how the world worked. The total shift in personality when hed been Chosen. How had she missed it?

No, really, how had she missed the fact that her best friend had been replaced with a totally different person? It was like whenever shed gone up against the Golden Prophecys wishes, and it had pulled her back into line. It had taken the discovery that hed lied about the fate of her village for her to even be able to question his true nature.

Oh, the creature said, that. Yeah.

The reason I cant remember his name, she asked softly, is because you erased it, isn't it? What are you? Are you a Dev?

No, the entity said sadly. Im something different. I dont have their abilities. But I am from the same place as them.

He wasnt her friend. This entire time, shed been doing everything she could to be the very best childhood friend so she could guide him in fulfilling the Golden Prophecy, only for her friend to be replaced the second his destiny was manifested.

Unless that was his destiny. No. They wouldnt do that. The Devs, and the people from their world, were strange, and alien, but they werent Evil.

My friend, she said, give him back.

I cant, was the reply.

What do you mean you cant! Youre possessing him, like the Devs do, so just, I dont know, unpossess him! Ruth and Warwick are dead, take their bodies!

The instant the words left her mouth she felt sick. Ruth and Warwick were dead. People she had grown up with were in that field of death before her, and she was arguing with a thing capable of puppeting their corpses around.

That wont do any good, the thing said. He sounded close to tears. Look, Im sorry, but the three of them this was what was supposed to happen to whichever one was selected. I dont know what duplicating them would do, but I can guarantee it will destablise everything. And theres no way any of the Devs would agree to add such an insane wild card at this point. It could crash everything.

She couldnt think. She couldnt form any theories, or try to solve this cruel puzzle. Instead she was just locked up, staring straight ahead at the charred remains of everything she had ever known and loved.

What was his name? was all she could manage.

Felix, he said quietly. He was called Felix.

She didnt know how to feel. The name meant nothing to her. Shed thought she would have some kind of connection to it, but instead it was just another name. Even that had been taken from her.

So I suppose I can keep calling you the Chosen One, she said, struggling to keep the bitterness out of her voice. Given Felix wasnt ever actually Chosen.

Im sorry, the Chosen One said, making a hopeless little gesture with his hands. And, although he wasnt her friend, her heart still ached. But, even though it might not mean anything, I do consider you a friend. I care about you, and the others, and I really do want you all to be happy. You, especially.

Happy, Qube said, like shed never heard the word before. She could feel her heart thrumming in her ears. Ill be happy when my loved ones are revived. She stopped, an idea striking her.

She turned his words over in her mind.

The Chosen One was doing something extremely dangerous. He was making sense. Healing magic could fix what was there, but even it had limits. It was well known that if you removed core parts of a person, it couldnt be [Heal]ed back. After all, thats why you couldnt [Heal] someone whod been chopped into lots of little bits, even if they were technically still alive. It had to have a base structure to cling to.

Same with [Revive]. If you took away the head of a corpse, or destroyed all their flesh, it was more than normal magic could repair. In some of the stories told to Qube growing up there had been an old mentor character who had access to a spell powerful enough to bring someone back just from a memory (and even they tended to die in the casting of such a spell), but even in the context of fiction it had seemed far-fetched.

Qube looked around the village, scanning the wreckage.

There might be one person who isnt too badly damaged, she said, without any faith in her own words. The destruction had been too thorough. The Evil Emperor, and the Dark Devs acting through him, had been too determined to send the other side a message.

I promise you, I will make the Devs fix this, the Chosen One said, reaching a hand out to touch her shoulder. She flinched away. He dropped his hand. I cant do it yet. But I will. I swear to you.

Strangely enough, she believed him. He may have concealed the truth about who he was, and the fate of her hometown, but she had still learned how to read his face. He meant it.

I cant think, she said, swallowing hard. Im sorry, I just cant think.

She was Qube, the Childhood Companion to a man who no longer existed, from a village that had been wiped off the map. The Golden Prophecy that had dictated her entire life had been made by the people who had placed a being from another world in the body of her friend, and concealed it.

She was a guiding light and she was utterly, utterly lost.

But she looked into a face, at once so familiar and foreign, and saw genuine pain reflected there. She had spent months travelling with this man, and, even though he wasnt who she had thought, he was still there. And he cared. And she was so very, very lonely, scared and lost. Suddenly, tears welled up, and she started uncontrollably sobbing. The Chosen One wrapped her up in his arms, and held her as she wept.

Dont apologise, he said, his voice rough. You have nothing to apologise for.

She wanted to scream. She wanted to punch him, destroy all this rubble around her, and burn down the Evil Emperors castle. She wanted to storm into the Devs world, and force them to kneel before her and apologise. She wanted to make everything right, and bring everyone back, and keep everyone safe. Instead, she could only cry.

She was unable to help those most important to her when they needed her most. And that hurt more than anything else.

Finally, though, the storm of tears tapered off, and she was left, wrung out, supported only by the Chosen One. Her feelings were still in a tangled mess, and she didnt know what this meant, or where they stood, but she knew they had to move forward.

They had a world to save.

This doesnt mean Ive forgiven you, she said weakly. Or that Im going to trust you again immediately. And, once Ive had a chance to think, youre gonna have to answer a lot of questions.

I know, he said into her hair.

Were going to save the kingdom, she said, only standing because he was holding her upright. And then were going to go to the Devs and make them make this right.

Of course, he agreed, with the ghost of a laugh.

And youre going to tell the others the truth. And let us be in charge of the next Temple.

Wait, what?