How many times was he going to pass out and end up in unfamiliar places? Since he was in this kingdom, that was all he did. It was like the inhabitants of the city of Ile-d'Éten who couldn't help but pass out in the subway or commit suicide when in a hurry. And the problem with the Estenites is that they are immortal since they live in one of these artificial worlds, so these bastards were doing it for fun - committing suicide, the fainting was from disconnecting from the server. Imagine going on a date in this world... What bad memories...
His body was worn out from all the spells and curses he had been given. How long did he have to live before his body gave out due to the overuse of these power amplifiers? In fact, he didn't have to ask himself that kind of question since Hero's Will and Fate were not going to let him die before fulfilling any of the scenarios.
Plunged into a deep coma for almost a week, the nameless princess stared at him as she bent down to his height, she observed that by putting him in profile, facing the daylight, one could see his nose and she saw that it was not as fine as hers - after all she did not have the finest nose.
Suddenly, entered the night elf Helmir bringing a bouquet of flowers to the Hero, she was surprised to see the princess here.
- Did you come to see him, Helmir?
- Yes, it is.
- You can put your flowers on the table behind me," said the winged fairy.
The Fairy had not had time to observe her well when they were summoned to the throne room, she discovered a slender woman with a small body and a pale complexion like the vast majority of elves - especially those of the night. One could tell by her clothes that her muscles were worked, she wore an apron and a hood with a thin long-sleeved dress suit. And she remembered seeing her with a shaved head at the throne room, there she had short blonde hair.
- When I first saw you, I didn't see you wearing that kind of clothing," commented the Fairy.
- I couldn't see myself wearing such feminine clothes either, but I was strongly "advised" to wear them.
Helmir turned around and saw five plates filled with pastries wrapped in translucent protective sheets. There was a sixth plate in a bag that probably belonged to the pariah.
A plate for every day he had been here, the spy thought.
Helmir placed the bouquet on the table next to all the delicious gifts. She allowed herself to taste one of the cakes and took a chair to sit next to the princess.
- Did you make them?" Helmir asked with his mouth full.
- Yes, yes," said the fairy, happy to be noticed.
- They are not famous.
What a cold shower for the Fairy who was expecting to be praised for her cooking.
- Generally, one does not criticize the faults of a fairy princess, the Fairy reminded her.
- That's right," said Helmir, swallowing the crumbling pastry inside his mouth, "but for one thing, you're not considered a royal despite your royal blood, and for another, my late father taught me not to pet people, even if it means crumpling them up first so I don't have to crumple them up when they find out about the trickery.
- Indeed, it is understandable, the Fairy blew while looking at the ground with a smile.
A silence was created between the two fairies. The night elf took advantage of this to go and get a refill on one of her pastries, which she didn't find very good, and returned to sit next to the princess, this time with three of her cookies in hand.
- You know, you don't have to get upset because I said your cookies weren't great, Helmir told him, even if they have flaws, they're good enough to eat. Especially since this must be the first time you've cooked, and you've jumped right into human cooking when no one else does.
- No," refuted the wingless fairy, "contrary to what people think, I don't have a regular cook like the other fairy princesses. It's my mother or my father who cooks and sometimes I help them. But did you notice that it was human cooking?
- Yes, because I have already tasted it in my wanderings outside the kingdom, Helmir told him, but know that if I noticed it, he too must have noticed that you have made food of his kind, and that's why he only asked you to make it for him.
- Do you know about this?" asked the Fairy, taken aback.
- Of course," she answered with the same cold tone, "I was concerned about whether he was well. That's why I could see this during my daily monitoring, and it's not insignificant if he asks you again.
- Really?
- He too finds faults in them (probably different from mine, since the human palate is different from that of the Faerie), and no doubt, he wants you to improve because you have the potential to do so.
- Do you really think so?" asked the Fairy, excited.
- I would like to tell you two hundred percent, but as you know: the kid is not very talkative, so these are only strong assumptions that only he can confirm or deny.
- I understand, but it makes me happy to know that he appreciates my efforts.
The Fairy turned her gaze to the nameless boy whose body was wrapped in bandages filled with magic, fairy dust, and magical writing. Seeing him in this state saddened her greatly, especially after what she had heard when he was fighting with the queen.
- Did you know that he was the hero of the legend?
- Absolutely not!" laughs Helmir.
It was the first time any emotion had shown on her face since she'd first seen her - if you omit when the Hero had embarrassed her by calling her "auntie," but I'm willing to be lenient.
- If I have to tell you the truth, I had doubts, but they were erased by his brother who told me the opposite. But I'm a Cartesian person, I'm not going to believe that the first person to do incredible things is the one that the whole of Fayiera Terra expects, especially if it comes from legends and children's tales, which is illogical given the fantasy world in which we live, she said, holding out her hands in front of her with a disillusioned look.
Then the expression on his face turned sullen.
- Even if he had told me, I don't think I would have believed him, I didn't know enough about the subject to recognize the sword of the Evil One's herald, but most of all, I would never have believed that a child could carry such a burden as being the hero of the legend.
- I don't see how being the hero of the legend is a burden.
The short-haired elf blew his nose.
- You say that because you only see him through the prism of the one who is saved by him. But put yourself in the place of the hero of the legend, not the human in front of us. What do you remember about the legend?
For a better understanding of the legend, it is I who will tell you the legend of the hero who defeated the Evil One in the hour of darkness, until his memories go:
Once upon a time, after the humans and the Faerics met and went to war, an immense tremor hit the entire planet and a blackish blanket covered the skies, no longer allowing any light to pass through from the star of our solar system.
The whole world was plunged into total darkness.
While the inhabitants of our world were just getting used to this darkness, on both sides of the globe, we could see that the ground was opening up and letting out vile creatures coming out of the bowels of the earth, perpetrating massacres, rapes, murders and other ignominies.
But one beautiful night, annoyed by all these horrors, a valiant character stood up to all the monsters persecuting all the earthlings of the Emerald Planet. Alone against all of them, he took back territories from the infernal creatures that were terrorizing his fellow humans or fairies.
His fame went to the ends of the Earth until it reached the evil ears of the tyrant of Fayiera Terra. Eventually, the two met and a merciless battle began between the champion of the New Earthmen and the Evil One who had taken over the entire planet for himself.
After a hard fight, the hero finally defeated the Evil One and saved the people of the Emerald Planet from their doom, yet in front of the corpse of his enemy, he was in tears. His eyes stared at the world he had just liberated and yet he could not stop crying as the world was once again illuminated by the light of the Earth's star and no longer by the flames of the hell that had descended upon Earth.
He left behind him a world ravaged by war and darkness, but no more could be asked of him, he had already accomplished, out of pure altruism, much more than anyone before him...
- You know your course well enough, Helmir remarked, and that is why I am saddened by the situation of this human. He finds himself destined to carry the future of the world on his frail shoulders when he has known nothing of life.
- If he has been chosen to defend the New Earthlings, it is because he is or will be strong enough to defeat The Maleficent.
Helmir scratched his cheek and stared at the ceiling, staring blankly.
- In all sincerity, I don't think that victory is a prerequisite for being chosen as a hero, otherwise the darkness would have disappeared from the sky long ago.
It's true, the Fairy reflected, the legend says that the darkness went away after the hero's victory over the Evil One, yet the sky is still black beyond the kingdom's walls.
- And it is confirmed with the fact that he is the replacement of the previous hero who was apparently his mother, sighed the night elf, you learned it like me during the confrontation with the queen.
- To see one's mother killed by the absolute evil and then to find oneself powerless against it and to be swallowed up by a flood of hatred towards the world and towards oneself, this is not a dream life for any living being, the Fairy pitied.
- Yes, it is.
The Fairy took a cookie from her, she was about to put it in her mouth, but held back.
- Tell me, Lady Helmir.
- There is no need for such coquetry towards me, I am only a pawn of the nation.
- I want to. I wanted to know: how long have you known him? He was wearing this "stain" that covers his body.
- Five, six years, I would say. It was in Vicenti that I met him for the first time, he was much smaller than that and smaller, but strangely enough, he seemed much warmer even though his misfortune had occurred shortly before we met. He was in a corner of the bar of his brother and he played with a can to which he had given the shape of a man, she remembered, this day, he had really given me the impression to be devoid of speech, he addressed me with so much expressiveness without saying a word that I thought he was mute. In spite of his absent face, one discerned easily
But I remember now that Asteron told me that when he found him, the boy had no memory, he didn't even act like a civilized being anymore, she remembered.
- However," Helmir continued, "I don't think it's a good idea for me to tell you his story, it's better for him to do it, because he'd be angry with me if I did it without his permission, but also, perhaps by confiding in you, he'd acquire that lie they call 'showing humanity.
- But he won't know!
- You think?" Helmir said, pointing at the Hero, "Look at the wolf wake up at the mere mention of it.
The Hero winced as he tried to sit up on his bed before collapsing miserably on his hospital bed. He frowned and saw the Fairy beside his bed. She smiled and greeted him.
- Look, who am I with? said the Fairy.
The Hero turned his eyes in the direction the winged fairy was pointing and saw no one, his eyes looked at the princess, bewildered.
- But she was here just two minutes ago," cried the Fairy, "you don't think I'm crazy, do you?
The boy shrugged his shoulders.
He went blindly in search of his slate and did not find it on him, nor on the dresser beside his bed.
- Is this what you're looking for?" asked the princess, tempting him with the object of his desire.
He grabbed it but she held it in her hand.
- You know that you played me well by making me believe that you were dumb!
The Hero did not hear the Fairy's remark, he was absorbed by the bandages that wrapped his arm, it reminded him of old bad memories of his long weeks of absences because of his wounds that reopened randomly and without warning. But he came back to himself when he heard the Fairy bring him out of his unpleasant Proust's madeleine.
- Are you with me?" the wingless fairy asked her as she brought her face closer.
The sores on his face hurt like hell, but since she wanted him to speak so badly, he would make an effort, come what may for her. His vocal cords were really irritated for him to be able to say anything, but it was important for him to be able to tell her that.
- You... you... know that... you have... a... huge... forehead," the Hero said to him in a hoarse voice.
The Fairy snatched the slate from his hands and hurriedly put it to his forehead to hide it.
- It's... funny, you're getting... red like... a... tomato!" laughed the Hero with the greatest of difficulty.
- But stop, it's not funny!" said the Fairy, pouting.
- I'm annoying you," laughed the Hero before choking.
Returning to her natural colors, the Fairy remembered that she had come with her, a gift for our young hospital patient.
- I told you that if you had told me earlier that you were nearsighted, I would have fixed it.
She rummaged in her canvas bag and took out a pair of glasses whose lenses were fogged with magic, she put them on the face of the Hero. She put them on the hero's face. He was surprised to see perfectly, his eyesight had improved and he could see clearly beyond his hands. He turned towards the Fairy, with this perfect vision, he could distinguish all the contours of her face, every imperfection, the thinness of her lips, her perfectly curved eyelashes, her big pink starry eyes...
She seemed so...
- From the look on your face, you must be enjoying the view.
He wanted to answer her a serious joke, but the idea disappeared instantly so much he was subjugated by his new corrected sight.
- You know," said the Fairy, "it makes you a little more... warm, I would say.
The Hero was embarrassed by the Fairy's compliment, he twisted his hands and smiled awkwardly. The only thing he was able to answer was:
- That's... nice... Thanks...
The Fairy was not only happy that she liked his gift but also that he was embarrassing him as he was always doing with the others. She had so many questions to ask him, but she would wait for another day to ask him. Right now, she was just going to take the opportunity to talk simply with her new champion and make him gulp down all the pastries she had prepared with the help of her mother.
- Tell me... what was... the... power that... you... used... when I was facing... the queen...
- What power?
- The one... that... you... used... to.... appease... my anger... and... stop his... attack...
- I...
Suddenly, she had an absence, then returned to the Hero.
- I don't remember, sorry. I have a huge memory lapse as if I passed out before the end when it seems I was there. Besides, that I have the ability to stop an attack from the queen would be impossible. Stop kidding me.
The Hero said nothing. She did not seem to be lying, but her memories did not seem to be lying to her.
Outside, Helmir was confronted by her superior, Tadzi.
- So you visit the human?
- As you can see," the night elf replied dryly, "is there anything I can do for you?
- I just came to inform you, as you had asked to accompany him in his quest for vengeance in search of the Nemesis, that you are in charge of his surveillance. He must not, under any circumstances, make waves as happened five days ago.
- Is that all?" asked Helmir in surprise, "If that's all, I won't have much work to do. How long do I have to watch him?
- Until he left Sylvania.
- That long? It is not a...
- Helmir!" Tadzi told him, "I don't want you to argue with my orders, whether he is an acquaintance of yours or not. I don't want to see him hanging around in places where he shouldn't be, do you understand?
- Very clear.
- And be careful, you can tell it's a wig what you're wearing on your head.
The slime curled into a ball and rolled to the elevator leading to the surface.
It was rare to see Commander Tadzi in a bad mood, but after all, the personality he showed at the stadium was as true as his story about a reporter fly.
Helmir had been suspicious of the head of the secret service of the Fairy Forest kingdom for some months. But there was nothing wrong with the man who handled the kingdom's dirty secrets himself, especially since he was under the direct jurisdiction of the Minister of the Interior.
So she had no right to interfere in his affairs...
However, her instincts told her that there was something strange about the blue slime, and she intended to find it.
However, the remark that Tadzi had affected her, she sighed with exasperation and removed her wig.
Was she destined to be only a weapon for this country and never... a woman?
- Asteroids... if you are not a liar, nobody sees what you see...