The troop of Fairy children, composed of fairy princesses, champions and civilians, who were facing him stared at him strangely, they were both intrigued and frightened by the black-faced Man. The Hero returned their look of incomprehension and leaned towards the dwarf, then stood up and looked at the tallest of his children, a tall elf with blond hair and brown eyes. He had a strange feeling when he looked at this boy, he looked... fake?
However, he did not feel any magical illusion around this elf, but...
The awkwardness that had developed between the children and the Hero was due to the analysis of each group towards the other, but it was the elf who broke the silence by extending his hand towards the Hero, all smiles.
- You must be the boy Princess told us about? said the elf.
The Hero stared at the hand before grasping it.
- I guess so if you're talking about the same person I'm thinking of...
Friendship wasn't really his forte, especially with strangers, he was apprehensive about getting to know someone, especially someone who looked so friendly... And he had also noticed that he had called him not by the term human but boy, which was rather rare when meeting someone from another species. Was it benevolence towards him not to mark a little too many differences between them?
A redheaded fairy stepped in front of the other fairies and stared at the Hero, curious and with an intriguing smile, he was different from the elf, his eyes shone with a curious glow that made the Hero uneasy.
- It is well the first time that I see a human of so close, and so strange, she is ecstatic.
- Uh...
Was the only thing that the Hero could say about this intriguing person.
- Considering that you are facing him while passing in front of me, reprimanded Alexander the leaper, you can introduce yourself, it is the least of the courtesies.
- It's true, you're right!" she nodded, clapping her hand, "I'll take this opportunity to introduce you all!
- If you like it...
Marina stood in front of the Hero and turned towards her friends, pointing at them one by one.
- Here are the main friends of the girl, first the princesses, that allows me to introduce myself in first: Marina of the family Luméa, the one who will be the future queen of Sylvania...
- Oh!" interjected the champion into Marina's presentation, "don't say that as if you were the one fighting on the field.
- Well, that means I trust you, dummy.
- You're the moron!
Are all these fairies so casual? the Hero wondered.
- Well, says the fairy filled with freckles while coughing on her fist, I take again. Alexander the hopping... Here you are, you screwed up the order of presentation, asked Marina, there is the elf to whom you shook hands, Lin Uramerchie, the fallen prince of Fausture.
- Do not abuse, I am a marquis.
- Yes, yes. Here is one of my opponents in the tournament: Acamelia Clementina, with her skinny champion who is not here.
The Hero stared at this tall fairy who appeared to be the size of the queen, she had short curly brown hair, part of which was a bun, she had full lips, an "interesting" chest size and cheeks of malisonies - rodents that looked like hamsters but kept their food in their cheeks to store their food during the great periods of hibernation.
This girl appealed to the Hero, the boy's hormones were working proving that he was indeed a teenager.
He shook her hand and winked at her, all the while pinching his leg through his pants pocket to avoid showing that he was fighting his shyness.
"Make an effort, you square-headed jerk! How long are you going to hide in your mother's skirts, thinking you're a homo!" was the phrase that Asteron loved to say to the Hero to wake him up from his torpor. But he noted that he was still homophobic on the edges, the bugger.
Starting to think with his lower belly... That damn Asteron had really perverted him.
- Then there is our mascot, our little dwarf Mina...
- Euphemism.
- No, Mina, it's a pleonasm," Jacob interjected.
- Surely.
- Then, here is Jacob Baldet, the present Marina, the only elf sylvain that you will be able to meet in this world! she enthused.
Even if it was true, because it was rare for dwarves and elves to form an affectionate alliance, especially between dwarves who are more into manufacturing and industrialization compared to elves who are into the purest admiration of nature, she made him look like a freak.
He must have been good at hammer throwing, thought the Hero.
- And finally, we have my namesake, the young and dashing Titou Luxéa, a messenger.
Courier was not the job, but the race of humanoid resembling humans but unlike Men, they were a mostly slender people however their thighs were enormous, they had legs powerful enough to slice through trees with a single kick, the most seasoned ones were capable of decapitating toothed lions, and if you were caught between their legs, it was almost impossible to escape. However, they were not valiant warriors, they were rather cowardly, they were often used to transmit missives and parcels, they were so fast that they could exceed the speed of sound - not without physical damage - and don't think that they could bring your double bed to your home because only their legs have power, their arms are barely able to hurt a fly.
- Our whole gang has been introduced," congratulated the fairy-princess Marina, before realizing that the Hero had not done so, "but finally, you haven't introduced yourself, what's your little name, my boy?
- Marina!" said Alexander.
- Well, actually, like the fairy princess without a name, I don't have one.
- Oh, you are devoid of it like her? notified the dwarf.
- That's right. Otherwise, I'm his new champion.
An awkward silence filled the entire hallway, the group of friends looked at each other, worried, before turning back to the boy.
- Are you really the new Princess champion?" asked Lin.
- Yes, since the other bouf... champion is unavailable for a while, said the Hero pointing to the room behind him.
- But that's not fair," complained Alexander, "you've seen what he can do. Humans are already not tolerated in the kingdom, but if on top of that they start participating in our events... What is the world coming to?
- Because you felt you could compete with Selma-Keltna and Tarkus.
The hopster wanted to retort but remained silent.
- In any case, it is a godsend for our princess to have a warrior as strong as him, noted Mina, I hope you will live up to the expectations of our friend.
- I'm sure you made that same remark to Beneltig," said the Hero with a wry smile.
Mina was about to retort, but someone came and pulled the hero's ear and dragged him away from the group.
- I remember telling you to let me know when you were done talking to the diamond block," the nurse reprimanded him.
- Well, see you later, kids.
This meeting was really... strange. The Hero noticed that he had not said anything about being the hero of the legend, which meant that the information had spread but not on such a large scale.
They arrived at the hospital's secretariat, the nurse asked the operator to contact Dr. De Brunsmark to see if he was still busy.
Too bad for the Hero, he was.
He thought he had reached his quota of unknowns for the day, if not for the month.
- But, by the way, you started talking.
- Yes. I wasn't going to climb on the diamond block to make him see what's on my slate. Besides, with the reflection of the light, even if I put it in front of him, he wouldn't see what it said...
- You look smarter than you sound, definitely, commented the Niaagin.
Once again, the Hero found himself at a loss when faced with this compliment, he knew he had to thank her, but would it be wiser to accept it without anything? The social conventions, it was really not his forte.
"Don't worry, this kid is a genius, maybe one day he will be able to remove the dark clouds from the sky to show us what's beyond the heavens!
The Niaagin told him to follow her, bringing him out of his reflection and they went to the office of the famous doctor.
- Okay. I'll see you later after your interview and tests.
The Hero nodded and entered the room waving goodbye.
In front of him stood a man he had seen before, a human. This doctor was the doctor of the Oranas prison.
He stood with his back to the Hero, smoking a pipe in front of a large bookcase filled with scrolls and books of all kinds whose contents the Hero could not guess by scanning their titles at this distance - even with his newly donated glasses. He also noticed that the doctor's head had begun to recede in his absence with two birthmarks on the top of his head, he was trying to hide them by putting a few strands of hair on them - did he know that baldness was no longer a problem for men these days? He hadn't tried it because what he had was alopecia due to his illness, but he'd heard good things, but after that if you ended up with hair from a magician's rabbit turning you into some kind of animal or from the backside of a trakino, that was at your own risk.
He even had a window pretending to show a nice view of the city - it was supposed to prevent him from going completely crazy by staying isolated in his underground, even if it was well equipped. For a moment, the Hero wondered if there were vending machines in this hospital... Then he remembered that he had no money to buy any snacks.
Well installed in his leather seat, in front of him, a table made in a delicate wood, with beautiful grooves drawn on its feet, upholstered with administrative papers, beautiful curtains made of silk, he had even made him a carpet by stuffing a lion with targeted teeth.
This man must have been very important in the eyes of the Faerics to benefit from such things while he was a Man.
- Good morning, young man. Take a seat.
The Hero obeyed him and sat down opposite the doctor.
- We've met before, right?
- Indeed, when you were incarcerated in the Oranas prison and caused unspeakable carnage because of a shameful photo-montage of you.
It was true that he had exterminated a good number of prisoners who had pushed him to the limit. At the same time, didn't he want them to see what a monstrosity he was?
- I won't judge you for what happened in the prison, and by analyzing the data I was able to collect by studying you here, I was able to understand some things that I explained to the queen who is very interested in you.
- At the same time, she realized that I was "special" so to speak.
- And she's right, considering what you are, the doctor pointed out, I never thought I'd see a human modified five thousand years after the heavens lost their luster.
- The modified humans are just a legend from another time. Soldiers in the service of ancient human nations that have since disappeared. I wonder where you met this weirdo.
The doctor opened his eyes wide with a smirk.
- In front of me.
- Huh?" exclaimed the Hero, "am I one?
- You never noticed? Your parents never told you.
- No..., he said, lowering his eyes.
His parents, while they were alive, had never communicated to him the presence of any genetic attribute - they were already not very communicative even with the former and the latter was not aware of it, he believes...
- However, I notice from the analyses that have been carried out on you that compared to the other genetic attributes that I have been able to observe and study in the books, reports and files that are in the Central Libraries of Vicenti, Dominars and Paris-la-Déchue...
- Is there a Central Library of Paris-la-Déchue?
- Yes, but no one could access it because of the terrible monster that was Albedo Wata, but now that she has been defeated the greatest knowledge base in all of Europea has been revealed to us, I think that this famous government that wants to bring order to this continent will no longer have to submit to Gear-O's desire.
- The person in charge will never let that happen.
- That's why I took the precaution of printing all the documents I needed to carry out my experiments... I also took the Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Lords of the Rings and Silmarion because... well...
He had just mentioned titles that the Hero had absolutely no knowledge of, in a language that he could barely understand, fortunately the memories of others allowed him to understand that some, not all, were classics of literature, otherwise it was a complete blur. And according to the memories of one particular person, they were not all masterpieces of literature.
- But coming back to you, from what I understand, the genetic attribute that is in your DNA is failing.
- What do you mean?
- I could not find the source of the problem despite all the genetic attributes I examined, I had thought of a mutation leading to a genetic malformation, but despite all my research to the point of digging up confidential files on some modified humans having been created by former governments, I find nothing... So finally, there can only be one left but to make this hypothesis would be beyond comprehension...
- Wait a minute! I would like you to put your ideas in order so that you can explain to me what is a modified human? And what is a genetic attribute because I was just told that it was a power that some humans had managed to acquire, a long time ago.
- It is true that today it would be very complicated to see new humans modified like in the time of the fusion of worlds.
- What? Did you witness the merging of the worlds?" said the Hero, throwing himself out of his seat.
- Yes, but I was very young and it was a real hodgepodge of nonsense at that time, first we understood and then it was denied, we confessed and then there was a crisis... The truth is, I'm not sure how to explain it, I never thought my memory would fail me so badly when we're in an age where we can store our memory on chips, at my time it was still just a project that Elon Musk was selling on Twitter and other media as revolutionary. My cryonics must have been imperfect or maybe cryonics was never perfect.
- So you're here to remedy your accelerated aging in exchange for your services to the Faerie community in the kingdom of Sylvania?
- Who could have told you that you didn't speak?
- Belachat," growled the Hero.
- What a bastard he is!" laughed the doctor.
The Hero gave him a dark look that shut him up immediately. The doctor remembered that although he was much more talkative than when he had first met him, he was still a ferocious beast who had been channeled by an unimaginable trick. He was the only being he knew of who could hold his own against the Queen of Destruction, she was not known for being picky, and considering the state in which he had been brought, it was really a miracle that he survived... How stupid he is, he is the hero of the legend... So it is a miracle that he is in one piece and yet, he could have regenerated.
In short, to kill it, it is necessary to pulverize it like Buu, said the doctor.
That's right. Well done, Sherlock.
- Coming back to our sheep, says De Brunsmark, the genetic attributes are what we called at the time "superpowers", there are some who breathe fire like dragons, who make ice floes with their hands, who have their powers from the sun, talk to plants... It was more or less complicated to obtain these powers since it brought a genetic modification to one's body that some could not bear, but I can tell you that those who managed to survive and who trained, even if not necessarily, surpassed the common mortal by far! The greatest magicians, wizards, mages and others would have to join forces to defeat them. They were the equals of a god.
- Oh dear, blasphemy there.
- Christian?
- Yes.
- Even that survived... Well... At the same time, that's how some people saw them, even if their real names were superheroes.
- I've already heard about it in the DVDs and Blu-Rays that my brother borrows from the Universal Library in Vicenti.
- Does it still exist? Is it well preserved?
- Pretty much, yes. Some movie producers use these films from another era to remaster them and sell them as holofilms and make them look like original productions. They're good with suits and ties..." said the Hero, "so I'd have a superpower.
- Yes, but it is failing," said De Brunsmark.
- What do you mean?
- He is the source of the evil that creates these wounds on you, explained the professor, instead of simply giving you a power like other modified humans, or superheroes, you have a counter blow that is created and the problem, which is not a problem since you have this fabulous regeneration that saves your life, is that it condemns you to death.
- HEIN?
- But that's not a concern as long as you're the hero of the legend, anyway. But this genetic attribute also affects the power of the hero. To see this, I needed the help of those troubadours of Faerie, those acrobats with mediocre conjuring skills...
He said the same thing about humans, don't worry. He really hated magic that broke the logic of the world, the world he had known, his world.
- We could see that your genetic attribute had an influence on your body, you have a much greater strength than any hero before you, but you have the side effects of the attribute and on top of that, it tries to drag you to death by manipulating your white blood cells that turn against you. Basically, to put it simply, you're incredibly strong, but inside your body it's World War V with nuclear missiles and Tesla Death Rays.
If I am no longer the hero of the legend, I will be at the mercy of my genetic attribute, the Hero whispered to himself, well after all, my plan doesn't really need me to live long to be put into place.
- So will the tests help you remedy my ailment?
The doctor huffed and shook his head.
- Your disease is incurable, I tried everything during your "coma", but nothing can be done, you will have to live with it. We can try to fix your hair but it will take...
- No, forget it. It's not a big deal. My mother already told me that there was nothing to do back then. Only God can perform miracles, right?" smiled the Hero falsely, "I'll keep asking him to heal me.
Why had he even hoped for a moment to get out of this permanent pain? He already knew it was hopeless. His mother had been here before and she hadn't found anything, so why should he be the one to find a solution to his problem? He already knew it was over for him. His main goal was to kill the hero and the Nemesis, nothing else.
I was too harsh in calling this boy a wild beast, De Brunsmark changed his mind, he doesn't even deserve the title of demon, demons never cry... at least not in sorrow.
- The test has already been passed.
- Huh?" woke up the Hero from sleep, "what do you mean by that?
- That I could see, through our discussion, that the seal that was put on you to block the curse that was put on you, he explained, if something had happened to you, the sensors that I placed under this chair would have alerted me but apparently it works.
- However, I still have some of the strength I gained from the curse.
- Don't worry, they (those shitty magicians) focused on the backlash you were experiencing so it was more effective than the gain from this curse, so soon your strength will be diminished but don't tell me you're going to lose it all, right.
- Of course not. And that would serve as my alibi for the fist embedded in the diamond block.
- Is that your problem?
- Absolutely not.
- So it's not our problem," concludes De Brunsmark.
One hated the weakling in the gemstone, the other simply hated magical creatures and delighted in their misfortunes.
And they both shook hands.
- Come on. Go find the deer-woman outside, she'll help you get your things ready to leave... Hey wait! How come you're standing when you couldn't move by yourself?
- I can force heroic regeneration in exchange for some pain, overheating of my body and life time.
- Hmm. I see.
The doctor tapped on the underside of his table and pulled out a tube he had hung with tape and sticky toad sweat, he opened it like a thermos and pulled out a series of rolled up sheets, he laid them flat. In them were written documents, photos and graphs. On the graphs were three curves that had very regular oscillations, the red one corresponded to the genetic attribute of the Hero that went straight, and the black and yellow ones oscillated in a regular way by making ellipses while always crossing on the red line.
He read on other documents the blood test of the young human and found what they had called black and yellow cells in the boy's blood. And he read that the Faerics had tried an experiment with the Hero's blood that had set the whole laboratory on fire. They separated the cells belonging to the genetic attribute, and those belonging to the heroic power and the demonic power of the Nemesis into three parts in three vials, they had tested them each in different ways and noticed that the golden cells had the ability to regenerate what they touched and "create life" in it, the black cells corrupted everything they touched and also created life but in a different way, and could even give life to what they touched. It was necessary to put them in a vacuum in zero gravity so that no drama would occur and for the blood containing only the genetic attribute, it made small portions of what it touched disappear by making holes in it.
The last experiment was to try to make the black and yellow cells touch each other by extracting them with a pipette, which led to an explosion in the laboratory. He had been present and felt the evil aura that escaped, and he ended up with a second degree burn on his arm.
But before this contact, they had observed, with a microscope, the blood of the Hero and they had found there small bubbles which seemed to be similar to air but they distinguished that with their contact the hemoglobin disappeared without ever reappearing.
De Brunsmark slumped in his seat and wondered what was in this boy's body that made him so special, if it wasn't for his genetic attribute, this boy would be a human atomic bomb.
He had the ability to wipe this kingdom off the world map and make it a desert of ashes...
All this amalgam to become stronger if I base only on the curse that was thrown to him, it is absurd..., thought the scientist.
He wondered if the price he had to pay for what he wanted was worth it. Another question came to his mind: "Was the Hero totally human? It would be logical to say no, even the humans between them were not one hundred percent, at least in his time, of a specific ethnicity. De Brunsmark was going to have to do a genetic analysis of the Hero's blood to verify his phylogeny.
The Hero left the room and joined Flora who took him to his room, helped him dress and clean his wounds - or the other way around.
And she accompanied him to the hospital exit.
- I hope you recover quickly from your injuries," the nurse wished him.
The Hero nodded with a thumbs up in his direction and walked away.
He is free.
There was no custody, so he wasn't going to be arrested and taken to jail.
He was going to take the opportunity to go for a little walk in town before going back to his room.