The Land of The Dead Hero

I won't stay in this world any longer.

Yes, it's a baby's body. But it can run, grab, and walk. My entire face hurts from his hits. I feel them so much more than in my old life. Perhaps it's because I'm so young. Maybe. But it hurts like a motherfucker. And that fat fuck was asking for it - and he got lucky when for some bullshit reason that brick didn't damage the kid. So why am I getting punished for it? And for that matter, everything in this world is just fucking twisted. Why did it give me a girl's body? What the fuck? 

There is obviously no fucking future in this shithole.

My father is a dick. Probably not as bad as my old pap's in the real world, whom I managed to forgive eventually, but he still rubs me the wrong way. Sure, money is essential, I guess. Hey, I get it, I remember when my girl Ashley and I tried to make it across the border in the real world. You know, when we tried to make a grand escape and those coppers caught us? 

Yeah, that's the thing I hate the most. This guy has precisely the same face as them.

For all sorts of purposes, he is a self-described righteous guy. Elias. Sounds like a tech bro's name. Perhaps someone without eyes couldn't see it, but this guy seems to be constantly trying to live "right". He follows all of the rules here, seemingly without as much as a question. You don't see it that way? Okay. Let me give you an example.

I know my brother and I aren't his.

So he is pretty much a weak cuckold, who still cares about his mother and some other woman, who is not just a midwife, but quite clearly something akin to a housemaid or a slave. After all, he doesn't pay her, and she stays at his house, although she constantly helps the rest of the town, seemingly for no pay at all. He doesn't even fuck her. Well, it doesn't seem he's doing a lot of fucking anyhow, since we are someone else's kids. This probably explains why he doesn't feel particularly attached to us. Makes sense. I wouldn't be attached to some other pricks' kids either.

You are asking how I know it? The old knight, Berin, told me. He took me to the side and he said: "I am told you are Hero's Chosen. If that is true, your father will come for you." 

Yeah, I can put two and two together. Berin didn't mean it in the sense that Elias would just come back from grinding the wheat or something. The one who fucked Anasa - well, who can blame him, she IS pretty hot - is somewhere out there. And he doesn't care at all.

Well whatever. My whole body hurts like that one time those junkies came at me with the bats. And it has a fucking vag! And I am a baby!

I won't tolerate this shit for a second longer.

I tricked them when he was ranting, saying I wanted to pee. Of course, our mother would take me aside to relieve that situation.

"Goodness, I just tried to help him and he lashes out like this," Anasa murmured. "Come on, Aer, do your thing..." she said, pulling my pants down near the big trees. The path to the mill was quite long, and there was quite a haste. Apparently, they wanted to actually give the wheat to the town, so yeah, if I got everything right, we won't have anything to eat either. There is no future in this mill. No future at all.

And if there are powers, it seems someone else is getting them.

You see, I won't lie, I was hoping for something. My mother was constantly ranting about how I was the Hero's Chosen. That I am a special child. That everything in life will be according to my wishes, so to speak. There are knights, witches, and demons! 

So why the fuck didn't I get anything yet? I don't seem to be a special child at all. I want to have fucking spells and shit.

"Don't take too long or your father will be angry..." she continued, patting my hair.

"Well, he isn't my father, you aren't my mother, and quite frankly, FUCK YOU ALL!" 

Sometimes the pot just explodes if the fire continues to burn for too long. I wriggled out of Anasa's arms and started running in the woods. That was my plan. It was quite a stupid plan, but I had hoped that something between those trees would kill me. Maybe a bear or something. Or a ravine. Just about anything would do. Sure, I could jump down from the mill, but they were watching me. I had to try to lose them between the trees. These freaks.

"Aer, STOP!" she shouted, screaming and wailing and crying. I didn't get far. To be fair, she was an adult, and I was a child. "STOP STOP STOP STOP!" Anasa was manic. Her arms were holding me so firmly, like she was trying to suffocate me.

I didn't even get past the tree line, so why the fuck is she overreacting like this? If she knew the truth, maybe she would have pushed me to the beasts herself. I imagine it would be pretty horrifying for her. To know her small daughter has the mind of someone even older than her.

"Aer...no..."

This woman was wailing so often and so long. I know the best because I spend time with her almost constantly. She sure liked to cry. My own, REAL mother didn't do that nearly as often, and my REAL dad was a criminal. She was also way more sympathetic than this girl. Sure, Anasa was hot, but what was her character exactly? She hated my brother and tried to kill him. So what gives her the right to stop me from doing the same? What makes me the favorite, huh? Cause she wanted a girl? Is that it?

Well, she sure must be disappointed.

"Fuck you bitch. I want to die. Just let me die so it's over with."

Not the words you want to hear from a 2-3 year old.

"How do you even know that language...Did you hear Elias say it..." she wept. "Are no...please...I am sorry...Please..."

God, this woman was annoying. How is a "please" going to fix this situation? She can't even stop him from whooping my ass and he is a fucking cuck. If I hit her across the face right now, she would probably tolerate it. This woman is weak. Elias is weak. Even Canalyse is weak. This world has people who are just pathetic after pathetic. 

No wonder the Hero is fucking dead.

"I am dying, and you aren't stopping it. So let me go. You can make some other, normal kid."

Her hands were quite strong and felt like knives around my body. She was so obsessive. She loves me, sure, but I don't really feel attached to her at all. I mean, as an adult, I obviously saw the whole process and remember it. How could I like this woman? Like I said a hundred thousand times, she wasn't my real mother at all. And for that matter, she is probably a whore. That's why everyone in this town likes her.

"How can you even think like that...Who taught you this..." She was in disbelief. Well, I suppose that was to be expected. But how can I best convince her to let me die?

"Do you want to be a boy that bad? Is that it?" Anasa seemed to try to make some sense of it all, while tears were running down her cheeks.

That one doesn't nearly cut it. I don't even belong in this world at all, although I'm not sure how to explain it to my 'fake' mother. This is a nightmare. And what's worse, we don't have time. Elias, Arailt, and Canalyse are about to catch on and come here. That will stop me from following through on my plan and escalate the situation even further.

"It must have been those knights that told you such filth...I was suspicious of them immediately...Well, of course, Elias would trust them...Let them in our home...But even I didn't know he was so bold...I thought he just wouldn't care and leave us alone...And now there is that woman...And she saw me...And saw you...And now this..."

Huh...what is she talking about?

"Aer please...please...don't say such things...don't do such things...I'll do anything...please..."

She is really desperate, isn't she...

Her grip on me was so firm, it was clear she wasn't willing to let me go. Well, what other mother would? So I suppose I have to live. As she holds me, some other possibilities cross my mind. For example, this woman might probably kill herself if I die, considering how obsessive she is. That, no matter how I look at it, I can't stomach. 

"If you want to run away, we can do it together..." she whispered. "Just me and you...We will find a way..."

I looked at her with disbelief. And it was then that Elias came through the bushes. He didn't even say a word, yet Anasa was already screaming at him, holding me the whole time.

"You! YOU! You hurt my baby and you hurt everybody and she wants to DIE and she is suffering and I can't even YOU! YOU! YOU!" She was like a ghost in a tower, seemingly lost in grief and madness. I suppose she took my words rather hard. Elias was shocked - I didn't expect that sort of reaction from him. He merely said: "I'm sorry, I didn't..." but she shoved him with: "Fuck your sorry! Do it again, and I will kill you in your sleep. Or even when you are awake!" That made him dead silent, and he was just staring at her with pure dread: "And you won't hit that domesticated Witch of yours, too. Not anymore. You will just get her the fuck out of our house, so she doesn't infect our home any more. NOW!"

Domesticated Witch? Does she mean Canalyse?

"Okay...alright...look, we can make it figure out...I...I will do it..."

I cried that night, and we didn't have a long talk like he promised at all.

And that Witch? He indeed kicked her out.

I suppose I decided to stay in this world for now...Perhaps I genuinely felt sorry for her. Maybe I was even growing attached to her. She wasn't real. But what if she actually killed herself or someone else? I couldn't tolerate it. I just couldn't. Not that.

And in the end, as the years went by, we became more familiar with my brother, too.