With every step, Cleia's anxiety rose. The reason was simple and terrifying: the limited edition plush, on sale at Orvi Shop, was about to run out.
The automatic doors slid open, and Cleia stepped inside. The scent of wood brushed against her nose as a few humans passed by.
"Well!" she said, rubbing her hands together. "Let's see if there are any left."
She approached the plush section and glanced over the shelves. There, right in front of her, was the last one: the one she had been longing for.
"There it is!"
Cleia dashed forward, but just before she could grab it, a hand shot in front of hers and took it. The owner of the hand was Bjorn, one of the Twelve Heroes.
"This," he said calmly, "is mine."
"Eeeeeh?!"
Cleia froze, staring at Bjorn, who held the plush in his hands.
"If you want it," he continued, "we'll have to talk."
The temptation was too strong to resist. So Cleia followed Bjorn to a nearby café.
Bjorn spoke with a humble and calm tone.
"I wanted to talk to you, Cleia, Martyr of the Red Sky. You see… in your eyes, I don't see the malice of Auror—"
Cleia shot up, but Bjorn stopped her.
"Please, let's have a calm discussion."
She sat back down, clenching her fists.
"What do you want?"
"Just to talk. I've noticed Aurora has been… strange lately. I don't know what happened to him, but maybe you can tell me something."
Bjorn looked at her with sincere eyes.
"Well… actually, he has been acting a little odd," Cleia admitted. "When he teleported us here, to the kingdom of Valdoria, he didn't know that the abandoned house we ended up in wasn't just any house. He also didn't know I didn't have the power to open portals. Aurora would never make a mistake like that, nor would he ever forget that 'house,' which was actually a very important place for us. I pretended nothing happened, though…"
"Do you think he might have lost part of his memory?" Bjorn asked.
"I don't know…" Cleia lowered her gaze. "But tell me what you really want."
Bjorn took a deep breath.
"Since Aurora isn't here, you won't be exposed to any risk. I just ask you to tell me everything Aurora does. The rest, we'll handle: we'll kill him. I'm repeating the offer from before. Why not betray him? Why not join us? Now that he's lost part of his memory, he's probably very weak. With your cooperation, we could kill him again."
The proposal was convincing. Or at least, that's what Bjorn thought.
Cleia hesitated, torn, but in the end, she made her decision.
"Fine. I'll help you kill him."
************************************************
"I don't remember you," said Aurora.
"Huh? Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm positive. I've never seen you in my life."
"No, no, no, wait a second. Look at me more closely."
"Sorry, really, I have no idea who you are."
"But… look at my scar, here under my eye. Still don't recognize me?"
"No. I told you I don't know who you are. Stop it Old man."
"And don't call me old, damn it! You're older than me!"
Aurora sighed.
"Anyway, back to our main discussion… why do you want to kill me?"
"Ah, yes. I have two reasons. One is personal, but since you don't remember me, I'd have to remind you—"
"No, wait. I don't care. Just tell me the other reason."
"Hey! You should be more respectful to someone older than you!"
"Didn't you just say I was older?"
"Shut up and let me talk! Anyway, since you don't care about my personal reason, I'll tell you the other one. I worship a god, Hastur. He ordered me to kill you and told me that you were weakened."
"Mmh… so a god wants me dead," Aurora muttered. "Am I that dangerous?"
He looked at the man in front of him.
"Why are you staring at me like that?"
"Well, you're the one who talks to Hastur, right?"
"Yes, yes. If he wants me dead, it must be because you'r dangerous. Or at least, you was."
"Oh?" Aurora tilted his head. "You're saying I'm not anymore?"
"Hahaha! You're level 1. Even if you used all your remaining Megin and reached level 1000, you couldn't even scratch me. I am Lyce, seventh priest of Hastur. My level is 100,000."
Lyce bowed, smiling smugly. Then he attacked.
A punch hit Aurora's left side. Behind him, the Dragon headbutted him so hard that he was thrown twenty meters into the air. Before he could fall, Lyce's fist smashed him into the ground, creating a small crater.
"Come on, Lyce…" Aurora said from the crater. "I thought you knew more about me. Don't you know that physical damage doesn't affect me?"
"Of course I knew. I just wanted to vent."
Aurora stood just in time to see the dragon conjure a fireball as large as a house and hurl it at his head.
"Damn."
He tried to block it, but Lyce conjured a puddle of mud beneath his feet and summoned two shadow warriors with swords.
"A necromancer, huh?" Aurora thought, smiling.
The fireball exploded. The blast sent him flying again, and the shadows tried to stab him. Aurora drew his sword and immediately used the intermediate magic "Flight", hovering to avoid further attacks from below.
"Is that all you can do?" he taunted.
"Hahaha! Don't worry. You'll die here, because my god wills it!"
Lyce charged again. The dragon prepared another fireball, and the shadows advanced.
"What a crappy situation…" Aurora muttered.
He opened a mini-portal, the size of his hand, and pulled out a sword: Rigai no Tsurugi, the legendary blade of the Demon King Aurora.
The blade was long and wavy, made of dark, uneven metal, marked by time. The guard was simple and slightly crooked, with a small golden disc in the center. The hilt, wrapped in dark and green bands, ended in a round pommel with two thin black ribbons dangling from it.
Aurora twirled it around his body with terrifying grace.
When the blade touched the fireball, it exploded.
When it brushed past the shadows, they vanished as if they had never existed.
When it struck Lyce, all of his life force was drained, leaving only a pile of dust.
"Just a little more, and I would've been done for," Aurora sighed. "A god wants me dead… this might be problematic."
"I fully agree."
A deep, corrupt, almost forbidden voice came from behind. Lyce's dust disappeared, replaced by an imposing figure enveloped in a dark, surreal aura: a column of organic matter, tattered yellowish rags, and tentacles rooted in the ground.
"Hastur…" Aurora muttered.
Then he smiled, a tight, strained, but resolute smile.
"What an honor. A god manifests on Earth just to try to kill me."