Chapter 281: Constellation (2)
*
Hero Galahal.
The most hero-like hero.
The boy who dreamed of being a hero from fairy tales ran forward, looking ahead. He grew into a young man and experienced many things. After all those experiences, the boy realized he could not become a hero.
Fairy tale heroes shine brightly.
They are beautiful and radiant until the moment they end their lives. That is why they are called heroes and become objects of admiration for countless children.
However, such a life is impossible in reality.
Death is horrific and cruel. Faced with the coming end, humans tend to become ugly. Galahal is no different. He feels fear as well.
Did his life have any meaning?
Did he achieve what he truly desired?
Did he live a righteous life?
Unable to find the answers to these questions, Galahal was in constant agony. As time passed, his heart grew sick. Time flowed by, but he could not find any answers.
“Y-You’re amazing! Lord Galahal!”
One day, Galahal met a girl who shared the same dream as him. The girl called him a hero. In her eyes, Galahal saw his past reflected.
Eyes dreaming of being a hero.
Eyes filled with admiration and the desire to emulate someone. Realizing that such a gaze was directed at him made Galahal burst into laughter.
“Well, isn’t that enough?”
“You’ve already made enough efforts, and the whole world calls you a hero.”
Is that the case?
“Relax your shoulders, young friend.”
“No one can replace your place. What you have built up is just that.”
Is that so?
“So, I’ve already fulfilled my dream, huh?”
Galahal looked ahead.
In this place, where countless heroes who guarded the kingdom’s centuries-old history are displayed, his own statue is also present. A large sentence is engraved on that statue.
“The most hero-like hero.”
The hero Galahal dreamed of.
Facing that inscription, Galahal smiled.
“I’ve become such a great being without even realizing it.”
The hero who only looked ahead turned for the first time. The landscape unfolded before him—a path walked by a single human named Galahal.
It’s not a perfect path.
It’s clumsy. Sometimes he wavered, and at other times, he stood still in despair. Yet, it doesn’t break. He stands up with great effort and walks again.
Just like the hero from the fairy tales.
Galahal looked at his feet.
He was now walking towards the end of the path. The remaining road isn’t very long. It could be a fleeting moment that passes in the blink of an eye.
That path may not be as splendid as the one before. Accepting the approaching death is terrifying, and perhaps he might become ugly.
But that’s okay.
As he looks back on the road he has walked, such things don’t matter at all. Galahal mumbled to himself while contemplating his life.
“I’ve lived quite splendidly.”
The road he has walked.
To Galahal, that road was beautiful.
More than anything else.
*
Galahal inscribed his signature in front of his statue.
Rania watched with awe as Galahal’s stylish signature was engraved.
“What’s this? Your signature is really cool.”
“I practiced. Quite a bit.”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“I’ve been practicing signing secretly since I first became a hero. How embarrassing.”
Galahal said lightly.
“Thinking that someday I might leave my name in a place like this, I pondered how I could write beautifully.”
“…Really?”
“Yes, actually, there are quite a few variations, you know? I can twist the letters like this…”
So, Galahal left a few more signatures.
As he scribbled, Galahal was smiling, an unusually relaxed smile. It looked like he had just put down a long load.
Rania, glancing at that expression, asked.
“Did something change, or what?”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. You seem a bit more at ease than usual, like something is….”
“Maybe it could be.”
Galahal laughed.
“I feel like I’ve realized that I don’t have to think so hard about everything. Maybe I’ve been living just looking ahead.”
That sounded like chasing clouds.
While Rania blinked, not understanding, Galahal turned his gaze toward her.
“Rania.”
Galahal hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“It’s a secret, but my original dream was to be a writer.”
“…A writer?”
“Yes, I admired the tales of heroes, but I didn’t have the strength to become one. So, I thought I’d compile the stories of heroes and write a heroic tale.”
His childhood dream, something he had never shared with anyone and had somehow forgotten along the way.
“And so.”
As he talked about it, Galahal looked joyful.
Like he had returned to being a child.
“I think I’ll write now.”
“Really?”
“Yes, having experienced so much, I can write more vividly, right? You know, you also told me.”
“I did?”
“There’s no better way to convey than narrating experiences.”
Muttering like that, Galahal laughed.
“Perhaps, while reading the heroic tales I write, someone dreaming of a life like mine might come along.”
As she looked at the cheerful Galahal, Rania unconsciously chuckled. Dreams, huh? Reflecting on her own dream, which now felt so distant, Rania nodded.
“Yeah, give it your best shot.”
With a poke to Galahal’s side, Rania said to him.
“Show me first when you finish.”
“Of course. Your story will be included too.”
“Don’t forget the word ‘great.’”
Galahal burst into laughter.
Rania laughed along.
In front of the statue of the most hero-like hero, the two of them exchanged smiles for a while.
2.
Ten days flew by in an instant.
Chloe boarded the carriage to undertake the trials needed to become a hero. The carriage advanced into the forest hidden deep in the royal capital.
Chloe’s two mentors were with her in the carriage.
This place is not open to outsiders; even the Master of the Black Tower, who is Chloe’s guardian, cannot approach. Yet, due to the command of the First Princess, who holds substantial power in the current royal castle, exceptions were made for the two accompanying Chloe.
“Long time no see. I had come here once too.”
“I only heard rumors about it.”
One was Galahal, the hero who had faced trials here, and the other was Rania van Trias, known as the Ashen Mage’s successor.
“Entry for Rania van Trias is permitted.”
Originally, permission was not expected to extend to Rania, but with the single decree from the First Princess, practically the ruler of the royal palace, it was granted.
“She is deemed trustworthy, the princess said.”
“Are you doubting her discernment?”
No one was brave enough to voice a counter opinion while facing those cold eyes. As such, the carriage carrying the three moved into the depths of the forest.
“……”
As the location of the trials drew closer, Chloe remained silent. She looked down at her trembling fingertips.
Once she completed the trials, she would become a trainee hero.
The fact that she was a hero would be officially declared to the world, and depending on the situation, she might have to be summoned to the battlefield. She wasn’t afraid of that. What Chloe feared was none other than her own qualities.
‘Can I do it?’
For the past few months, she had lived more busily than ever.
She trained without rest and achieved astonishing progress compared to herself a few months ago. Now was the time to prove the results of that effort.
The issue is whether that achievement is sufficient.
As Chloe was lost in thought, Galahal, sitting opposite her, spoke up.
“Chloe.”
At his voice, Chloe lifted her head.
Galahal, with a gentle smile, nodded after having been her mentor for a brief time.
“Have confidence.”
A simple remark.
“You have more than enough qualifications. You should pass the trial easily.”
“Right. I think that’s more than enough.”
Rania nodded in agreement with Galahal.
Having watched Chloe closely, the two were confident. They believed that Chloe could easily pass the trials.
“……”
Chloe nodded silently.
Before long, the carriage arrived at its destination. With a tight fist, Chloe stepped out of the carriage.
“This way.”
Star-gazers counting the stars guide the three, including Chloe, deeper into the forest. After a while, they arrive at an open space with a gigantic tree.
It’s dawn, just before the sun rises.
The midnight forest isn’t just dark. The stars shining in the night sky illuminate the woods.
“Here.”
Following the star-gazer’s guidance, Chloe stands directly under the tree. Moonlight streams down on her from the gaps in the branches.
Thus, Chloe becomes the center.
The starlight gathering around her becomes a single point. This single point begins to illuminate the constellations in the night sky one after another.
As the starlight trickles down through the branches.
One, two, three, five, and then six.
Six points are marked around Chloe. The points are connected to form lines, and the connected lines create a pattern. Chloe stands in the center of it.
Swoosh.
The platinum light where Chloe stands has not yet gained brilliant brightness. It simply glows faintly. Toward the incomplete point, lines extend from the six points.
The points and lines meet.
A massive well of light appears there.
The well of light reflects the constellations floating in the night sky. The reflected constellations begin to resonate with the stars above.
To turn the imperfect six into a perfect seven.
The stars impose a trial upon the human they have chosen. A single door appears above the platinum well. A door engraved with constellations opens, revealing the path to the trials.
Nod.
Chloe glanced towards Galahal and Rania, a few steps away, and nodded. With her resolve fortified, she was about to step toward the shining path.
Creeeak.
Something began to twist.
The six points stamped beneath began to tremble. The constellation, which had glimmered in brilliant platinum, flickered as its color shifted. The changed color was black. A black like sewage.
And then, swoosh.
“Huh?”
Something swallowed the path of the stars.
*
Staring at the six points marked on the map, Destel let out a long sigh. No matter how he looked, he couldn’t find an answer. He rummaged through countless books, but could not find any pattern that connected the six points.
“Haah…”
Sighing, Destel stepped outside the barracks.
The sun had long set. Walking through the darkened field, Destel suddenly looked up at the sky.
The stars were shining brightly.
Destel doesn’t particularly like stars. He has no interest in star patterns, but for some reason, he couldn’t take his eyes off the night sky.
“……”
Destel squinted his eyes.
Something felt familiar.
Rushing back into the barracks, Destel came out holding the map. The six points drawn on the map overlapped with the constellation shining in the night sky.
Destel’s eyes widened, and boom, the ground began to shake. Among the rising knights, someone rushed towards him.
“D-Destel!”
A knight shouted to Destel.
“An anomaly, an anomaly is happening!”
He expressed the locations.
Kateron Castle.
Deltaon Castle.
Karmat Gorge.
Hatel Plains.
Onfelshtine Temporary Base.
Kimelt Base.
Immediately, Destel ran to the highest point. A cape was somehow draped over his shoulders. Enhancing his vision with starlight, Destel gazed toward the distant Kateron Castle.
The knight spoke.
That blood was gushing from below to the sky.
The spurted blood covered the sky.
That bizarre sight could be seen even from this far away. Above Kateron Castle, a disc-shaped crimson blood floated.
It resembled a mirror.
What the mirror reflected was the stars floating in the sky.
Destel stared blankly at the sky.
The stars were being stained black.
*
The surging sewage swallowed the path.
It wasn’t a shadow. It was something resembling a shadow. As that unsettling thing engulfed the path, Raniel kicked the ground and charged toward Chloe.
But it was already too late.
“Chloe!”
A hand reached out from beyond the blackened path. A pale woman’s hand. That hand grabbed Chloe’s arm and pulled her into the black path.
A being revealed from beyond the path.
Raniel’s eyes shook at the presence emanating from it. Raniel knew this presence well. She could not forget.
The sticky magic pressing down on the area.
Unable to withstand it, the star-gazers coughed up blood and collapsed, and Galahal’s eyes opened wide. His eyes bulged in shock.
And then.
“Aha.”
From beyond the path, a laugh echoed.
“We meet again, Ashen.”
A sweet voice, as if calling the name of a lover.
From that voice, madness dripped.
Raniel spat out the being’s name.
“Heretic.”
The heretic, Gletus.
The name invoked disaster, and he smiled.
“It’s been a long time, but I’m sorry. Today, my business is not with you, but with this girl.”
From beyond the path, the heretic gently caressed the face of the girl who resembled him. Fingers, slender as if handling the most precious material, brushed against Chloe’s cheek.
“Could you wait just a bit, Ashen?”
The heretic smiled.
“I’ll come soon in a new body.”
You too.
And the very first Ashen too.
In the heretic’s eyes, the world appears no more than humans yearning for salvation in their corrupted state.
“I’ll save you soon.”
The first saint longs for salvation.
For the sake of human salvation, Saint Gleria Bel Armias will not hesitate to use any means necessary.
*
