“Koh... It’s you... I knew it... I don’t have...to see you... I can feel...your light...”
“Stop... Rei, stop talking! If you keep talking, you’ll...”
Die. I couldn’t say it. The word just wouldn’t come out. I could tell how much blood she’d lost. I knew it was too late to save her, but I couldn’t bring myself to accept it.
“How? How did this happen?! Why?!”
“Don’t cry...Koh...” I hadn’t even realized I was crying. She reached up to my face, wiping the tears from my cheek. Her hand was so cold it made me shiver—cold as ice.
“I’m so...lucky...”
“Wh-What? Why...?”
“Because...I can pass on...in the arms...of the boy...I love...” With each word, her breathing grew more and more shallow. What little strength she had left was quickly leaving her.
“Rei...no, don’t! Don’t go! Rei!”
“Koh, please...care of...brother...”
Her hand fell from my cheek. I knew in an instant—she was gone.
“AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!”
Her face blurred as my tears overflowed. A mess of emotions surged within me, spilling out in an anguished wail. I screamed so loudly my throat felt like it was being torn to shreds. She would never return to me. Never again would I hear her soft, gentle voice. Never again would I feel her warmth. That truth burned its way into me, and screaming was all I could do to release it.
“Oooh, look at you! Poor, pitiful Koh!” The voice returned. “If anyone deserves pity here, it’s the girl for sure. Or maybe all the villagers? They had no idea who or what you are, and they took you in anyway. They messed up big time.”
“What’s that...supposed to mean...?”
“It means this whole tragedy happened because of you.” A new voice rang out—and this time, it was a voice I knew. It was a man I’d seen and spoken with many times before: the mayor’s son. But something was wrong about him.
“Who the hell are you?”
“Oh? I was sure you’d come out swinging. You’re a lot more calm about this than I expected.” The mayor’s son wouldn’t talk like that. He wouldn’t go out of his way to provoke me. He was a quiet man who always struck me as lacking in self-confidence.
“This guy’s the one who set the village on fire! He killed allll the folks who were running around outside too, and threw ’em right onto the pyre!” A hazy, black fog manifested behind him. I’d seen it before. It was the monster that I’d been facing the moment I was reborn as my current self.
“He always cursed his fate, see. He hated the fact that he’d never get to leave his village! He hated that when his daddy died he’d have to take over as mayor and live in this tiny little hellhole until he kicked the bucket! Oooh, he was so sad! I just couldn’t bear to watch him, so I gave him a bit of advice: if he hated this village so much, he could just tear it all down! And the second that darkness was seeded in his heart, he was all mine. Mine to control, mine to dominate! All that was left was to wait for you to leave and set a couple fires! And I did it all for you, Kunughi Koh—all to drive you to despair!”
He destroyed the village to get to me. This only happened because I was here...
“I knew you’d taken a real shine to that girl of yours. So y’know what I did? I told her everything! I told her that this was all your fault! Went out of the way to make sure she didn’t get burned up, just to give her the chance to curse your name at the very end...but wow, did she ever mess that up!”
“You killed Rei... You killed everyone...just to make me suffer...?”
“I sure did. All to get revenge against you for making a fool of me. But it’s not enough yet! Not even close! I need more, more, more! I won’t be satisfied till I drive you into the deepest pit of despair that hell has to offer! I’ll crush your spirit as many times as it takes! I’ll use anyone and everyone around you to make you suffer!”
If disaster only befell the village because I was here...then does that mean that if I’d never turned up, nobody would’ve had to die? Rei wouldn’t have had to die...?
“I ruined...everything... It’s all...my fault...” I felt myself go limp. All my rage towards the creature drained away, replaced by a lifeless void. Coming to this village and meeting Balrog, Lyra, and Rei had changed me. It let me finally become myself, not just a Hero. But this is how it ended. I was wrong to hope for happiness. I was wrong to hope for a peaceful future.
“Koh...? And...is that you, Fred...?”
“Balrog...?” I barely noticed him arrive. His already-pale complexion was a shade lighter than usual, and his eyes looked somewhat out of focus.
“I can’t find Lyra and Rei, Koh. I’ve looked everywhere, but I just can’t find them...”
“Oh, Lyra? She turned to ashes a long time ago.” The dark cloud didn’t say it directly—it spoke through Fred, the mayor’s son who it had possessed. Balrog let out a wordless, horrified gasp. “She was lucky enough to be outside when the fire started, so I had to finish her off myself... With my own...two...hands...”
Up until that moment, Fred’s possession had left his expression blank and emotionless. But as he spoke, that began to change. A horrible fear was beginning to come over him. “No... No, this is wrong! I never wanted th—”
At almost the same instant he regained his sanity, he was silenced forever. His head fell to the ground with a wet thud, his body following shortly thereafter. Balrog gasped wildly for breath, his hand still raised, palm pointed at Fred’s corpse.
“B-Balrog...? What...? Why...?” A madness lurked within his eyes, and an orb of condensed wind so twisted and powerful it warped the scenery around it hovered in front of his outstretched hand. I knew immediately what had happened. Balrog had used his magic, the power he’d dreamed would bring himself and his family a life of plenty, to slice Fred’s neck.
“B-But,” he stammered. “He... He killed Lyra... Koh...? Koh, is that... Is that Rei...?”
“Ah...”
“Rei...? Koh, why isn’t she—” Moving. I knew what he was trying to ask, but he never got the chance to finish. The moment he realized that Rei was dead, the darkness that was enshrouding Fred’s corpse surged through the air, engulfing him.
“BWA HA HA HA HA HA! This is just perfect!”
“Balrog?! What did you do to him?!”
“This kid’s your best friend, right? Then I think he deserves to know the truth too! It’s all Koh’s fault—all of this happened because of him! Don’t you hate him, Balrog? Don’t you just wanna kill him?! He’s why Lyra and Rei are dead! Kunughi Koh’s the one who destroyed your everything!”
“Koh...destroyed...? N-No, that’s not true...”
“What?” said the creature, its tone steeped in derisive mockery.
“Koh’s...my best friend... He’d never...hurt them!”
“Balrog...”
“Ugh, friendship, I swear. What an absolute bore—here I was, thinking I’d get to enjoy watching you be killed by your own best friend.” The creature seemed fed up with us, but it wasn’t finished. “Oh, but in that case...I just had an excellent idea.”
It grinned. It didn’t have a face, but I could tell from its voice alone that it was grinning, and the sheer cruelty of its joy sent a chill down my spine.
“Ah... Ugh?!”
“Balrog?! What’s wrong?!”
“You realize this kid’s my vessel now, right? Heh, and looks like he’s a real prodigy too! He’s just brimming with magic and potential... Normally, that’s all there’d be to him—wasted potential. But that’s where I come in! I just have to give him a liiittle push in the right direction—give him the help he needs to really cut loose... I think this’ll be a real improvement, don’t you?”
“Wh-What’re you talking about...?”
“Or maybe I’ll mix myself in there for good measure! That’ll be the end for me as I am now, sure...but then I won’t even have to manipulate him. He’ll lose all sense of reason and lash out against humanity itself! I’ll make him into a monster to rule all monsters! An Archfiend, worthy of vanquishing a true Hero!”
Balrog...an Archfiend...?
“The girl you loved is dead thanks to you, and your best friend’s your worst enemy! How’s that for revenge?!”
“Shut the hell up! Rei and Balrog aren’t your goddamn playthings!”
“You’re right about that.” The darkness swelled around Balrog, engulfing him entirely. “They were just unlucky. They would’ve been just fine if they’d never met you.”
And with that, the creature vanished, leaving not so much as a trace of Balrog behind.
In just a single day, my entire life was upended...or rather, it might be better to say that it went back to the way it was always meant to be. I was returned to my former self—to the me who couldn’t escape from the bondage of heroism, not even by erasing his own memories.
By pure chance, I happened upon a book that lay discarded on the ground. Rei’s book.
—I promise I’ll tell you all about it when I finish reading, Koh!
I couldn’t read braille on my own, so I’d been genuinely happy when she promised to tell me the book’s story. But now, there was nobody left to read it.
Its cover was stained with blood, blotting out everything except the knight.