Joan barely noticed as she reached the baths, asked the attendants to rinse her off, and then she went to the hot baths below the castle. She wondered if there were waterbenders in the castle, even though the pool was big and hot, and even in her previous life her home wasn't that big or luxurious, even though the dwarves had some homes underneath their city, it even made her Feel ashamed. Still, it was beyond anything she could use in this life.
She rubbed her hand along the smooth stone.
Now that I think about it, the castle itself is probably hundreds of years old. She had never seen such a bathroom outside a human castle. She stretched out her right hand and tried to use magic to draw some water. onto her hands, but it only caused a sharp pain in her palms. "I'm not ready, am I?" she said to herself.
All the life she has experienced. It gave her a headache and she sank a little deeper into the water. A thousand different versions of each memory were mixed in her mind, linked to new things and new ideas that seemed desperate to surface. "Can't you all just shut up?" she asked the memory, desperate to find the answer.
She closed her eyes and sobbed. "I don't want it to end, though," she whispered. "I just want to win. Please. By the gods, let me make things right. Let me fix this. I'm sorry I was arrogant. I'm sorry I was grandiose. I'm sorry I overstepped my boundaries. I'm very I'm sorry. So please, just this once, let me win. Let me be strong enough to handle everything," she prayed to heaven. She wondered if the gods would listen to her now. She did all this and they hate her too? Do they know? Did they see what she had done in a thousand lifetimes? In other words, can the three sisters separate him from them?
She raised her hand and patted her cheek. "No. No, no. Don't do that. No!" she said firmly. "I won't do that. Even if I have to go crazy, I don't care. I'll fix everything. I'll succeed. I don't care what-"
She looked around, sure someone was watching her.
"Hello?" she shouted. After a while, she sighed and leaned into the water. "It could just be an echo of everything," she said, hoping that speaking out loud would make it more likely to happen. That feeling was gone again. "There has to be a way to fix this," she muttered softly, then closed her eyes and leaned back in the tub.
Yet, for the first time, she felt almost relaxed. She's always been a fighter at heart, and she feels more relaxed after a long workout soak. The warmth of the water slowly began to ease the pain and discomfort, then slowly lulled her to sleep.
------
combustion. Screams. The searing pain on her skin slowly melted away from her bones. She screamed and tried to put out the flames. They failed, and no one was willing to pay the price for her failure. The laughter of the God of Hell echoed in her ears, taunting her mercilessly.
Every breath brought more pain to her body, the smoke melting her from the inside, even though death felt ever so slow.
----
June woke up with a scream and tried to sit up, but something warm held her down. To make matters worse, the room was so dark that she couldn't see anything. However, she was no longer in the bathroom. A moment of helpless struggling told her all she needed to know. She lay on the bed again, the quilt wrapped tightly around her. "Damn," she whispered. "Am I not dizzy even after taking a shower now?" she asked. She slowly rocked the blanket loose enough so that she could lower it low enough that she could lift herself up slightly and get on her hands and knees.
She was very thirsty. "Hello?" she called, finally breaking free and trying to get up from the bed. However, her foot got stuck in something on the bed and with a scream she fell off the side.
Joan cursed silently when she heard the door open. Half lying on the floor, half still buried in the bed, she couldn't think of anything more embarrassing than this.
"Are you in trouble, Prodigy?" Hadwin asked.
"Correct," Joan said, though she mentally kicked herself. She should have known that fate cannot be tempted. At least whoever pulled her out of the tub must have put a thin nightgown on her. She heard Hadwin's footsteps and tried to stand up straight, but before she could stand, he was at her side and gently lifted her back into his arms.
He covered her with the quilt. "I'm thirsty," she said, looking up at him.
"I think you're hungry too," Hadwin said, pointing to the small table. On top was a pair of patties, and a large cup. "I hear you've been enjoying yourself the last few days," he said, handing her the cup.
"You don't know. You shouldn't have left," Joan said, downing her drink and trying to look both scary and annoyed. Juice, at least is sweet.
"I was chosen—"
"You have a responsibility to the world," she interrupted, shook her head, and held out the cup. He took it, though the annoyed look on his face made her try not to snort. "Trust me. I know better than anyone in the world what your duty is. What my duty is. You're a fool if you don't think I haven't been thinking about it every minute of the day."
His eyes widened slightly and his brow furrowed in annoyance, but he didn't argue.
But she just felt too tired. "Please at least tell me I didn't sleep another day. What happened?"
Hadwin sighed softly, pulled up a chair and sat on the edge of the bed. "You passed out in the bathroom. You were lucky you didn't drown. They pulled you out."
Joan blinked a few times and just stared at him. "You are joking."
"I'm not."
She couldn't help but snorted and covered her mouth with her hand. The idea alone seems ridiculous. "Really? I was thrown into magma, buried under the still-burning corpse of a lava titan, wrapped in the fire of the god of hell. A little hot water almost scalded me to death?" she asked. "Please. You can see why this is so stupid and ridiculous, can't you?"
"I've seen you stabbed, crying, screaming, covered in mud, covered in, uh, filth, naked, with wine squirting out of your nose, too shocked to even say a word, head to toe. All covered." Pink petals and everything in between. I've seen you at your worst and at your best. But most importantly? There is only this feeling. Of all the people in the world, I know you would never hurt me. I guess it’s instinct? I only know. If there's anyone I can be completely open and honest with, it's you. You've never let me down before and I don't think you're likely to start now. Apart from..."
he asked, crossing his arms, and she imagined him looking angry. To her, it looked more like he was trying to suck on a lemon.
"I'm your daughter now, aren't I? You'd never hurt me, Dad," Joan chuckled, before her smile turned rather vicious.
Hadwin's scowl disappeared and he let out a long, pained sigh. "You're going to cause me a lot of trouble for a long time, aren't you?"
"You can draw your sword and stab me if you want," she said scornfully.
He was silent for a long moment, just staring at her. Finally he sighed softly. "I get it. So everything they said about you is true."
Qiao An felt a slight chill running down his spine. "They said? Who said? What about me?"
"The Queen. Your guard. Master of weapons. Even the bathroom attendant noticed, she was only with you for a few minutes," Hadwin said, his voice calmer now.
"I don't know what you mean. You can't—"
"They said you had a death wish."
"Oh," Joan said with a shrug. Now that she thought about it, it looked easy. "That's not true, though. I don't want to die until this is over and the world is saved."
"After?" Hadwin asked.
"I have died a thousand times. If these contents are credible, I may die hundreds more times. Or maybe, this is the torture of the God of Hell again. Or maybe it is the Demon King?"
"Have you told anyone else about this? About your claim?" Hadwin asked, his eyes narrowing at her again.
"Oh my god, no. Am I crazy in your opinion? Don't answer this question!" Seeing his mouth open, Qiao Anan raised her hand and said quickly. "No, I'm not. At least, I hope I'm not. In fact, you know, I wish I was. That would make it a lot easier. "The world is going to melt, or worse! Wait, no, it's just my imagination. "But if I want to solve all the problems, I have to assume that I'm not. What evidence do you want?"
"You certainly didn't act like a child," Hadwin said.
"I've lived more lives than you have lived. You haven't told anyone about this, have you?"
"Not yet, no."
"Because the Queen can't know. She hates me." Joan said with a slight trembling.
"Hate you?" Hadwin asked, a smile appearing on his lips. "I don't think she's capable of hatred. If she was, I've certainly never seen it."
"Oh, trust me, she will. Did. Can," Joan whispered, memories of her yelling and threatening her rising to the surface. "It's really hard sometimes."
"You know, it's incredibly disturbing when you talk like that."
"like what?"
"As if you really knew it all," Hadwin said gently. "It's like you really go through it all and come back
Of course, we have to keep fighting. There was a lot of pain and suffering. But there were also a lot of wins. We spend a lot of time together. We're even...most of us are happy. "
"most?"
"My life is a chronicle of failure after failure. I never really got it right."
Joan slowly raised her hands to her head and massaged them slowly.
"Yeah. I used the light spell so I could see you, and then—"
"Okay. Now imagine that. But imagine a thousand times. But, most importantly, imagine that sometimes things are different. Like that chair you're sitting on," Joan said, pointing to his Chair. "Sometimes it's a foot or two to the right. Or it has a cushion. Or it doesn't even have a chair. Or it's on the other side of the room. Or the other way around there are people sitting in it. Sometimes there's no one in there. Now imagine you have all of those at the same time. memory."
Hadwin squinted, but nodded. "I get it. That sounds disorienting."
"Exactly. Now imagine that each of these memories has a thousand other memories. Who's sitting in it? You might remember that one time they made cream pie, or that ten years later they had a daughter. Or maybe you remember their heads being ripped off and eaten by a giant giant. But you can't even remember that properly. Because you remember the chair being burned in a fight with the assassin, or you were burned because of it. Stumble, hit your head on the floor, or one time someone sat on it and it broke and hurt them. And then you remember everything else, and then not one real click, instead everything feels so, so familiar .If I think too much, my head will explode. One memory can lead to a thousand memories, and each memory can lead to a thousand.
None of this exists. I can't go from one to the other, or remember just the one I'm doing. They’re all connected, but they’re all different,” Joan said, slowly rocking back and forth.
Joan felt tears welling up in her eyes, but she didn't mind even once. If there was anyone who could make her cry in front of her, it was him.
"I don't quite understand," Hadwin said with a slight sigh.
“I don’t know if I’m Joan, a hero or something in between.”
Joan sighed and shook her head. "Then I failed and I'll try again. I told you. If you're not going to help me, could you at least stab me so I can start the next cycle?"
"Can you stop talking like that?" Hadwin yelled and slammed his fist on her bed, making her bed jump with a bang. "This is serious!"
Her mouth was covered by his hand and her eyes were wide open.
"Joan. I want you to listen to me. I don't want to hear anything like this again. Even if I don't believe you, I swear I will help you. So stop this. Stop talking like you're dying. If it's possible for the world to end, let's avoid it. Is that clear?"
"I passed out from exhaustion. I could barely sustain a spell for more than a few minutes. I couldn't harm the reflection troll," she said with a slight wave of her hand. "I'm not a hero. I need powers. I can't defeat any of these things without them. In ten years, maybe. But we don't have ten years left."
Hadwin smiled softly and shook his head. "Ah. So, even with thousands of years of experience, kids are still kids."
Joan narrowed her eyes and looked at him. "what does that mean?"
"You're just a kid, aren't you? I don't need or want you to fight. That means you let me fight. You take a break and recover."
Her anger surged into her heart again, and she sat up, clutching the quilt tightly. "I'm not just a kid! I have-"
"You have the experience and knowledge I need, right?" Hadwin asked, his voice rock solid. "But you can't fight something like that troll. You almost died. If you push yourself too hard, you'll die. You say you're a hero and then act like one. If you really With all this important information at your disposal, your survival has to be a priority. It has to be more important than your desire to fight or save the world. If you die, the knowledge goes with you, right?"
Joan opened her mouth to object, but as much as she hated to admit it, she couldn't think of an appropriate response to his argument. She doubted "But I Want to Fight Too!" would qualify. "Beautiful. You know, I've been fighting a lot longer than you think. As an adult and as a kid. I-"
"When you were a hero, right? Did your hand break when you hit me?"
Her cheeks turned redder and her whole body sank into the quilt. "I've fought in this body too. Just like Joan. I -"
"Like when you fought the Reflection Troll?" he asked.
Qiao An sighed softly, his eyes lowered, and his desire to argue gradually disappeared. She just feels weak and helpless now. "I'm not worthless."
"I never said you were. I said you can't fight like this. I can't fight if I'm constantly worried about you getting killed. So do you agree?"
"Now, okay," Joan said, fighting the urge to pout.
"That's fine. Assuming I don't believe your story, the fact remains that you are definitely a weirdo. I can't ignore the gods
"The First Demon King. He is the leader of the cult who is trying to resurrect the God of Hell. The second is the resurrection of the God of Hell and the separation of the gods from our realm. The last is the corruption of the Chosen One into the Second Demon King."
"The God of Hell is a cruel and evil god from thousands of years ago, apparently even before the Chosen One. It was sealed by the gods of the present day and resides in the very core of our world. However, if it is released, then-" June was interrupted as new memories filled her mind, causing her to close her eyes and try to digest it. Waves of terrible pain, burning fire, and horrific screams echoed in her mind.
She lifted the quilt, it was so hot. "This is a cruel, evil monster. The fires don't burn, they melt. It will melt the world into molten sludge."
"In your experience, in your memory? That we sometimes prevented it?"
"Oh? That's fascinating. What other ways are there?"
Joan took a slow, deep breath. Unfortunately, I only have two in mind. She doubted he would like this part. "The only way we can succeed is by destroying our world's connection to the gods. Isolating ourselves from them completely. It's a last resort, but the only one available to us."
Hadwin stared at her, mouth agape. "That's terrible. Without the gods, we can't—"
"You mentioned another method, right?" Hadwin asked.
"We destroyed its heart," Joan said. "We never succeeded, though. The Demon King was always one step ahead of us. By the time we killed him, it was too late. The cultists were too powerful for the gods to stop." She shuddered again. "But things are different now. I know where the heart is, and if we can gather all the chosen ones, we can destroy it. We can defeat the Demon King this time." She glanced back at him and gave him a weak smile . "I just need you to believe me."
Hadwin stared at her thoughtfully, seeming to consider her. Finally, his eyes seemed to become almost sad. How can we reach this heart? " he asks.
He breathed a sigh of relief. He at least seemed to believe her to some extent. Even if he doesn't want to, as long as he is willing to help her, it doesn't matter. "We need all seven of those chosen. I can probably guess where they are, though. Most are easy, some are a little harder. But we need to move fast. We're not the only ones chasing hearts right now. The bottom line The thing is, the heart of the troll is awakening. We have to solve this problem in front of the devil."
"Correct. And this demon lord you keep mentioning, what is he?"
"I don't know exactly. At first I thought he was just another guy with demon blood mixed in, another worshiper of the hell god. In fact, their leader. But then it came back to me. It's important that we get to the heart first .If we can do this and destroy it, then we can prevent the God of Hell from coming back. Then the Demon King will not be able to destroy the world."
"Then what?" Hadwin asked.
"Without gods and cults, the devil can be contained and dealt with," she said firmly.
"What about corruption?"
After the connection with the gods was severed, everything was quiet for a few years. Then suddenly, one of the chosen ones changes. Start small. But then one of you will die. No, not dead. The devil will kill one of you, but it will look like an accident. I'm so stupid, sometimes two or even three of you are dead before I even realize what's happening. She rolled over and stared at him. "In the end, I was almost always alone." I can't beat them. Their power is simply too great. They took away our power, our weapons, our abilities. Everything that makes us who we are. They then used them against the remaining people. "
"How? Only the chosen ones can wield our weapons."
"I don't know. I really don't know. You have to be prepared this time. Although the Demon King is powerful, it is impossible to defeat him. As long as we unite and the gods are still here, we can prevent destruction from happening again."
"Kurron? That's an interesting name. Who is she?" Hadwin asked.
Joan opened her mouth, "Kullon is one of the demons. She was also a chosen one of the royal family when she was born."
"What?" Hadwin yelled, and she stood up and quickly backed away, pushing the chair he was sitting on aside and smashing it against the back wall. "The devil is one of the chosen ones?! No way, never-"
Joan shrugged slightly and quickly tried to interrupt him. "While it's true that the Chosen are mostly humans, there are exceptions. Our group is an exception. We have a changeling, an elf, a dwarf, and a demon. As far as I know, Chase was the first changeling. Centuries ago There was also a chosen demon, although I didn't do much research into it at the time. I knew it must be surprising, and I was a bit shocked at the time. But if you consider how few humans are alive right now, Is it really so surprising that the gods would reach out to other species to take up their mantles?”
Hadwin growled softly and began to pace, shaking his head. He turned to her. "I understand. Tell me, who else is in our group? Are there any little surprises?"
"Well, the evil Kuron is the crown. And then there's the chasing crook. A nasty one if you get on his bad side. But he's a good guy, all around with gloves and boots. Gentle Andrea Si, he's the spear. Humans too. A little hard to catch, but good. You'll like him. He, like you, is the only one who hasn't been corrupted by the Demon King. Shining Neia, the Elf and the Bow. She And the most beautiful woman you've ever seen, but..." She trailed off, a frown forming on her lips as more painful memories flooded her mind. After a while, she stabilized her thoughts again.
.
"But?" Hadwin stared at her.
"She is one of the people most easily corrupted by the demon lord," Joan said.
"I assume Korron is the one most corrupted?" Hadwin asked, unable to hide the annoyance in his voice.
A small amount of anger. Although she didn't trust Kuron, that wasn't fair. The demon had saved her life more times than she could count, and the thought of someone saying something bad about her, especially another chosen one, made her want to lash out. "No, she's almost never corrupted. She's often killed by daemons. And then there's Thalgren the Golden, who's a dwarf who wields a warhammer. He's a bastard and you'll love him and hate him, old friend."
"I can?"
"Everyone does. Awesome assholes. Trust me, you'll see." Only one left. The least important of the bunch, "Sere."
"Only Serge?" Hadwin asked, staring at her again.
"Ah yes. Hard-working Serge. He's a shield," June said, sitting up and clutching the blanket tightly.
"Joan? What's wrong? Where's Serge, what is he?"
Joan finally gave in to her thoughts and let them all come out. "He's a useless, pathetic weight that does nothing but drag us down!" she practically yelled, unable to contain the anger in her voice.
Hadwin's eyes widened, "Joan? Don't you think that's a bit harsh? He's one of the chosen ones, isn't he? You talk about him as if he's some kind of monster. Is he a demon too?"
"Joan?" Hadwin asked, leaning forward slowly to shake her shoulders.
"I know where he is," Joan said at last.
"What?"
"I know where he is," she repeated.
"Didn't you say you could find them all?"
"Yeah, eventually. But I mean I know exactly where he is at this moment!"
"What?"
"Academy! He's another student! He'll still be there! Shield. I know where Shield's choice is."
"What?" Hadwin yelled, shoulders shaking. "Are you sure, you-"
She reached out and took his hand. For the first time in days, she felt excited.
"What?" Hadwin asked.
"About who I am. About what I am. Let's deal with my daughter now. Or any other story you want to come up with. Of all the people I don't want to know the information I have, it's him."
"If he is one of the chosen ones—"
"Very well. Then I thought I'd better get ready, daughter," he said, turning toward the door.
"I leave first thing in the morning."
June blinked a few times and turned to him. "Wait, what? Aren't we leaving right away?"
Hadwin paused at the door and sighed. "I'll go tomorrow. If he's at the academy, I'll bring him here. You just stay here."
"I'll go with you!" She lifted the quilt and jumped up from the bed. However, when she hit the ground, her legs gave out almost immediately.
Hadwin was there immediately and caught her before she hit the ground.
"You need to rest and recover. Come back to bed," Hadwin said, before picking her up and carrying her back to the bed. However, she grabbed the front of his coat and didn't let go. "Let go."
"Please, you can't leave me here," Joan said, looking up at him.
"Joan, I can't take you away. You need to-"
"We're only a few days away, aren't we? I have to come with you. Please, don't leave me." She could tell from the way he looked away that his resistance was weakening. He'd never been good at denying her, even as a hero. "I promise I won't fight. I promise I'll be nice. But don't leave me waiting here alone anymore. Please."
Hadwin stared at her for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "Very well. Tomorrow morning."
"Why not tonight? We should-"
"Are you behaving or not?" Hadwin asked, glaring at her.
"Good," he said before she let go of his coat. "Get some rest for now. I swear, kid, part of me wonders if there's more to my lie. Ha" After a moment, he slammed the door.
Joan stared at the door for a long moment, then sighed and lay back on the bed. "I've been there, old friend. I pray I won't this time."
