246 Friends or Allies (1/2)

”And then? Did he win and kill the monster?” Helial asked incredulously. His eyes were wide as those of a child, impatient to hear the rest of the story. ”Or, while running through the air, he stumbled and ended up with his face in the mud.”

Alexander immediately widened his eyes.

Crater punched Helial lightly on the shoulder as if scolding him, but not really. ”No, no. We are not talking about our King, he had also planned the fall during the siege!”

”Quite right!” Helial slammed his fist on his palm, as if something had just been revealed to him.

Taking a deep breath, the King complained: ”Even my subjects mock me. Should I sentence them to capital punishment?”

Helial raised his hands indignantly, ”No, no. I'm no subject. I'm only here to fight men who like to hide in the mountains!”

Crater laughed and Alexander did too.

”Okay, okay. I am an inept King, is this what you wanted to hear me say? But now, let me finish my story...”

…

The monster's huge punch was heading towards Ligir.

Raising his head covered by the helmet, the hero saw his enemy ready to tear him to pieces.

Everyone still alive on the battlefield expected something from the great Ligir. They expected him to return the blow, to show everyone that even Ligir was able to overpower his enemies with brute force and defeat them once and for all. Besides, they all needed hope!

And that warrior there, raised in the air right in front of the monster, was Ligir! He would not disappoint them!

Yet sometimes even heroes' tales were distorted. The perception of reality was lost and it was believed that these very strong men could win any confrontation, even the ones where they seemed to be hopelessly at a disadvantage.

Above all, humans believed that they had no limits. They always aimed higher than they could actually go and deluded themselves that they could achieve any goal, however impossible it seemed.

For some, this obstinacy had been a blessing, for others a death sentence.

However, this was what made that race so tiny and insane, that of Humans, so special.

Ligir, suspended in mid-air in front of the monstrous creature, had his mind completely empty of all thoughts. All he knew was that he could not engage in battle directly. Such a creature would probably overwhelm him, in the long run, even if the hero used all the brute force he had.

Skill Activated

Immortal Crossing

His body disappeared and reappeared on the other arm of the monster, about ten meters away. Slightly unbalanced, the gargantuan creature realized that it had left its guard down. The tiniest split second was more than an opening at their level.

Ligir raised his spear and roared.

…

Too many years later, but still not enough

Even Alexander had once been a candid and innocent child. And, since he was a child, one of his favourite things was going to the theatre.

Sitting on the rough stone steps of the theatre, the young Prince of Madonia watched the tragedy come to life before his eyes. He squeezed his mother's hands tightly, deeply concentrated in what he was greedily swallowing with curious irises.

Two men in disguise, one sitting on the other's shoulders to give the idea of a gigantic interdimensional monster, had just been ”impaled” with a point-less spear, looking more like a broomstick than a real weapon. In other words, the scenario might seem comical, and instead the heavy atmosphere and the extraordinary Skills of the Secondary and Tertiary Class of those men, Poets and Actors, made the representation almost real: Alexander could really feel he was on a legendary field of battle.

At that point, men completely dressed in black entered the scene, their faces covered with deform masks, and they stuck wooden sticks on a piece of curved wood that represented a bow. The fake arrows cut through the air with exasperating slowness and reached the shoulders of the hero, the protagonist of the tragedy.

The brave warrior fell to the ground, mortally wounded, and as soon as he pronounced his line, full of heroism, a thick rain filtered through a giant colander fell over him, soaking him completely.

Alexander's mother had her head slightly bowed forward, while with one hand she removed her tears and with the other she held her bright red hair.

Olimpia looked at her son, who had an expression halfway between fear and wonder, while a woman came forward and sang to announce the end of the tragedy.

Her voice was high and shrill. It was so high that it almost caused pain to the ears of the spectators!

And yet, it was precisely its being almost unbearable that made it so magical, capable of kidnapping everyone present.