Arc 7. Death to what came before

  Road to a Hero:

  Three Chances in Another World

  Chapter 12. Out through the fog and Into the Bog

  While it took a while to get to, Gray has finally found himself outside of the Guard Fog, about to burst right into it. This large amount of gray fog, at least to Gray, is one of the most magical things he’s seen in this world. His first viewing of magic was a bit underwhelming, as he was used to giant incantations or country-destroying attacks, but it was the simple control of the wind. Even the spirit monsters are a bit basic, so Gray, who’s lived here for a while now, views this world as a medieval land with fantasy elements, the Guard Fog included. As Dema flies through it, he feels the same depressing feeling he felt the last time he entered this cloud of despair, but last time he had friends to talk to and guide him through, which he now lacks. The giant opening in the middle is the only true way to get through, as the fog constantly blows, twists, and turns, making getting lost pretty easy, but if you keep your cool it should be fine. Dema's keen senses and almost human way of understanding keep Gray locked into the world, and not drifting onto mindless thought, but he’s moving to fit a map, which he can’t do.

  While Gray’s large sum of mana should be attracting the large spirit beasts within the fog, he’s wrapped himself in the cloak of darkness to keep his mana hidden from the hungry animals. But his mental stability has fallen so far that it’s as if nothing’s there, except for his hatred and bloodlust toward the Sect of Anarchy, which the cloak of darkness is happy to feed on. It’s taking everything from him, all of his emotions, turning him into a slothful being that needs to rely on the cloak's usefulness, but Gray knows this, so he’s keeping himself busy. While he listens to the growls and stomps of the monsters below, he generates a small black flame between his hands, keeping himself warm, while also training his flaming power. After a while, the cold and quiet fog began to knock at his psyche, whispering into his ear, telling him all he wanted to hear.

  “You’re a true Hero”

  “You are a great person”

  “Stay here, stay with us, don’t leave us”

  He knew it wasn’t his thoughts, as it was the fog trying to trick him. Things like this fog pop up in a lot of media he had consumed, so all he had to do was keep himself in mind and not care for anything until he made it out of the fog, though that could take a few hours to a few days. While being alone, his mind has returned to a similar state it was in when he had first arrived in this world, by trying to think of everything in an outside manner. A swordsman? He’d think of a game or show where he’d seen them. A monster? His thoughts would move whenever he heard of the monster in front of him. This slight backtracking in his mind was all to help him cope with the path he’d found himself on, and he had good reason for thinking like this. His morals have fallen, he has nobody he knows around him, and he’s struggling to use a new flaming ability he has no idea why he possesses it, and he’s going to an area he’s not been to or learned much of.

  The thin air finally begins making it hard for Gray to breathe, which confuses him. His body has been conditioned by the height of Greenvale, but all of the thick fog doubles down on the sheer height Dema’s flying at. While they could go higher, Gray’s afraid that he may be too close to the outside of the Guard Fog. While it would be impossible, since it takes hours upon hours to reach the other side, the small possibility that the guards of Valatrocitus’ Capital could spot him is just too much of a risk. Strangely enough, while amidst this hellish atmosphere, holding onto the cloak of darkness brings him some feeling of light, like somebody’s there to hold him. Back on Earth, he got used to being alone, as he would stay in his room for days at a time, so this wasn’t too far from what he was used to. The only thing he misses is Rosemary’s presence and Soku's banter. Even now he's thinking of what Soku would be berating him about and how Rosemary would defend him.

  Gray: “Ahhh, look at Gray holding his cloak like a blanket. He’s feeling a little sick, so be nice Soku. Ah, got my number one hater and my number one defender on the same saddle…man this sucks.”

  Gray sits up, not able to tell if any time has passed, as the sun is blocked by the fog. While clocks exist in this world, they’re a bit short, but they use the same way of telling time that Earth does, so his slothfulness wasn’t challenged there. He begins digging through his bag, finding one of his and Peter's older gadgets, a pretty flimsy wristwatch.

  Gray: “Forgot I packed this when we went to Constal.”

  The watch is based on what most forms of technology are in this world, blank crystals and energy crystals. While the inside is also filled with gears and such, it works mainly by having the energy flow to the blank crystal in one-second intervals, allowing for the watch to tick every second. Then every sixty ticks, the minute hand moves, and every sixty minutes, the hour hand does the same. It’s not very exact, though, as the energy crystal has held its charge almost indefinitely since they used a core, and the watch isn’t taking too much energy.

  Gray: “Don’t get why Peter hasn’t just sold all of this stuff. A watch that doesn't take batteries or even need would sell for a fortune. Hell, a watch at all would sell for that much.”

  The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there.

  Gray spends the next few hours doing much of nothing, just his average training routine, until finally, he feels a clearing within the fog. While he’s miles away from it, he can see the Capital of Valatrocitus in the distance, feeling the warmth of such a willful area trapped within the decaying land that is Valatrositce. Not only is most of Valatrocitus dangerous, but the shape of this side of the continent doesn't help. It’s long, a bit wobbly, and formed like a left boot sticking into the air. The beginning is the treacherous Guard Fog with the Capital right in front, a strange placement to say the least, but it gets a bit worse. If you venture out from the safe haven, you’ll find the land is marshy with monsters roaming the area. Most of the villages are dilapidated slums crumbling down on themselves. But if you venture out a bit too far to the right, you’ll find the enormous Ever-Forest, but if you go too far to the right you’ll be at the Ever-Bog. Maybe if you’re lucky, sticking to the coast, you’ll find Constal, which uses the ocean water as a canal to trade. That would be the best you could do outside of the Capital because the last large space you would find is the Ever-Desert, which takes up the top of the continent.

  He leans his head forward, rubs his dry eyes, and sees the land around him is wet and mussy. He gets Dema to fly a bit closer to the ground, spotting a small, poor village right outside of the large set of trees before him. He lands, wanting to stock up on food, doing the same thing he did in La Bon. He sends Dema elsewhere, casts Detic to mask his presence, and dives off of Dema, landing in a back alley. His boots quickly sink into the muddy ground, annoying him. He slugs through the streets, noting that the small number of villagers all seem depressed. They’re dirty, covering themselves in dark gray cloaks. They’re old, decrepit, about to fall over, like they could die from a slight breeze. The sight reminds him of what he saw in Chezera’s town, Hilten, and how it was dirty, sinking, and rotting.

  While Valatrositce’s Capital and cities like Constal stand out for their beauty, the outskirts are atrocious. Monsters roam the lands, attacking villages at random, and the ones they don’t attack end up like the ones Gray’s at now. He passes various vendors, finding all of the food they’re selling is rotten, taking his appetite away. As he peeks around the crumbling buildings, he spots starved cattle, and even further starved children playing in the wet, cold mud, sneezing from colds. While one's OD should help heal such a basic sickness, an unhealthy body would have issues such as these. Gray's spirit falls, and he wants to buy anything from them as well, as taking from them may cause them to fall further. While he should be entering the Ever-Bog, as it’s right in front of him, he decides to continue walking around a bit. He wonders over the sick children, deactivating his spell so as not to scare them when he speaks out of nowhere.

  “Sir? I’ve never seen you here before.”

  Gray: “I’m new, would all of you know if you had a village or town leader?”

  While the two little girls try to pay no mind to Gray, a young lad, who looks to be around nine, stands up. With a sense of justice filling his heart, he hops over the broken wooden gate around the backyard of their home and begins to guide Gray. The kids wave goodbye to their friends, continuing to play with their sticks in the mud, rubbing their runny noses as they do so.

  “So, are you a traveler?”

  Gray: “Yeah, I’m heading into the Ever-Bog, so I wanna learn anything I can before I go in. I’m lucky to have found a village right outside.”

  “You’re going in! My parents always tell me to stay away…because the monsters will get me…and the witches.”

  Gray: “Witches?”

  The boy is about to continue, but an old man walks up to them, greeting Gray. The boy, ecstatic, greets the older man.

  “I was just looking for you! This is…I dunno this guy's name…but he’s trying to find you!”

  The older man, now revealed to be the village head, shakes Gray's hand, which Gray is uncomfortable with.

  Village head: “Well, glad to see a new face. What brings you to our neck of the bog?”

  Gray: “I’m heading into the Ever-Bog, I wanted to know if there was anything I should know. This boy here said something about witches?”

  The man's eyes drop, staring at the boy with intense anger. Gray takes note of this, stepping in front of the now scared boy.

  Village head: “There’s a ton of monsters in there, some even come out of the bog and mess with us, but we hold up. All of the stories about witches are fake though, Don’t go believing children’s tails now. But heading into the bog is a madman's dream! Nobody ever comes out.”

  Gray: “Well, guess I’ll be the first. Oh, before I go, can I ask you something?”

  Village head: “Sure, anything for a traveler!”

  Gray: “Could I heal the people of your village? I’m not that good at it, but I have a spell.”

  The village head is stunned, but with a childlike smile, he quickly runs from house to house, knocking on their doors and telling them the good news. While Gray waits, the boy beside him almost cries, as he’ll finally be healed from his sickness. Gray is a bit frustrated with his actions, as he wants to get to Ravoria as soon as possible, but helping these people is far more important to him.

  Gray wishes he could use the spell “Vortal” which can heal a large area, but because of his large affinity and the difficulty he has using healing magic he’s unable to do so. Healing magic is extremely delicate, so when his affinity makes things overly potent, it can create dastardly effects. So he has to heal everyone individually as well as extremely carefully. Everyone stares at the now green glowing spirits like they’ve gotten new eyes, entranced by the sight. As he casts the spell again and again, they swirl around the people, filling up their weak ODs, and bringing new life into them. Their bodies are lighter, their spirits are higher, and their joy is through the roof. They all begin to praise Gray, but he walks away, hating the praise. He ends up walking to their cattle, using Vortic to heal them. The villager's happiness rises even more, watching their way of life by the second.

  It took an hour, but he finally got to everyone, so he went to leave but found all of the villagers waiting for him. Everyone is grateful, so grateful they present Gray with a gift, with the village head handing it to him.

  Gray: “Oh, I don’t need money or anything. I didn’t do this to get something out of it.”

  Village head: “Oh to hell with that! You need something! And this is all we have, our greatest treasure…keep it close, keep it visible.”

  The village head takes off his silver ring, placing it in Gray's palm. The sudden shift in his tone causes Gray to take the gift much more seriously, so he quickly puts it on his finger. However, his thoughts do begin to wander off, as he fears it could be cursed. After everyone lets out their thanks, he walks out of the town, heading toward the large trees and marshy ground ahead of him. The water ground quickly becomes a full-on pond or more of a lake. The large pools of green water stretch as far as he can see, with large trees protruding out of them. He takes a deep breath, flows his cloak around his body, disperses spirit mana for Dema to come to find him, and begins swinging around the trees. Now that he's entered the Ever-Bog, he’s almost to Ravoria’s capital, though the deeper he travels into the bog the more dangerous it will become, but it’s a danger he’ll gladly face.

  End of Chapter Twelve