Reverse Chronicles

A Warrior's Heart

“Laion is strong, brave, beautiful, and kind,” Franz says and touches my cheek. “You are like her.”

“I’m not strong. I’m not brave,” I answer and removes his hand. “If I was, I would not have convinced you to travel with me in this journey.”

“I am with you, and yet you are still strong.”

“How am I strong? I’ve always relied on you and Keith.”

“That’s not true. You saved us in Lyane and defeated Jess,” Franz replies.

“My life would have ended, if you weren’t there to save me. I am weak and it was my fault that you got hurt.”

“I saved you because I knew that you can defeat him. You are strong, Josh. I wish you could see that,” he touches my cheek and leans toward me. His face gets closer and our noses touched. I close my eyes and feel his touch. I smell his breathing. I feel his warmth. The touch of his hand is comforting. His lips are about to touch mine, but I stop him.

“No, stop,” I push his face away. “I am a boy inside a girl’s body remember? My name is Josh and that is a boy’s name.”

“No matter who you are, my feelings will remain the same,” he answers.

“This is wrong. I…I can’t do this. I’m sorry,” I leave him. I run out of our room and exit the resort. I keep running even though I do not now where I’m going.

What did I just I do? What am I doing?

Confusion fill my head. I feel sadness. I feel embarrassment.  My legs could not stop running. I run over a bridge and through a crowd, going far away from the resort, far away from Franz. I began to pant and slow down. I look around to find myself in an unknown street.

There are a lot of people around me. They are cooking barbecue and steak. A girl walks up to me and hands me a plate of a juicy piece of steak.

“Come eat with us,” the girl says. I accept the plate and follow her. They were cooking around a semicircular rock formation, which they used as a bench. I sit beside her, and she smile as I take my first bite. “Is it delicious? We seasoned it with herbs grown locally.”

The steak is simply delicious. It is surprisingly tender. Every bite reminds me of the time I cooked steak with my family. Now that I look at the girl and her family, memories flood into my mind like a torrent. I remember how my mother would marinate the steak using her secret recipe. I would roast marshmallows, while my dad would tell me stories about his child. Those are golden memories and I intend to make more of them, with my family.

I finish eating the steak and the girl and her family offer to walk me back to the resort. However, I refused, explaining that I had a fight with my party mates. An explanation which is a lie. I do not have the courage to go back and face Franz. How brave am I when I cannot even go back and apologize to him?

“You can stay with us,” the girl suggests. She looks at her mom and dad and they both agreed. “We have a guest room, just in case anyone visits, but no one really uses it.”

“Shall I use it then? Thank you for taking me in,” I thank the family.

The guest room has tatami mats and a large futon in the center. It is spacious enough for three people. There is a tea set at the corner of the room and decorative fans on the walls. I made myself at home and called it a night. I lay supine on the futon. My thoughts still dwelled on how I handled that situation with Franz.

If I kissed him, would this never happen? But I cannot do it, I’m a boy. And yet, I can’t stop thinking about him.

Those thoughts kept me up, whenever I close my eyes and try to sleep, the memory would haunt me and prevent me from sleeping. Then, I could hear footsteps from outside. I check who it was and see a silhouette on the sliding door. It was the girl. I open the sliding door and see her looking at the moon.

“Can’t sleep too, huh?” she utters, tapping the floor beside her, an invitation to join her. “I have to leave town tomorrow and travel to the capital. I’m a mage and I need to finish my training and advance to a higher class. It is very rude of me, but my name is Rei.”

“I’m Josh, pleased to meet you.”

“Josh?” she replies in a startled manner.

“I know, it’s complicated.”

“This world is full of complexities and perplexities. I apologize if I have offended you in any way about your name,” Rei bows his head.

“Oh no, it’s fine. I should be the one apologizing for staying here without prior announcement.” She laughs reservedly and tells me that she always wanted to have a sibling.

“I know, we are also headed to the capital. Why don’t we travel together?” I suggest.

“That would be fantastic!”

Our conversation eventually made me forget the troubling thoughts in my mind. We end our late-night talk and I return to my room and eventually sleep.

“Josh! Josh!” Rei’s voice woke me up.

“What is it?” I reply and yawn. Rei is with her mother and their faces showed signs of distress.

“My father, he ventured to Laion at dawn to forage mushrooms and he still hasn’t returned. He would usually return before sunrise, but he is nowhere. I fear something must have happened.”

“We will find him.” I grab Resolute and Whisperer, but I remember that I left both of them at the resort. “Do you have any swords that I can use?”

“This is a katana that is passed down in our family,” Rei’s mother hands me the blade. I unsheathe it. The blade has a perfect shine and is very sharp.

Rei and I travel to the mountain path. It is a very rigid path with igneous rocks and boulders at every nook and cranny. The path went through a forest, where the rigidness was covered with soil and vegetation. Suddenly, a monster jumps and surprises us.

“Stay behind me!” I take out the sword and braced for an attack. There are two tree-like monsters, which are taller than a normal human. They hurled rocks and caused roots to shoot towards us. Fortunately, we were able to avoid them.

“They are mistreants! Use fire to attack them effectively,” Rei cast Fireball and hit one of the mistreants. It was burning. “That katana should be effective. It is imbued with fire.”

While the other mistreant is distracted in helping the burning mistreant, I closed in and slashed its arm. The path of the blade blazed and burned the monster. The burn caused the two to flee the battle.

“That’s strange,” Rei let down her guard. “Mistreants don’t attack people and are very peaceful. Something must be causing them to go on a rampage.”

“Whatever it is, we should avoid monsters if possible. Finding your father takes priority.”

We resume our travel. The higher we go up the volcano, the denser the forest becomes. Rei tells me that the area where they usually collect mushrooms is in a separate road. She leads the way and we travel up to a path laden with all kinds of fungi. On the way, we find a bunch of picked mushrooms on the ground. Mushrooms that should not grow together because their growth varies. Suddenly, we hear a faint hissing. We look around, but the forest is too quiet. Only the hissing could be heard.

“You two!” a voice suddenly called out. We turn to the source of the voice. It was Rei’s father. He has injuries and he was in tatters. He signaled us to approach him. “What are you doing here? There is a giant bakunawa lurking from the trees. We should make a run for it and escape.”

“A bakunawa?” I wonder.

“It is a giant serpent-like monster that spew out fire,” Rei answers. “Bakunawas supposedly live in a cave near the crater.”

“It is agitating other monsters because it is invading their natural ecosystem,” Rei’s father adds.

“Is there a way to defeat it?” I ask.

“Are you crazy?” Rei’s father replies. “A bakunawa’s strength is equal to four adventurers in Royal classes. Unless you’re one of the divine heroes, you cannot defeat it even with our help. Fleeing is our only chance.”

Suddenly, a wild boar ran through the forest. In an instant, a giant snake’s head crept down from the trees and devoured the boar whole. It is the bakunawa. Its scales are red as blood and it had spikes that are as sharp as a sharpened blade.

Rei’s father suddenly cast Rock Javelin and pierced one of the bakunawa’s eye. It let out a great deafening cry that gave me goosebumps. The sound pierced my soul and fear crept into my very being. I could only think of running away.

“Now’s our chance!”

We bolted for the forest’s edge, going directly downhill. However, the enraged bakunawa was enraged and followed us down. It was fast and was going directly towards us. It opened its mouth, showing its four fangs that were about to get us.

Rei’s father suddenly trips and falls behind. The bakunawa stops in front of Rei’s father and curled itself ready to strike at the helpless man.

“Get away!” Rei cast a barrage of spells to save his father. However, not one of her spells even tickled the bakunawa. In a strike as fast as a blink, Rei’s father was gone. “No!”

I grab her and the two of us ran as fast as we could. The edge of the forest is almost there, but the bakunawa is even closer. It opened its mouth again. Its fangs are red with blood.

Suddenly, a beam of ice froze the bakunawa’s mouth. I look up to see the source. It was Zealle and Keith. They shot another beam of ice and covered our escape.

“This way,” a familiar voice shout. It was Franz at the edge of the forest. He waved his hands signaling our attention.

Even with Zealle and Keith’s magic, the bakunawa is still in pursuit. Then, it suddenly stops and takes a turn back. Keith cast Levitate and took us back to town.

People waited for our arrival. They all looked for someone, but he wasn’t there. Rei fell to his knees and bawled. Her tears fall to the ground watering the grass that covered it. Her mother runs to her and gives her a hug. Their tears brought everyone to sorrow. I could not stop my tears from falling.

If only I was strong enough, I could have saved her father.

The resort is quiet. The staff and everyone in town is busy helping Rei and her mother with the funeral services. I pet Zealle as my thoughts drifted into sorrow. There is a rock inside my stomach that crushes my lungs when I breathe.

“Are you alright?” Franz enters the room. After all that has happened, I can no longer remember why I feel awkwardness with him. “It’s not your fault. Some casualties are unavoidable.”

“If only I was strong enough, I would have been able to save him,” my tears slowly stream down. “You lied about me. I’m not strong. I would have saved him, if I was.”

“Josh, you are strong!”

“Then, tell me why did I tremble in fear in front of that beast? I could only run, when I could have fought.”

Franz envelops me with his powerful, yet comforting arms. He kisses my forehead and hugs me until all my tears ran out. I feel my strength seeping away and into his arms, I surrendered to slumber.