Timeless Hero Without a Goal

71st Tick: Gemini 2

“Mr. Angelo!” Someone called.

The hero looked down from the roof, looking at the official that had stepped out. It had been at least an hour since he left the meeting, so he assumed that the man was there to deliver the news. Angelo shouted back, “What is it?”

“We have news on our decision.”

There was a slight pause. He hated it when officials didd that. He was an impatient man by nature, he would much rather they say everything in a neat and precise manner. He scowled, “Just tell me already!”

“We are assuming some human has gone rogue and has used some sort of physical enhancing magic to kill those men. We request the assistance of the hero, you, to help with the capture of this human.” The man explained.

Angelo hopped down from where he was, landing gently. He shrugged as he walked past the official, “Well? Get the move on already.”

“We are planning to head out tomorrow morning, so if you would so kindly wait...”

Angelo looked the man in the eyes and asked, “Are you telling me what to do?”

“No... not at all...” He replied, putting both hands up on surrender.

“Chuck... you’re name is Chuck, right?” Angelo asked, stepping closer with a sway.

“No...”

“Whatever, your name is Chuck now.” Angelo sighed, putting a hand on Chuck’s shoulder. “Listen here, Chuck. I don’t care what your decision is, to be frank, what all of your old heads thought of in an hour only took me a minute at most. Not just your magic, but even all of your brains are pretty damn incapable, don’t you agree?”

Chuck was clenching his fist.

“Then I will arrange a small group of our elites and enter to forest with you, Mr. Angelo.”

Angelo walked off, waving behind him. He said, “Whatever you want, I’m not going to bother caring.”

“If you may, gathering the force would take at least half an hour.”

“Are you asking me to wait?” Angelo asked.

“Yes.”

Angelo sighed and walked off. Chuck stepped forward to try and stop him, but a strong gust of wind knocked him back. Angelo extended his hands, smiling. “Ah, the winds are in my favour today.”

He turned and faced Chuck. “Remember this, dear Chuck. I, as the hero and as the one true free human, I decide what I want to do, not any of you.”

By himself, Angelo walked into the forest, whistling.

Chuck steeled himself and called up any available ‘elite’ members of their defence unit. It was made up of a few humans, all of them soon to be titled heroes alongside Angelo.

Chuck led that team himself, feeling mad at the comments Angelo had made about the executive. They had indeed taken an hour to think things through, but that was because they were trying to play through every possible scenario. In his mind, he found Angelo annoying. A young man born talented, and all of a sudden he was like god to them. Chuck couldn’t handle such a thing, such a young man acting big. When he got the chance, he would surely strike back at him.

Meanwhile, Angelo was trudging along the path ahead, wondering when he would be able to encounter the murderer. He did come across a human, but the human was just a normal hiker. He continued walking, looking around and taking in the view. He remembered going into the forest when he was younger, but he didn’t really do much in it.

At some point, he simply got bored. He walked past a tree, walked around a tree, walked through a tree. He was at that point not even focused on his task anymore and was playing around. He was bored, too bored, so when he saw another living being, he went up to her.

“Hello there...” He sung, walking up to the crouched girl. “Do you know anything about a murder?”

She looked back at him, and at that point, all the events clicked in Angelo’s mind. The woman in front of him had dark skin, red eyes, horns, sharp teeth and had blood on her clothes. She looked wild, like an animal. Angelo obviously knew she was a demon, but did not instantly kill her. He was not like the people at the military or church, he was no hypocritical sadist. He looked at her face, full of concern and wariness. Angelo looked aver her, seeing her bathing two infants in the stream.

“Can you understand me?” Angelo asked.

She backed away, snarling. He put his hands up, trying to show that he meant no harm. He was interested in the demon, he wanted to know more about her. He wished he could communicate, but they were of different races and spoke different languages. Angelo scratched his head, determined to not be disturbed by the language barrier.

As a free spirit, he had found out many things over the world despite not living that long. He tried to message whether she needed help with sign language, but she, again, looked at him weirdly. Angelo tapped his forehead and flickered out and back, holding a book. It was a book hidden by the government to decipher the demon tongue since decades ago. The book was older than Angelo, but still in good condition.

He flipped through it, finding what they had somewhat managed to piece together from their writings. He picked up a stick and wrote down a few of their symbols. He used the alphabets, or what was similar to the alphabets in his tongue. He wrote down, ‘Do you need help?’

She stared at the writing for a few moments before realising what he meant. She reached down, grabbing her children and running away into the forest. Angelo watched her run. She was the complete opposite of him, much too different.

Angelo was a free spirit, he went anywhere he wanted to, did anything he wanted to. However, for the female demon, she was tied down. Stuck in a foreign land, stuck taking care of her children, stuck with responsibility. She was rooted in place, she was not free in the slightest. Angelo found the concept foreign, how was she able to live that way? He was curious, and wanted to know more. He ended it that day, not telling anyone about what he had encountered.