Timeless Hero Without a Goal

4th Tick: Wish

Rose was walking around when she heard a voice.

“Hey...” Someone said.

She turned around quicker than she had any other time. A boy, the same boy she saw at the previous city, sat atop a mailbox. He still dressed as a Chinese JiangShi, his clothes obviously too big for him. The strip of paper hanging from his hat covered the middle portion of his face and his mouth. Rose could tell he was smiling through his eyes. The child hopped down and ran towards her, stopping not too far away. He looked up, his eyes bright with excitement.

“Are you lost?” He asked her. “Do you need help? Do you want my help?”

Rose looked around. “As a matter of fact, I am lost.”

“So, you want help?” He said excitedly. “Do you... want to make a wish?”

She stared at him. The child’s innocent look was gone, replaced with a cold smile and eyes that stared at her soul. He turned and hopped onto the mailbox, doing a spin before sitting down. The mailbox did not move, it did not make a sound. The child looked at her, his innocence back, he gave her a smile.

“A wish?” She asked.

“Yes! Wish upon my name, wish and it will come true, I guarantee it! Just say my name, I’ll make any wish come true.” He said.

“If I wish to become rich...” She muttered.

“Big sis, you shouldn’t lie.” The child frowned. “A wish should be what you actually want. You don’t even want money, you want something else. How about it? Do you want to make a wish? Do you want to find your way? Or do you want something else?”

“Who are you?” Rose asked, on guard.

His eyes lit up. “You ask for my name, does that mean you’re going to make a wish? Big sis, what do you want?”

Rose took a step back. That was no child, a child would not act like that. No human could simply act like he could grant any wish, much less a child. Rose steeled herself not to make a wish, but a part of her wanted to wish for something.

“If I asked you to kill every demon, can you do it?” She asked.

The child paused, then grinned. He leaned back, falling off the mailbox and appearing in front of her, floating in the air. He replied, “Of course!”

The child floated away and stepped on the ground gracefully. He stared at the sky, then at the ground. He muttered, “After all, all that exists from heaven to earth belong to me.”

There was an aura around the child, something strange, yet familiar to Rose. The child, looking away, did not move. Rose felt like they were familiar, that is, they were lonely.

She wanted to reach out to him, but he disappeared, giggling. He hung above Rose, saying, “Big sis, if you really want to know my name, are you going to make a wish?”

Before she could reply, the child looked to the side and disappeared. His voice rang in her ears. “If you ever feel lonely, we can play again, until the day you make a wish...”

Rose stood there, stunned.

She looked at the direction which the child had looked at. There was a man, stumbling towards her. He was not walking straight, he wore loose clothes that were dirty and ripped. Rose walked to the side as he walked closer. He held a bottle of wine in his left hand, his face red and his eyes barely open. The man’s hair was dirty and stringy, as would most humans under the Devil’s rule.

He walked past Rose. That was when she saw it, two small holes on his neck. The sound was big, but there was no blood nor any trace of pain on him. Rose took another step back, as silently as she could. The drunk spun, the bottle barely missing her. He lost balance and tripped, falling on himself. Rose ran, not sure what was going on. The man got up and continued walking, the bottle shattered when he fell. Some shards had stabbed through his skin and were lodged there, but he did not move. The man simply continued walking like the injuries did not affect him. Furthermore, no blood was present, just what happened to the man man to make him that way? Rose did not know.

She slowly stepped away before breaking into a run. She wanted to get away from that man, there was a strange aura about him. She ran and eventually saw more people, roughly three gathered in one spot. She hid nearby, hoping they did not see her.

They stood there, blank looks in their eyes. They seemed to be waiting for someone, or something to happen. She stepped away, seeing that they too, had holes in their necks. When she took one step, one of them snapped his head towards her. She broke into a run, hearing a snap behind her. Rose looked back, the ground she was standing at was blackened.

Rose ran into a building for shelter, running up the stairs. Another snap was heard and the door exploded, sending debris flying everywhere. Rose tried not to look back, scrambling to where it was safer. The wind around her picked up, the pieces of paper in the room got caught and swirled around the room. A small whirlwind was formed, not strong enough to injure or kill, but enough to distract Rose.

Rose opened the window and jumped through, the three people following after her went downstairs in pursuit. Rose stood on the ledge of the building right outside the window, holding onto the window frame. She pulled herself out with great difficulty and sat down on the ground, breathing hard. What was going on? She wondered, Thomas could stop time, he would have found her by now. But the fact that he did not would mean that similar to the last town, he was off to fight alone again.

She felt that it was sad, not her, but him. He did everything himself, constantly, even though he tried to hide it, Rose felt that he was lonely. He would look at his pocket watch with a longing look, he would sometimes remain completely silent. Rose did not know how to approach him, Thomas looked human, spoke like a human, but did not feel like a human.