A Hero With/Out Time

Chapter 30: Our End. (Part 2)

The Magicians Guild although worse for wear, stood strong. The Empire's combined army camped closer to the edge of the city. Though both sides were wary of the other, a cease fire had been settled. We had Ronalt to thank for that. It was the reason he was late to the battle against Lara. During the night as the Empire's second army came to join, he and a few select elites went on a mission to kidnap the army's general as well as the influential nobles among them. With the new hostages the Empire couldn't renew their assualt so easily and the combat was halted giving us enough time to set Lara free. There was a lot that needed to be done. Both sides were still very much hostile with the other but now Lara had been freed, the Empire sat in the tighter position. The Kingdom's armies already sitting past their borders waiting. All that however was for later, as no sooner did we arrive inside the safety of the Guild we collapsed to rest.

Taylor, Lara and Marley slept in a room together while the rest of us took another. Despite how tired I was, I couldn't sleep well and soon found myself wondering outside the room. It was dark outside and the distant light of the Empire's camp could still be seen. The sound of a door creaking open caused me to turn around.

Lara stood there wearing a simple nightshirt. Her eyes met mine, "I couldn't sleep."

"Neither," I replied and slid down the wall I had been leaning on, tapping the floor beside me, "Care to take a seat?"

"How kind of you," she smirked and sat beside me.

After a minute of silence passed between us I spoke, "How are you feeling?"

"Better...," she hugged her knees tight to her chest.

I cleared my throat awkwardly, "Umm Lara, when the Empire took control of you, they didn't make you do anything weird did they?"

"No," she shook her head. "A few of them looked at me like that but in the end they were too afraid what would happen if I broke free."

"And how much do you remember?" I asked softly.

"At first not much... now a lot more," she sniffed and wiped her face. "I remember trying to kill all of you and I couldn't do anything to stop myself. It was like a part of me wanted to."

"That's not true," I gently rapped her head with my hand. I decided to change the topic, "By the way, how did you bring me back? Because from my perspective I was gone."

She rubbed her eyes, "Well after I-... I killed you, I woke up to find Taylor screaming at me. She was crying a lot. Ronalt quickly told me what happened and for a moment I really didn't know what to do. I tried searching for you as best I could but you were gone... that was until I found this." She pulled something from her pocket. It was a dark stone sphere that had been cracked in half. The denizen's core. "There was a bit of you in here and when I traced it, I could just feel you. Together we tried to pull you back and it somehow worked."

I understood how the link to my soul kind of helped but there was no way that should have been possible in normal circumstances. I reached out and rubbed her head. Doing the impossible, it was just like what a Hero would do, what Lara would do.

"Umm also I think I have some questions myself," her eyes turned to me intently.

I could guess what she wanted, "Go ahead."

"Who exactly are you?" it was a grand question when it came down to it.

"This might take a while," I said with a stiff smile.