Requiem Of A Failed Hero

Raith found himself standing back again in the dark room, with the candle, its flame stable. He grimaced as tears poured out of his eyes.

The death of the only person who ever cared for him in the Dellargado family played out again in his mind. He had just experienced it a second time, but it kept coming back to his mind, a lot of his problems started from that point.

The point where his mother died.

He stood still not knowing what to do at first, tears ran down his cheek for the next few minute.

He frowned and looked forward, “Is this how dirty low you are going to play now?” His voice echoed through the darkness.

[Dirty? Low? Whatever you call it.]

[We have watched you]

[You are indeed an eligible vessel to carry the abyss]

[But you are still like every other human, weak and foolish]

[Emphasis on foolish]

[THIS TRIAL IS MEANT TO DESTROY EVERYTHING THAT MAKES YOU HUMAN]

Raith gritted his teeth, “…you know, ever since we have been in this game, you have been going on and on about this and that and acting like you are my fucking father or something. And I‐

[The moment the flame flicks another memory will be deleted]

But it was too late, Raith had taken another step forward in an attempt to bash the holographic tab in front of him, hence the flame flicked.

This time his cheek was boiling, he was on the ground, donned in a simple white tunic and pants, taller and older than before.

He had just received a slap from the scarred face man standing before him with a wooden sword. He picked himself up staggering, tired, and out of breath.

Raith gritted his teeth, feelings both in body and mind overwhelmed him and he had no control over them, he was simply subjected to all of them, like a slave having no choice but to follow these replays.

The man began to speak, the same thing happened, he could not hear but he didn’t need to want to hear, the words of these moments have stayed in his head for the past ten years.

“You useless piece of shit, what are you ever going to be good at. When I had you I thought I was finally going to have the best… but I can’t believe you are nothing but a mediocrity. A mediocrity that she desperately clung to till she died, your weakness is the reason why I lost my precious wife. Get out of my sight, I hate you!”

Raith mumbled the words as the inaudible voice spoke. They were the times his father started acting otherwise and taking out his mother’s death on him. At first, he was willing to take on all of it because he felt the old man lost his wife.

But with time it only got worse, his father began to push him hard and to his limit even when he knew that he couldn’t amount to much, he placed him on the same pedestal as his elder brother just to make him in strife.

Raith tightened his eyes as the whole scenery faded into darkness and he found himself back again in the dark room.

Every time the flame flicked, he was bound to go back to those memories and as he came back, he couldn’t put his arms around them again. He could faintly remember but he felt nothing. The last tears that ran down his face were reminiscent of experiencing it again and the last anger he felt was likewise the same thing.

All of it, none remained.

For him to move without flickering the flame in the slightest, he needed to move forward without emotion.

In this dark room, emotion was the wind that troubled this little touch that tried to stay aflame in the thick darkness.

But was it possible for him to move forward without attachments and emotions?

He looked down at the flame, his face became gloomy and stressed.

Fuuuu

He put off the flame himself.

***

“Aren’t we finally dead?!” Yujin muttered with shaking lips.

“Don’t worry Yujin, I will protect you. Even if it has to be at the cost of my life.” Sung Min assured her.

They have all been brought down from the prison net and were tied to each other and made to sit back to back and were surrounded by soldiers while the others searched for this said intruder.

“I wonder why they aren’t finding Hunter Raven though, could it be that he is deliberately pulling them out and dealing with them one after the other.” Shin who was scared before was fully calm, the thought of Raith coming back from them gave him peace.

“I don’t know, or it could be that he is just very dumb and bad at sneak attacks. But I am curious about something though,” Shin-Hye said.

“What is it Shin-Hye noona?” Ga-Yun asked, whispering very low. The others too were focused on what she was going to say even though they were not facing her.

“Is this how we are going to sit around with all this and wait for Hunter Raven to come and rescue us? How then are we supposed to prove our worth as strong comrades.” She chimed in.

“For the first time, I think Shin-Hye has spoken sense,” Chong-Yol answered, his lips were looking good and his face was better after he had taken a meat soup from the red elves because he almost died before.

“Do you want to die? You can dare to talk now after eating”

“I am only supporting your proposition, why do you have to be so toxic?”

“Hey, don’t call her toxic?” Mok Jae-Hwa nagged.

All of them talked in low whispers, except for Shin-Hye who had a very low-pitched voice to begin with.

“Umukni, crvi (Shut up, you maggots)” One of the red elves standing guard yelled back at them thanks to Mok Jae-Hwa raising their alertness level a little.

They all kept silent for the next few minutes. Then Sung Min broke the silence with another whisper.

“So, noona, are you saying we should fight?” .𝒐𝙧𝒈

“Yes… Whatever way it goes, Hunter Raven should meet us fighting.” She responded to the fine young man.

“Hyung?” Sung Min mumbled, it was obvious to all of them that what he was requesting was Mok Jae-Hwa’s consent.

“Ah, fine… let’s play.” Mok Jae-Hwa said with a smile.

The fine young man, Sung Min immediately began to grit his teeth, the muscles on his body began to swell and thicken, and his body began to redden along with his eyes.

His clothes began to tear apart and by the time the red-elven soldiers will see what is going on, he had broken out of the chains and waned away from their sight.