He was finally free to move around outside of his temporary quarters and took the opportunity to wander through the alleys of the kingdom. Normally, he should have left far from this kingdom filled with fairies but here he had become the champion of a princess wanting to become queen to obtain wings, did she only know the responsibilities which would fall to her once regent of the kingdom of Sylvania?
Disarmed of all his fighting gear, he was going to face "powerful" opponents just with his own strength - which was already enough -, in the end, it was a good thing: it would save him from inadvertently killing them. But his firearms and plasma weapons will not be returned to him now, although he has proven that he has nothing against the inhabitants of this kingdom and moreover, it is the problems that come to him and not the other way around - [s/o the deranged queen] (stop it right now) -, he will obviously not be given back the sword of the Damned: Ymir, for reasons that are obvious to say the least.
He didn't care about his future opponents, but he had no idea what levels they were, judging them by the prism of the only fight he had seen would be showing great intellectual dishonesty, enormous arrogance and ignorance, It wouldn't be surprising if he was beaten again by a wizard who sent him to the middle of the United States of America - it took him two months to swim back to Europea (because he wasn't a very good swimmer, a real brick), once on dry land, he went looking for him and once he found him, he decapitated him with a kick to the back of his wizard head.
The counter-incentive that the doctor-mages had thrown at him with the help of the doctor from Oranas prison seemed to be working for the moment, there was no pain left in his head or in his throat. Although it took away some of his strength, it was nice to be able to converse without the risk of imploding and spraying his blood on the people he was talking to, but it forced him to get to know the others, and he wasn't very good at that.
He imagined that it would come from talking, as it had with Zelda.
The streets were rather crowded although it was "night", the inhabitants of the Sanctuary district did not seem to be afraid of it despite the clouds of darkness that overhung the sky of Sylvania and the fact that they could be killed by any murderer who felt like quenching his thirst for blood or crime. If he wasn't immortal, he would follow orders to never go out at night "because we have a house, why would you want to go out at night? Are you homeless? Only rapists, murderers, thieves, delinquents, drug dealers, sex offenders, whores and so on go out at night. During the day, it's enough to go out!
According to the Hero, his mother was really abusive, because of her, he missed the games that the children of his village were playing and he had to refuse the invitations to go out from Zelda and the other children who thought he was a weird kid who never wanted to mix with them. Elena was nice, but she was far too paranoid and overprotective for anything, and it had nothing to do with the Hero's illness since he came back bruised from playing the guards at this sport called Shoot-ball - a sport they had seen in illustrations in books that were apparently written by the Archivists... It was a sport he particularly hated, that's why he preferred to play the keeper, he was pretty good at it, he hated playing it but being cooped up in church made him hate it even more, sitting on the sidelines and not being able to have fun with the other kids.
Just remembering the fact that he was like a princess locked in an ivory tower made him angry, that was why he was looking forward to the arrival of the nameless princess, although he never specifically told her that he wanted her to stay a little longer with him, but he couldn't restrict her to keeping him company without her going to her home. That was also the reason for her escapades in the castle.
But now he was out. Freer than ever because of the circumstances of fate, but alone in this world so vast, so perilous and so monstrous that was Fayiera Terra.
The price of his freedom was high...
He observed the lights of the city shining in every corner, the passers-by who strolled carelessly, not caring about the dangers he could incur, passing Molinese - humanoid mice - with their children, guards doing their job, merchants offering their delicious food to onlookers...
Perhaps he would be tempted by a skewer of brahamines - a kind of red cow with three heads.
For the first time he lived in peace, he felt at peace with himself, the warm atmosphere of this environment soothed him, his anger that made the blood boil in his veins calmed down, making him appreciate this city... he didn't even care anymore about his preconceptions about the dark corners created by a strong light, letting himself be rocked by a calm stream was also pleasant.
He saw a statue which was illuminated by projectors having a large stone of luxinite which lit it of thousand fires. This statue was cut in a magnificent purple crystal representing a fairy armed with a sword pointing in the direction of the castle of the queen of Sylvania, he saw a little melancholy in the look of the statue. It was the most impressive male fairy he had ever seen in his life, she had an imposing musculature, an armor resembling that of the Romans in the Antiquity with floral grooves on the breastplate and gigantic wings that were rather a fusion between those of a bird and those of a butterfly.
He approached the statue and saw a commemorative plaque that was backlit by the luxinite, he saw inscribed on it in Oli'Ane, Franca and another language resembling Franca: "To Torn, our hero who devoted his life to save our kingdom and its honor".
Suddenly, his ears were ringing, he heard a sad melody caressing his eardrums while mixing in the wind that circulated in the middle of the streets of the Sanctuary, he saw everyone turning around in the direction of the origin of this melody, the Hero did the same and saw a strange glow coming from the top of the plant castle, from this top spread throughout the city of fine shining dust.
- It must be the queen, said one of the citizens.
- What a melancholy song she sings there, says another.
The Hero recognized the timbre of Queen Audiselia's voice through the song that was in the air, he ran in the direction of the castle, going up to the district of the nobles that was the Upper Town and returned to the castle.
The queen pronounced this bitter tune in honor of her lost friend, the fairies had the particularity of singing by rejecting the air that escaped from their lungs and vibrating their vocal cords just by exhaling air, which gave them this singing and seductive voice, they were able to reproduce the sound of any string instrument, their voices were almost as bewitching as those of mermaids - hence their nickname of wood mermaids, which is why they were considered so harmful, as they had the reputation of losing travelers who ventured to walk in the darkest and most gloomy forests.
The Hero arrived at the head of the bark building mimicking the treetops, his intuition was right, it was Audiselia who was singing like her fellows, with tears in her eyes, paying a last tribute to her dead friend. She felt that someone was approaching her and guessed from her lack of magic that it was Elena's son, she turned her head and looked at him tenderly.
- Have you come to finish our fight?
- Don't be silly," he grumbled, "I have no reason to confront you, especially since you are my mother's best friend.
The queen had an amused chuckle, she held out her hand, he grabbed it and helped her up to her height, they both sat on the grassy roof and watched the lights of the city.
- What brings you to me?" asked Audisélia.
- I saw you here and since I wanted to see you, here I am...
- Audisélia could not stop staring at the young human with red eyes, she remembered Elena's last words: "You know... he looks like you... maybe you can save him...". Then she caught him by the neck and put violently his head on her knees.
- But what are you doing?
- Well...
That's right. What was she doing? She had acted on instinct, as if her arms had moved by themselves. In memory of a past event?
Surely.
After all, she must have been a loving mother before she became a monster.
Then she followed this maternal instinct, and began to caress his hood.
- ... I guess that's how you comfort a child...
- Yes... surely..., replied the Hero, did you know about my head injuries?
- Before you search your mind? No.
- What? Have you mastered telepathy?
- Not like you think but more with the electric waves, I rarely use it because apparently it "goes against privacy" and it wears me out, she explained.
- So you searched my mind?
- No, but I was tempted, she confessed, I refused to do it because I prefer that you tell me. I read that to confide helps to unload the weights which one has in the heart. It will perhaps help you to... how to say... to pass to other things as for me it would help me...
- If you feel like it, accepted the Hero, but for my part, I do not intend to move on...
- Why? Why do you want to get lost in this quest for revenge?
- Because, first of all, I am the hero of Fayiera Terra so it is part of the scenario that I face the Nemesis. But above all because there is no justice in this world and I would like to be satisfied that only once in my life someone will pay for the evil done to me... I will be the armed arm of my vengeful justice...
- Your mother would disagree with your project...
- I know that..., he sighed.
It was true that his mother would never have accepted that he embarked on such a murderous enterprise, her unshakeable faith would never have allowed her son to indulge in violence, murder and other crimes just to avenge her... But it was already too late to make a U-turn after all he had done...
- Are you... are you not angry that the Nemesis has attacked your friend?
- Yes, she admits, but you are the only one who can stop it since you are the hero of the legend... I can only blame you..., laughed the yellow queen Audisélia.
- Not for long...
- Is it true that you are going to kill the hero, how are you going to do it?
The Hero was about to tell her, but held back, just thinking about it made him feel scared and nauseous, the plan he was about to come up with reminded him of his mother's death.
- I... I can't tell you.
- It's a secret, right.
- Let's put it this way...
The queen stopped stroking his head through the hood, landed at his side and admired the lights of the city.
- You know, my name is composed of two words: Audi and Selia, according to the Archivists, Audi would be the name of an old brand of car, she said, but above all it would mean something in Latin or German, two dead languages, one of them has been dead longer than the other, which would be "hear" or "listen" and Selia would be a derivative of the name Celia which means heaven. So I would be able to listen to the sky. That would be the meaning of the origin of my power, well, I think my mother never explained it to me. That's why I often stand here, to sing my songs to the sky to calm it down and pray that no evil comes to us, sometimes it answers me through the wind... It's another way for me to protect the kingdom, I would have preferred to have this role of protector through my songs than through my barbaric acts... I imagine it's the same for you.
- What do you mean?
- I saw through our fight that you had regrets to fight, except when you lost your mind little by little...
- It's true that I don't like to fight but hey... violence is how this world works.
- Are you sure?
- Certain.
- I don't think so, she contradicted him with certainty, I'm sure that nothing obliges us to be in the extreme violence, it was even the goal of the Feline: to create a place for the Fairy ones where they wouldn't have to fear the death that could inflict them some bellicose individuals. Even humans could come.
- The one that looks like the fairy without wings.
- Yes.
The noises took precedence over the queen's songs, which eventually faded into the air, seeing this city life living in this way confirmed that the plan of this famous Feline was being realized.
- I couldn't see the kingdom from my room but from here it's really pretty with all the little lights," said the Hero.
- Your mother and I used to come up here, before I was queen, before anyone could imagine that I was of royal blood, she told me that all the lights produced by the luxinite street lamps that you can see, looked like the sky of the old days before there were oases of light, before mages used magic to create them or before darkness covered our planet turning it into a desert devoid of all life. At nightfall when the sun, when it "existed", disappeared, all these lights were painted in the black night sky, she told me that it was much more beautiful than this starry ground. She had seen it in a memory of a former life.
- The famous UFOs, says the Hero.
- I don't think that's what it's called.
- I know. But it makes me laugh that she calls it that...
- I don't think she cared about you," laughed the queen.
The Hero grumbled, being tricked by his mother after six years, that's a lot of coffee.
- I guess you don't trust me after we fight," said the queen.
- Well, it's not the first time someone has tried to shoot me when I didn't do anything," he said with detachment, "and I know it won't be the last time, I just hope it's for a reason.
-You're a downer," sighed the queen.
The Hero laughs at the Queen's remark.
- It must be in my nature.
- I hope not! refused the queen, but what I wanted to say is that we should start again on new bases to get to know each other. So I will tell you one of my secrets and you tell me one...
- Do you want to know how my mother died?" interrupted the Hero in an argument.
- But let me finish, finally," she said with a pout.
- You're funny, you know. You look like the wingless princess as you call her.
- Here you go! I have a secret about her.
- On how she could get her wings?
- Do you know?" said the queen, surprised.
- I was told this when I was hospitalized.
- Are you interested?
- Absolutely not! I don't care about his life.
There was a great silence, and then the Hero gave in as he exhaled:
- Yes, I want to know.
- It would have surprised me," smiled Audisélia, making her thin crystal-colored eyebrows jump, "after all, you seem rather close to her...
- In exchange you want to know how I intend to kill the hero of the legend, right?
- And I will give you the reason for the hatred that the inhabitants of Sylvania have towards your protégée.
- And I'll have to tell you how my mother died.
- Exactly.
- Okay... he sighed, I'll tell you about Sister Elena's death first so you can understand how I'm going to make the hero of this world disappear forever after the Nemesis trick.