We Could Be Heroes, Big Man

06

  It was another day in which Tommy was supposed to start sparring. He was still very fearful of what might happen, but he knew he had to start somewhere. Besides, these 'quests' seemed like fun adventures.

  First, he watched Tubbo and Ranboo do a bit of sparring.

  Tommy was quick to learn that Ranboo very much liked climbing Tubbo's creations. Each time Tubbo tried to strike him with a vine or tree, Ranboo grabbed onto it and began swinging around it. He was very graceful. There were some points among the sparring that Ranboo would cause Tubbo to run one vine into another by teleporting away.

  Tubbo did win the end, pinning Ranboo to the ground.

"Tommy." Phil stood in front of the blond boy. "Are you ready to give it a shot? Techno's willing to be your first sparring partner." Phil gestured to Techno standing on the other side of the arena, a friendly smile planted on his face and his arms crossed.

"Um. I guess."

  Tommy stood a good fifteen feet away from Techno in a nervous stance. He didn't know how to fight, well, he had an idea. When he was younger, he did drills with his mom to learn to control his power.

Tommy took a deep breath. If he could just remember the stance they had him do. . .

  Tommy spread his feet just past shoulder width and his hands out to the side, easy to move in any direction needed, knees bent. He opened his eyes, focusing on his opponent in front of him, Technoblade. He could do this, he knew how to.

  But what if he hurt Technoblade?

  No, no. He could get over this. This was sparring, he was meant to hurt him.

  "Whenever your ready!" Phil called.

  Techno took the first step, coming at Tommy in a sprint.

  Tommy closed his eyes again. Listen. Just listen. If he couldn't look at Techno and do it, he would just use his ears.

  When Techno was approximately a few feet in front of him, Tommy slid his foot inwards. A gust of wind hit Techno knocking him off his feet. However, he didn't hear Techno hit the ground like he should have.

  The series of gasps threw Tommy off, but he kept focus.

  Something grabbed his arm, pulling him back and off his balance. Tommy opened an eye, jamming his foot into the ground as a reflex. A line of lightning went along the ground straight towards Techno. He jumped. Tommy missed.

  Tommy was then completely pulled off his feet and down to the ground. He gave up, he knew he lost.

—

After the sparring lesson—in which Tommy refused to do another round—everyone was left with some free time before curfew.

Tommy decided to head into the library again where Techno was. He was reading again, and noticed Tommy walk into the room right away.

"Do you need something, Tommy?" He asked. "Are looking for sparring tips or somethi—"

"What are you reading today?" Tommy interrupted.

Techno paused, glancing down at his book before back up at Tommy. "Hades and Persephone."

"Can you tell me about it?"

Techno stared at Tommy for a few moments, seemingly waiting for him to say 'just kidding' or something among those lines, but Tommy was genuinely curious. What was so interesting about these stories that Techno read?

Eventually, Techno swallowed and began talking. "Well, Hades is the god the underworld and Persephone is the goddess of vegetation. It's actually kinda messed up in a sense." Techno chuckled. "Hades' brother is Zeus, and Persephone is Zeus' daughter. When Hades sees her he falls in love, you know, the stupid crap. He asks Zeus if he can marry her and he's like, "sure dude", but Persephone's mother, Demeter, would never allow it."

"Wait, wait." Tommy shook his head. "He wants to marry his niece?"

"In a sense, yeah. It's Greek mythology, it's all crap." Techno waved his hand. "So Hades kidnaps her and they get married. Kinda. But to satisfy Demeter she goes home for summer and spring and stays in the underworld during the fall and winter."

"Hm." Tommy cocked his head. "Sounds boring."

"Why did you ask, then?" Techno chuckled. "You're one weird kid, Tommy."

"You're weirder."

Techno rolled his eyes. "Yeah okay, whatever. Did you need anything?"

"No." Tommy shook his head. "I was just curious."

"You're a very curious kid."

Tommy shifted. "Yeah, I guess. I like being aware of my surroundings."

"Me, too." Techno's smile widened ever so slightly. If Tommy wasn't paying attention, he wouldn't have noticed. "You never know what's gonna happen."

Tommy nodded in agreement.

"All of us feel that way here, you know." Techno said, closing the book. "It's because of who we are. I'm sure Phil hasn't talked to you about what exactly you are yet. He waits so long to tell you."

Tommy narrowed his eyes. "Pardon?"

"Obviously, we aren't human." Techno furrowed his eyebrows. "Surely you've figured that much out."

Tommy shrugged. "Yeah I guess."

"There's this god." Techno paused. "This god is. . . He's temperamental. Blood thirsty. His name is Hemo. Also known as the Blood God."

Tommy wasn't sure he was going to like where this was going. He was talking about Greek Gods a few minutes ago as if they were myths, and now he was talking about a blood thirsty god as if he were real.

"Most gods we know now a days are real, Tommy. Depending on where you're from, the more likely you are to reflect off of them. Hemo, he didn't want humans to worship him. He didn't like the way they fought for peace. He created entities that were less human. They lived longer, they were stronger, but they were still mortal."

"Wait, wait." Tommy shook his head. "Let me guess, we're the product."

"Well, yes. Yes we are." Techno nodded his head. "There's a lot to us you probably don't know, Tommy—"

"Did he demand sacrifices?" Tommy couldn't help the voice crack he sprouted during his sentence, but what he was referring too ended up in panic attacks most of the time.

Yet, Techno was silent, staring at Tommy. There's was no exact emotion that Tommy could read from his face, but something told him the answer to that question in his expression. He did.

"Why?" Techno asked. "Were your parents religious, Tommy?"

"Maybe." Tommy stood, deciding that he didn't want to have this conversation anymore. Too much of his past was starting to make sense and he didn't like it. He left the room quickly before Techno could stop him. Then again, Techno could probably easily stop him if he wanted to.

Thing was, Techno was listening closely to the voices in his head, the souls he had collected. They were chanting the same thing every time Hemo was mentioned around him.

Blood for the Blood God.