A World With/Out Home

Chapter 25: Perspective (Part3)

Kyle blinked as the dream vanished. His father sat in his chair hands neatly laid on the table, his glass of wine drained.

"They kept it from you," the words fell from Kyle's mouth.

"Yeah," Arvel smirked. "Thinking back it was the right decision. If I had the chance I'd have either stopped them or joined them."

"But...," Kyle's stomach churned as he was unable to finish his thought. Instead he moved on, "So this world is really a different world."

"Bingo, even now I don't know how it really works. Within this space however, the demons can't enter easily. It's what has kept us safe."

Lillia wiped her eyes with her sleeves and faced Arvel, "Thank you for showing us that but, it doesn't really explain how we got here? Can't you show us anymore?"

"Unfortunately no," Arvel shook his head. "The world changed and subtly so did our magic. What happened after, well that I'll summarise as it's actually mostly the same story the church totes around. We did try to rebuild but we had a lot of baggage. The people were fearful and so many of them had lost hope. Eventually Callus, Laxus, together with the other halves and leaders made a decision, one that again went against what I wanted. We wiped the slate clean, erased everyone's memories and moved on. The old world, the other races, all of it. Instead it was replaced by me as the Eternal Hero. We wiped away their despair so they could only look to the future and though we had problems it worked. For 300 years we flourished."

"And the demons?" Kyle asked.

"Oh they kept coming. Just like now they would appear occasionally and like the stories tell, I would deal with them. The problem came as I grew older. See though we are immortal, our powers do wane. Our lifespans were different between the twelve of us and mine should have been about 300 years. At the time I never expected for things to last so long but the fog persisted and so did we. Eventually I had to rest. My strength was fluctuating dangerously and becoming almost uncontrollable. The Hero's Guard was formed to support me and we began to push for new technologies to fight the demons without my help. In my place we created the new Hero's armour and so the legend continued."

Lillia's expression was tense, "So all this time you were sleeping."

Arvel shook his head and chuckled, "Not all this time. I woke up just under 19 years ago now. I saw the world and what the Hero's Guard had become. Without me they had achieved so much. In the end I almost returned but then I found Kyle, I found you Estile, and decided to let the world go on without me."

It was at the point Kyle realised an important fact, one that he should have realised sooner. His father, the kind man who raised him and Arvel, who even among the Mercenaries of the Ever-Garden was a bleeding heart, if he knew the truth he never would have allowed it to continue. He didn't know what the Heroes were.

Lillia noticed as well as the man's words were much too carefree, she looked to Kyle and the two shared a glance.

His father continued unaware, "You might be wondering what happened to the halves, the truth is they-."

"Became the church right?" Kyle finished for him.

Arvel nodded amused, "So you already found out."

"The caretaker of the place I work is Callus' great grandchild."

His father couldn't help but grin, "Is that so? I knew his kids back in the day. They were a bright lot. They must be a kind soul."