Not a Hero

Part 6: The World

Aster couldn’t catch a break. She found an opening but could not capitalize and land a blow. She was back to square one but in a new location, against a wall of books. The effigy soldiers approached the quickly tiring warrior princess. Without a doubt, their fight would have been won there if Aster didn’t continue to resist by climbing up the bookshelf. The princess needed a way out of the situation, and saw this as her only opportunity to survive. Swiftly ascending Pristime’s selection of fantasy books regarding tales in another world called Earth.
Aster’s haste was formidable, but the lifeless effigies chased her up the shelf. It wasn’t long before one of them caught Aster’s leg. The princess flailed her leg, kicking the living husk off of the wall of books and sending it plummeting to the ground. The chase continued upwards, but Aster had reached the top. There was nowhere for her to escape, and the weight gathering near the top had made the shelf unstable. Then, the spire was shaken by the force of the earthquake. She could feel the whole section tilt over towards the center of the room, and reached for the adjacent bookcase. The previous section fell over, taking two of her pursuers with it. The others were still on the hunt and continued to follow her up, but Aster forced the shelf down with her own strength. Once again, Aster was able to hang onto the next case, and more of the effigies were crushed by the weight of the pages. Even so, Aster was still being pursued, and traveled along the peak of every bookcase, pulling them all down to come crashing over her enemies below.
The final bookcase came down with the princess, and Aster grabbed hold of the railing on the spiral staircase. Breathless after a fight for once, she hopped over the divide and looked down at the floor of the room, now littered with books and wood debris. Splinters and dust invaded the air, rising up while the princess walked up the wooden coil, satisfied that the guards were vanquished.
Drodin’s rage perfectly matched Holt’s skill and experience blow for blow. Neither dragons could get the upper hand fighting with claws and bites. Even so, Drodin felt as though this was his fight and that it was his responsibility to stop his brother. So when Aster emerged from downstairs, having been victorious, he said to her, “Go upstairs! Help the others!”
Aster couldn’t immediately comprehend what had happened in the second chamber but understood what she was told. The princess ran right past the fight, dodging a red tail that tried to whip her away from the stairs. Aster made it past the second room, but was stunned at what she saw in the third.
When Aster ran into Pristime’s bedroom, she saw the barrier that separated them from Pristime. However, Casey was on the other side, lying on the ground with the last effigy soldier hovering over him, holding a bloody sword.
Aster was distressed at the sight. “What happened!?”
Oliver leaned against the wall, holding his book open. He looked up at Aster, coughed, and said, “The wall….I dispelled it…. For a second….”
“A valiant effort.” said Pristime through the wall of light. “However, while you have succeeded in hindering my plans, you will not halt my progress any further. Otherwise, you will join the infant prince at fate’s doorstep.”
“You and your puppet don’t scare me.” said Aster. “When I get my hands on you, you’ll begin to consider death a luxury!”
“Ah, now I know who you are. Such extreme threats and eyes like her father, the infamous overlord. Aster Wrath, the monster princess. The one deemed so evil that even my brother, the forgiving Exemplus, thought deserved a fate worse than death. After all this time, you’ve found a new scapegrace to blindly follow. I can see that his book is killing him. I guess he must be a very good little boy if he can’t even make sacrifices to save his own life. Pathetic.”
Aster took a deep breath. “Oliver is not pathetic. He’s my hero, and he will survive.”
“Are you sure about that? From my view, it seems that your hero’s story is about to come to an end just like our prince here.”
“I’m not done yet.” growled Oliver, trying to stand up and drag himself to the threshold. He gently put his hand on the wall and said, “Octus Astram….”

The battle between the two dragons was reaching its end. Wounded and exhausted, their fury waned, and the pair reverted back to their human forms. Yet they continued to swipe at each other and lay claim to victory, as if their bloodlust was beyond the survival instincts of animals. The brothers locked shoulders but were too weak to struggle, forced to lean on one another to keep standing.
“How could you do this to our people?” asked Holt. “They had so much potential. So many missed opportunities…. Me and Bloom, we were going to….”
Drodin responded, trying to catch his breath. “Holt, please…. I’m sorry. I know how much you loved Bloom, but you have to let go of the past…. We do our best to stop death, but only when it's unnatural. Once they’re dead, we can’t bring them back for the same reason….”
“Who told you that? One of your friends?”
“You did…. You told me that after mom and dad died…. Don’t you remember?”
“Yes, I remember….” The older druid used the last of his strength and pushed his brother away. Both young men stumbled backwards and fell to the floor. “We can’t go back and change things, otherwise we’ll all become meaningless…. That’s what I said exactly.”
Drodin was tired of fighting his brother. Exhausted, he looked up at the ceiling and said to him, “Bro, I just want to let the others handle this. Can we just let them sort this all out?”
“We’re too tired to be of any help anyway. I just want to go to sleep.”
In that moment, the two brothers shut their eyes. The scorched ground was soft and warm, reminding them of love and heartfelt memories. Holt in particular, recalled memories of an infant Drodin held in the arms of their parents, while he climbed trees with young Bloom. Seconds later, when Drodin was convinced Holt was unconscious, he got up and shambled up the stairs.