Hero Dyes - Blue
Haunting Memory

Yohan: After Clad left we spoke for a few moments on our plan to train Bridget. We came to the conclusion that we would need the aid of the portal master. Also, a bit of summoning magic needed to be learned by Bridget, and I wasn’t the proper teacher to deliver those lessons. My temperament wouldn’t allow for much progress. Just before I set out to find Ellen we heard some commotion outside. It was the guards telling everyone that the night curfew was in effect.

“Return to your homes! The demon hour is upon us! For your safety, please return home! If you stay outside, you will be attacked by the demon! Please return home!” They shouted as they walked along the road. The villagers began to shut and lock their doors, almost as if this was a routine for them.

“No! I want to see him! Let me see my beloved!!” Bridget’s voice rang through the night sky. Ellen was trying to calm her down along with two other guards. Apparently she was being denied access to Ulrik.

“He is very ill, as I mentioned before. He bravely fought the demon but was injured as well. I need to continue my healing spells to make sure he pulls through.” Ellen explained for what seemed the fifth time.

“I know! Everyone says the same thing! He fought the demon but was struck and now he is ill! Same lie, different person! I want to see him, NOW!”

“Please!” Ellen’s hands began to glow brightly in the dark, brighter than the torches the guards were holding. This made Bridget take a step back. Having said that, it wasn’t out of fear. She slid her feet into a fighting stance, as if she had any chance of brawling with Ellen and coming out the victor. Once Ellen realized she escalated the situation she calmed down and controlled her own temper. She cleared her throat and looked sternly in Bridget’s eyes.

“I won’t repeat myself. Return to where you stay. If Ulrik is better and wishes to see you, I’ll allow him to visit you in your chambers. If he doesn’t show, then rest assured he is taking time to heal. Do we have an understanding, or do you lack common sense?” I couldn’t help but smirk at Ellen’s words. My son even half smiled at the scene.

“I believe she’ll be a great teacher for Bridget.” He tells me, to which I smiled more and nodded. Bridget could only stare her down for a few moments then strom off while cursing her under her breath. Ellen sighed and quickly hurried to the throne room. This puzzled me.

“Father, why would she be heading that way when Ulrik’s chamber is the other way?” Those were my exact thoughts, only my son said them out loud.

“I don’t know, but I plan on finding out. Stay here.” I ordered as I quickly headed out. I watched and waited for the guards to move and position themselves so they wouldn’t see me sneaking about. I managed to follow them to the entrance of the throne room but halted my pursuit as more guards surrounded the doors.

“Remember, allow no one to enter until I say so.” Ellen whispered to the five guards at the entrance. She slipped in and quickly shut the doors behind her.

“Time to teach her that she isn’t the only one who knows portal magic.” I started to recite an old spell that my uncle taught me. Once it was completed symbols on my arms began to glow. They manage to catch the attention of some of the guards but by then it didn’t matter. A beam of light engulfed me and within seconds it elegantly transported me inside the throne room. Ellen gasped as my eyes widened with horror.

“Wait… Ulrik the Demon, High Knight of Lord Magnus? He is still alive?”

“He summoned three Tengu spirits to inhabit his strongest knights. The three knights are Leon, Ulrik, and Finnor.”

Gilgamesh’s words echoed in my mind as I remember him sharing that bit of information. What frightened me upon my arrival was not Ulrik’s large and monstrous form, but the man sitting on the throne. He resembled Masque for a moment when he tried to be prim and proper in the forest.

“Leon, I apologize. I wasn’t aware I was being followed.” Ellen’s words baffled me as I stared upon this skinny blonde haired man. This was Leon? He was tall, almost as tall as Magnus. However, his size and possibly his weight wouldn’t mark him as a fighter, let alone a knight. Ulrik’s back was facing me as he stood to the left of Leon. Once he stood up from the throne room chair I could see just how large Ulrik was compared to this man. In this form, Ulrik was no doubt bigger than Magnus, by a lot I’ll wager. Ulrik finally turned around as his black and yellow eyes lightly glowed. His bird-like face and wings were a charcoal color. It looked like this bird demon was once white but darkness took over and stained most of him black. His clothes were also different. They were very foreign compared to the fashion of the three kingdoms surrounding us. He gripped his sword tightly with his talon-like hands.

“You seemed surprised, Golden Sage. You shouldn’t be. You’ve seen him before.” Leon spoke, ignoring Ellen as he fixed his stern gaze upon me.

“What are you talking about?” I questioned as I frowned with confusion.

“I’ve never seen the likes of that creature before.” A smirk spread across his face as I spoke those words. He shook his head disapprovingly.

“Magnus tried to tell them. They wouldn’t listen though. He knew you had forgotten.” He adds in a mocking tone. This was starting to become irritating as he just stared and spewed out vague nonsense.

“Speak quickly on what you mean, I haven’t the time for riddles and games.”

“No, Golden Sage.” He quickly interjected.

“You’ll hear what I have to say, however long it takes me to say it.” He finished as he took a seat on the throne and crossed his legs. This made my spine crawl with shivers as his demeanor was more haunting than Masque. The fact that he resembled him so much was unsettling.

“Before I take you down memory lane, you’re going to tell me why you showed up here in the first place.” I thought about his demand for a moment. Honestly I had nothing to lose in telling him. The one I really needed was Ellen.

“I came to speak with Ellen. Also, to barrow Ulrik’s sword in my attempt to convince Brigdet to go alone with our plan to slay the next tyrant.” He didn’t say anything after I spoke. He just stared with a crooked smile as if waiting for me to say more.

“You really don’t remember, do you?” He asked, to which I rolled my eyes at his question. Somehow he was finding delight in my lack of knowledge pertaining to the past.

“Ellen, dispel the barrier.” His words shocked the woman as she stared at him with fear in her eyes.

“If I do that, Ulrik will go on a rampage. We’ll kill more people in his town.”

“Then you better hope the Golden Sage can stop him before he gets out. Now free him” His smile quickly turned into a threatening frown as he eyed Ellen. She was trembling with fear, switching her sights back and forth between Leon and Ulrik. She finally decided and closed her eyes tightly as she chanted a spell. A yellow glass like dome appeared over the throne room and soon shattered. This made Ulrik straighten up his posture as he fixed his evil eyes upon me.

“I can’t watch this, I’m sorry!” Within seconds Ellen vanished using her variation of transportation magic. I began to fill my body with energy as I locked eyes with Ulrik. His breathing was quickening as if waiting for a command to begin his assault. Leon’s smirk returned as he eyed me with vengeance in his heart. Whatever it was that I had forgotten involved him too.

“If you want Ulrik’s sword, come get it.” That was the command. Once this was spoken the monster that was Ulrik leaped towards me with blinding speed. He reached me within seconds. I didn’t have time to react as his sword collided with my always-active water barrier. The strike was so powerful it shattered the barrier and sent me sliding across the floor. My body hit the wall loudly as I grunted in pain. My vision was blurry for a few seconds as I stared at my arm. I saw the blue symbol that represented my barrier fade into nothing.

“Great, now it’ll take weeks before I can conjure a spell like that.” I told myself as I slowly stood to my feet. I heard the wind shifting as Ulrik repeated his attack. This time I was ready and waved my hand dismissively as a burst of wind knocked him off course and sent him spiraling through the air.

“Is that all you-” A large shadow was cast upon me which silenced my taunting. A loud rushing wind overpowered me as I turned around to see Ulrik’s sword speeding towards my head.

“Haa!!” I roared and dispersed all wind magic as I raised my arm up to counter his sword. A loud clang rang out as my steel arm caught his blade. A silver symbol on my other arm was glowing as I struggled to hold his weapon from slicing off my head. His massive body nearly smothered me as he pressed forward and brought me down on one knee. Suddenly the wind was knocked out of me as I gasped with pain surging into my chest. Ulrik had slammed his taloned foot into my torso and sent me sliding across the floor once again. This time I managed to regain myself and jump back on my feet before I could slide too far. My chest was bleeding from his sharp talons, They weren’t deep wounds, but enough to feel a stinging sensation.

“Come on! Where is the powerful Golden Sage!! Stop holding back!!” Leon shouts frantically. His crazed look worried me. Of course I was holding back. If I used even half of my power many people would get hurt. I can’t use my dragon form, it is too large with too many people currently around.

“You didn’t have a problem slaughtering the masses when we fought you before!” I growled with annoyance as I glared at him for speaking those words.

“Out with it!! Tell me what you know! Tell me what I’ve forgotten!!”

“Not yet!! I want you to feel the rage like you did before!! Ulrik, rip his heart out!” I heard the rushing wind and the mighty roar of its power. Once again, Ulrik was upon within seconds.

“Raaahhhhaaa!!!” His beastly roar echoed through the throne room as my glowing golden hand was lodged into his stomach. I quickly performed a three hit combo and sent the monster sliding across the room. Once he hit the wall he laid there for a moment before slowly returning to his feet. He growled at my new humanoid-dragon form, which was very similar to my son’s dragon form when he fought Masque.

“Ha! Gilgamesh was right, you did find a way to shrink that powerful form of yours.” Every time this man spoke my mind would fill up with so many questions. No answers were given about what I’ve done, and now he receives information from the Count’s old soul.

“I grow tired of this, Leon. Enough games, enough riddles. Tell me everything, starting with your connection to Gilgamesh.” This only made him laugh for a moment before he settled down so he could speak and be heard properly.

“Fine, I’ll give you one freebie. Gilgamesh is my younger brother.” My eyes widened at this news. I couldn’t tell if he was lying or telling the truth. From what Gilgamesh told me, he was created. At least, the Count was created.

“I’m sure you’re confused and lost from what my brother might have told you. Everything he said is in fact true. Count Masque was created with my younger brother’s soul. Then something funny happened and Masque didn’t want him as a soul anymore. He was then replaced with something else but couldn’t get rid of Gilgamesh completely so, here we are. His older brother, that’s me, had the same thing done just a little differently.” He stood up from the throne and started to walk down the small steps as he continued to speak.

“Unlike my brother who was alive during his ordeal, I was already dead. Magnus was the one that killed me, if you were wondering. After I died he turned me into one of his trusted minions. He placed a Tengu Spirit within my body. This not only brought me back to life, but also gave me the ability to live forever. Also, I can look just as ugly as Ulrik. Only difference is, I’m a Hanataka Tengu, while Ulrik is a Karasu Tengu. Finnor was a Konoha Tengu but Bridget killed the Tengu within him without even knowing it. Mangus wasn’t too pleased about that. Especially after he saved all of us from your wraith.”

“Stop it!” I shouted as my eyes squinted with aggravation growing with each word he spit out. I had enough of this game and I still wasn’t getting answers. Nonsense was all he was spewing.

“What is the point of all this!! Why are you putting me through this pointless-”

“To make you suffer, Golden Sage!! I want you to remember the villain you became while we all rose up to stop your rampage! I’ll beat it out of you if it’s the last thing I do!!” Suddenly he explodes into black and red smoke that swirled and started to fill the room. Within seconds it shrinks back and forms a pure black sword within his red beastly hand. His body was dark red with sharp teeth hanging out his mouth. He had a long nose and wings like Ulrik. They both charged two black and white orbs in front of their mouths and shot them out rapidly.

I leaped out the way and watched the two energy attacks collide and shake the entire room as they exploded. After that the two of them began a relentless assault using spirit energy. They were manipulating it in ways I’ve never seen before. Their feathers would be coated in black spirit energy and fly out like arrows being shot from a bow. Their swords would release spirit energy attacks like rays from the sun, burning anything they touched. They would slip through the walls and floor as if they were water and spring out in a different location. The room was trashed as I fended them off. Our attacks would shake the room each time they hit or missed.

“Uh!” My mind suddenly relieved a flashback as I recognized their attack patterns. This left me open for a second as they managed to land a powerful hit. I regained myself as quickly as possible to counter their next attack. Once again another flashback raced through my mind. It soon became a broken light switch that flipped on and off without warning. The more we fought the more these images flooded in. They began to frighten me as I saw myself terrorizing a town. I gasped as I watched myself crush and slaughter several innocent lives. At that moment I stopped moving completely and watched in horror as I killed, murdered, and slayed countless lives in a large golden-fiery dragon form I’ve never seen before. Their last attack hurled me into the throne room chair and shattered it like lightning striking a tree. I lay there on my back, panting and sobbing out of my dragon form. I quickly got up but was brought to my knees from the pain in my heart. Tears streamed down my face and I knew there was a deeper reason than just taking innocent lives. Leon and Ulrik must have noticed this as they stopped attacking and landed softly in front of me.

“He remembers…” Ulrik finally spoke.

“Ah, so fighting quelled the raging beast. Welcome back, Ulrik.” Leon commented as they both stared at me.

“No, it was his heart that brought me back. He knows what he has done. Yet, I feel as if he doesn’t completely understand how he reached such a point in his life.” Tengu Ulrik was right. I saw the destruction I had caused, bits and pieces of my mayhem. However, I was clueless as to how I arrived at such a state.

“Well, if it’s a history lesson you want, then listen closely.” Leon started off, crouching in a squatting position so we could see eye to eye.

“Long ago, the Golden Sage fell in love. I’m not sure if you vowed never to do this, but you fell in love with your first female Dye Hero. I don’t know the details of your relationship, I just know you loved her like no other. In fact, from what I hear, you’ve never loved anyone as much as her. You swore your passion for each other would save Geminis from the ‘evil’ tyrants. You made two mistakes, however. One, you gathered several Dye Heroes to vanquish the tyrants. Two, you didn’t allow her to kill any of them. She aided in killing the tyrants, but never took the life of one herself. Your third mistake was fighting alongside her. Because of those three mistakes, mainly the first two, she was captured by Outis. Actually, the both of you were.” My eyes began to widen as I remembered her face. Her long dark brown hair. Her birthmark above her left eye. Her light tan skin complimented her small yet soft lips. The more I remembered her the more I saw Bridget’s resemblance within her.

“I named my sword Gramr, like the sword given to Sigmund by Odin. I had a mage enchant it with lightning magic. Isn’t that wonderful, Yohan!”

“Ha!! Filthy wench! This sword belongs to me now! I am the true son of Odin!”

“Hmm, I think he is starting to remember.” Leon spoke softly to Ulrik as my mind continued to pop up different scenes from my lost memory.

“He used her sword against her. He killed two heroes before he fought her.”

“That’s right,” Leon started off after I mumbled what I remembered.

“Two tyrants that your team killed came back to life. All the other heroes fled like cowards. After you two failed Outis locked you up… That’s when it happened…” He paused what he was saying. He looked deep into my watery eyes as he tried to have me say it. I didn’t want to say it. The moment I speak it the memories will come back. I don’t want them to resurface.

“No… I buried those haunting scenes. I will not bring them up-”

“Say it.”

“No!!” I shouted as Leon just tilted his head to the side and repeated those two words, calmly, effortlessly, heartlessly.

“Say it.”

“I said-” Ulriks’ talons drove deep into my chest as he pinned me down. Blood seeped through my clothes as I felt the pain surging through my entire body.

“You need to say it, Yohan. You need to get it out.” Leon continued to press the issue, but I fought back and attempted to free myself. This only forced the talons to sink in deeper, until finally I felt them burst out of my back. I was paralyzed with pain, physically and mentally.

“What happened next, Yohan?” He was using my name to make it personal. It was working as I started to break down again. I began weeping as her screams echoed throughout my mind. Her begging cries for him to stop forcing himself upon her caused my entire body to shake and tremble. I finally fought through the pain and shouted it as loud as I could.

“He raped her!! He did it in front of me over and over again!! He defiled my beautiful tigerlily!! My bride I never married… My first…” My shouting was reduced to mumbling as the pain was overwhelming, to the point that I was losing consciousness. Perhaps that was also due to the amount of blood I was losing.

“Not yet!” Leon’s hard slap across my face stirred my focus as I fixed my weary eyes on his long nosed face.

“That was the moment you lost it. The pain you feel now was nowhere near the amount of hate and rage Outis’s actions manifested within you. The Fire Geminis must have heard your call and felt your burning rage. In the moment of his act they blessed you with god-like powers. You broke your bonds and raised hell, transforming into many different creatures and beings. The Golden Dragon of fire was your last one. You killed multitudes of people, including your beloved hero. Your rampage forced normal people to hunt down the heroes that cowarded away. They killed the heroes to bring back the other tyrants so you could be stopped. It took all eight rulers to finally stop you.” He paused for a moment and stood up as he slowly reverted back to his human form.

“We all remember you, Golden Sage. We fought with Magnus to bring you down. You turned my two brothers until spirit dust. I wanted to stay and fight but Magnus ordered me to collect the remains of my brothers so we could put them into a human host. Once the Red Knight stopped you completely-”

“Wait, what do you mean Red Knight? You said the eight tyrants stopped me.” Leon raised his eyebrow for a moment as I interrupted, then smirked and shook his head.

“Forgive me, I must have thought too quickly. The eight rulers only managed to bring you out of your dragon form. You still had a lot of fight in you. None of them could finish you, or keep you down long enough to bind you and cast you away somewhere. That was until the Red Knight showed up, literally out of nowhere, and nearly killed you if it wasn’t for the curse Elita placed on all of you sages. He said he would take your body and dump it somewhere. So, he scooped you up and walked away with you draped over his shoulder.” Sᴇaʀᴄh thᴇ ꜰindNʘvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

“Who was this man, this knight? What was his name?” I asked almost in a panic. It was like I already knew the answer, I just needed confirmation.

“His name is Calad the Calm Knight, formerly known as the Red Knight. After he took you we never saw him again. He came back to us the same year you attempted to kill all the rulers again. Magnus is the only ruler that knows the Red Knight has been hidden within his ranks. He was the closest one to you when Calad took off his helmet to recite the binding spell he put on you temporarily.” My mind was swirling with different emotions. All of this history I have blocked out has resurfaced, but for what reason? Why is it relevant now?

“Thank you…” I mutter. Their reply was Ulrik ripping his talons out of my body and making me scream in pain one last time. I halted my screams as I heard the clanging of a sword hitting the floor. Tengu Ulrik dropped his sword in front of me as he nodded for me to take it.

“Why are you still in that form?” I asked as my body started to rapidly heal. Ulrik ignored me and walked away as Leon shook his head.

“The Tengu within Ulrik has just woken up. He never knew Magnus had already chosen him for something greater. Honestly, it could have been you that caused this. Ulrik has never met you until now. Even though you’ve been crusading longer than he has been alive, the Tengu within him knows who you are. Once Magnus died there was nothing keeping him sealed. It wasn’t until I returned that Ulrik would revert back to his normal self. However, it only happens when the sun begins to rise, imagine that.” Leon dusted himself off and picked up the sword for me. He placed it within my hands and started to walk away.

“I’ve wasted your time long enough. Now go, save your parents from Odin’s son.” My heart beat loudly within my chest as his words repeated themselves within my mind.

“What the hell did you say?” My tone of voice forced Leon to turn around and raise his eyebrow at me.

“Huh, I guess we were wrong. We all warned Outis that he shouldn’t play with your mother and make your father watch as he does. We all assumed you came back to rescue your parents from Outis. For the past fifteen years your parents have been trying to liberate the kingdom from these so called tyrants. For the past two years Outis has held them captive… I didn’t stutter, Golden Sage. Go save your parents from Prince Outis…”

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