A Failed Hero's Voyage Chapter 8: Chapter 8: A Story before Death

Read chapter 8 of A Failed Hero's Voyage by churro on NovelPedia.

Atherius lay upon the shattered ground, jagged spikes of earth pressing against his armor. His divine resistances and affinities had already returned, mending both steel and flesh alike and erasing the damage Mordor had managed to inflict, yet the sensation of pain remained. He stared upward into the silent sky, his eyes wide as his mind raced, struggling to comprehend something utterly foreign. His breath came unevenly, rising, catching, and falling again, while his chest tightened with a strange, hollow sensation, as though something unseen had pierced through it. Slowly, almost uncertainly, he raised his hand before his eyes, studying it with a frantic intensity as the thought echoed within him again and again, unfamiliar and disquieting, ‘‘Is this… pain?’’ He remained motionless as his armor completed its restoration, leaving behind no visible trace of injury. Only the faint sensation lingered, brief, fleeting, something most beings would dismiss without a second thought. But to Atherius, it clung to him like something precious, a memory to be examined and preserved, for it was the first time he had ever truly felt it. At last, he rose. His gaze fell upon Mordor. For a moment, confusion still clouded his expression, but as his eyes settled upon the celestial dragon, they widened further, and something far heavier began to take shape within him, regret. Mordor stood several meters away, yet he was no longer the figure he had been moments before. One arm had been torn away entirely, obliterated by the sheer force required to make Atherius feel even the slightest trace of pain. Blood poured from his body in relentless streams as his healing failed him and his strength gave way. His once-imposing form was collapsing in on itself, scales cracking and falling like fragments of a crumbling monument, his brown skin now drenched in deep crimson. Atherius could not look away. Mordor met Atherius his gaze. Even as death closed in around him, Mordor smiled. The expression froze Atherius in place, holding him there in silent astonishment. Slowly, as if drawn forward by something he could not name, he began to walk closer. Step by step, he approached, until Mordor let out a low chuckle. Atherius stopped, watching as the sound broke into a violent cough, blood spilling from the dragon’s mouth as his body convulsed with the effort to breathe. Mordor staggered, then finally sank to the ground, seated in the spreading pool of his own blood. He coughed again, then lifted his gaze and met Atherius’s eyes once more. Atherius stood before him, his expression caught somewhere between fear and remorse, his composure fractured by emotions he could neither understand nor control. Mordor’s smile softened. He wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, his horns tilting slightly as he studied the man before him. “Sit next to me,” he said, tapping the ground at his side. Atherius hesitated. His lips tightened as he stared down at him. “Why?” he asked at last, his voice unsteady despite himself. “I am responsible for your death, am I not? Why would you choose to spend your final moments with me?” Mordor regarded him quietly, his gaze steady and patient, as though weighing something beyond words. Then, with a faint tilt of his head, he repeated simply, “Sit.” For a moment longer, Atherius remained still, his expression unreadable as conflicting emotions churned beneath the surface. Then he exhaled sharply, a quiet scoff escaping him as he relented. He lowered himself beside the fallen emperor, his cape immediately soaking in the dragon’s blood as the deep crimson spread through the fabric. Mordor glanced toward the horizon, where the sun had begun its slow descent, bathing the battlefield in fading light. “Let me tell you a story,” he said, his voice quieter now, yet steady despite the strain. “Whether you believe it or not… that is for you to decide.” Atherius turned his head, watching him closely. Mordor’s gaze remained fixed on the dist