A Failed Hero's Voyage Chapter 13: Chapter 13: A Fracture Within

Read chapter 13 of A Failed Hero's Voyage by churro on NovelPedia.

Leonidas his gaze lingered on Atherius before returning to the mana projection suspended above the desk. The globe rotated with controlled stillness, its soft blue luminescence filling the chamber with a deceptive calm, an illusion of order fractured by a single crimson point embedded within its surface. That mark pulsed faintly, an aberration in the world’s structure, like a wound refusing closure. Eastern Velmoria. Distant, but not distant enough to feel abstract, roughly a thousand kilometers, perhaps less. Close enough that it carried immediate weight, transforming the map from representation into urgency. The Pope’s attention shifted downward, not to the projection, but to Atherius his waist, where the Holy Blade of the All-Father rested. The meaning was clear. It was not the weapon itself being evaluated, but everything bound to it, humanity’s continuity, its protection, its survival. Atherius felt the implication before Leonidas even spoke. “Though I trust you greatly,” Leonidas said at last, his tone measured but authoritative, “you must understand what is at stake. This is not a battle you are permitted to lose. If you fall… and the blade is destroyed…” He did not finish. The absence of conclusion made the statement even clearer. Atherius remained still, his expression composed. Inside, thought condensed into a cold, ordered clarity, as though uncertainty had been stripped away rather than confronted. When he spoke, his voice carried no embellishment. “I know.” he paused briefly. “If the blade breaks, humanity loses the protection of the All-Father. And if that happens… the non-humans will take everything.” He stopped there. The remainder he did not need articulation. We will all die. Leonidas did not press him. Silence settled instead, heavy and unbroken. Beneath it, however, something less stable lingered, an instability Atherius could no longer ignore with the certainty that once defined him. Doubt. For as long as he could remember, doctrine had been absolute, humanity’s survival depended on its divine connection. Without the blade, extinction was not a risk but an inevitability. That belief had underpinned every war, every sanction, every act of violence carried out in humanity’s name. It had never been questioned because it had never required scrutiny. Until now. Mordor’s final words resurfaced uninvited, ''the truth as it once was.'' No revelation had followed, no certainty had replaced it, only the presence of ambiguity, newly introduced where none had existed before. The mere possibility that history had been incomplete, or shaped, was enough to fracture the foundation beneath certainty. If the narrative he had inherited was not fully true, then everything built upon it shifted in meaning. What, then, did that make the war? What, then, did that make him? His expression tightened subtly, controlled rather than reactive. Yet one point remained untouched by doubt, the Devil had to die. It was responsible for his village, for centuries of slaughter, for Sefyr’s mother, for everything reduced to ruin across the continent. Whatever truth lay beneath doctrine, whatever was hidden, distorted, or omitted, it did not erase consequence. It did not undo necessity. A flicker passed through his eye before his expression stabilized. Leonidas noticed the change regardless. “Are you well, child?” the Pope asked, his voice softening slightly without losing gravity. “I am, Your Grace,” Atherius replied. He stepped back and bowed with restrained formality. “If you will excuse me, I will begin preparations for my departure.” Leonidas gave a slow nod, though his gaze lingered longer than necessary, as if attempting to read what lay beneath Atherius his surface. Atherius did not return the look. He turned and left. The temple corridors stretched ahead in silence, vast and echoing, their towering stone swallowing sound. His hand drifted briefly toward the Holy Blade at his side, brushing it without fully grasping it. For a moment, he