How can I save the world if I'm no longer the hero?

Joan ran down the hill towards the town, eyes scanning for some sign of where the scream had come from. Someone here needed help and--

There was another scream within moments of getting to the gates. She ran off towards it. She could hear the others behind her, so she suspected they'd catch up soon enough. Seconds could make all the difference here.

Unfortunately, now she could see the town center for what it was. Bones and blood covered the area, a terrible reminder that something horrific had happened here. While the blood had long since soaked into the dirt, the bones themselves were strange. Almost polished white, as if they had been here for ages, yet remained unharmed by the weather. But if the mercenaries they were trying to find had intended to come here, it couldn't have happened that long ago.

Those thoughts were shoved aside when she heard another screams. She turned and ran between a pair of the houses and skidded to a stop.

She swore she heard the scream come from this way, so where was it? There weren't any signs of a struggle, no fighting, nothing.

"Hello?" Joan called out.

Another scream. This time she was sure of it. One of the houses on the right, she ran to the house and kicked the door in and--

Nothing.

The house was empty. Dust swirled in the main room and, for a moment, she almost thought she saw a person, but there was nothing in there. Just an old, ratty rug.

"Joan?" Bauteut asked from behind her. "Find anything?"

"Nothing," Joan said. "I would have sworn I heard the scream from here. But there's nothing. It--"

There was another scream, but this time it came from the other side of the town. She looked back to the others. "I'm not imagining that, right?"

"We all hear it," Penthe said. "But… there's nobody here."

Another scream.

"I… think we should go," Bauteut said softly. "I don't… think this is… right. Something here is wrong. Something--"

"Someone please help me!" the scream, this time, had words. Both Joan and Francis ran off. Maybe whatever it was had shifted, maybe there really was someone in trouble. Maybe…

------

"There's nothing here," Joan finally said.

They'd gone over every building. There wasn't anything. No bodies, no ancient ritualistic symbols. No source of the screams. The ship belonged to the mercenaries they were looking for, but it had been here for over a week. No matter what they did, they couldn't find the source of the screams. No signs of a struggle, nothing.

The only sign of what was wrong here was the bones and blood in the town square. But there weren't any organs, just bones. Like they had been picked clean, yet left unharmed somehow. The smell of blood and something else she couldn't begin to guess still lingered in the air, adding to the unsettling experience.

Whatever happened here had been terrible and some part of it seemed to still be happening.

"A curse?" Joan finally asked.

"Possibly," Penthe said.

"Can we go?" Bauteut asked. "We found the ship, but this isn't just undead. This is something… worse. We didn't prepare for anything like this."

"I'm with the only voice of reason," Ifrit said softly. "This just reeks of a trap. Amongst… other things."

"Someone could be in danger," Francis said.

"It could be a warning," Qakog finally said. "Enchanted screams, to drive away those who come too close."

"Then why call for help?" Joan asked.

"A trap?" Ifrit asked.

"If it was a trap I would have walked into it at least five times by now," Joan said. "Right?"

"Probably," Penthe said. "But maybe you're not the intended prey."

"And the ship?" Joan asked.

"We have the log," Bauteut said, holding it up. "There were supposed to be three left on the ship, but there was no sign of where they went. All they mentioned was hearing the screams and that the people they sent never came back."

"So that's at least a dozen people who need our help," Joan said. "It hasn't been that long, we might be able to save them from whatever happened here."

Another scream tore through the air, but they were almost getting used to them by now.

"What we need to do is warn others," Bauteut said. "We found the missing mercenaries, they never got to their mission. While there's certainly some magic here, but it's none I'm familiar with. Penthe?"

"There's something definitely here," Penthe said. "But it's not any kind of magic I'm familiar with, either. I've never heard of a screaming town."

"Maybe it's haunted," Qakog said.

Joan stood up straighter and, to her worry, so did Penthe. "Damn it," they both said in unison.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Oh, that… that's not good," Bauteut said softly. "Want to share something with us?"

"If this place is haunted," Joan said softly. "It's usually wailing, crying. But screams like that? That'd be… magic. It'd have to be magic. If it was something… haunting this place? That… we need to go."

"It might not be," Penthe said. "But yes, let's go. Now."

Another scream tore through the air and Joan felt a shiver run down her back. If this was a haunted town, if it wasn't magic but instead phantoms, they'd need specialists. At least the proper tools. The undead were one thing, but phantoms were something else.

Then she saw it. In one of the windows, a face staring back at her before falling out of view. Moments before she heard a scream from it.

Haunted. It might not be a person, this whole place could just be haunted. They had to go. They had to--

But what if it was someone? What if there was someone there, who needed them?

"Gahhhh, I'm sorry!" Joan yelled before she took off, racing towards the house. "Last one, I swear!"

"Joan!" Penthe yelled after her.

Joan kicked open the door and, honestly, she expected to see the house empty once again.

What she didn't expect was to see someone running away, running into another room.

"JOAN!" Penthe yelled after her.

"There's someone here!" Joan yelled back, before running after them. She entered the room just in time to see them disappear down a staircase. A trap, it had to be a trap, she knew it was a trap.

But what if it wasn't? What if someone was in danger? What if they were scared and alone? "I'm not going to hurt you!" Joan yelled, racing after them. "We're here to help--"

The moment she took her first step on the staircase there was an explosion. All she saw was bright light and, a moment later, she was flying through the air. She finally landed on her back and just laid there for a few moments, letting the pain wash over her and slowly die down. Nothing felt broken, at least. But yup. Definitely a trap. Good thing she had her armor on at least. Slowly she opened her eyes.

That was new. Everything seemed all gray. "Ow, just how hard did I hit my head?" Joan asked before, gingerly, sitting up.

"Joan!" Penthe yelled from the top of the stairs.

"I'm fine," Joan called out, lifting a hand to her head.

Wait. She wasn't in her armor anymore. Oh, that wasn't good. She looked around, but the basement she was in was practically empty. There was a crack in one of the walls, allowing some daylight in and all that was down here were a few broken crates. No people.

"Joan!" Penthe yelled, racing down the steps.

"I'm fine," Joan said, rolling her eyes. "What are you--"

Then Penthe ran past her. She blinked a few times, her mouth falling open. "W-what? Where are you--"

Then her words locked in her throat. Penthe knelt down by a body. HER body. Still wrapped in that dark armor.

Had she died? Was she dead? Had she really died in such a stupid way?

Wait, where were the fates? The gods? Where were--

"Owwww," Joan's body said, slowly starting to sit up before dropping back down. "What… happened? Who… where… am I? What?"

"Joan?" Penthe asked. "What hurts?"

"Everything?" Joan's body said. "I'm… Joan?"

"What?" Joan asked. "Penthe? That's not me! PENTHE!" A moment later Bauteut ran past her, kneeling by her body.

"Can you take off that armor?" Bauteut asked. "I want to make sure there wasn't any damage. What hurts? Any sharp pains?"

"Who… what?" Joan's body asked.

"BAUTEUT!" Joan yelled as loud as he could, but there was no response. Slowly, she got to her feet and reached out, trying to grab Bauteut.

"There's more of those screams," Bauteut said, shaking her head. "We need to get out of here before she does something else reckless. What happened?"

"I don't… know?" Joan's body said softly. "I'm… Joan?"

"You don't know?" Bauteut asked.

"Do… I?" Joan's body asked.

"She's confused," Penthe said before, slowly, kneeling to pick her up. "Let's get her out of here. Come on."

"PENTHE! BAUTEUT!" Joan yelled again, but there was nothing. Couldn't they tell it wasn't her? Her body even said as much! She wasn't confused, she was… she didn't know what she was. But that wasn't her!

"I really hate how close and far away that screaming sounds," Bauteut said with a shudder. "The sooner we're out of here, the better. If this place IS haunted, I don't think any of us are equipped to deal with it."

Joan couldn't do anything but watch helplessly as they hauled her body back up the stairs. She followed behind them, trying to touch them but not having any actual effect. She just went through them.

She soon ran into a new horror. When they came to the edge of the town, she couldn't follow. Try as she might, her body refused to go past the edge of the town. She just watched helplessly as they started to leave.

Then, suddenly, Qakog stopped. For a moment she felt relief. "Yes! Qakog, it's me! Can't you see? Help! I'm trapped here!" she yelled after him.

"The weapons stopped," Qakog said.

Joan blinked and then turned around. Sure enough, the dagger, trident and hammer had all stopped in place behind her. Not her body, but her.

"Maybe they're haunted too," Bauteut said with a shrug.

"Should we do something?" Qakog asked.

"Not like this," Penthe said. "Joan's hurt and she needs to recover. They'll probably start following eventually."

The weapons knew she was here, though. Were they the only ones who could tell? If only she could understand what in the world they were saying. But there had to be a way to use them to communicate with--

An angry growl filled the air and she gulped before turning to look at it.

On top of one of the buildings stood a hulking behemoth, at least three times her height and on all fours. Its body was a glistening black, as if it was made of living obsidian. Its paws were easily as big as her, with massive nails like daggers. It kind of reminded her of one of the statues she'd seen of the Lion. But angrier and without a mane or tail.

Joan gulped and took a small step back, unable to go past that invisible wall trapping her inside. She held out her hand and tried to get her sword to come to her hand, but nothing came. "O-oh stars," she whispered. "Niiiiiiice monster. Penthe? Bauteut? You see this, right? Qakog? There's a title here for you. How does 'Savior of Joan' sound?"

She looked back and saw her friends were leaving. Abandoning her. They didn't even know she was here.

Joan looked up at the monster, watching it. There had to be a way to fight it. Something she could do. She slowly inched around the ground, moving so the floating weapons were between it and her. Only for the world to seem to jump for a moment and the weapons disappeared.

The monster pounced.

Joan dashed forward and dropped, rolling along the ground. The monster overshot her and instead its claws dug deep furrows into the ground when it landed. The shock made it nearly topple over and it struggled to right itself, buying her precious seconds.

Joan took the little bit of an edge she'd been given and kept running, dashing through the walls of one of the houses while she wracked her mind, trying to figure out what this was.

And how she could fight it.