Humanity's Hero Of Despair

The throne room is heavy with the scent of anguish.

Feelings of fear and loss travel throughout the air with nothing stopping them. The throne room is usually bright and grand. It is supposed to be a symbol of power and hope. Now, it is just a ruined landscape that feels like a tomb. All of us try comforting Zephyr after losing his father.

We are all worried if our families will be next.

Zephyr's father, Abel Uracain, is a man idolized by many. He commands the respect of so many people and wields the wind like a god. It is still hard for me to believe that he is now gone. He is one of the most powerful humans known in existence. If Abel and my sister fought, it would actually be a close fight.

So who in the heck killed Abel Uracain?

As I look at Zephyr, I feel a pang of sadness within me. He stands rigid, his face mixed with rage and denial. I'm not great at knowing how to comfort others, so I just put my hand on his shoulder. It's a small gesture to remind him we are there for him.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

We hear several footsteps approaching the doors of the throne room. A few of the Shadow Squadron members ready their defenses. The figures burst through the doors. The Shadow Squadron is about to launch their attacks.

"Wait!" I shout as I notice the face of the burned figure leading the pack. The face belongs to Estes Healira, my friend from the Glozaria Keeper Cup. My eyes widen as I run to greet them with my other friends.

"Where have you been? We didn't see you at all during the Keeper Academy battle or during the fight in the Tarondar Palace."

"I am sorry. The HLH requested my help fighting on the ground for the attack on the palace while you guys were fighting in the Keeper Academy. They barely had any good earth mages, so I had to help them and act as their support and leader of the earth mages. We tried to make it to Stonelight for the actual attack on the palace, but a group of Eradicators stopped us and-" Estes says while his voice trails off.

His voice cracks, and a couple of tears roll down his cheek.

"What happened, Estes?" I ask, hoping it isn't what I think.

"Do you know that well-known water mage prodigy named Colin West? Well, the Eradicators caught him and demanded that we bring Maura to them or they would kill him. We tried to reason with them, but they slaughtered him before we could give an appropriate answer."

Colin West. Dead. That is the last thing I expect out of Estes's mouth. Colin may have been a jerk, a big jerk, but he didn't deserve death. The sight of his death must have traumatized Estes.

"It's not your fault. You did nothing wrong at all. The Eradicators are just very cruel beings with no value of life," I say while I lead him over to the other earth mages who know how to use healing magic.

Justus approaches us.

His suit is even more torn and burned up from the last time I saw him. He gestures for everyone to gather around him with his damaged wand as he makes his speech. His voice is calm, but not without the heavy weight it holds.

"We have suffered many losses today. Many familiar faces have left us. Their deaths will not be in vain. We successfully pushed the corrupt light mages out of Keeper Academy and out of Stonelight. They are gone from Mistfall as a bonus. We will carry the thoughts and dreams of our friends in our hearts and continue to remember them."

"In order to do that and make sure their deaths are not in vain, we cannot afford to die ourselves. For today, I will lead a large group to help fix up Keeper Academy. We will use the floating fortress as a lookout point for the Eradicators," Justus says as people prepare to return to Keeper Academy.

"While we do that, Duke Grey and Duke Frost, among others, will help make the throne room look decent. They will also try to help make the palace look decent, as it will serve as our headquarters for future conflicts with the Eradicators. Now that they know we know the truth, it won't be as easy the second time around."

Justus finishes his speech and starts organizing people into the Keeper Academy rebuilding team and the Tarondar Palace rebuilding team. My friends and I get put into the Keeper Academy team. Except Zephyr doesn't go with us because he is too stuck in his own thoughts and Estes is too injured.

Great. I get to go back to that place once more.

The Keeper Academy rebuild team mobilizes quickly. Before I know it, we are back at Keeper Academy. The place still looks like it is in ruins. This time we bring a lot of wind mages with us. You could think of the academy as the base for our new military in the air, also known as the new Tarondar Air Force.

We just have to fix everything up first.

Earth mages go to work on fixing the ground and stone walls. Water mages help replenish the waterfalls and put out the fires. Wind mages help move objects out of the way. Fire users help burn debris, which isn't needed anymore. Everyone has a part to play in rebuilding this place.

A place where we can breathe new life into it.

"Hey, I am glad at least you are okay and our friends are still alive. We may not know when the Eradicators will attack again, but at least we have a fighting chance," Ivy says to me as she heals a few flowers from the brink of death with her glowing green wand.

"Thank goodness a lot of us are still alive. Let's just hope it stays that way," I say in a distant tone as I watch my flame magic burn up some fallen debris.

Ivy and I continue working our way around campus, healing various plants and burning needless debris. Along the way, we encounter some dead bodies which are whisked away by some older students to be buried somewhere. It is as if we are all trying to cover up the evidence of the horrors of the past couple of days.

"Hey Nico and Ivy. I am glad to see you both alive," Ignis says as he slowly walks toward us with a solemn expression on his face. He helps me burn some trash without saying a word for a while. Then he speaks up.

"The world is far bigger and more dangerous than you know, Nico. Even for me, there are forces I don't understand or can control. Justus told me you already know what happened with Abel Uracain. I was with him when he died. I saw him take his last breath. The figure of terror who killed him neither of us saw. We only saw the frightening silhouette of the Eradicator."

"My guess is that the Eradicator King of Tarondar and the Eradicator who posed as the Principal of the academy are the least of our worries. We need to train a million times harder now," he finishes, saying in a determined tone.

Colin West. Abel Uracain. I hope this isn't the beginning of a long list of deaths.

The Eradicators who killed them will suffer.

I don't care how powerful they are compared to us.