Humanity's Hero Of Despair

The afternoon soon turns to evening.

The night takes on a chill, a subtle whisper of winter in the air. As the last guests leave the throne room, Ivy, Zephyr, Neve, Estes, Leena, and I stand by King Grey. We wait patiently for his next words. We wonder why he wants us to go back to Keeper Academy.

"The thing I want to show you and your friends is very important. I cannot discuss it here because of security reasons. The only thing I can tell you now is that I'm changing the name of Keeper Academy to Hero Academy."

"Since the Eradicators are mostly gone from what we know, we can create an academic institution the right way and improve human society for all of Tarondar. We will speak more on this later once we are there," he says as he walks out of the throne room flanked by guards.

Leena pursues him as he gets into the royal carriage.

We don't want to be left behind, and with no time to think, we all get inside the carriage. Before we knew it, we make it to the Keeper Academy airfield platform. My apologies. I mean Hero Academy airfield platform. One by one, wind mages help us ascend through the skies and reach Hero Academy.

The academy has changed a lot. Many of the citizens of Tarondar have helped reconstruct the academy in a way that makes it less intimidating and more accepting. They take down the golden gates and put up steel gates in their place. The tall towers still exist, but they don't look so intimidating. All of my friends and I are in awe as we walk through the entrance and into the main building of the academy.

It feels so different from the first time I came to this floating fortress.

King Grey leads us down to the basement and down the familiar winding corridors and magic barriers. My friends and I recognize the path immediately. It's one we took for many weeks, laughing with friends and training our butts off.

It's the path to the Revolutionary Room.

As King Grey finishes unlocking the last magic barrier, the doors to the Revolutionary Room swing open once more. The room is large and dim, with torches flickering along the walls. Several knights line the walls on either side as security. In the center of the room, illuminated by a beam of light, stands a pedestal. On this pedestal contains the force of nature I have only seen once before.

The elemental sphere of light.

"We never thought we would see the day when this sphere would be in Tarondar's possession," King Grey says as he steps closer to the pedestal. "The Eradicators are gone now, at least from Tarondar, and with them their control over the sphere of light."

King Grey continues speaking.

"We not only have the elemental sphere of light but also the elemental sphere of darkness, thanks to Maura. She handed it over voluntarily. With these, along with the elemental spheres of water, fire, and air, we now have hold over all but one."

Everyone looks at each other, a bit confused.

"The elemental sphere of earth?" I ask him.

"Yes, you are right. We don't know where it is located or who has it in their possession. We doubt they will attack us, as they know we have five out of the six spheres. The reason I am telling you about this is that I need your help to protect the sphere during the rest of the school year. Since we need to hire new people to be the administrators for the Hero Academy, I would like you to be the Hero Principal," King Grey tells me as he smiles.

His words hit me like a truck. Hero Principal? Me teaching a bunch of kids?

Yeah, that was not on the table.

"Thanks for the offer, your majesty, I am only a first year and I would like to gain more experience first before considering such an offer," I reply, thinking this is a good excuse.

"I see. That's unfortunate. Since you and your friends will graduate soon, we would like you to be TA for the first years in combat class," King Grey says to me happily as he leaves the room before I can protest.

There's a round of chuckles from my friends as they take in the information.

"Look at you, Lord Lotus, future Hero Principal!" Zephyr says to me while lightly elbowing me.

"Being a TA sounds like a fun opportunity!" Ivy says to me as she walks up next to me.

I roll my eyes at Zephyr and nod to Ivy. King Grey has already left the campus. The guards tell us we are free to roam around the newly remodeled Hero Academy for a bit or do as we please. We take a tour around the new campus before it gets too dark outside.

The Garden of Watersia is rebuilt, which thrills me. My friends and I take turns tossing coins into the fountains, making the water dolphins do their little dance. They rebuilt many arenas, including the places where some of my duels happened. It feels like so long ago since those duels happened. Ivy and I split off from the group. Leena and Zephyr also go their own way.

Neve and Estes decide to return to Stonelight to check up on Matteo.

Ivy and I find our building. Sky Point. The building stands rebuilt in all its glory against the landscape of the night sky. Ivy and I hold hands as we run up the many steps together. We reach the viewing platform and rush to the balcony. We peer over the edge together.

From above, we can see the bright city lights of Stonelight down below. It feels like a different vibe is flowing through Stonelight. People are singing and dancing in the streets. The city is lively, popping with vibrant colors. Even the usually slow village of Mistfall is picking up in activity. I glance at Ivy, the warmth between us a comforting anchor. We lean into each other as we gaze out at the vast star-speckled sky.

"The moon is beautiful, isn't it?" I softly ask Ivy.

"It's incredible!" she says as her eyes sparkle against the dark landscape.

I finally learn throughout all of this that having some darkness inside of you doesn't make you weird or alone. It just means that you are human, like the rest of us. Beneath it all, I am like the people singing and dancing.

We are all filled with some light and darkness.