Zero to Hero: A High Fantasy Harem Romance LitRPG

Year One of the Fifth Era

It's the 17th of Goldleaf, and, now that our quest has ended, I've decided to start a journal. Since the Goddess has blessed me with immortality, I figured, why not? Forever is a long time, and I don't want to forget anything.

So, now, I'm a journaler!

This might be fun!

Faye.

Year Eleven of the Fifth Era

I was just cleaning out my desk and found this old thing in a drawer. I literally wrote one entry and forgot about it.

That's so like me.

In my defense, I didn't expect to be on the trail for so long. We've been cleaning up the leftovers from what people are now calling the Scion's War for a whole decade. I've only now just returned home.

I'll totally keep up with this whole journal thing now.

Faye.

P.S. They've started calling me the Divine Hero! How awesome is that?

Year Fifty Seven of the Fifth Era

I did not, in fact, keep up with this whole journal thing.

Man, I'm bad at this.

Thus, I've decided to keep this journal in my inventory from now on. Maybe then, I'll actually use it.

So... Journaling.

What should I talk about?

Oh!

No one told me how boring it would be after everything ended. I miss the fighting. Not all the dying, though. That part sucked. But damn. I have nothing to do. What's the point of being able to kick so much ass if I have no asses to kick?

Oh, and everyone's forgotten Greta. Well, not everyone, but most everyone. Everyone but me. For some reason, I'm immune, but I'm the only one. She's really depressed about it. It's honestly sad. I've been keeping her company for years now. Decades? Decades. Time flies.

Elowen and Dorian have stayed with us, too, but they don't know who she is every morning. We used to try to remind them, but we've given it up. Instead, I just tell them she's a good friend. It hurts her heart, but she appreciates the company.

However, I'm becoming more and more aware that this won't last forever. Dorian's getting old. Elowen is showing her age, too. And while Kasimir is aging more slowly than Dorian, he isn't looking great either.

Only Greta and I haven't aged.

I wonder how much longer the others'll be around? I hate to think of the day that they're all gone.

Forever sucks.

Faye, the Divine Hero.

Sixty Two, 5E

The Nine Kingdoms don't want my help anymore. In fact, I'm not allowed anywhere outside of Saern without approval. They say I'm too dangerous. That I could topple kingdoms if I wanted to.

Why would I?

What the kingdoms do is none of my business. I just want to travel with my friends.

Is that so much to ask?

What's worse, the Goddess talked to me in a dream recently. She told me that I should take a back seat in Reial... that I'm not a Hero of this new age. Why make me immortal, then? Why am I even still here?

After a meeting with the kings and queens of the nine kingdoms, I did manage to get some wiggle room for large-scale monster attacks and for anything revolving around the seals or the Dark Lord. So, that's something, I guess. The only nation that doesn't want me at all is the Noleian empire, but I figured as much. The elves of the east are horribly xenophobic.

Faye, the So-Called Divine Hero.

5E, Sixty Three

I can't do it anymore.

The marriage proposals. The attempted political alliances. The shitty lords with their shitty smiles as they shittily try to get me to join in on their shitty plans.

At least when he did it, he was charming. He had me, hook, line, and sinker. Compared to him, these people aren't worth a dime.

I'm still pissed he lied to me for so many years, but I can't help but miss him. Him and his stupid, handsome face. Both the fake one and the real one.

If I ever see it again, I'll punch it.

I don't think he's coming back, but if he does... I'll put my sword through his chest a second time. And if he came back again after that? Same thing.

Asshole.

Greta says I just need to bed a guy or fifty. She always says the easiest way to get over one guy is to jump into bed with the next one. But these men... these boys... they don't interest me.

I think I have a type, and it's terrible.

You'd just love knowing I still think of you, wouldn't you?! Yeah, well, I'm never saying your name. Not ever again. Not your name or any of your stupid titles. The Black Flame? The Dark Scholar?

So pretentious.

Never again. I hope your soul is seething in the abyss, knowing that the woman who slew you refuses to even speak your name! If you were here, I'd slap you right in your stupid face! Then, the sword!

Who am I kidding?

I'd probably jump on you.

What's wrong with me?

Why did I fall so hard for such a piece of shit like you? And why can't I let you go?

It's like immortality has changed how I feel about everything. It's hard to let go of anything anymore.

Anyway, Greta snuck me out of Saern. Kasimir made a simulacrum of me, too, so I'm free. And I'm never going back.

Faye.

P.S. Greta's new chicken house is the best!

5E, 84

I had to go back.

Dorian got too old, and the road got too hard on him. That's okay, though. Everyone decided to stay in my manor to ride out his final years. Everyone but Kasimir. He comes and goes.

Still, though. It's like we're family. It's a shame Elowen couldn't have kids. I'd have been the cool aunt.

Faye.

5E, 92.

Dorian passed.

He really started showing his age a few years ago. Then, his memory started going. By the end, he didn't remember us, our journey, anything.

It was horrific.

Despite that, we were there for him until the end. Even Kasimir came and stayed with us for a whole year. He and Greta fought the entire time. It's amazing how you can fight with someone without remembering them. They really are like oil and vinegar.

During his final breaths, Dorian seemed to come back to himself. He told Elowen that he'd always love her. That he'd come back for her in his next life. And he told us he had a lot of fun. That he wouldn't have traded our time together for the world.

It wasn't an hour later that he took his last breath.

I bawled my eyes out. I don't think I've ever cried so hard.

Goodbye, my friend. Rest well.

Faye.

5E, 127

Kasimir looks like shit.

He looks just like Grandpa did before he died back on Earth. His mind's still sharp, though. He said he's going to the Library of Xosh for a while. They've asked him to teach as a professor, and he says there's a chance he might learn a way to undo Greta's curse while there.

As much as they fight, he does care about her, in his own way.

Still, I don't know what I'll do when he's gone. There's not much time left. I can tell.

F.

5E, 159

Kasimir doesn't look any younger, but he certainly acts like he is! He said he found a way to slow his aging! And, while he didn't learn how to undo Greta's curse, he has learned how to resist its effects. He remembers her again!

She was ecstatic for a while, but she's already grown tired of him. As usual, they've done nothing but fight.

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He and Elowen get along well enough, though. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to extend the curse resistance to her, though.

Still, with that giant chasm opening up in southern Evron, we have a job to do again, and it's nice to have most of our team back together. We're going to kick some monster ass.

For Dorian.

F.

5E, 182

Elowen can't fight anymore. She's too old now. She still likes to shoot her bows, but she had to have one made with a low draw weight.

It's horrible to watch. The best shot in the world is now struggling to shoot squirrels.

I'm not ready for this.

F.

P.S. Istaera's high king died, and he didn't name a successor. Looks like he set up some challenge or contest to choose the next high king, but none of his children have been able to complete it. I wonder what that's all about?

5E, 199

Elowen's gone. She took her final breath in the same bed Dorian passed in.

They're together again.

I have no more tears to shed.

Goodbye, my dear friend.

Faye.

5E, 203

Another cleft opened up between Nolei and Malrith. They're calling this one the Cleft of Tears. I like that name more than the Cleft of Shadows. Less on the nose.

So, we have even more work to do.

Thank the Goddess.

Forever is boring as hell.

5E, 211

One of the seals broke. Uresh the Soulshaper escaped and raised some hell down in Osreva, but we captured him and sealed him away again with the help of some adventurers.

I thought these seals were supposed to last forever?

Kasimir says they should have, and he's not sure why they're decaying. He says he'll visit them every so often to restore them. Greta said she'd join. He tried to disagree, but she wasn't having it.

5E, 214

Greta met a new guy in Istaera. I was surprised. She hasn't dated in years, but something about him caught her eye.

In truth, despite how cool she's playing it, I'm confident she's crazy about him.

I'm sure it'll fade after a month or two.

5E, 215

Back when she was still young and horny, Greta used to say that she loved the chase and that she'd never limit herself to "just one flavor." Now that she's met this Jorn guy, though, she only has eyes for him.

The problem is, he doesn't remember her anymore. He remembered longer than most, but she's a stranger to him now.

After their latest tryst, I held her in my arms as she cried her little eyes out.

Despite how much it hurts, she's decided to court him again and again until he finally remembers her.

I hope he does.

5E, 217

While we were drinking, Kasimir revealed that he has the power to open doorways into other worlds. He says they're not real, but they can offer perspective. He says he's walked many of them since the end of the war.

I've asked him to open one for me. I want to go back and see everyone. Relive the glory days.

He agreed to do it, as long as I follow some ground rules.

I can't wait.

5E, 220

I've walked every road I could that led me back to Elowen and Dorian. I got to relive our glory days.

I'm grateful. I am. But I'm also hollow.

It's hard seeing everyone again, only to come back to the real world and not find them here.

I may need to stop doing this.

5E, 222

There are other doors.

Interesting doors.

Tempting doors.

Ones where I can see him again.

Should I walk through those?

Why not, right?

It wouldn't hurt to punch my sword through his chest again, would it?

It would be fun. Cathartic, really.

He won't know what hit him.

5E, 224

Why is it that, in almost every other world, he helped us? His help let us end the war before it ever became an all-out war.

Why couldn't that have been this world? What could we have done to fuck things up so badly?

It's not fair.

Especially since... we were kind of, sort of... a thing.

Okay, not kind of.

In most worlds, we end up having these glorious, fiery, steamy... things.

Goddess... I miss his touch.

The problem is, I never become the Hero in those worlds. Not the Divine Hero, at least. I die. In every other world, I die, and I usually die young.

In the last one, though... It was so freaking romantic!

I'll never forget him crying as I faded away.

We were surrounded by friends, our children, and our children's children. Five generations of our family were there when I passed! I can still see all of their faces. Hear their names.

But they were never real.

I loved him in that world. I loved him so deeply. So completely... And I know he loved me too. He loved me just as much. I never thought I'd see the day.

I always thought he was a monster, but there's more to him. More than I ever knew.

I wish I could see him again, but not behind some doorway. I want to be with him in this world, not some fake one.

It's a shame I never will.

He's dead, and I'm forever.

5E 227

At this point, I've walked most of my roads. I think that, by walking more of them, I'll just be hurting myself..

But still...

Maybe one more.

For old time's sake.

5E, 228

I found a world where I become the Hero, just like this one. Things played out similarly to my real life. And I discovered something.

He wakes up!

He's alive!

Well, sort of. He's resting, or something like that. I don't understand the details that well. Something about a sarcophagus.

But still! It happens a few hundred years from now. We meet atop the Tower of Light. I get to rest my head on his shoulder again before I die.

He thought I was there to fight. The big idiot.

I need to find another door like that.

I need to go back.

5E, 229

We'll never be together.

One of us always dies.

Or both.

Usually both.

Why?

Goddess, tell me.

Why did you do this to me?

Will you ever let me be happy?

5E, 230

I only have one road left. I've walked the rest. That, or they've faded away.

Does that mean I have no fate left ahead of me? Can nothing be changed?

I'm never walking that road. I can't do it again. I can't.

Never again.

5E, 231

I've been reconnecting with everyone. I didn't realize how long I'd been obsessed with worlds that aren't my own.

It hurts, but I have to let those lifetimes go.

They weren't real.

None of it was real.

It was all in my head.

5E, 233

I dreamt that a new hero candidate arrived in Reial!

I've tried to find them, but it's no use. I think they're in Istaera, though.. It's like all of Istaera is hidden from me, so I can only assume they're there.

I'll have to keep trying. Unfortunately, the Lords are getting frustrated that I keep leaving Saern, and I've pissed off more than a few monarchs in the nine kingdoms. I need to be more subtle.

I'm terrible at that.

My imaginary love, give me some of your cunning.

I need it.

5E, 236

Kasimir and Greta found her! They're training her now.

Of course, the Lords of Saern have decided to lock me down at the same time. They won't tolerate me sneaking off anymore. They're even forcing me to wear a ring that transports me back to Saern if I break the rules I agreed to.

Luckily, I was able to sneak a little wiggle room into the rules, but the wiggle's pretty small. Abad would have known how to word it better. He was always so good at that.

Assholes.

5E, 238

I don't know the details, but the hero candidate didn't work out.

When they went to check on the Great Seal, she lashed out and nearly killed Kasimir before disappearing. She also seems to have obtained some of Abad's power. No one knows how.

Anyway, since then, the Goddess sent me a vision of the next candidate. Apparently, they'll arrive in the next few years.

This time, she wants me to get more involved with them. Apparently, I must be with them at a certain point, but I couldn't make sense of the vision.

I won't mess up this time.

5E, 240

The Lords let me leave after we located the base of the previous hero candidate's cult. After decimating their numbers, we arrested the survivors. The problem is, she escaped, and we have no idea where she is.

We'll find her, though.

5E, 254

The next hero arrived in Istaera! I saw it clearly. Greta is already over there looking for them.

Apparently, there are also some concerning things bubbling up across the duchies of Istaera. My guess is the old candidate's cult has returned to the kingdom.

We need to find the next candidate, and soon.

5E, 255

Greta found him! I saw him through her crystal ball! He's already completed a quest and unlocked a class, too. It even looks like he's following in my footsteps. He's a fighter!

He's not bad looking at all, and he seems to have a good heart. He's already found a pretty woman to travel with, too. Greta says that, if he keeps walking his road well, she thinks he'll end up finding three partners. What a stud.

I want to get to him, but the problem is, I can't right now. The Clefts are acting up, and monsters are spilling into Evron, Nolei, and Malrith. I can't go play mentor while countless people die.

Greta has her eye on him, though. I'll go help guide him as soon as this job is done.

5E, 255

He went missing. I was too late. I guess I'll be having a dream about the next candidate soon enough.

What a failure I turned out to be.

I was never much of a hero.

Why did the Goddess choose me?

5E, 256

They found him! He'd been captured by a syndicate connected to the cult. They call themselves the Hands of the Fallen.

So pretentious!

Apparently, the cult's been operating out of Velmire.

He's healing right now. As soon as I'm able, I'm heading to him.

I can do this.

Act Four Character Sheets

Alex Clark, American Human Fighter of the Shield 39

The Iron Sentinel, Hero of the Pit

Attributes

Strength: 46+5

Resilience: 58+5

Agility: 32+5

Power: 22

Will: 44

Equipment

[Myrshale Armor]

[Impregnability III]

[Myrshale Helm]

[Hawk Eyes]

Skills

[Iron Skin]

[Intercept]

[Provoke]

[Second Wind]

[Shield Throw]

Talents

[Adaptable]

[Chosen by the Light]

[Grit]

[Paragon]

[Rampart]

[Touched by the Dark Lord]

[Unbreakable]

[United We Stand]

Quests

[The Alchemist of Galden]

[A Knife in the Dark]

[Find The Blacksmith at the Edge of the Depths]

[The Cleansing of Embermist Keep]

[T⧫ppl⟊ th͟e N◌ L⟊fe K⟟ng]

Tasks

American (1

★)

: [Lead the Free]

Fighter (9

★):

[A Good Fight]

Guardian (2

★) [Protect the Weak]

Human (0

★)

: [Jack of All Trades]

Shield (11

★)

: [In Enduring, Grow Strong]

Na-Tristan, Groveborn Human Acolyte of the Tower 20

Never-Miss Tris

Attributes

Strength: 22

Resilience: 24

Agility: 31

Power: 36

Will: 34

Equipment

[Amulet of Elara]

Skills

[Barrier]

[Bless]

[Healing Light]

[Holy Light]

Spells

1st Circle

[Cure Poison]

[Cure Disease]

[Protection from Disease]

5th Circle

[Purification]

Talents

[Adaptable]

[Fey Senses]

[Light Touched]

[Sense Life]

[Wind's Whisper]

Tasks

Acolyte (7★): [A Light in the Dark]

Elf (1★): [Timeless Connection]

Groveborn (1★): [Nature's Whisper]

Human (1★): [Jack of All Trades]

Tower (5★): [Bring Light to the Land]

Quests

[The Alchemist of Galden]

[A Knife in the Dark]

[Find The Blacksmith at the Edge of the Depths]

[The Cleansing of Embermist Keep]

Vral Tu'Vigh, ??