Legacy of the Betelgeuse

Chapter 299 - Episode 299: They Live Inside Them.

I look at Ezira for a moment but then I remember what Eveth said to me earlier that I shouldn't be worried about her. I look at her missing arm but I realize that she's not bleeding or even a drop or a stain of blood on her arm, only a white bright thingy that prevents me from seeing her flesh. I look at the blanket that's covering the rest of her body and she raises her eyebrows while glaring at me.

"Are you curious about my condition, Trevor? If so you can lift the blanket if you're brave enough."

I look at her and she just tilts her head while raising her eyebrow, I slowly grab the blanket and pull it away from her. I see she lost both of her legs from the knee below, and it's the same as what I see inside her missing arm, it's a white glowing thingy inside her legs. I put the blanket on her again and neatly cover her body, I look at her while sighing with disbelief.

"What happened? We couldn't enter the Land of Sigrid for a long time and now when we are able to get in again, this happened to you and those huge holes on the walls as well. What were you guys fighting against?"

Ezira looks at her missing arm and then looks at me while keep smiling.

"It's the same being that you fought a while back. Before we the legendary heroes ascend to this place, we fought all those things on our own, we never lost a single battle against those beings. We thought, the moment we die and live in this place, we would be living in peace for eternity but then they came back and followed us here. Those beings that we fought down in the Orion, was just the weakest compared to those we are fighting right now. Those who were abandoned and left behind decided to descend to the Orion while the rest of them stayed. Just think about it like the monsters you fought in the Orion, the weak will find a new place while the strong will roam the Orion."

I sit down and raise my eyebrows with a surprised expression, I put my hands on my knees and look at her.

"And you always ended up like this after you fought them?"

Ezira shakes her head while fixing her sitting, she looks at me while pointing at the window.

"Go and have a look at what we fought against."

I look at the window and stand up then walk toward the window, I look around and I just see nothing but a vast land but then a group of heroes is running to the edge of the land. I see them are pulling something from below and then I see a gigantic horn slowly ascending and slowly but surely I start to see the top of the head of the thing. A massive head that looks like a mix of a dragon and a goat almost as big as Shazjae is being pulled by heroes, and then they push the head away. A massive earthquake is happening and a loud banging sound coming from far down that enough to ring my ear.

Ezira looks at me and nods up.

"That thing was trying to destroy this place, its body and head were stuck onto the building and we had to push it away before it destroy the rest of this place. A single hit of that thing was enough to make me like this and we lost so many of our friends during the battle."

I turn around and look at her with confusion.

"What do you mean by that? Are you saying that heroes can die? I thought you guys can't die anymore? If they die, then where do they go?"

Ezira is leaning on the headboard of her bed while tilting her head.

"Where do you think they would go? If you think that they will live up there, then you're wrong. When we die, we die forever and that's the consequence of being heroes and the protector of the Land of Sigrid or that's what we thought. We are still unsure on where do we go when we die but there's one thing that we do know."

I walk toward her and sit down again because I have so many questions right now, and she can tell that I'm confused and curious at the same time. She chuckles while sitting straight, she shows her missing arm and points at the thing inside her.

"This thing that you see, isn't blood nor flesh. We cannot bleed anymore and we don't have flesh inside our body as well. This thing inside my body is the source of my power, you can say that this is my soul."

Ezira sighs and looks at the ceiling then continues.

"When we die, our souls will stay, and we as heroes who are still alive here, we can take those fallen friends of ours' souls and consume them to become our strength."

I look at her with disbelief but then I start thinking about it and realize that her level is unbelievably high. Now that I think about it, did she consume a lot of fallen heroes' souls and used them as her strength? If so, that doesn't sound right to me because it's like cannibalism but at the same time, it's necessary for them to protect the Land of Sigrid from those otherworldly beings. There's something that I still don't understand and I should ask this to her, I lean on the chair while rubbing the bottom of my lips.

"You guys have been fighting those things for almost eternity if I can say, but how can you all survive all this time? I know that there are at least hundreds of thousands or even almost a million of you in here, but if you keep losing so many heroes from these fights, what are you going to do when you don't have enough manpower to fight these things?"

Ezira scoffs and shakes her head.

"The worst case of the scenario? We die and that's it. You don't have to worry because those things that we fought aren't that strong, and this was an exception because that being that you saw earlier was the strongest beings that we have been monitoring for quite a while now. We are glad that it died because there's not really a threat to us anymore, at least for now."

Ezira is trying to reach a cup on the cupboard next to her bed and so I grab it for her, she smiles and then drinks it. She licks her lips while staring at the cup and then she tilts her head while smiling.

"I know your concern, and so this is why we pray to Betelgeuse to keep providing us people like you, Trevor. We are in need of power to handle these things, but we can't force you all to join our fight, or at least not yet. That's why there are so many heroes after us, we are basically recruiting the living and training them to meet our expectations so when they die, they will be ready for what they're going to face."

Ezira puts the cup on her lap while staring at me.

"But you, you already exceed our expectation, Trevor. We saw your battle against Shazjae and we were all dumbfounded and shocked by what you're capable of. You were better than us in all aspects compared to when we faced our first being that brought chaos to Orion. You were not chosen, you were born to be our savior both in the Orion and in this place. I will train you to be the best of the best and if I die, I want you to take my soul that's now a place of thousands of the souls of fallen heroes."

I look at her seriously and can't say anything, Ezira chuckles and shakes her head.

"It is as if I'm going to die, but don't worry, your mentor here is the strongest being in this place right now so there's nothing that can kill me. This body will recover when I consume the fallen brothers and sisters of mine, but right now I just want to rest and reminiscence those who have fallen."

Ezira looks at the door and raises her eyebrows while smiling.

"It seems that I have taken a lot of your time here, and we will be having a guest now. So let's talk about this another time, and I know why you're here and I wish you good luck, Trevor."

I look at her and before I can say anything someone is knocking on the door and the door immediately opens. Ezira immediately covers her whole body again and then I see Eveth and the rest of the legendary heroes with Ivonna standing next to her, they all are coming in and immediately surrounding her. Ivonna looks at me with a big smile on her face and points a piece of paper in her hands.

"I got it translated, now I know what I should do."

I smile and nod with understanding, I look at Ezira and she just smiles at me while tilting her head toward the door telling me that I don't have to worry about her. I get up from the chair and look at Ezira while nodding with understanding and then I look at Ivonna while nodding.

"Let's go then, we have no time to waste."