The thought of having to go anywhere made Dmitri want to curl up into a ball and hide. There was literally nothing else in the world that he dreaded more than work. Perhaps that was due to the fact that he grew up having to work every day. His family was poor, and to send him to academy as a boy he had to work in all of his spare time. He put the work in for years, grinding to the point where he had forgotten what it was like to relax. That may seem silly to someone who hasn’t grown up in such circumstances, however you truly forget how to just relax and be you. Naturally the moment he had gotten his dream job, to be named the hero of the Five Nations, he fell into a slothic state. He would do almost anything to keep it that way as well.
Naturally the moment he got that call from the guild saying that he had to go and defeat some punk villain, he got upset. There had been almost nothing for him to do since he defeated the last villain, and it was wonderful. The thought that someone had the nerve to go and disturb that peace was indeed villainous to him. That was an evil that he could simply not allow to continue to exist.
He thought that at least, but really he found it hard to even want to move off of the couch he was currently lazing on. Slowly the hero forced himself to sit up, putting a hand on his head. It hurt him to sit up. He sighed loudly before ringing the service bell. A young female came running into the room.
“Maris, would you mind getting me a cup of tea or something? I have to wake up.” He grumbled. Maris was his maid, and had been since he became a hero. At first you can imagine how excited she was to be a maid to the newest hero. She dreamt of a beautiful romance, adventure, and the like. Yet instead she got put with some jerk who could barely even get out of bed most days, and even if he did, he never actually did anything productive. It drove Maris crazy.
“Oh you have to wake up? Did you finally get a job?” Maris asked, looking at the rather pathetic excuse of a hero. “I hope it is at least something exciting this time.”
“You are as cheery as ever. Please just go get the tea. There's a new villain that's apparently killed a good amount of adventurers. The guild just called and asked me to step in, and unfortunately I have no other choice.” Dmitri sighed and ran his hand through his hair. He was a handsome guy, despite his current laziness. He had striking blue eyes, beautiful curly almost white hair. He was tall and muscular, though he always felt much smaller than some of the other knights.
“Oh wow, so you actually have to go do something heroic for once. Good, you need it.” Maris scoffed, walking over to the small samovar that he had set up in the corner of his room. “You should be careful with this one, Dmitri. I have heard some troubling things though about this villain, if it's the one I am thinking of. Has a dragon and a vampire working under him now, and it is likely that he’ll gather more monsters as time goes on. You should be careful if you go.”
“Yeah yeah, nothing I cannot handle. You seem to forget that I am a hero. I went through all of the same trials and tests as the others to end up where I am today. But that is part of why I am able to be relaxed today. I am leaving today to go speak with the guild about the situation further in depth.”
“To my defense, it is hard to remember that you actually are a hero. You just lay around all day long and wait for me to clean up after you. I was so excited when I first came here. I dreamed of romance, adventure, excitement. Instead I find myself serving a man baby.” Maris rolled her eyes as she set the tea down in front of Dmitri. She then sat down across from him, crossing her legs. Any respect she may have had for him died a long while ago, and Dmitri knew that. He really didn’t care though. “I think you have depression, or something. It’s not normal for anyone to be so… blobular.”
“Blobular? Is that even a thing..?” Dmitri asked, picking up the beautiful china cup and quietly sipping his tea.
“Of course it is a thing. You are blobular. Blob-like. Blobesque if you will.” Maris said very seriously, looking at Dmitri like a scolding mother. He just started to laugh, shaking his head.
“Oh Maris, you are funny. You know that? Blobesque… I’m going to use that one now. That aside, I am not depressed Maris. I am a genius without much to do. I have been trained to fight, to save people, and to go up against the worst of the worse. Naturally when there is nothing for me to do, I am going to take advantage of that. I have worked my whole life to get here, to be able to relax. I plan to take full advantage of that.” He hummed, looking at the maid who was growing red in the face.
“You are so annoying, Dmitri. I hope you know how much I look forward to the day you are brought down a level.” She exclaimed, standing up then. “Well, if you are going to be going off then I plan to have my own little vacation. How long do you think it will take you to save the day?”
“It shouldn’t be more than two weeks. I have to prepare and travel there, but I doubt there is anyone out there who is actually stronger than me, especially since I have received the blessing of the hero.” He hummed and put the tea cup down, snapping as a small fluff ball appeared next to him. “Juice, go let Hamysh know that we are leaving to visit the adventurer’s guild in an hour.” The fluff ball cooed and disappeared again, leaving Dmitri once more alone in his room.
Things you may not realize about the heroes is that they work only when needed because of the immense power that they have. Everytime a hero fights, he gets stronger by almost double that of an average person. Beyond a title, it physically alters how you function in a day to day world, and how your body works. To get to be a hero you must go through intense training everyday, and at the end you are tested by the gods themselves. Dmitri went through it all, and excelled every step of the way. He became the first peasant born hero in almost a century, and he was incredibly good at his job when he was actually working.
The same could be said for ‘villains’. That was so much more than a simple title. Becoming a true villain actually altered your body and mind. You become stronger physically, and your magic grows as well. You become smarter, and the creatures who dwell within the darkness begin to flock and follow you. Becoming a villain was a very different process than becoming a hero. Rather than being blessed by the gods, a villain had to be picked by one of the dark ones, such as the god of death, goddess of destruction, goddess of plague, etc.
Myles earned the title of villain, however his story is a bit unique. He gained no favor from a god or goddess, nor did he come from a line of heroes. Rather, by conquering Windy and making an alliance with him, Myles earned his title of villain without the gods. This unique and rather unprecedented turn was why Myles was such a threat. He was in unknown territory. You would perhaps think that this mattered to Myles, but it didn’t.
In truth, Myles couldn’t have cared less about his title nor new found powers. All he cared about was the fact that Dmitri likely was going to visit. Well, not visit per say, but come to his territory. This very well could have been one of the worst things to happen to Myles, considering he knew all too well what Dmitri’s current occupation was. Even more so, he hadn’t actually seen Dmitri since they both graduated. He was certain that Dmitri would be disappointed if he saw what he had become.
“This really sucks.” He sighed as he sat on the phone with his sister. Windy had bought them phones so that they could keep Myles’s family in the loop if anything went down. So far Myles had only used it to cry about his crush. Go figure.
“Well, Myles… I do not know what to tell you. The moment you became a villain was the moment that you opened yourself up to being attacked by the hero.” Pris sighed over the phone, sounding mildly annoyed at her younger brother. “Besides, perhaps if you had a better grip on your little lackeys there, the adventurers guild wouldn’t be after you. I still cannot believe you actually allowed innocent people to be--”
“Murdered, yes I know. I know that is how it appears, however it wasn’t innocent people. These were people who actively ignored the warnings and threats to leave. They refused to be spared. I told you that already. I don’t want to be the villain, I just want to drink my tea in peace.”
“I just… I don’t understand how this all happened Myles. You are a good guy…”
“Pris… Listen, it is a lot less serious than you think. Regardless if I had met Windy or not.. He would still kill. I also would like to point out that he hasn’t attacked a town or killed anyone truly innocent since he started to serve under me. I am not a murderer, and Windy isn’t a bad guy. He’s a dragon, Pris. Remember that what we perceive as ‘evil’ is good depending on what side of the coin you are on. In the end, lives have been saved. If those stupid adventurers would only leave me alone then--”
“You wanted my advice right? If you truly want to prove that you are not some evil mastermind I would go about doing good deeds with your little minions. Perhaps then the guild will get off of your butt and you'll have at least a chance of Dmitri not fully despising you.”
“The whole point of this was so I could be lazy. I don’t want to put in all this extra work when it is not even my fault.”
“Well its your business now to deal with it. Anyways, I have to go. It will be fine in the end Myles so long as you don’t do anything stupid. You're one of the smartest guys I know, and though I do not agree with what you've done, I also know that this isn’t all your fault. You cannot control the actions of others, but you can control your own actions. Remember that. Love you.”
“Love you too Pris. Bye.”
Myles hung up the phone. His tapped his hand against the table, finding himself almost restless. How was he going to handle this situation when no matter what he did, he couldn’t get rid of the villain label. No matter what, he would be the one person Dmitri was destined to fight against.
All Myles wanted was a bloody cup of tea, and here he was stuck between a rock and a hard place. This really sucked.
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