The Hero's Conundrum/Chapter 14

I’m in heaven, there is a huge war between the angels and I’m in the middle of it. Some are being ripped of their wings and they fall to earth like falling stars. Just my luck, I finally die and when I do there is a war in the afterlife too. I have an armor, a shield and a shiny sword, but I have no wings. One of the angels comes to attack me and I struck him with my sword so hard that he vanished. None of the angels can harm me, I must be very powerful here, but I still don’t know whose side I’m on. I look up and I see a very bright light coming towards me, then before I could react it strikes me with a sword, then I woke up.

I woke up disoriented in a tight dark place, I can’t barely move, is uncomfortable, full of gushy liquid and I can’t breathe. I’m getting desperate, I’m trying to break out and the knife pops up from the scar in my hand and I break free. From the outside it looks like a ball of meat, a placenta of some sorts, is disgusting and I’m covered in blood but I feel great. Is like I was just born, now I know why I end up covered in blood and a knife in my hand, one mystery less. I wonder if this happens every time I die. Is this the same thing that happens to Bansao? I know we are connected, but how?

Those bastards killed me, how dare they do this to me, after all I have done for them, I am their hero. I took them from being a mere camp that needed to be moved all the time to a prospering village. I made them who they are today, ungrateful bastards. I left Joseph alone since I killed the monk Bansao, he was never the same after that. Maybe I should have handled that differently, but I was so angry that he was harboring Bansao that it blinded me. After that there was no other sign of Bansao, everything was fine. I will look for him as soon as I clean up and try to make amends, but the people responsible for my death must pay.

I’ve been too busy that I haven’t seen Sarah in years, she left a couple of messages to contact her but I never did. Maybe she knew about the plot to kill me and was trying to warn me. She should have come personally, since Sammael left me long ago and I didn’t know what to do, so I did what I thought was right. At first I treated Sammael as a son until I noticed what he was, then he became my guide. Sarah being the one closest to him must have remain loyal to him and me. Sarah must know some answers about Bansao too, I messed up. Luckily I have been given a second chance. After I make amends with Joseph I will look for Sarah, and find out who is ruling my camp now. We can make things work, the world was recovering and thanks to me, why did they do this to me?

John never got back from his quest to look for his family, I should look for him too and I still haven’t found out about John secret. Sarah said that he didn’t even had a family and Bansao mentioned that he was John, is still confusing but I will find out. My best guess is that John is Bansao after a lifetime of coming back to life and is tired, He was making up for his mistakes and after I killed the monk he retired to peace. If that is the case I will respect his wishes and leave him be. After all, everything I know about Bansao is the legends people tell. Yes he attacked my village and killed Elijah but he said he had a good reason to do it. I should have joined him when I had the chance. Who knows, maybe he’ll appear again.

I need to move, it was pouring rain, so it helped me clean myself, I notice the knife retracting back to my hand. I found Bansao’s cabin, the one that was covered in bushes. It was not covered in bushes, somebody have been here. I cleaned myself, took one of the military uniforms and headed to the village, but on my way I saw Bansao’s men. Some of them I have already killed and they look younger which means that I am in the past again. Damn it! Not again! No wait, it’s perfect all I need to do is look for Bansao now and join him, he was right if I joined him none of this would have happened I can change everything. But how do I do it? I don’t see Bansao anywhere and his men will shoot me at first sight. Well that is if they can, I’m even stronger and faster than Bansao. So I went to the camp and took them all out, like fifty of them in under two minutes, then I tied them up and waited for them to wake up. When they did, I told them that I was not here to fight, I wanted to talk to their leader.

They told me that their leader was killed, along with twenty of their men when another camp invaded theirs, taking their women and children. I was confused, another camp killed Bansao? How? One of them told me;

“We have never seen anyone so strong and that could move as fast as you, we could have use your skills earlier.” I wonder how early in time I am.

“You have never seen Bansao before?” I asked while I cut them loose, he looked confused and answered.

“No sir, this is the first time we have seen you, will you help us bring our people back Mr. Bansao?”

“What did you call me?”

“Bansao sir”

“Why did you call me that?”

“Well is the name in your uniform, I assumed it was your name. We could use a leader like you, we need you. You are the legendary Bansao the immortal”

They think I’m Bansao, so they haven’t met the real one. I can use this to my advantage.

“So you have heard of me?”

“Yes, we heard that you died in an explosion and you just confirmed that you are actually Bansao the immortal.”

“Ok I will lead you and I will help you, but I will need your help later”

They all agreed, I don’t know how dangerous it would be to mess with the timeline and impersonate Bansao but I think I can use it to my advantage. I will try to change everything, come hell or high water. I started talking to each one trying to see what kind of people I’m getting involved in while I helped them clean and rebuild their camp. If they are Bansao people they are the worst of the worst, but after talking to them I noticed that apart for wanting revenge, they were just normal. They don’t seem like the relentless Bansao soldiers I knew. While I was helping them rebuild the camp I entered a tent and saw him, I saw Bansao and I shot him as fast as I could. To my surprise it was not Bansao.

It was a mirror that shattered when I shot it. I went to another tent looking for a mirror and when I found one, I felt despair like never before, I am actually Bansao.