Blaze: The Hero

Chapter 13

*THIRD PERSON's POV*

"W-What was that?" Scarlette asked in a low voice as if she was trying her best not to be heard by anyone else except from the four people around her.

"Shut up and just stay where you are," Blaze spoke to her in a hushed tone while he looked around the area, too, making sure that he would be able to notice any enemy approaching them. With her hands trembling as she clutched her palms close to her heart, Scarlette nodded her head at what Blaze just said to her because she knew to herself that if there were a demon attack, she would not be able to help them in fighting those things since she does not know anything about fighting.

As the five of them clump in a circle with Scarlette in the middle, the rustling noise kept growing louder and louder as if it was closing into them. Scarlette took deep breaths as she tried her best not to be afraid, but she could not control her trembling body, and her cold sweats were dropping from her temples down to her chin.

P-Please...not another demon attack...please. Scarlette prayed in her mind as she took another deep breath. Then, another rustling noise came from the tall grasses where they passed through earlier, which alarmed the five of them, and Blaze's grip on the handle of his katana tightened as he glared in the direction of the tall grasses.

And after thirty seconds of rustling noise, something came running out of the tall, dry grasses.

"Waaah!" a small squeal came from the thing that jumped out of the grasses.

"W-What the~? T-That...That is...an elf...an elf child," Zoleta stuttered as she stared at the small thing that came running at them.

"Waaah! H-Help! Please help me! Please!" the small elf child ran its way towards them, and upon seeing the child elf, Zoleta and Henson lowered their weapons and were about to approach the young elf, but then Blaze suddenly stopped them.

"Stop! Something is following it!" Blaze warned loudly, so Zoleta and Henson quickly raised their weapons again at the young elf, but they couldn't pull the trigger at the young boy elf as it kept running towards them while bawling itself like there's no tomorrow.

"Waaah! Heuk! He-Help me! Help me please!" the young elf begged as soon as he stood in front of Blaze, who is already glaring at him, and was ready to kill the young boy elf already, but then, a loud roar echoed in the forest, and the six of them shriveled from the sound.

"Tsk! I knew it! A demon was following you!" Blaze yelled at the child elf, which made the child cry even more, but Blaze ignored the loud wailing of the child and stepped forward and waited for the demon to appear.

"Hey! Please don't yell at him. He's just a child!" Scarlette yelled at Blaze as well and pulled the child in the middle of their protective circle.

Tch! I don't have time for something like this! Blaze thought to himself while glaring in the direction of the forest where they heard another loud but deep roar.

"T-This…Why is a demon following this child?” Henson asked with his gun raised and aimed in the same direction that Blaze is looking at.

“What else but to eat that piece of sh*t, of course!” Blaze answered as his grip on his katana tightened.

ROAR!!! Another heart–trembling sound echoed inside the forest, and this time it was closer to where the five of them were. Blaze took a quick glance at the child as it kept crying while burying its head on Scarlette’s chest.

Tch! Stupid child! Blaze thought to himself, and he diverted his focus again to the forest. After a few seconds, the six of them heard rustles in the woods, and not long after, a demon came running towards them.

Henson, Zoleta, Scarlette, and Havie stared at the demon rushing towards them with terrified looks. Their eyes widened, their faces were pale white, and their body trembled as they saw a purple demon with three jet black eyes, four black horns, and a spiky tail.

Upon seeing the demon, Blaze immediately pulled out his katana from its sheath and prepared himself to attack the mindless demon, who only had its eyes set on the child elf.

“Snap out of it, idi*ts!” Blaze yelled out loud, which helped to snap the four out of their thoughts. And after hearing Blaze’s cold but loud voice, Zoleta and Henson raised their guns and aimed at the demon.

“I’ll help!” Havie said and raised her crossbow as well. The three of them aimed their weapons at the demon’s eyes and shot at the same time.

ROAR!!! Another shrieking noise came from the demon when its eyes were hit by two bullets and one steel arrow. The demon wriggled while standing as it screamed out of pain, but every time the people heard its screams, not even one person felt sorry for the demon since they knew that demons are ruthless and murderous beings that must be destroyed as soon as possible.

“Sir Blaze!” Scarlette screamed as soon as she noticed Blaze running towards the demon. As Blaze approached the demon, he made sure that his grip on his katana was firm, and he also observed the movements of the demon. While staring and running towards it, Blaze also made sure to avoid any of its attacks, but there is something that he noticed while staring at the face of the demon.

Is it…healing itself? What the h*ck? It has a regenerative power!? Blaze thought to himself as he clicked his tongue in disapproval for the demon’s power. Then, Blaze hastened to run towards the demon, and as he stepped his foot beside it, he pulled out his katana, and the fire quickly engulfed the blade of the sword while the light that came from the fire lit up the dark area where they are standing.

Blaze raised his right hand and aimed at the neck of the demon, but before his blade could even touch the skin of the demon, Blaze noticed an attack from his left side.

“Oomff!” Blaze blurted out as he quickly defended himself using the katana from the spiky tail of the demon that almost hit him.

“Sir Blaze!” the other four exclaimed as they watched Blaze fight the demon, but since he is just a mere human, his body could not withstand a sudden impact from a powerful demon, and so his body went flying towards a tree nearby. As soon as Blaze’s body hit the tree, he groaned out of pain and fell to the ground.

”Argh! Sh*t… that hurts,” Blaze uttered and pushed himself to stand up even though his back ached due to being slammed at the tree.

“D*mn it! Don’t just stand there! Shoot!” Blaze yelled again as he glared at the demon. Then, Blaze took a deep breath and ran towards the demon again, but this time, Henson and Zoleta are helping him to kill the demon already by shooting its body with bullets made of steel.

“Aim at its eyes!” Blaze commanded, and the two gunners immediately shot the demon’s eyes that had just healed from the first shots.

ROAR!!!! The demon once again roared in pain, but Blaze did not care about its feelings, he just kept running towards the demon, and when he finally saw an opening, he swung his fire-engulfed katana and was finally able to cut off the demon’s head from its neck. As the body of the demon dropped on the hard ground, Blaze stood beside it while panting and enduring the pain from his back.

Tch! And now it's starting to hurt again. Blaze thought to himself as he felt another wave of prickling pain from his previous wound, plus the fact that his back was hit by a tree, which added more pain to him.

“Argh!” Blaze groaned as he tightened his closed fists. The other four people in the area did not hear Blaze’s pained voice since they were busy comforting the child elf who was still crying.

“There, there. The demon is gone now,” Zoleta said to the child while patting its back.

“Waah! T-Thank you, huhuhu,” the child replied while his tears kept falling to his cheeks. When Blaze heard the child’s crying noise, he took a deep breath and kept enduring the pain from his back as he turned around and walked back to where his teammates were.

I will just ask that woman to heal me later. Blaze thought to himself while staring at Scarlette, who is still hugging the child elf.

“We should get out of here,” Blaze spoke to his team with his usual ton of voice, so the other four nodded their heads at him, and Scarlette pulled away from her hug with the child elf.

“We will go now, so just tell us where your home is, and we will take you there,” Scarlette said to the child, which made Blaze raise his eyebrow.

“What? Do you plan to take that child with us?” Blaze asked with his furrowed eyebrows. Scarlette and the child turned to face Blaze, but as soon as the child elf saw Blaze’s expression, he suddenly felt afraid of him.

“Eek!” the child muttered and clung onto Scarlette’s sleeves. Scarlette noticed the trembling hands of the child, so she immediately comforted the child again.

“Hey, don’t be scared. He is the hero who saved you,” Scarlette spoke sweetly and calmly to the child as she held the child’s hand in hers.

“Hero?” the child elf asked, and Scarlette nodded her head at him, so the child looked at Blaze again even though he was still scared of Blaze’s facial expression.

“T-Th-Thank you, S-Sir,” the child spoke to Blaze with a trembling voice and gave Blaze a small bow as a sign of respect, but Blaze did not even pay any attention to the child.

“Hey, woman. Answer my question,” Blaze coldly spoke to Scarlette again and totally ignored the people around them.

“Yes, Sir Blaze. I plan to take this child back to his family,” Scarlette answered Blaze while staring straight into his eyes.

“No. Doing that will delay our trip to the tree of life, so just leave him here. He’s safe anyways, so it’s fine,” Blaze said, which surprised the others with him.

“You want to lea~” Scarlette’s voice was cut off by another female’s voice.

“YOU WANT TO LEAVE THIS CHILD IN THIS FOREST? ALONE?” Havie suddenly spoke out loud and with an emphasis on every word she spoke, which caught the attention of her best friend and the others. Blaze simply looked at her with cold eyes, but Havie did not flinch from that sight. It even made her more furious.

“How can you do something like that to a child?” Havie asked while trying to hold back her anger, but Blaze still did not say anything in response, but Scarlette noticed Blaze’s right hand slowly reached for the handle of his katana, which alarmed her.

D-Don’t tell me he plans to kill this child and leave it here? Scarlette thought to herself with wide eyes. Then, she quickly looked at Blaze and saw him staring at the child, who was still trembling while staring at Blaze.

“I will not allow you to do that. I don’t care if you are the prophesied hero or not,” Havie said as she raised her crossbow and aimed at Blaze’s head.

“Havie! No!” Zoleta yelled and tried to stop her best friend, but Havie did not listen to her since she is currently filled with anger towards Blaze.

“Havie, put down your crossbow,” Henson also talked to Havie, but it still did not change Havie’s stance towards Blaze. On the other hand, Blaze simply stood there while staring at Havie.

Does this woman dare to raise her weapon at me? Blaze thought to himself as he tightened his grip on the handle of his katana.

Then, perhaps I should use her as an example. Blaze thought to himself and was about to pull out the blade of his katana when Scarlette suddenly stood in between him and Havie.

“Everyone, please calm down! We are on this same team, so why do we have to fight with each other?” Scarlette said and looked at Havie.

“Please, Havie, lower your weapon,” Scarlette pleaded to Havie and placed her left hand on top of Havie’s crossbow. Then, Scarlette faced Blaze and placed her right hand on top of Blaze’s right hand that was holding the handle of his katana.

“Sir Blaze, please calm down as well,” Scarlette spoke to Blaze. Then, Blaze looked at her eyes and back to Havie, who shortly took a deep breath before lowering her weapon.

“I’ll just ready the cart,” Havie said in a low voice and turned her back on her teammates as she walked towards the cart where their horses were still tied up.

“I’ll go talk to her,” Zoleta said, and Henson nodded his head at her.

“Hey, do you want to see something cool?” Henson called the attention of the child and reached his hand out while smiling genuinely at the child.

“Come on, I’ll show you how to make rocks bounce on water,” Henson said, which caught the attention of the child, and so the child elf took his hand and went with Henson towards the riverbanks. While Henson and the child are playing near the river, Scarlette talks with Blaze.

“Sir Blaze, I know that you are in a hurry to find the tree of life, and I fully understand why. But please do understand that there are some cases where we cannot ignore the cries of the weak,” Scarlette spoke to Blaze.

“What do you mean?” Blaze asked and raised his eyebrow at the woman.

“Well, what I’m trying to say is that, as we go through this journey, we will not only encounter demons and simply find the tree of life. We are also here to help those who are in need, and the first creature who needs our help right now is that child elf. He is still a child which means, leaving him alone in this place will only mean death to him,” Scarlette answered.

“We may have saved him from that purple demon, but we have no idea how many demons are lingering inside this forest, and I-I can’t leave that child alone. I want to help him. But, I am not skilled enough to protect that child, so please,” Scarlette added.

“It seems like you have already forgotten the reason why I am looking for the tree of life,” Blaze coldly replied to Scarlette.

“I-I have not forgotten yet. I simply want to ask for your help. Don’t worry; I will take full responsibility for that child,” Scarlette said to Blaze while looking at his eyes with pleading eyes. Blaze looked at her without saying anything, then he looked at the child that was playing with Henson, and Blaze saw the smiling face of the child elf.

“Tsk. Do what you want,” Blaze coldly spoke to Scarlette and started walking towards his horse that is still tied on a branch of a tree. Scarlette simply watched Blaze walk away from her, and she could not hold back the smile that was rising on her lips.

He may sound rude and heartless, but he’s actually pretty nice. Scarlette thought to herself while smiling. Then, she turned around and approached Henson and the child elf.

“Hey, are you two playing?” Scarlette called the attention of the child and Henson, who were both about to throw their rocks on the river.

“Oh, hi. Uhm, are you two done?” Henson asked Scarlette and motioned his head towards Blaze, and Scarlette nodded her head as an answer to him before she bent down and smiled at the child elf.

“Sir Blaze has agreed already. We will take you back to your home,” Scarlette said to the child elf, but the child seemed to be unhappy about it.

“Uhm, is there something wrong?” Henson asked the child, and they both noticed the tears forming in the child’s eyes.

“H-Hey, why are you crying again?” Henson questioned the child again, who had hiccups as he sniffed.

“I…I don’t want to go home,” the child elf answered, which made Scarlette and Henson confused and worried at the same time.

“Why not?” Scarlette inquired as she reached for the child’s hands.

“D-Demons…demons attacked…our village,” right after hearing the child elf’s answer, Scarlette immediately hugged the child as she held back her tears as well.

“They did not... let my f-family go….they killed everyone… I’m the one left,” the child elf added while crying on Scarlette’s shoulders.

“How terrible,” Henson whispered as he looked at the child crying and clenching his fists. Scarlette hugged the child tighter as she heard the child’s cry, even more, then she also caressed his back which made the child cry even more.

“Don’t worry. We’re here. We will protect you,” Scarlette whispered to the child elf who didn’t want to let go of her.

“Hey! We’re leaving now!” Blaze yelled from a short distance which caught the attention of Scarlette and Henson.

“Come on,” Scarlette said and tried to pull away from the child, but he did not want to let go of her, so she took a deep breath and decided to just carry the child elf as they walked back towards Blaze.

“Lead the way,” Blaze spoke to the child, but the child did not face him at all.

“Uhm, Sir Blaze, I’m sorry, but this child no longer has a home to go back to,” Henson spoke on behalf of the child, and when Blaze heard that, he simply looked at the child then to Scarlette, who is also looking at him with eyes as if pleading him not to throw the child away.

“The two of you will ride on the cart. It’s big enough for the two of you to fit in,” Blaze said to Scarlette, whose face quickly lit up as she heard Blaze’s words.

“Thank you, Sir Blaze,” Scarlette spoke to Blaze.

“Henson, you handle those two,” Blaze commanded to Henson, who simply gave him a nod and a smile.

“Let’s go,” Blaze proclaimed as he turned around and hopped on his horse while Henson helped Scarlette and the child elf to get on the cart, and after that, Henson, Zoleta, and Have also hopped on to their horses.