Jack Clade The Closeted Hero

I've been on the brink of death once before, but it wasn't like this. It wasn't nearly as bad as this. My mind throbs as waves of unparalleled pain thrash through the intricate defence mechanisms my mind had set up.

    "Damn it." My parched throat grimaced at the mumbled curse. I shouldn't have done that. Through considerable effort and excruciating pain, I perched myself onto my left arm and slowly dragged myself off the grime-tattered rock. I had one more spell left in me. "Dream force" I croaked. Waves of blistering red and astonishing purple lit up the turning tunnels of the labyrinth like the beautiful last effort, sorry attempt at saving my life that it was. "When this is all over I'll grab a huge glass of freezing cold water and I'll enjoy every last drop of it" I thought to myself just before the ground came up to reach me.

    "The esteemed hero of Archland, Jack Clade!!" The high priest's voice erupted in my ear. His embroidered white garments fell snugly under his ankles. Black strips of ribbon contrasted nicely with the bright, reflective nature of the cloth.

"You really did it!" Jonathan Clade, my blonde haired brother, shot through the crowd as a bullet would through air. My heart, which throbbed with uncertainty, forcefully thrust unwanted thoughts in and out of my once tranquil mind.

"This doesn't feel right..." I thought to myself anxiously. "That spell wasn't nearly strong enough to knock out the Demon Lord" I continued silently in the comfort of my own mind.

    My eyes scanned the peanut gallery. All of the familiar faces of friends, colleagues, and family in the front row. "None of them" I breathed out in a whisper. I felt my brother's breath on my neck and ruled him out too. "Who is powerful enough to..." I realized I was still mumbling aloud, so I shut my mouth.

    "Who is powerful enough to put a Demon Lord to rest?" I continued in my thoughts. Suddenly a pang of red, hot light flashed in my eyes.

Black as soot, the darkness surrounded me, which hindered my already blurry vision further.

"Can you hear me?" An oddly familiar voice rang out. "Ah, you can, good. Don't look for me. Take pride in your achievement. You earned it." The voice faded from my mind, having left me confused and bothered. "How can I have pride in a good deed I didn't commit?"

The tavern filled with people as the night droned on. I was in a foul mood. I wondered who's voice that was. It was so familiar yet it kept itself tucked away in the back of my mind... the tip of my tongue.

I wasn't drunk. Well, I didn't think I was drunk. Stumbling towards the ruggity stairwell of Pine-Hill Apartments, my shaky hands reached for the spare key. My apartment had a birch door which always confused me since it was Pine-Hill Apartments not Birch-Hill Apartments. I unlocked the wooden door, opened it, and slid through the crack. I fumbled around with my keys until I once again locked the door behind me. My bed fluffed out as I pounced on it's comforting, springy mattress.

The moon shone through the tattered window of the place I call home. It filled me with sorrow to know that the next day I'd be leaving that place. That place that's seen my highs and my lows, my love and my hate, my desire and my greed.

When I thought of it, it's the priest who had helped me find this place. He has helped me on various occasions. "I'm going to miss this little town when I leave for the capital." I brought a finger to my lips. "I even had my first kiss here... my only kiss."

As the sun creeped up on the horizon I forced my body to stretch out of it's comfortable position. I raked a hand through my messy auburn hair and quickly threw on a mint green shirt with white stripes on the sleeves and some beige khakis. I took my belongings and dragged them to the carriage that awaited me.

"You ready? My brother asked, holding his hand in a thumbs up position.

"As I'll ever be" I replied, less than enthusiastically.

A few friends waved us off and I saw the priest smile in a way he had never before. I wondered what he was thinking.

    The road winded past the farming region of AhLecross and through the towering tunnels of the O'ryan Mountain range. Four hours we rode through the twisting and turning of the dirt path until we saw the peak of a tower in the distance.

    "It's the capital! We're finally at Bunalio!" Jonathan exclaimed, almost rupturing my ear drums in the process.

    As we approached the gates of Bunalio, my heart started to pound.

"This is kind of... exciting!" I thought.

The guards asked for our ID's and let us in without incident. We were then brought to the king's castle. "The place where I'll get the award I don't deserve for delaying the inevitable destruction of this kingdom by another century." I noted silently.

As I stood in front of those two barrel print, 20 foot tall doors, I thought about what the prize may be... and then I remembered.

"You little shit." my eyes went wide. I gave Jonathan a passing glare. My brother had told me one night at the church when I was younger that if he ever defeated the Demon Lord he'd let me take the credit so that he didn't have to marry the princess. He's known that he was gay since second grade when he had a crush on one of his classmates.

I stood there in those ceremonial robes laced with silk and beads that hang from the sides. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity yet all I could think was, "Can't I just marry the prince instead?"

With one last grumble I knocked on the huge double doors, ready to take my eternal punishment as a closeted, gay hero.