My eyes adjusted to the dim light; the likes of which I had not seen for an indefinite duration of time. I felt ... abnormal. As if the body I now possessed was not, nor ever was, mine.

The room I was in was cold. Incandescent light, with a slight crimson hue, emanated from a few liberally placed [magic stones] lining the wall at regular intervals. The room itself was a colossal hemisphere with a diameter of around 20 meters. The room was made up of various blue quartz like crystals; interlocking together to form the roof and walls of the room. The floor was covered in an incredibly complex magic formation with a diameter big enough to fill the entire floor of the room. By sensing the residual mana it was clear that the formation was made with only functionality in mind as its efficiency must be appalling.

After I had regained my bearings I looked towards the source of the voice. A human male of normal stature in his mid-50s was standing before me. He emitted a profound charisma only found in monarchs. He wore a deep crimson robe and his head was adorned with a very expensive and elaborately crafted crown encrusted with various large crystals. His face had no notable features. However, it was obvious to any observer that he was deeply stressed to say the least. His eyes were a deep blue with a dulling grey hue. His breathing was erratic and I sensed he had an abnormally high heart rate. It was most likely the strenuous exercise he had in rushing over here as people behind him were still in disorder getting into position. This was not the king I knew from before my death. If he was I would have impaled him before he had the chance to speak. I cannot hold him accountable for what ultimately other people did.

Next to him stood a female human around the age of 17 to 18; she seemed to have heterochromia as one of her eyes was a perfectly deep blue seemingly encompassing the sky itself. The eye became lighter as the iris encroached upon the pupil finalizing with a cyan only seen in the seas near the equator. The other eye had a similar distribution of color but was a pungent red at the outer extremities of the eye softening to a light magenta the closer you got to the iris. Her face was so well proportioned it would make phi (the golden ratio) crawl into a hole and cry over its own inadequacy. Her skin was so pale it was almost vampiric; if it wasn’t for overt lack of fangs I would have mistaken her for one immediately. Her hair was like fine silk; it was a symphony of light grey strands coming with a gradual crescendo of silver; all encapsulated with an iridescent metallic sheen. Saying she was ugly would be a textbook example of an oxymoron. She was the epitome of a paragon of beauty. And this was a human? Though demons and humans have incredibly similar characteristics to think that someone this beautiful existed…

She looked towards the king and with a voice where every word would be considered a national treasure exclaimed

“I don’t think he can understand us”.

The king replied “Oh! That’s right!”

It seems [Language Comprehension] was automatically invoked. [Language Comprehension] is a common skill that can be engraved into someone’s conscience. It does not take a genius to understand what it does.

After around a minute of quietly pondering to myself over what was occurring the words the king said earlier hit me like a train.

Hero?

I’m the Hero?

The envoy of the end?

The one factor that remains unchanging in the destruction of our race?

The force that pushed our race and the world into chaos?

The one responsible for millions if not billions of deaths?

The king after some deliberation gets a [Magic Stone] from one of his retainers and presents it to me. I take it from his hand and a greatly degraded version of the [Language Comprehension] skill that only covers speech attempts to invade my head. My network of mental defenses automatically counters the [Magic Stone]. The [Magic Stone] is covered in a multi-layered red magic formation and disintegrates soon after.

The king seems taken back but is not shaken.

He says once more.

“Oh great hero! We implore you save us by killing the malefic and tyrannical demon king!”

I look at him as if he was a mad man with a stare so cold it would make ice shiver.

I reply in a succinct manner with unwavering resolve.

“I refuse.”

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Thanks for reading leave your thoughts if you like :P