Rise of the Soul Hero

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***

A pain in his head, Andrew woke up and immediately touched the spot, then looked at his hand. There wasn't much blood on it, Andrew realised that there was a small cut. But maybe it wasn't that bad since he wasn't nauseous or wobbly. He wiped his hand and looked around.

He realised that he was in a wagon with other people, he thought, until he saw that they had tails and ears like animals. Andrew blinked a few times and tried to understand what was going on, but his head started to hurt again from that unexpected blow, in addition he felt something strange, something that made his condition more sad. It was as if the place itself was soaked in despair and hopelessness. He shook his head slightly to dull the pain in his head and looked at everyone again and realised one more thing, these not quite people were still children. They were all scared and their eyes were crying, some of them had abrasions and small wounds.

Andrei didn't know where to start talking, he looked at one face that was scared, then at the other. He realised that something was definitely wrong, he began to realise that these children had not been rescued, it was clearly a one-way trip for them and it did not bode well. For this reason Andrew took a deep breath and began to speak as calmly as possible so as not to frighten these children even more.

- Do any of you know where this wagon is going and what kind of people are driving it? -

But as soon as he said that, the kids who were next to him crawled away a little bit. He realised they were too scared to talk, so he tried to put on a kind smile and started talking.

- Don't be afraid, I'm not the enemy. I'm a prisoner like you, I don't know anything here. You can tell me what's going on. -

The children were a little nervous, but eventually a girl with red hair started to answer. She had ears like a raccoon and a tail like a raccoon, but she was also red. She came closer to Andrei and sat down next to him and began to answer.

- They are soldiers, they are taking us to some baron. We are from a village of beastmen that was destroyed by monsters. My name is Raftalia, and my friend Rifana. -

She pointed slightly at a girl with short grey hair, almost like Andrei's. She too looked at Andrei and he made a kind smile, then she too came over to them and Andrei gently stroked them both on their heads. At first they shuddered with surprise, but then they smiled too, and Andrei began to speak with the same kind and calm tone.

- My name is Andrei Sokolov, thank you for explaining to me what is going on. While we are travelling you can tell me more about this place. I'm just not from around here, and I think I have partial amnesia. -

He lied, but he didn't want to talk about the other world yet and assumed they wouldn't believe him. Right after that they told Andrew that they were in the kingdom of Melromark, that there was magic in this world. They told him about humans and half-humans, as well as about the waves and the four heroes. Andrei was interested that four people from another world could be brought here and have sacred weapons, so he decided to ask his two new acquaintances one more question.

- Rafthalia, Rifana, could it be that instead of four, five were brought here?

They both looked at Andrei thoughtfully and this time Rifana started to answer.

- It's never happened. There were always only four heroes. Spear, Sword, Bow and Shield. Shield is the most honoured of the four heroes for us beastmen. -

Andrei thought about it and wanted to say something else, to ask another question about the heroes, if they knew anything, but at that moment the carriage stopped and the curtains that separated them from the light were pulled back so that people could get out of the carriage. Andrew did not like this, very much. So when one of these figures approached them to push Rafthalia and Rifana out, he made a blow to the face of the arriving man, a very hard blow. This surprised even Andrei himself, but he quickly got out of the wagon and Andrei could only hear what he started to say.

- Boys, quickly here. That bastard broke my nose! -

In a few seconds there were two men in the wagon, who unfortunately for Andrei were stronger and gave him a couple of good blows to the body and head. He was pulled out with Raftalia and Rifana. Admittedly those two didn't leave without broken noses and bruises on their faces either. That was the only thing that pleased Andrei in this situation, although in his head it was not pleasant and now it really started to feel a little nauseous.

But this joy was not long, because he was dragged not to the cameras, which were somewhere slightly underground, but to the building. Andrei tried to break free, but they held him too tightly, and in addition they hit him directly on the painful points on his legs, his head also interfered with it with its ringing and nausea that slowly approached his throat and he had to obey his fate for the moment.

After a while he was dragged to a room and when the door was opened Andrew saw at once a fat man with dishevelled yellow hair, a small moustache and a beard. He looked at them and began to speak with a distinctly condescending tone in his voice.

- Why have you brought this bloke to me, he doesn't look like a bloody beastman. Just some vagrant, take him to the cell, and why are you so battered? -

One of the men holding Andrei immediately started to answer.

- Mr Rabier, that bastard beat us up when we tried to get him out of the wagon, he's not human either, bro, unbutton his shirt. -

The other immediately unbuttoned Andrei's shirt and Rabier saw the stone in Andrei's chest. He went up to him and grabbed him by the chin, licked his lips and began to speak.

- What are you, you bastard, you're clearly not human. Oh how I hate such incomprehensible like you, you godless creatures created by the devil. And probably a spy or something. Answer me!? Otherwise I'll break every bone in your body, you goddamn subhuman! -

Andrew looked into the eyes of this man and began to answer with disgust as he realised that this man is obviously a lunatic and has strong racist feelings towards beastmen.

- I'm not a spy or anything, but compared to you I'm a human being. And you are the real scum of the earth, a fucking bigot who thinks God will praise him for doing such a despicable job. What kind of bastard would take captive children who barely survived? I think you're the devil's spawn. -

Immediately after saying that, Rabier made a fist on Andrei's face and started talking.

- You filthy subhuman, now I'll teach you a lesson you'll remember, you bloody little bastard. I'll show you who's the devil's filth and who's a faithful servant of God. Where's my whip? Yeah, right here. Well, give me that club, let's see how strong his ribs are. Hold him very tight, I'm going to have some fun for the glory of God. -

Those two men immediately put Andrew to his full height and took off his shirt, after which the blows of the whip began to hit Andrew's body, he in turn tolerated all these blows in spite of the pain. His head was ringing harder and harder. The nausea was so strong that Andrew wanted to vomit the contents of his stomach. But then the club came in and hit him right in the ribs.

Eventually Andrei couldn't help himself and bile came out of his mouth. He vomited it on the floor and partly on his already barely intact white shirt, which was red with blood and bile. Rabier looked at him with disgust and began to speak.

- What a disgusting little creature. You vomited your own bile, you'll get extra punishment for that. -

Two hours later a guy was dragged into the underground cell whose body was almost completely covered with bruises and wounds. He was holding on to ribs that were obviously completely covered with cracks. It was Andrei. He could feel his ribs cracking and he couldn't breathe properly, his head was still ringing, but it wasn't as strong. His stomach felt empty, and there was a metallic taste in his throat as Andrei ended up vomiting blood as well, and now he could barely hold back a bloody cough.

One of the men who had pushed him in here smirked and in a very pleased voice began to speak, rubbing his palms together.

- That was a good beating, you'll know how to break people's noses, you bloody subhuman. We're in for a lot of fun, you little one, get him drunk on this. It'll heal his wounds and bring him round. -

The guard nodded a bottle of pink liquid and someone caught it. It was Raftalia, she quickly walked over to Andrew and started to drink the liquid. He drank it and felt his bones return to normal, his wounds heal and he became fully aware of space.

When he was done drinking Andrei looked at Raftalia and smiled kindly at her, then looked at the guard and smirked slightly, then crawled to the wall and covered his eyes. The torturers closed the bars and Andrew smiled once more, then looked in the other direction to look at Raftalia once more. His young cellmate, the one who had first spoken to him and the one he had tried to protect. Her face was frightened, her eyes were still tearful, and that was the only thing that upset Andrei when he looked at her.

She cautiously approached Andrei and seeing his still battered body she began to cry, Andrei gently touched her shoulder and hugged her as best he could. Then with a kind smile he began to speak trying to keep a calm, kind tone that he did at the first meeting in the carriage.

- Don't worry, it's all healed now. Just need to rest, by the way, where's Rifana? -

Raftalia wiped her tears and began to answer, stroking Andrei's head.

- She's in the next cell, but she's already asleep. We were worried about you, why they were so cruel to you. -

Andrei shrugged and started to answer.

- Well, I didn't speak well of the local baron, and he said that I was an inhuman because of this stone in my chest. But don't worry, the hour will come and they will pay for everything. All these creatures will burn in the devil's cauldrons. -

Immediately after these words Andrew looked into Raftalia's eyes and gently stroked her hair. She sat down next to him and lightly hugged him and put her head lightly on his hand, and then began to speak trying not to show much fear for Andrei. Somehow this young man had become close to her during these couple of meetings and she didn't want him to suffer so much.

- I think so too, I'm sure that one day the Hero of the Shield will save us. He'll come, he's the most honourable of the four heroes. Once he knows, you won't have to suffer any more just because you're different. -

Andrei nodded, but in his heart he decided that he would save everyone here. That he would become a new hero, and at that very moment he received a message of sorts.

You have activated your spiritual power.

From now on you can use your spiritual energy of different types to improve your abilities. You can also use it to upgrade your items and weapons.

Types of spiritual powers >

( Creation )

( Calm )

( Rage )

( Pain )

( Destruction )

At this point you have activated the Pain ability - This allows you to tolerate 50% damage. You will also feel no pain at all for 10-20% of the attack.

In his mind, Andrew made an evil grin and realised that this was his ability as a new hero. He swore he would change everything here, he swore to himself that he would change Melromark.