Don the Hero

Principle nodded as he looked at the children's choices. They had chosen their weapons quite well. Even the fire siblings had not chosen bad. The old man could not help to smile once, he saw what Vivian picked. 'truly the daughter of a merchant, you picked extremely well.' Everything was going well until he saw Don's weapon.

Not surprising to the principle, he chose a nonspecific weapon. Since he did not know what powers he would awaken, it would be better to pick a neutral weapon to begin with. What surprised him however was which weapon he chose. Knowing children his age, they would go for swords and color and badassery... or at least that was what he great- great grandchildren would. Instead, he chose quite Safely in his opinion. A simple spear with no extra factor. Its name was Gentle breeze. Principle Cruise only paused for a second before deciding to nod.

Don sighed once he heard the sign of approval, His siblings were also relieved as well. After they picked their weapons, they were given the armor set. It was the standard set given to all newbie adventurers but it was definitely higher quality than what you would get at the local shop. The top 5 got 1 di-fay energy crystal while the rest got a tri-fay energy crystal. Since Don could not use his yet since he had not fully awakened, he gave his to Elijah. This meant that Elijah receive two di-fay crystals.

While they were walking back to the stadium, Elijah could not help but talk to Don.

"Hey Don...thanks for the crystal and all but...there is something I need to know..." Don turned to Elijah and tilted his head.

"What is it?"

"Did you blackmail the principle, or lie and said you were some expert?" Mark, Vivian, Drew and Maryline quickly turned to look at Don. They had been curious about this but had forgotten about it once they heard about prizes. Don thought about how he could explain what had happened.

"hmm well. He said that I could be a hero or something in the future. I thought that wasn't a bad Idea. So I decided to hit him up on his offer."

Everyone "...." It truly can't be that easy, right? Elijah who had been beaten black and blue could not help but feel like he got the short stick when picking faiths and his siblings got sticks the size of earth. Elijah could only sigh and change the topic before his pride became to damaged.

The group started to talk about weapons and could not stop. Elijah immediately fell in love with Mark's sword which had badass written all over it. Vivian and Maryline kept comparing their weapons to see how it would do in battle and Don could not help but tell Drew about the wonderful legacy of his shield. After hearing the story, Drew could not help but grip the handle a little hard. They group was only stopped when their parents came to pick them up.

"Dad. I am sorry I was not able to get into the top 3..." Vivian said a little disheartened. Her dad shook his head as he saw his daughter's determination.

"Don't worry kid. You already did well enough." Vivian's dad smiled at her daughter with pride spewing from his eyes. Vivian could not help but smile a little back. If the group saw Vivian now, they might not even know that this was the same cold girl.

"Well aren't you going to say hi to your sister?" Beside her dad was her older sister who was in wheelchair. Vivian went back to her cold exterior and scoffed.

"Yeah I saw you. What of it?" Her sister acted offended.

"Wow. Wow. You saw me but did not acknowledge me, how original. I must applaud your bravery for trying to beat the record of number of people hating a single person. Oh wait! I thing you already beat it the day you were born!" Her sister scoffed and wheeled herself off. She suddenly stopped while she was beside her.

"By the way. Congrats. " She then continued to head to the exit. Vivian scoffed coldly as she heard her sister but her face was softer than usual. Her father smiled as he saw his children interacting with each other. He was about to say something to Vivian when suddenly he saw Don and his family walking past him. His face freezes as he remembered a scene that was etched in his mind.

"Dad?"

"Huh?" He suddenly woke up from his stupor.

"Are you ok?" Vivian asked

"Yeah, yeah. I just think that we need some fresh air. Let's go."

.....

It was now late in the night. Mr. and Mrs. Finch and Teacher Zen were planning to leave the day after tomorrow. The kids were so tired that they did not even want to go to the festival but faith had other plans. Before they were able to get to the Inn safely, they were taken up by a crowd of people. Elijah the king of swimming through crowds was too mentally exhausted to fight the crowd. Before they knew it, they were already on the other side of Vernia city, Vernia center hall.

Boom splash crackle

Their ear drums wear assaulted by noises playing around them. The sound of clowns and magicians and jokers and bards where heard from afar. The Finches quickly started to enjoy themselves as they got used to the volume. In the end the kids ended up trying almost every game and seeing almost every act at least once. If it was not for the fact that the night was only so long, they may have stayed longer.

The final show at the end of the festival was a fireworks presentation. Odd runes were inscribed around a container filled with powders of all colors and sizes. After they finished their enchantment, the powder flew into the sky and spread around the dark blue sky. The crowd of people took a moment to marvel at the scene. Even those who have seen this event for many years made sure to capture this moment in their mind.

Don and his siblings were also enthralled by the colorful sky above. They screamed OOs and AHHHs every once in a while. As Don saw the color fade to darkness, he suddenly felt a feeling of pain in his head. He shook it off and waited for the next round of fireworks to begin.

It took only a second for the sky to light up again. The crowd smiled again as the scene of fireworks filled their mind with wonder. Don on the other hand felt awakened from the dream. Every bang was like a cry for help. Screams that could be heard but never answered. The fireworks were no more an array of color but instead a bloody red and as the sparks turned into dust, the blood fell to his face. He could feel every drop, every scream, everything.

Suddenly he hears another bang as the third round of fireworks began. Now he could not only see it and hear it, he also felt like he was being flung into the sky. His blood splattered around the sky and everyone cheered as he was ripped to nothingness.

He could hear someone whispering to him as he was fragmented.

"What have you done? Did you think that you saved everyone? That you're the hero? That you're their hope?" The voice was almost too soft to hear but it pierced through his barriers so ruthlessly. Like a blade.

"I am sorry to say this but...everything you did...all your effort...all your sacrifice...they don't matter. I will only come back stronger...and by then...you...won't...be...able...to...stop...me."

Don gasped for air as he felt the warm touch of his mother.

"Don are you ok? The fireworks have been done for a while yet you're still looking up at the sky." His mom said curiously. Don took in deep breaths. Only after a few moments did he feel like his soul came back to his body.

He looked beside him to see the worried faces of his family. He tried to whip off the sweat without looking weird and smiled at them.

"Yeah I am ok.... I just blanked out a bit. I was thinking about a book and how the fireworks reminded me of it." The Finches sighed in relief as they heard this.

"So what's the name of the book?" Maryline asked.

Without even batting an eye, a book came into mind. It told the survival story of a young girl who hid in the basement of her house for months after her village was taken over by demons. she barely escaped and was one of the millions of people that was personally rescued by the 12 heroes. She later turned her diary from those dreadful months into a book.

"Blue days, Red skies."