Chapter 2: The Book Of Heroes

Vincent later arrived in his apartment. He impatiently placed the book on the table and rushed to grab a few snacks and a bottle of water. The preparation for the reading session was complete. As he sat down in front of the book, he smirked at the title.

"The Book Of Heros, huh? Now that's a generic name. Well, Kevin liked it simple. " Vincent let out a chuckle when he thought this was something Kevin would do.

Words written in green filled his sight as he opened the book for the second time. After flipping a few pages to see how many pages of enjoyment he has, Vincent noticed how the last story was riddled with green ink spills.

Hours passed, and the sun had set. Night arrived, and the reading session was complete. Vincent stood up and stretched his arms while feeling quite tired after reading the Book Of Heroes nonstop.

Vincent went to take a breath of fresh air after it took a toll on his body, leaving him feeling exhausted and his legs cramped. He walked to the balcony, rested his arms on the railings, and gazed at the crescent moon with the six tales of heroes still fresh on his mind.

After binge reading the whole book, Vincent felt that the tales kept feeling more and more real with each page. As per every tale, the consequences felt more realistic.

At first, it was a typical human versus demons tale. The humans, with the help of unknown ancient magic, created The Book Of Heroes. One similar to what he read. Vincent felt it was a nice touch to create the lore of a teleporting book.

Later the first Hero got summoned. As usual, the Hero beats the demons sending them to retreat. After that, the story alternates from standard patterns. The Hero's rise in fame made the King jealous by the day.

The Hero gradually became a famous figure outranking even the King himself. So the jealous King planned a devious trap. The King sent the Hero and his retainers for an urgent rescue quest. To save a village being raided by the demon clan's remnants, but this was all a trap.

The demons already went into hiding and were nowhere to be seen. When the Hero and his retainers arrived, the village was filled with corpses inhumanely killed. Men, women, children, and even pets filled the streets with gore.

The streets permeated the repulsive stench of death. It was disgusting beyond recognition, so much that many of the Hero's retainers ended up puking at the revolting scene.

As this happened, the King continued with his agenda. He branded the Hero as a merciless Villan. Soon rumors spread like wildfire. Instead of helping the village, the Hero killed everyone, not sparing a single soul.

As the King told his people what he wanted them to hear. The people blindly believed his deceit. Later the King announced how summoning the Hero was a grand mistake. Then shamelessly continued how he wanted to fix this problem.

After many years of fighting, years of senseless bloodshed, both sides were at a standstill. The Hero didn't want to kill the innocent blindly as he tried to show the people how the Hero wasn't as the King lied.

As such, the Hero and his retainers dug secrets on the corrupt nobles. Unsurprisingly, the King was involved in many unspeakable acts as well. Even the two generations after the King's reign. Every piece of horrid information allowed the Hero to build a case and show who the real Villan was.

The Hero did all this because he didn't want to stoop to the same disgusting level, but it was only a futile dream.

At the hundredth year from the day the Hero got summoned, he abruptly vanished, leaving no trace behind. Where he went, the book didn't explain. No matter how much they searched, the retainers couldn't find the Hero. Believing the Hero was killed by the human kingdom, the retainers went berserk.

As their hold on sanity was lost from rage and revenge, they abused the powers received from the retainer brand. The retainers attacked whatever appeared before their crazed eyes. No matter what race was in their path, it was wiped with a brutal end.

The races ended up banding together, forming a coalition attack force. A few years later, all retainers were wiped out. If any survived the onslaught, the book didn't mention.

After such a world-changing event, any otherworldy existence was referred to as an invader, a cursed existence.

Suddenly by no one's orders, the book summoned a second hero. The book was created by unexplained ancient Asura magic. One that was still untested. As such, the mysterious book resumed its function, to summon heroes.

The second Hero was no pushover. For what he did in his time alive, any otherworldy Hero was branded to be killed on sight.

The inhabitants of this world would later conclude how an unkilled Hero vanishes every hundred years, and a new one would take their place.

The first Hero had powers revolving around blood magic. This is what allowed the King to sway the people easily.

The second Hero was a summoner. He was treated like a walking disaster and almost got executed by trusting the wrong people. He got fed up quickly and started summoning various species of monsters bound to his will.

The Hero became blinded by revenge for what happened to him. The goblins, orcs, trolls, and countless hoards of different monstrosities were ordered to attack everyone in sight.

As the years passed, his control over high intelligent beings waned. After breaking their hold in retaliation, he ended up receiving a horrible death from a thousand cuts. Their anger was too much to bear.

The third Hero could turn into a merman and live underwater. He could turn his retainers into merman such as him. In the end, they lived far away from any other race.

The fourth Hero had the power to enhance his strength and build up power, growing stronger the more he trained. Not welcomed by anyone, he became a nomad till unsummoned by the book.

The fifth Hero had the power of the mind. Telekinesis, telepathy, and even mind control. However, she wasn't an evil person.

Shunned by others, she used her powers to help monsters. With telepathy, she could communicate with any intelligent monster race. If she could communicate with animals, the book didn't say.

In her several years alive, the fifth Hero taught many species of monsters the ability to talk. Many were monsters summoned by the second Hero, such as goblins, orcs, and lamias.

Some monsters became intelligent. Understanding the peaceful human way on earth made numerous monster tribes less violent. Before her horrible death, she was referred to as their Goddess in the eyes of these monster tribes.

The weirdest part was the story of the sixth Hero. Kevin always mentioned he was writing five heroic tales from time to time, but strangely there was another one.

Not only that, but the sixth Hero was strange. The Hero's name was Kevin Brooks, the same name as his friend and savior.

The pages were riddled with a lot of green ink spills and made some of the story unreadable. Vincent perceived how this Hero acted very differently. As if it wasn't a story but real life.

Kevin the Hero, was summoned in a forest. In front of him was a caravan group counting their human merchandise. Cages filled with slaves made Kevin shiver at this horrific sight.

Kevin was targeted. With no choice but to fight back, he mysteriously transformed into a werewolf.

As for the details of what transpired, Vincent didn't know. The green ink spills started from there. It seemed the story proceeded with Kevin having a few slaves accept him as their savior.

How they were convinced wasn't mentioned as well. Like the third Hero before him, the retainers were given the power to transform into beastman of diverse animal races.

After that, his beastman clan would save countless slaves. Most would follow while others spread the word secretly of a savior. The more this happened, the more infamy his beastman clan was developing. It lasted until the secret of being a Hero was revealed, and their whereabouts reported to the nearby Selos Kingdom.

The kingdom sent its army lead by its most powerful royal guard to wipe the Hero and his retainers. The person was a berserker with the ability to become more powerful than a hundred men combined.

Kevin ended up sacrificing his life to allow his retainers and his pregnant wife to escape. Even though it was just a story, tears began flowing from Vincent's eyes.

The last story felt so real to him it, and he couldn't explain why. Wiping his emotional tears, Vincent went to his balcony for a breath of fresh air while this story echoed in his mind.

A few minutes later, the smell of cigarette smoke invaded his nose. On the balcony near him was Trisha puffing a cig while staring at him.

As it was the anniversary of her late husband, Trisha couldn't sleep. While smoking on the balcony to calm her nerves, she noticed Vincent staring at the moon in a daze.

'It looks like Vincent has already read the book. As always, he's stuck in a daze with his deep thinking.' She thought with a smile.

Trisha let out a light chuckle and looked at the time. It was ten o'clock in the evening, an excellent time to call it a day and start another busy Monday.

The smell of smoke abruptly stopped Vincent's thoughts. He turned his head and saw Trisha waving her hand.

"Ahh... Aunt Trisha, I didn't see you there. Did you perhaps read the book before giving it to me? " Vincent asked hopefully to hear yes.

Trisha nodded with a gentle smile as she gazed at his green emerald eyes illuminated under the moonlight. They were unique yet calming to see, brimming with curiosity faintly glowing in the dark. It was a common occurrence whenever Vincent read an exciting book.

"I can tell what you want to ask. Is it perhaps the sixth tale? " Trisha knew Vincent for many years. Hitting the nail on the head was a simple thing to do as she found out he was quite easy to read his intentions.

Not knowing from where to start, Vincent nodded, trying to consider what question to ask.

"We couldn't have children after he got infected... That's maybe why he wrote a Hero named like him to have a pregnant wife. " Trisha immediately went to the most crucial part of the tale.

Vincent didn't know about this because he never asked and forgot what he saw once on the news. He quickly remembered how infected people could only have children with other infected people. Now he knew why the good couple never had a child.

"I wouldn't mind if it was true. We made a promise once, hehe. " Trisha let out a light chuckle reminiscing of her past, then puffed a cloud of smoke at the crescent moon.

"Gabriella if a daughter or Vincent Junior if a son. " Trisha took a glance at Vincent and let a sly smile. She was teasing yet serious at the same time.

Vincent felt awkward at the name Vincent Junior, so much so that it made him cringe. Wishing to change the subject, Vincent remembered something strange. There were six tales instead of five. Maybe Trisha had an idea, and Vincent wanted to know why.

"Ahem... Aunt Trisha, do you know why there are six tales? " Vincent cleared his throat and addressed the mystery troubling his mind.

"I don't know, if not for... " Trisha abruptly stopped sadly looking at the crescent moon. She was still sad about mentioning her husband's loss.

"If you don't want to say... " Vincent wanted to end this subject feeling bad, but suddenly Trisha interrupted him.

"Kevin never told me. Like you, I thought the book had five tales, but after reading it, there were six. " Trisha said her last words as she yawned from a tiring day. Trisha said her good night and went inside.

Vincent took one last glimpse at the crescent moon, then went inside to close the book.

Bzz!... Bzz!...

Strangely, the book was closed. But Vincent could hear a strange buzzing sound. He took out his smartphone, but it wasn't ringing nor vibrating.

As the buzzing sound kept buzzing nonstop, Vincent looked down. There he saw the book vibrate as if it was a phone. He gasped in fright, took a few steps back, and fell on the floor.