My (Monster?) Hero Life

'Not long now! Come on!' Josh grimaced as he was forced away from the staircase. His crew spread out to surround him on the building's roof. There was no way for him to escape the situation, so it was all up to whether or not he could last for the remainder of the time. 

Josh backed up as his crew slowly in on him. His vision was blurred, and his legs felt shaky. From what he could tell, it would not be long until he could not resist anymore. He had simply lost too much blood! The din of metal striking against metal soon resumed as Josh did his best to hold off the renewed assault.

He could only grit his teeth in frustration as more wounds accumulated on his body. Eventually, it became too much for him to deal with any longer as a hard blow drove him to the ground. Josh wheezed, as several sabres were pointed at him. A dark grin spread across his face as he stared at them through his blurry vision.

"Got you!" Josh chuckled before passing out.

Before the cold steel could pierce his body and put an end to him, the final waterfall ran dry. The light dimmed from the controlled crew members' eyes as they collapsed around their captain. Silence descended on the empty city as nothing stirred.

Suddenly, a grinding noise came from a stone monument in the centre of the area. The rocky surface in front of it disappeared into the earth as a stone staircase was revealed that disappeared down into the darkness. A few moments passed before the heavy sound of footsteps echoed from the passageway.

A man wearing emerald green armour slowly ascended from the darkness. He blinked a few times as the light in the testing area hurt his eyes. Slowly, he began to look around and noticed the trail of collapsed bodies that led off towards Josh's location. The man started to stroke his goatee before glancing at the monument.

"How long has it been?" The man wondered as he studied the magical aura the monument emanated. "Hm, this is definitely Zornok's work. Wait! That bastard actually dared to use me as a battery for this thing!"

The man's expression became pissed as he recognised that the monument drew on his own abilities to create the defensive measures for this prison. With a wave of his hand, a magical green string connected him with the stone sentinel. He frowned as he studied how the magic worked before dismantling the enchantments that had been placed upon it.

The man glanced around as he wiped the cold sweat from his brow. 'Typical. Of course, they trapped us in a tiny prison.' The man scoffed as he finished breaking the illusion. He could now see a ghostly ship floating on a shallow body of water not far from his position. The apparent wounds on everyone's bodies vanished as the deceased crew members were revealed to still be alive and actually close by.

If Josh were conscious, he would even be able to recognise that everyone who had been washed off the ship when they first arrived and those who vanished in the tunnels were also present. He would also probably be enraged that they had apparently only crossed a small distance in reality! The illusion magic that protected this place only made them believe that they had natural bodies. 

Everyone actually still had their ethereal nature. The whole place was one giant trick to break the mind of anyone that tried to break in. The man in emerald armour glanced around yet again and was surprised to see the nature of his supposed saviours. 'Some kind of undead, huh? Zornok seems to have outdone himself. Now, let's go find whoever is responsible for this bunch. I need to thank them properly.'

With his understanding of the magic that had been used to create this place, he could accurately deduce that the leader would most likely be at the end of the trail of bodies. The entire city that had been here previously was utterly gone. Josh lay on the ground surrounded by his crew that lasted until the last moments.

'This spiral pattern? Did they imagine they were on some kind of staircase?' The man chuckled as he stared at their layout. 'Oh, now this is interesting. A wraith, huh? Did Sonja send him? Has the rebellion already reached this far?'

The man frowned as he studied Josh's features. 'No, I don't recognise this one. So a decent amount of time should have passed since my capture. Plus, he isn't wearing the traditional armour the vampires forged for them. A renegade then?'

The man found himself to be caught in a dilemma. This wraith had freed him from his imprisonment, so he deserved a reward. However, if he was a renegade, then he was obligated to take him prisoner and return him to his ally for judgement. 'I should probably confirm the situation first.'

A bright green string of magic connected the man's palm to Josh's forehead. Suddenly an illusion began to play in his palm of everything Josh had experienced since becoming a wraith. The man's expression grew grim as the events unfolded. He was almost ready to put an end to the wraith when it reached the part where it was revealed that he was created illegally.

However, he stilled his hand to gain as much information that he could. The appearance of the Chimera in Josh's memories greatly interested him. 'Much has changed, and I've been locked away for too long. I hope Sonja's alright. This place, it should be close to Lady Rysa's domain. I'll have him take me there.'

When the illusion reached its end, the man let out a pulse of mana that broke the illusory cages that had been placed on the minds of Josh and his crew that prevented them from waking up. As Josh slowly came to, he found a pair of bright green eyes staring at him intently.

"Who are you?" Josh mumbled as he tried to shake off the fogginess in his mind.

"Me?" The man chuckled. "I'm your ally, apparently. Many people know me by my title, or they did, at least. I am the Reality Blade, Terrell Pierce!"