The air was cool. Large broken concrete columns were scattered across the vast oval room. The pavement was cracked with intensity from a long brutal battle. Blood soaked in the air; the war was finally over. After years of intense fighting was over. A sigh of relief could be ushered in as the world was saved from the demon lord and his ruthless armies.
However, as opposed to the joy of being free from fighting, the hero's party was in despair. Leonard leaned against one of the few remaining standing columns, breath heavy with exhaustion. Emma was at his side, hands stretched out, healing the false hero. The holy blade that the goddess had sent down from the skies only for the hero to use, was resting against the wall by Leonard. Its once beautiful glamor was hollowed out as it lost all color.
Blood dripped down the elegant blade in one fluid motion. The demon lord's castle interior reflected in the crimson red blood. Chaos. It was the only way to describe the scene. Pure chaos.
Ava stared blankly at the dead corpse of the demon lord, weapon in one hand and the horn of the demon lord in the other hand. Her hand gripped her weapon so hard; her knuckles began to turn pale. She stood like a statue. Not even moving once.
"AHHHH!" A loud scream filled the room. It echoed throughout the circular room, catching everyone's attention.
Slumped on the ground was Evelyn, the former hero's mother. Her hands gripped her head; fingers intertwined with her hair. Tears streamed down her face. A crazed look in her eyes.
She completely snapped. Throughout the battle, she was useless. She watched her only son die in front of her and she lost it. Rather than helping Leonard and the party, she only stared at what remained of her son's body.
"ETHAN! M-MY SON! YOU'RE HURT! LET YOUR MOM HELP YOU!" She tried to grab the remains of Ethan's body but instead all she could get was the bloody mess of what once used to be her son.
"Geez, you need to be more careful, honey. If you get yourself hurt like this again you might die." Everyone looked at Evelyn like she was a mad person. She held several of Ethan's dismembered limbs against her body, as if he was still there, in one piece.
"M-mom?"
"Not now Emma, I'm busy with your brother, he's hurt."
Everyone looked at each other confused. Leonard sighed, exhaustion heavy in his voice. After years of hard work Leonard had managed to take everything from the hero. His Fiancé, his sister, his childhood friend, the woman who had secretly been in love with him, and the person who he considered dearest, his mother.
The hero he always hated was finally gone and it was finally time for Leonard to control the world that Ethan had carved for him.
But… Ethans mother was a problem. He thought that after all the intimate moments they spent together, she would forget her son but as the months passed, he realized he could never replace the love she held in her heart for her son.
However, she would not be able to leave him now because she was carrying his child. A sense of superiority welled up inside Leonard. He wanted to laugh but he had to maintain his image in front of the girls, if he didn't then he'd lose everything like the former hero.
Leonard looked at Evelyn cradling her son's body but opposed to feeling sadness for the scene in front of him, He didn't feel much. If anything, he felt anger for the fact that it wasn't him resting in Evelyns bosom but instead her dead decrepit son.
He was going to have to teach her a lesson but that would be later. For now, he wanted to get some rest, enjoying the death of both the demon lord and the hero, Ethan.
"Mom."
"Please not now sweetie, I'm comforting Ethan."
"Mom."
"…."
"Mom"
"WHAT. WHAT DO YOU WANT!"
"Mom… Ethan is d-dead."
"No, he's not. Please don't talk like that, I don't want him to hear such horrible things."
"Open your eyes mom and look."
"My eyes are open and I can clearly see Ethan sleeping in my arms."
Emma ran towards Evelyn and stripped her away from Ethan. Anger began to swell up in Evelyn as she believed that Emma was interrupting Ethan's nap.
"What are you doing, he needs to sleep."
"Mom… he's dead. Look."
Emma held Ethans dismembered head by the hair and forced Evelyn to face the truth.
"No. NO. NO, NO, NO, NO! You're lying it can't be. My Ethan would never die. He's the strongest in the world. That's right your lying, this is all a magic spell, you're just trying to trick me."
Evelyn raised her knight's blade and pointed it at Emma. Her delusions reach their breaking point.
"You must be the demon lord in disguise. Trying to launch a sneak attack on Ethan."
Evelyn had a crazed look in her eyes as she tried to rationalize her situation.
"I'll protect my son even if it costs me my own life."
Evelyn got into an attack stance, her hands gripping her jagged sword hard enough, to the point her knuckles turned white.
"Mom."
Evelyn lunged forward with full intent to kill Emma who she falsely believed to be the demon lord. Emma was stunned at the idea of her mom trying to kill her. She didn't want to fight her mom and tried to dodge all her strikes.
Evelyns years of experience showed itself as her fluid strikes nearly pierced Emma repeatedly. Emma's already cracked armor began to shatter, her raw skin showing itself. She repeatedly avoided trying to hurt her mother but she soon realized that was going to have to go on the offensive and hurt her mom.
"Just die already."
Emma bit down on her tongue and was preparing to lung towards her mom when all of a sudden Evelyn collapsed.
Evelyn didn't pass out but instead standing on top of her back was Sarah. She pushed her left foot down on Evelyns head and her right foot rested on her lower back.
"Miss please calm down. She's telling you the truth."
"YOU DAMN DEMON. YOUR POOR ATTEMPTS AT DECIEVING ME WONT WORK."
Evelyn swung her sword around like a mad person, in a desperate attempt to kill what she believed to be the demon lord. No matter how hard everyone tried to convince Evelyn that her son had died she refused to believe them.
"ISABELLA AND AVA! I NEED YOUR HELP!"
"What do you want us to do?"
"Please try and break her free from her delusions."
Isabella and Ava nodded simultaneously. Evelyn continued to hurl words of anger towards everyone. After some time and careful debriefing Isabella and Ava came to a conclusion on how to solve the problem.
"I need you to get off her back."
"What?! Why?"
"Just trust me."
Sarah was hesitant at first but eventually consented to Ava's request.
In one swift movement Sarah lunged off Evelyn's back and landed in a corner of the room, watching the situation from afar.
Evelyn busted with anger and zoomed towards Ava. However, just as she got up she felt her body being held by the arms. Isabella was holding her.
Ava moved swiftly. She grabbed a hidden scroll from her pocket and recited a couple of ancient words that were intangible. She placed her pointer finger on the forehead of Evelyn and began the ancient spell.
Evelyn fell unconscious. Her once bursting anger was replaced with a quiet finality. Then it came. The tears. If flooded harder than a broken dam. And then weeps of sadness filled the room. Isabella let her grip on Evelyn go and let her slump down to the ground.
Evelyn crawled on the ground towards her deceased son and began to coddle the body. Not in a delusional way but instead in a way a mother says goodbye to her child. Silence overcame everyone. Grief was heavy in the air.
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
Sadness filled her heart as she finally began to cope with Ethan's death.
"Please… forgive me sweetie."
"Let's go." A masculine voice interrupted, Evelyn didn't care to turn her head. She simply coddled her son repeating the same words repeatedly. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me sweetie."
"Hey Leonard! Let her grieve. She just lost her son."
"I know. But we got to go."
"Don't be an ass and just let her grieve."
Leonard silently watched the whole situation unfold, not uttering a single word. Instead enjoying, everything like it was entertainment.
But now his patience had run low, and he was ready to go home.
"Lets. Go."
Evelyn continued to ignore his words. Holding her son's head in her hands while saying the same words. Leonard was done now. He grabbed Evelyn by her arm and began dragging her out of the demon lord's throne.
"NO! PLEASE LET ME SAY BYE TO MY SON!"
"Shut up please."
"NOOOOO! STOP!!!!!"
Evelyn kicked and screamed like a baby, begging him to stop.
The last thing Evelyn saw was her son's head rolling down looking at her. Eyes wide. Disappointment in them.
She was never able to give him a proper burial or a beautiful farewell. It would stick with her for the next 15 years as regret ate at her.
Not knowing what truly happened to her son.