Disclaimer: I do not own Hero: 108.
Chapter 23 - Reincarnation:
Lin Chung looked sadly at where Lady Green had been standing only a moment ago. "They'll be alright?" He confirmed with Tien Kwan, with the older deity nodding his head in response.
"They will be reborn in another life."
"Why?" Lin Chung asked.
Tien Kwan looked at him carefully. "The world has become too much for them. The corruption for power, the need to become stronger than the rest."
Lin Chung wanted to protest. That was not his family.
His family was loving, and cared for one another, underneath all of the arguments they had and shared. After all, no family was perfect. But Lin Chung didn't say anything.
"Not all of them."
"Their links to the family are too strong. Anything could reactivate it."
"What about the other deities? Chaos? I mean, Twin Masters?"
Tien Kwan sighed. "He, too has to be ridded of. And me as well. That is why you must stay behind to help lead the new world."
"Then why me?" Lin Chung implored. Already, an idea was forming in his mind about how the others could remember, even without his interference.
Tien Kwan let out a sad smile. "You are the most separated from your family, yet you are still one of the most powerful with good morals and intentions. And I won't just leave you." He turned, and beckoned. At once, Jumpy came bounding out, half in confusion and half in fear.
He moved to Lin Chung, turning to his smaller form, allowing Lin Chung to scratch him behind his ears. "Lin Chung?"
His voice was unusually timid, but who could blame him? After all, he had just found out that all the deities he had known, his whole world, was about to change and get destroyed.
Now, he clung on to the only thing left, seeking comfort from it.
"Tien Kwan?"
A hum was his answer.
"I expect for this to work. Do not forget who I am merely in this age."
Tien Kwan allowed a small smile to slip onto his face. "Of course."
Lin Chung turned to where Tien Kwan had been standing, only to find empty air.
"We're alone now, Jumpy. Just you and me against the world."
Lady Green ran out of Sammo with the rest of First and Second Squad, watching Rosefinch lead them over the trees, before she stopped abruptly, going in for landing as a huge hand swiped down from above.
Continuing to run, they reached a clearing, where Rosefinch had already landed.
Twin Masters stood there, with Bearstomp and Highroller, along with a giant beast.
Normally, Lady Green wouldn't be afraid of Highroller, but there was something about him that seemed more sinister than usual. A sort of maniac, crazed look, in his eye.
"Prepare to die, my children!"
"What?" Mighty Ray spluttered.
Lady Green turned, hearing laughter beside her. Lin Chung was staring up at the huge beast, joy in his eyes as he turned "Finally", to see the confused and slightly scared looks of the others.
"Why are you laughing?!" Kowloon demanded. "That thing, whatever it is," He pointed to the large beast, "Is gonna kill us, and seems to think we are his children!"
Before Lin Chung could answer, he dodged out of the way, and a shadow snuck up behind Highroller, knocking him off balance, eyes dark with anger. Highroller's eyes got huge as he turned to Twin Masters. "He remembers!"
Instantly, the beast leapt forward, but Lin Chung countered it with a steely look in his eyes that none had seen before, a sharp command. "Jumpy!"
They turned, confused, before leaping back as they saw Jumpy run up to the creature. "Jumpy!" Mystique Sonia shrieked.
But a strange thing happened. As Jumpy ran, he changed, becoming larger, more dog-like, with eventually three heads. They froze, watching as he tackled the large beast, sinking his teeth into the beasts' neck, before turning to look innocently at Lin Chung, who gripped his bamboo staff, turning to the others with an all too familiar smirk.
Lady Green froze again, memories coming back to her instantly, of fighting in battles, of sharing victory with the others...her family. She remembered the last day on the battlefield, looking at Lin Chung curiously while he looked back at her forlornly.
Out of all of them, only Lin Chung and Jumpy had survived the annihilation of all of the Heroes, Warriors, and deities.
Lin Chung seemed to realise that they had remembered.
"Welcome back."