The Past
The once-red sky started to turn blue and the sound of cheering could be heard all around. They had made it and the final wave had been beaten.
As the dust began to settle, a large crater could be seen in the middle of the battlefield with an impressively large, yellow-green dome over the top of it. A Filolian Queen banged her fists on the dome as if trying to break it, "Master!" She cried out.
As the dome faded away, she stumbled forward, breaking out into a run down the nearly formed hill that the crater had created, "Master!" Her hair was cut to a short bob, silvery white with light blue streaks and two yellow cowlicks bobbing up and down as she ran, her eyes were Magenta. Her white and pink dress was ripped and she had cuts all up her arms and legs. The white wings on her back were covered in dust and dirt.
She stopped when she got to the middle of the crater, her eyes met with the corpse of a large beast, the Wave Boss. She noticed two people near the beast, her eyes widened at the sight of the green cloak, she ran towards them, "Master! Lia! Are you both ok!?" She froze when she caught sight of the shield on her arm, "Master, you said you wouldn't use that again!"
Her master turned and smiled, "I am sorry, Fitoria. I know I promised I wouldn't use it again, but I had to. If I didn't, then..." They turned to the beast.
The other person who had been standing sat down on the floor in exhaustion, she was a Racoon Demi-human, with long red hair plaited to the side. She looked like she had taken quite a beating.
Fitoria looked around, her eyes widened once more when she realised three people were lying on the ground, she stepped towards them, noticing there were the three other heroes, "A-are they..."
The Shield Hero bowed their head, "They didn't make it, only one of them would fight by my side, and the others would not. So I had no choice but to use this shield."
Fitoria looked at her Master, "Is it finally over?"
The Hero smiled, moving to take a step towards her, "Yes, it is. We can go home-" The Hero flinched and fell to kneeling as blood began to ooze from newly opened wounds.
Fitoria and Lia both gasped, rushing to their Master's side, and helping them lie on the floor.
Lia took hold of her Master's hand, "You need to rest now, Master."
The Shield Hero smiled, "Yes, I can rest now... My time has come."
The two girls started to cry.
"No! You can't leave us, not after everything we have been through! You promised we would go back home!"
"The only regret I have is that I am now unable to atone for what I have done." They looked up at them, taking hold of their hands, "I need you to both listen to this..."
They nodded slowly, tears falling down their faces."
The Hero looked at Lia, "Lia... Since the day I met you in Melromarc, you have always surprised me when how strong you are. If it wasn't for you, I would have given up a very long time ago. Thank you for being my sword, my best friend. I need you to keep all the Demi-humans safe, they will look up to you. Be their strength and always remember to keep on smiling." The Hero looked away, "I am sorry for hurting you."
Lia bowed her head, closing her eyes.
The Hero then looked at Fitoria, "You have grown so much since the day you hatched from that egg and now you are the next Filolian Queen, you will have a duty to keep them safe, to rule over them, which I have no doubts that you will be amazing at. I know that you will live for a very long time to come, so I have something to ask of you. When the next Cardinal Heroes are summoned... I want you to..." The Hero coughed up a little bit of blood, pain stretched across their expression, "I want you to make sure that future Heroes don't fight each other as these did. If they fail to cooperate then I want you to... To kill the Cardinal Heroes so that new generations of Heroes can be summoned. There has to be cooperation among everyone in the world to stop the threat of the waves, it's so everyone gets the chance to live another day by choice. This includes the Shield Heroes."
Fitoria nodded slowly, "Of course, Master. I promise that I won't let you down."
As the Shield Hero's body started to fade away, a smile crept on her face, "I am so proud of you both... Your actions will shape future generations... I am sorry..."
I couldn't keep my promise, I am sorry.