As the mages and Heroes made their grand entrance into the lavishly adorned throne room, the atmosphere was charged with anticipation and the subtle rustling of fabric and footsteps. Aultcray, a figure of imposing authority and regal demeanor, surveyed the newcomers with a practiced, almost clinical gaze. His eyes, sharp and discerning, meticulously examined each Hero as they moved into his presence. He scrutinized their posture, attire, and overall bearing with an unspoken intensity that bespoke years of experience in judgment.
However, when the his gaze finally settled upon the Shield Hero, his scrutinizing assessment came to an abrupt halt. The irritation that had previously clouded his perception seemed to evaporate as if by magic, replaced by an overwhelming sense of confusion and an undeniable surge of curiosity. It was as though the Shield Hero had abruptly defied all of King Aultcray's expectations, and he was left grappling with the enigma before him.
His bewilderment was entirely justifiable, and one could easily empathize with his confusion. Traditionally, every Hero who had appeared in this world had shared a common heritage—each hailed from Japan, as Aultcray remembered with a mix of nostalgia and frustration. They were uniformly human, fitting a predictable mold that made their appearances somewhat mundane in their familiarity. Yet, this particular Shield Hero was a glaring anomaly. He defied the very essence of what was conventionally expected.
In fact, Aultcray found himself questioning whether this Shield Hero was even human or if he was a subspecies of demi-human, or an entirely new and unfamiliar quasi-human species!
To begin with, the Shield Hero's physical appearance was profoundly unconventional and disconcerting. His body was characterized by an unnervingly rigid and blocky geometry. His head was a perfectly squared shape, his torso a rectangular prism, and his limbs bore a resemblance to stiff, rectangular rods. Each movement he executed was jerky and mechanical, devoid of the fluid grace one might anticipate from a human or even a demi-human. As the Shield Hero traversed the throne room, his gait was cumbersome and ungraceful, with his legs and arms moving in an unnaturally stilted manner. His cyan and blue attire appeared not as separate clothing but as an integrated extension of his form, blending seamlessly with his body in a way that was both peculiar and unsettling.
When Aultcray addressed the assembly and inquired about the Heroes' names, it was exactly as he had predicted—all three Heroes were indeed from Japan. As he moved on to the Shield Hero, he noted that the Hero seemed indifferent to both his own introduction and the attention of the other Heroes. This apathy was of little concern to Aultcray. The Shield Hero's apparent muteness—or at least the absence of any auditory indications such as rustling clothes, breathing sounds, or a heartbeat—was something the King found intriguing. Even the use of a discreet sound amplification spell had yielded no discernible noises from the Shield Hero, further deepening the sense of mystery surrounding him.
The most unsettling aspect of this peculiar Hero, however, was undoubtedly his eyes. King Aultcray's gaze flickered uneasily over the Hero's face, which, like the rest of his form, was unnervingly squared. The eyes themselves—if they could even be classified as such—were square black voids encased in white borders. Their fixed, unblinking nature contributed to a disquieting effect, amplifying the sense of otherworldliness. The Shield Hero's complete lack of visible emotion and his unchanging expression cast a shadow of doubt over his very humanity.
Aultcray found himself increasingly unsettled by this enigmatic figure. The Shield Hero's gaze seemed unyielding, as though he were not merely observing but intensely scrutinizing his surroundings, including the King himself. The rigid structure of the Shield Hero's face made it nearly impossible to discern any form of genuine human reaction, should he indeed be human.
At one moment, there was a slight yet perceptible shift in the Shield Hero's gaze. Though his expression remained eerily vacant, there was a subtle alteration—his eyes seemed to expand slightly, and the black squares appeared to draw closer together. This fleeting change suggested a degree of surprise, though Aultcray found himself puzzled as to what could have prompted such a reaction. The grandeur of the throne room, while impressive, did not appear to be the source of this shift in the Hero's demeanor. Moreover, the Shield Hero's gaze was not directed at any particular feature of the room.
Instead, the Shield Hero's attention seemed to be fixed on the shield he carried. His left arm, moving with its characteristic stiffness, extended to touch the shield. At that precise moment, a peculiar transformation occurred—the gem embedded in the middle of Legendary Shield, which had previously been a rich verdant green, shifted to a striking cyan hue. This subtle yet noticeable change was astonishing, yet none of the other mages or Heroes seemed to notice this anomaly. Only Aultcray was privy to this peculiar development.
The King's observations were abruptly interrupted when the Spear Hero asked him, eager to inquire about the powers of the Heroes and the nature of the monsters they would confront. Aultcray dutifully answered the Spear Hero's questions, providing detailed explanations regarding the monstrous threats they would face. Despite his efforts to address the Spear Hero's inquiries, his mind remained preoccupied with the enigmatic and blocky Shield Hero, an anomaly that defied all known precedents.
As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting long, ethereal shadows across the castle grounds, the Heroes were escorted to their respective quarters. The corridors, though resplendent with grandeur, were imbued with a palpable tension. The Shield Hero, maintaining his characteristic rigidity, brought up the rear of the procession.
In the solitude of his private chambers, Aultcray was surrounded by an extensive collection of ancient texts and scrolls. His determination to uncover any reference to a Hero of such an extraordinary and unprecedented nature drove him to pore over the documents long into the night. Hours passed as the flickering candlelight cast dancing shadows upon the walls, yet despite his exhaustive search, no records or mentions of a Hero matching the Shield Hero's unusual description could be found. It was as though this Shield Hero was a singular anomaly, a deviation from the established historical norm, and Aultcray was left grappling with the profound mystery that he could not yet unravel.
Author Notes:
Steve is not the first choice for the Shield. Also, I didn't know if the color of the gem on the Legendary Weapon was relevant or not to the plot, so I just made the shit up.