What does it mean to be a hero?
"S-shouldn't we finish him o-off? H-he could turn on us again." A timid girl asked, her voice filled with static through the intercoms. She wore a heavily plated suit of mechanical armor compared to me and the others in the room. Behind her back was a large war hammer plated with steel, with thin pink lights pulsing through the base and rod. Her armor was painted with a worn green camo with two faded strips of pink on her left arm.
Is it to take a stand against evil?
"Killing him would only ease the punishment that his treacherous actions deserve. Burning to death in nuclear fire seems like a fitting punishment." A voice drenched in anger spoke as they approached me. Her mechanical armor was light-looking, with a large compound bow made with lightweight metal with purple lights pulsing throughout, strapped to her back. Her armor had a single purple strip on her left arm. "I can't believe I spent ten years chasing after you. Give me back my time!" I felt a heavy blow to the chest that sent my body rolling across the floor. Each time my helmet hit the ground, I could hear her words gripping my heart.
Does it mean to have the will to fight when nobody can?
"Honestly, I think having him be cooking alive along with those…creatures is a bit too gruesome. He is still human. And whether or not you like it, we are still alive today because of him." A disinterested man spoke from a distant corner of the room, carrying a large device that beeped every second. On his left arm were two blue stripes. "But like always, you brutes fail to listen to reason."
Or does blindly following the orders of a mad king who would willingly lie to get his way, make you a hero?
[PRIVATE TRANSMISSION INCOMING]
I bit my lower lip at the automated message that popped up on my display. Till the end, he tends to hide his intentions from the others.
"Should have just followed orders, my friend." A degrading voice filled my armor. It belonged to someone I had known for my entire life. Rather, it was someone I thought I knew. On his arm were four red stripes, just one less than my five yellow stripes. "The truth behind the war will be meaningless if we are the victors. The fate of humanity is at stake here, and killing the natives is a small price to pay for our survival."
"Al, you are a sick, twisted bastard. Why do you align with the whims of that fool—" I felt something exit my body that should not have left.
"You have some lovely entrails." I looked towards Al. He was standing at a long crimson trail of viscera that snaked across the ground like a macabre ribbon. At the other end of that trail was my lower half, limp and lifeless in a pool of blood. Al grabbed my guts and rubbed his fingers across them. "I hope you burn in the deep, most brutal pits of hell for trying to squash the goals of our king—no supreme lord of the new world!" His hands closed, and he ripped my gut straight out of my body.
[WARNING VITALS CRITICAL]
"Ack!!" I let out a pained cry as I felt several small needles stab my body. In mere moments, I felt a rush of relief spread throughout my body. My armor's automated system had flooded my body with painkillers to ease my suffering.
"Look, we ain't got much time till that payload blows. Let's drop it off at the site and haul ass to evac." He turned to the others and barked his orders.
"R-roger!"
"Understood!"
"Sure."
The others responded as they left the room, leaving only me and Al.
"I truly wish that you could have awakened from that delusional dream of yours, but I see that could never have happened. While you are burning, I'll relish the boons of being a hero, something that you have dreamt of for so long." He turned away, tossing my weapons at my side. Without another word, he waved with the back of his hand and left.
"Bastards!!!" I slammed my fist into the ground with all my might. I could not feel any pain, but now I could no longer move it.
[WARNING VITALS CRITICAL]
The alarm sounded again. It was a useless alarm meant to warn the others that I was at death's door. But they already knew that, after all, they had caused me to be in this situation. With nothing else to do, I looked at my own entrails. A normal person would have grown pale at the mere sight, but I felt nothing. I had cut down too many lives to be remotely disturbed at such a sight. Both brutal and inventive, I have snuffed out the lives of anything that dared to kill us as a race. The lives of the innocent who have done nothing but protect their homes. A bitter taste of the truth lingered, as I was reminded of the lies that were forced down my throat by the madman who dared call himself the king of humanity.
200 years, that was how long we humans have been at war. From 8 billion to 200 thousand, we struggled against our extinction caused by an endless force of extraterrestrial threats. Until recently, I believed that lie.
The childhood innocence of hearing the stories of the brave few who fought to protect us. A hero of humanity. The title that was given to both me and my former friend after the grim day that took everything away from us. A title baked with lies.
A noble king who stood on the throne that stood for generations as the rest of the world fell to ruin. A skilled tactician who kept the remaining survivors alive after the previous kings had failed to do so. A man who discovered a means to attack our foes on equal footing, all the while striking at their heart. That man was a lie.
[WARNING! NUCLEAR DETONATION DETECTED! INITIALIZING GAMA SHEILDS…ERROR—SUIT INTEGRITY COMPROMISED]
Everything I had fought for, everything I had believed, was a lie. It was meaningless. Just what are we, where are we? That was a question I knew I would never get the answer to. Maybe this was a fitting punishment for those who lack ignorance. Had I never stumbled across those records, things could have been different. Maybe the guilt of a meaningless war would not strain my chest so much with each life I took. If I could, I would redo it, expose the truth before I could have claimed so many lives.
"I would do anything…" I spoke in a dying breath. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth as my lungs burned. "God…if you exist…Please!" It was pointless to call to a being that had never existed, but part of me wanted to try. Maybe that, too, was a lie, the belief that such a being never existed just because they allowed all of this to happen. A being that would allow me the chance to redo it all. It was a long shot that never saw fruition. My skin blistered and burned. The pain overpowered my painkillers, forcing my mouth to open to let out a scream. Yet all that came out was nothing. No sound remained as my vision faded in an instant.
"Do you wish to change your ways? Repent maybe? Or seek those who dammed you and make them pay." A voice called out from the emptiness of space. A feminine voice that sounded so close, yet the figure it belonged to was not there. "Let us make a deal."