Chapter 118: Hero

The valley entrance looked exactly as ominous as Grace remembered before her excruciating training sessions. It had only been like a week but it felt like an eternity. Black rock walls rose up on both sides like the world’s most depressing welcome sign. Heat waves danced off everything, making the air thick enough to chew.

[Why does every important moment in my life involve walking toward certain death?]

Grace checked her armor straps for the fifth time.

Then the sixth.

Then got started on the seventh before catching herself.

“You sure about this?” Seraph asked.

They stood at the threshold. Grace felt like she was stepping into a sauna. Seraph looked ready to charge in at the first sign of trouble. Valkyrie had her arms crossed and her usual ’everyone’s an idiot’ expression. Alia and Zephyr were holding hands, trying to look brave.

“No.” Grace adjusted her sword belt again. The thing kept sliding. “But I’m doing it anyway. It’s clear the Flame isn’t willing to wait much longer for our, uh, reunion.”

[I wonder if I should even try to convince her I’m not Eternia. Might actually make my incoming torture session even worse,] she thought, swallowing.

“I could come with you.” Seraph stepped forward. “Watch your back. Make sure she doesn’t—”

“Get your head cut off again?” Grace shook her head hard enough to make her white hair whip around. She’d spent the last hour arguing against this and apparently Seraph had no problem wasting another 60 minutes. “Hard pass. One talking head was enough for a lifetime.”

“I survived!”

“It was traumatizing to look at!” Grace’s voice went up an octave. “I’d rather not see my commander having to move around as just a torso and limbs, thank you.”

Seraph opened her mouth to argue and closed it.

“Well, alright then.”

“You know, we might not even see Grace again,” Valkyrie chimed in, helpful as always. “The Flame isn’t some demon she can stab and move on. She’s rage incarnate. She’ll tear Grace apart. You thought Seraph’s headless body walking around was the stuff of nightmares? Just wait till you see bits and pieces of angelic noodles trying to will themselves back together.”

“Thanks for the pep talk.” Grace wiped sweat from her forehead. It immediately came back, of course. “Really feeling the support.”

“I’m being realistic.” Valkyrie’s scarred face showed zero emotion. “You can’t win.”

“Good thing I’m not trying to win then.”

Valkyrie’s face scrunched up.

Grace looked at the valley. At the red glow coming from deeper inside. At what was definitely, absolutely going to hurt like a bitch. Once again, she explained her plan, like it was going to make carrying it out any easier.

“The Flame wants to hurt someone. Needs to hurt someone.” Grace touched her medallion. Still ice-cold despite the heat trying to cook her alive. “She’s been carrying Eternia’s rage for millennia. All that anger with nowhere to go… So I’m going to let her beat the shit out of me until she feels better.”

Silence. Somehow, they’d taken it better when Grace laid the plan out the first time. Like hearing it now, here, in front of this valley, was different.

“That’s idiotic,” Valkyrie said finally.

“That’s the plan.”

“You’ll die.”

“Angels don’t die from—”

“You’ll wish you could die.” Valkyrie cut her off. “There’s a difference between sparring bruises and what she’ll do to you. She’ll break every bone. Burn you from inside out. Make you beg for death.”

Grace knew that.

She had spent a week getting her ass kicked specifically to prepare for worse. Had felt Valkyrie’s sword at her throat enough times to know what real danger felt like.

That being said, she understood that knowing and experiencing were different things.

[I’m probably going to end up as just a head in a bag. If I’m lucky.]

“Look,” Grace said, trying to sound more confident than she felt. Her progress in the Bravery department was doing some heavy lifting here. “The Flame isn’t trying to kill me. Not really. She wants me to suffer. To feel what she feels. That’s… survivable.”

“You hope.”

“I hope.”

Another silence.

Then Alia was there, grabbing Grace’s face with both hands.

“Hm? Do I have something on my-”

She kissed Grace hard enough to bruise.

Tongue, teeth, and a hint of desperation. When she pulled back, they were both breathing hard and Grace was blinking.

“For luck! And, well, because I wanted to.”

Zephyr rolled her eyes but, as always, she followed her best friend’s lead. As much as she liked to act like the wise one in the friendship, Grace knew she was just as chaotic. She took her turn next. Slower but just as intense. She tasted like that tea she always drank, sweet and spicy. Her hands tangled in Grace’s hair.

“Hopefully, you’ll come back to us in… close to one piece, at least.”

“Hopefully.”

Even Valkyrie stepped forward.

No kiss, thank Eternia. Just a hand on Grace’s shoulder. Heavy. Solid.

“Try not to get messed up too badly.”

“Your support continues to overwhelm me.”

The corner of Valkyrie’s mouth twitched. Almost a smile.

“You lasted longer than I thought you would in training.” She squeezed once. “Maybe you’ll surprise me again.”

[Holy shit. Was that actually a compliment?]

Seraph was last. She pulled Grace into a hug that definitely cracked a couple of ribs.

“Ow.”

“Shut up.” Seraph held tighter. “Remember your training. Remember to breathe. Remember to dodge when you can.” She pulled back, golden eyes serious. “And remember—you’re stronger than you think. Stronger than you were. Maybe strong enough.”

Grace nodded. Her throat felt tight.

“Right. Okay. I’m going now.”

She turned toward the valley. Took one step. Then another.

“Grace!”

She looked back. All four of them watching her. Worried about her. Worried about how badly she was going to get messed up, specifically.

[… I am not in for a good time, am I?]

“We’ll be right here,” Seraph called. “If it takes too long, we’ll be coming in.”

“Define too long.”

Seraph just shrugged.

“I’ll go by my gut.”

Super comforting.

Grace waved. Turned back to the valley. Started walking for real this time.

The heat hit harder with each step. Like walking into an oven that somehow kept getting hotter and hotter. Her armor went from sauna to torture device in an instant.

[This is so much worse than the first time I came in here. Or, am I just nervous?]

Sweat poured down her back, pooled in uncomfortable places.

But she kept moving.

Deeper into the valley. Past scorch marks that looked like screaming faces. Past stone that had melted and reformed into twisted shapes. Past the spots where demons had watched before, their presence still lingering like a bad smell.

The Flame waited at the heart of the volcano.

Grace could feel her.

That rage wasn’t just an emotion. It was like a physical thing pressing against her mind. Like standing next to a musical instrument, playing directly into her ear.

[This is insane. This is completely fucking insane.]

But for the first time since this whole mess started, Grace didn’t feel like running.

The scared turnip farmer who’d died all those months ago? She would’ve pissed herself and fled. Would’ve found the nearest hole to hide in.

This Grace kept walking.

She felt… ready wasn’t the right word. Nobody was ready to get beaten up by a god.

Determined, maybe.

Or just too stubborn to quit.

Her Bravery had jumped to 61 after beating Valkyrie. Maybe that was it. The number changing something fundamental inside her. Making her feel less like a fraud and more like the hero everyone seemed to think she was.

[Or maybe I’m just an idiot with a death wish. Fifty-fifty.]

Either way, her feet kept moving forward.

The valley opened up ahead. She could see it now—the Flame’s domain. The place where Seraph had lost her head and Grace had run like her ass was on fire.

Which it almost had been.

Not this time.

This time, she walked in with her head high. Well, as high as she could manage while sweating through her underwear. Her Blade of Eternia hummed at her side, ready but not drawn. No point starting aggressive.

Her heart pounded hard enough to hurt. But it was steady.

Ready to let a god beat the shit out of her and hope it helped.

[Here goes nothing. Or everything. Fuck.]

The heat spiked so hard her eyes watered. The ground under her feet went from hot to ’standing on a griddle.’

The Flame was close. So close Grace could taste the rage in the air.

Time to be a hero.

Or at least pretend to be one long enough to maybe not die.

[I can do this. I can totally do this. I’m not going to die. Probably.]

She took another step forward.

Then another.

Walking straight into the heart of a volcano to face a pissed-off god who wanted to use her as a punching bag.

[When did my life get so weird?]

But she kept walking anyway.

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