Disposable Hero

This is a lengthy series with many characters it is strongly recommended that you start from chapter 1 for this to make any sense.

I thrive on feedback so please feel free to leave comments.

This is written with the intent of making it into a graphic novel so if something seem out of place it is because they are meant to be drawn.

Please enjoy the continuation of Henri's adventure and without further ado.

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Disposable Hero 5

A Hero Learns and an Angel Joins

The Gathering

Gabriella smiled at his orders and knew that he was truly a good choice if a rough one, she liked that he didn't want to kill them just to leave them here to die but not by her hand and not by his. She settled in to watch over him and kept a close eye on the other Drow as they took watch, she played close attention to Zilvra who seemed annoyed that he wasn't with them, but she seemed to understand why. Zilvra felt torn between her own Drow ways and customs that she knew so well and the openness to which Henri seemed to live and deal with people, she wondered if deep down he was right. She decided to sleep between Henri and the others, in many ways this was as much a symbol of her changing attitude towards those on the surface as the necessity of being able to keep the two apart from each other.

As they all slept Ethevrar'yl was meeting with a very dark elf indeed, she had been sent with an offer for her from their queen. Ethevrar'yl had been a little lax being this close to both the dwarven stronghold and the surface to think that the Intra would send anybody after them. This dark sister had snuck up on her and after she got over the thought that she was a dead woman, she knew something was up. The dark sister as she called herself gave her the choice she could help Intra and be allowed to return to the Foreverdark under the queen's protection if she wanted, as long as she did one little thing. Ethevrar'yl asked what it was knowing full well this was a trap but wanting to return back home or at least to another city in the Foreverdark, she hated the surface her eyes hurt all the time, it was always noisy and she wouldn't have to listen to that damn human anymore.

She agreed to the request and the dark sister gave her message pellets and told her that they will most likely go to a village of their kind and when you get there to message them and they will get rid of her foolish mother once and for all. As Dark Sister walked back to her queen she knew the truth, this one would soon be a soulless servant like she was. The queen had her private army called Dark Sister they had no names and were never seen. That was the real reason behind the attack on their house in the first place was to capture and turn Belarbreena and Zilvra into Dark Sister or flee to the surface if they had succeeded Belabreena and Zilvra would then join their sisters. Lloth had given a twisted gift to her general, through demonic rape and soul destruction a Dark Sister was born, they were loyal beyond question and imbued with enough power to kill Eilistraee and be rid of that problem before the elves renewed.

As Ethevrar'yl came out of the cave and watched the sun start to rise, she knew that she was being set up. She needed time to figure out how to handle this, one wrong move and the other Drow would kill her or that damn human would, he seemed to be more than willing to yesterday. On the one hand she could tell Zilvra and her mother about the meeting and what they want, she could do as she was asked and return to the Foreverdark and go on to another city with, or she could do as they asked and when the attack started she could escape in confusion one thing was certain she would take down her mother and replace her as matron if the opportunity arises. As the shadows retreated from the ground she headed back into the cave to contemplate what she would do, she had time.

As Henri felt the sun against his skin he had regretfully awoken alone, while it was nice sleeping with someone in his arms he was unsure where this is going. He looked around and found his companions had headed for the cave again, so far Alak would come out from time to time and was getting better day by day.

He thought, 'this is unreal I mean how long can it take to get used to sunlight.'

Henri got up and stagger towards the cave and said, "Zilvra get your ass out here we got shit to do."

Not surprisingly she gives him the usual hell no it is too bright outside while dealing with this and not having coffee in him was more than enough to make him rethink everything.

Exasperated he hollered, "I'm getting dressed and meeting with the private, if you're not out in five I'm leaving without you."

Five minutes later Henri heads off fed up with this day in and day out, of course when he thought about it he could ask Gabriella for coffee to make him a little less crabby in the morning.

When he gets to the farm he sees Mikhail getting ready to leave with his wagon, Henri gives him a warm morning and ask if his student is ready. He laughs and tells Henri he doesn't think she slept last night and that sword hasn't left her hands since Henri gave it to her. As he walks up to the door Henri sees Zyvin inside talking with Mrs. Rancho, who waves him in and asks if he is hungry. Henri lies and says no, it is bad enough that he has to ask them to let Zyvin stay here, he didn't want to mooch off them too.

Henri asks Zyvin how she wants to do this shall he practice with her then train Valkirya. She thinks he should begin teaching Valkirya to clear his head because he has a lot to learn. Henri couldn't argue with the logic and called for his new student, Henri hears what sounds like a stampede coming from upstairs as she barrels down the stairs. They head outside to the back of the ranch and Henri begins with simple Kata practice to get her used to holding a sword and very basic footwork.

After about thirty minutes she was sweating and began to wonder why she was doing this, so Henri grabbed a stick and told her he was going to attack her and she needed to land a blow before he could. Henri moved in and without a thought, she did just like she had practiced, he blocked just in time or she would have cracked his head open, with the block Henri tell her to freeze and he shows her how dead she would be from one strike.

Henri says, "A sword fight is like a dance you can lead or you can follow. Which do you like?"

She says lead.

He replies, "You will be ready to lead this dance in a few years, remember a fool rushes in and a clever person walks in and a genius never gets involved in the first place. You will learn this dance of the dead, if you are good you will not be one of them if you are bad you will. So tell me are you a fool or clever?"

She says, "I am very clever mommy and daddy both say so."

He teaches her simple Kata's to teach her form, while this is needed it is also very boring.

Henri can see that she thinks this is boring, he grabs his bokken and tells her she will see how the dance is done and to attack him in any way she wants. She charges straight in and tried to strike him with the sword above her head, Henri side steps and still hasn't drawn, he sees Zyvin watching as well as Valkirya's mother. She charges again this time he steps into her while he slides the bokken along her stomach and come just below her armpit then swing around and stop with the bokken at her neck and yells freeze.

She looks up and sees the bokken is just shy of her neck.

Henri lectures, "Today you would dance with the dead, that is why you never lead the dance if you are smart, the leader tells you everything about the fight. What did you tell?"

She thinks long and hard and says, "That I was foolish for rushing."

Henri smiled and said, "That is why you are wise, remember an enemy will never give you the chance to make a mistake twice. We are doing these to get your muscles to remember how to fight so you don't have to, now back to work."

He sees she understands that this won't be learned quickly and gets back to work. Henri teaches her a few blocks in the form of a dance and tells her to practice for the next hour, this makes her learning to fight more fun and she is absorbed in learning the dance. While she dances, Henri corrects her when she makes mistakes, she seems truly interested in learning. After a few hours, Henri tells her that is enough and he sets practice schedule for three times a day and that it will start with our little dance if she does well he will be adding more. With practice over, Henri and Zyvin walk off into the wood for his magic lesson.

Zyvin begins in lecture mode saying, "There are two types of magic: Conjuration and Divination I will teach you what I know of Conjuration and if my mother is correct and she usually is another will teach you divination."

Henri nods and she continues. "Magic is the energy that flows through everything it is split into two areas light and dark or white and black, one can cause a tree to grow the other can kill the same tree. These two forces can be shaped by mages and by priests if their god gives them that power, we will focus on shaping it, as a mage like myself would and if what I was told is correct you as well."

She takes a small rock and begins to do what sounds like chanting with hand signals and the small rock floats up from her hand and stops.

Henri looks on in amazement and asks, "So how do you do that?"

She smiles and tells Henri the words and gestures to the spell and explains, "As I say those word I open my body to the energy and have it go to the rock the words focus the spell and if I concentrate I can tell the rock how high to go."

Excited Henri asks, "Can I try it?"

She nods and he takes the rock and places it in his open palm just as she had and says the words. The rock just sits there and Henri feels really stupid. He tries again, this time he focuses and says the words again and still nothing.

She asks, "Did you open yourself up to the energy of this world?"

Henri looks at her like he is a moron and asks, "How do I do that?"

She explains that every living thing has this energy and if he can calm his soul he should be able to feel it. Henri tries to relax and feel the tree near him and still nothing. She guides him to the tree and has him touch it.

She says, "Can you feel the outside of the tree?"

Henri nods, of course, he can feel the tree. "Now go past the outside of the tree and feel the life running through it"

Henri figures that if he relates it to something he knows it might help, so he tries to feel the trees pulse like he would his own, slowly he begins to feel like his hand is in a slow-moving stream with the water rushing past his fingertips, it reminds him of when he had tried to do the death touch and left a crater in the courtyard of the Hla'ath estate.

Zyvin says, "If you feel a steady movement going through the tree try and touch that movement like you are blocking water running down a hill"

Things start to click for Henri as he understands what she is trying to say. He thinks about his hand outside a car window as it is going down the road, as Henri starts to picture this he can feel the stream moving towards him no through him, he relates that much back to her.

She nods, puts the stone in his hand and says, "Now do it again and then say the words I taught you"

Henri broken from his concentration, looks at the small stone about the size of his thumbnail, he puts his hand on the tree and feels the stream again, as he begins to say the words the stream moves faster into him and as he nears the end it is like sticking your hand out the window of a car at one hundred k.p.h. Henri opens his eyes as he chants the words he feels a second stream come from inside him building, he finishes the last of the words and the rock shoots out of his hand and right through the branch above him and out of sight.

Figuring he did something wrong he looks at his teacher and asks, "Too strong?"

She nods in agreement and says, "The first time I tried that spell the rock went about one foot up and then dropped. You put it through a tree branch thicker than your arm that is unbelievably powerful magic."

She tells Henri that because of his powerful magic she wants to try something else and that they need to get Zilvra because they will need her help with this next part, Henri thinks she believes what she was told about him, judging from the excitement in her voice. They walk to the cave Henri wonders how Zilvra's family will react to her. Fearing the worst he tells her to wait out of sight till he returns with Zilvra. She tells him to bring his leathers the ones that her people had made.

When Henri gets back to the cave where they are hiding he calls out to Zilvra, hoping she will be cooperative. She tells him that she isn't coming out and that is final, Henri rolls his eyes in annoyance.

Henri goes walking in and says, "I need your help."

He sees her family further off, barely in his field of vision and watches as Rikton walks closer to her.

Henri informs her, "The private says that you need to teach me something and that I am to bring the leathers they made for me."

She looks at him, she is thinking it over well more like looking for an excuse and she finally says, "Why do I need to teach you she is the mage?"

Rikton asked, "What has she taught you?"

Henri tells Rikton, "How to make things float, I made a rock go through a tree branch and she said she could only move it a little when she first tried, why?"

He thought about that for a second and said, "It sounds like she was trying a simple cantrip to see your magical aura. She probably said that your magic isn't the same as how we mages use magic. So she wants one of us to use our natural abilities because that is probably how you use magic or to give her a better idea of how you use magic. Have you shown her your runes maybe she can understand them? I am sticking with combat spells and not such trivial things as comprehend languages. They might even be in a surface language, may I meet this private?"

Henri replies, "I don't know, she just asked for them and said it was important and that we would need Zilvra's help. So either I go in and drag her out or she comes out and help us. Are you a teacher or something Rikton?"

Rikton smiles and remembers that Henri doesn't know what he did before and says, "I was archmage before coming here and taught many students. If you wish I can help you with what she is teaching you when the sun is gone if you are worried my presence will cause problems."

Henri is starting to like this Rikton guy and says, "If it is not too much trouble for you?" He turns to Zilvra and asks, "Are you coming?"

She gives him the daggers look but Henri is used to that by now and blow her a kiss while laughing, a chilling thought runs through his mind, hope she gets sarcasm. From the look on her face nope.

She says angrily which sounds normal to him, "Grab the new leathers and I'll be out in a minute."

Henri shrugs his shoulders and goes grab his leathers, he sets his tinted goggles on a rock near the entrance and walks out. After about five minutes she walked out without the goggles on Henri asked if she could see at all and got a little but it hurts really bad as a reply.

Henri asked, "Why no goggles then, if it hurt so badly?"

She looked at his goggles and replied, "I wanted to see what I could and I hope we will be in the shade because this light is too bright, my head hurts."

Henri had to give it to her, Zilvra is one tough girl and is going to need that if she wishes to survive back on Earth.

She turned to Zyvin and trying badly to hide her hatred said, "What do you need me and his leathers for?"

Neither one looked at the other friendly, hell if Henri wasn't there they would be at each other's throats, not that the fight would last long, Henri thought Zilvra would kill her in two shakes of a dog's tail and not care.

Zyvin said in a patronizing manner, "I need to teach him that some THINGS have an immunity to magic, plus I need to teach him protection spells and you stand a better chance of hitting him then I would."

Zyvin turns to Henri ignoring and in the process angering Zilvra and says, "Henri, Zilvra's people have abilities from living in the ground and being on the surface those powers will fade and if I'm right and I almost always am, your magic is like their powers, if you use spells they intensify the effect or that is the theory at least. So, she is going to show you how she can float in the air and explain how she does it. After she has you will try and do the same following her instructions. Before you will do that I will teach you how to protect yourself from being hit and even absorbing some of the impact with magic."

She asked if he had the new leathers Henri held them up to show her. She asks him to give them to her and watches as she closes her eyes, she opens them shortly afterward, he sees a faint glow of green in her eyes that disappears quickly. She hands them back to him and explains that in the ground there are what we call lay lines where they meet are areas of powerful magic called convergence points, now remember how you felt the tree and it had a flow to it. Henri nodded and she continues to tell him that because his leathers magically enchanted, this magic is in the leathers now he should be able to feel it.

Henri tried to repeat what he did with the tree and sure enough a faint pool of energy like you would feel stepping into a shallow puddle, he explained what he felt and ask why it doesn't flow. She tells him that because the leathers are dead they shouldn't have any energy but because they were enchanted that is what he is feeling. Zyvin explains that because Zilvra lives underground and magic is stronger there it seeps into everything even Zilvra's weapons have that magic in them, but with them being on the surface and away from the Foreverdark and its magic makes people and things weaker. This will happen to Zilvra's weapons and even to some of Zilvra's powers but it will take a long time for that to happen because Zilvra is a magical creature like Zyvin's people are.

She asks Henri to picture a magical suit of leathers on him, Henri looked at the leathers and tried to picture what he would look like in them. Henri focuses on the leathers and begins to feel the puddle he then pictures the leathers on him, he doesn't feel any different and tells her. She can see a magical aura around him and tells him to stand still, she asks Zilvra to hit him with the flat of her sword to see if it worked. Zilvra has a huge smile she gets to smack him and loves the thought of that alone but knowing he can't hit back makes it even sweeter. She swings at him and the blade stops but Henri feels the energy of the blow and takes a step back.

Zilvra is shocked and tells them that what she hit felt solid like metal, not leather. She turns her sword blade and before he can react she tries to hit him again this time the blade stops shy of hitting him, as Henri cussed her out for it. She confirms that his spell is much stronger than any mages whose fields feel like hitting her leathers, Henri assumed she means that the leathers that she wears should give more than what the armor spell does. Henri doesn't feel any different it is not like when he puts on his body armor and he can feel the difference, this armor for lack of a better word is weightless. Henri begins to feel a dull burn much like a sunburn on his right arm just above his bicep.

Zyvin is happy with the progress but notices him rubbing his right shoulder and down his arm to his forearm.

Zyvin asks, "Is something wrong with your arm? You keep rubbing it."

Zyvin sees Zilvra looking at him subconsciously rubbing it, she can tell from the way she is looking at him that Zilvra either knows or has a good idea what is going on.