True Heroes - Chapter 4

The sun had set by the time Zach pulled up to the curb. Beside his truck was one of the many tall buildings that stood looming over the city streets. Though he had always known cities like this one, all the lights and sounds of a bustling society never seemed to stop impressing him. That’s one of the reasons he loved the city life so much.

He looked over his phone, checking the address he had been given. This was the place. He stepped down from the driver’s seat, and surveyed his surroundings. The neighborhood was about what he had expected. Nothing too fancy, but it was nice, and even bordered a small park, which would be great for getting some space if he needed it.

With the day he had had, it was nice to see something as normal as a taxi or a stop sign. After they had left Gabora’s treehouse, he and Rose agreed to talk over their decision the next day, and parted ways. His truck had been right where the owl had said it would be, and he had booked it straight into town. The streets had been confusing, but he had noted several interesting looking places to investigate at some later day.

The contact he had been given stated that he would be rooming with one “John Robinson”. The pair had talked over the phone, but he had yet to actually meet this mystery man. He had seemed nice enough, and they shared interests, so when he had told his family that he was moving to Sollice, his brother had recommended him. They were both moving to town around the same time, and neither had a place yet, so it seemed like a good idea.

The address on the paper pointed him to a small brick building, painted red (for some reason), sitting on the corner. As he approached, he realized that he had no idea how to get in. The bottom floor was completely taken up by stores and shops, so he couldn’t expect easy entry to his place, no matter what. What appeared to be at his address was a pizza parlor.

As he walked into “Las Cosas”, he found about what he expected, given the neighborhood. It was small, probably a family business, with some tables, a few booths, and a counter in the back with a menu board hanging above it. The whole place just screamed “sleezy 80’s pizza”, and Zach couldn’t tell whether it was intentional or not.

Behind the counter was a girl, probably 17 or 18, with darker skin, jet black hair, and an apron with a red and white checkerboard pattern. She gave him a glance, and as he approached, she gave her spiel with a fake smile on her lips and a tired look in her eye. “Welcome to Las Cosas, what can I do for you?” She had a slight accent, and she was obviously bored and a bit tired.

“Hi, i’m here because I’m moving in upstairs, and I don’t quite know where to go. I was wondering if you might know a way?”

“Ah. So you're moving in with that guy upstairs? There's an entry down the alley a half block away. But unless you're moving big stuff in, you can just use the door in the back to go up when you need. Just check in with my father if you want to do that regularly. He isn’t much for people unnecessarily getting around his kitchen.” She gave him a slightly more genuine smile and pointed towards the door against the side wall behind the counter.

“Thanks.” Zach said as he pushed the door open, revealing a steep set of stairs. That wouldn’t be fun to traverse, but it would have to be done.

As he walked up the creaky wooden stairs, he felt slightly unnerved. He hadn’t expected anything crazy, but having to walk through the pizza place just to get to your apartment really felt like a letdown. The actually place must be good, for how much they planned on paying for it.

After climbing 9 long flights of abnormally steep stairs, he found himself in a small hallway, with some doors on either side, and more stairs leading out the back. When he finally got to room 903, he found the door left open, and John, passed out on a couch surrounded by dozens of unopened boxes.

John wasn’t bad as far as looks went. He was a little taller than Zach, with short black hair, sweatpants, and an orange tee shirt with a logo Zach easily recognized as Kindento.

Looking around the main room, Zach could see that the apartment was very open. He could see the start of a kitchen sitting off to the corner, complete with an unplugged refrigerator and microwave. On the other side sat the couch, with a TV set up against the wall. As he looked around, he found a door, which led to a bathroom, and 2 other rooms. The place was surprisingly big, given it’s location. Not a bad find.

As he approached the couch, he found a small note perched against a can of soda. “Zach. Plz don’t poke the bear. I moved stuff all day, and really could have used more help. I need sleep. Make yourself at home, there’s a pizza in the fridge. John.”

Though he felt a twinge of guilt for not helping him move in, but he had to admit it was impressive that John could move all this stuff in one day, even if he had help. The muscle probably helped, but there was probably an elevator hidden somewhere around here.

But one thing did stick out from the note. Food! He hadn’t eaten at all since lunch, and with how that went, he was hungry as all getout. As he opened the still unplugged fridge, he found a Las Cosas pizza box.
It didn’t matter that it was cold. It didn’t matter that he was starving. All that mattered was that in that instance, Las Cosas pizza became the best food ever. Zach had no idea how hungry running from monsters could get a guy.

The pizza box in hand, Zach ascended the final set of stairs, and walked up onto the roof. All around where the buildings of Sollice, some towering over his, all shining in the night sky. They all seemed so beautiful. They’re light’s displayed proudly, some seemed like beacons, showing even above the clouds.

This was why Zach had come here. The city of lights, loved by all, and home to many focal points of business and culture. Vanity square, the tourist destination, showed the most lights of anywhere in town, with ads going around the clock. The Wallace Tower, a building shining above the rest, was one of the biggest stock exchanges in the country. Even old Torian Station, with its desolate abandoned terminals, had it’s own creepy charms. It was all so great, and the hustle never seemed to stop!

As Zach sat down on the cold hard roof, he began searching his thoughts. The day had been big, to say the least. Giant monsters and talking owls were only the half of it. What was he going to do! He had two options. He could deny the owl, saving his own skin, but risking that the world could fall to Malum. According the Gabora, him, Rose, and 3 others who could do the job, so they didn’t technically need him.

On the other hand, he could take the offer, learn magic, and protect the planet. But at what cost? He would be putting his family and anyone close to him in huge danger by doing this! If Malum ever found out his ties to them, it could be disastrous! But if he did nothing, He would be risking the whole world in the process. It was truly a no-win scenario.

There was also his dream to consider. He had heard the voice of a girl clearly. She had been urging him to keep on the path. That probably referred to him taking the deal. But who was she? How could she talk in his dreams? Why would she have said what she did? She probably had some ties to Sialus, but he died thousands of years ago! Even if the humans of Anima were hardier than those of Earth, Sialus was the only one of their kind to make it earthbound, and he was a man.

It made his head hurt just thinking about it. Simplifying it might help. So….. Did he want to save the world? Yes. Looking out over the city gave enough beauty to convince anyone that this world was worth saving. He could agree to that much.

Would he risk his life, and those of his family and friends, in order to do so? That was harder. It didn’t seem fair to make that decision. but if it came down to it, he could take that risk. If he did fight, he would have to promise to put the lives of his family and friends above the rest, as far as protecting went. It was his fault that they were in danger, so it only seemed fair.

Then came his life. Would he throw away his plans in order to fight? He had come to the city as a way to find a path that suited him. To find the job he loved, to meet the right person, or to live the high life. He wanted some direction, and the city had seemed a land of opportunity. Was this really the direction that he wanted to go? Did saving the day mean he couldn’t live a normal life?

Though the world could mess with it, his life was still his to live. This would be the decision he would have to sit on. Was saving others worth losing his future? Zach didn’t know whether he was selfless enough to be a hero. But he hadn’t been given a chance. He had been given a choice, and it was his to make.

Giving a small sigh, Zach slowly got up, and retreated back into the building, the now empty pizza box sitting in the trash can near the door. As he reentered the apartment, he found himself searching through the boxes that lay scattered over the floor. It was almost 11 at night, and he needed sleep. There were no beds set up in the apartment, so he resorted to the Pink Panther blanket that John had stuffed into a box labeled “novelties”. And thus, on the floor, Zach fell asleep to the sounds of the city, and the thoughts of the day to follow.

---

Zach awoke to the blinding light of the sunshine shining through the window and the smell of bread burning. He got up, joints popping, and stretched.

“Hey there! You got a bit of explaining to do, my guy.” Across from him, standing over a newly plugged in toaster, was John. He wore the “who do you think you're fooling” smile, which probably meant he wasn’t happy to see his new roommate show up late, in the middle of the night, without warning.

“So you're Zach, right?”

“Yeah…” Oh boy. Now was when he had to pay for not following the plan.

“What happened? We were supposed to meet up yesterday! You left me to deal with our landlord, and then showed up in the middle of the night!” While he wasn’t very threatening, John was looking pretty intimidating since he was frustrated. But what he said was true. He had really messed up, even if it wasn’t his fault.

“Okay, look. I’d understand if you were just late. But the lying didn’t help anything.”

“Lying?”


“Or am I to believe you got your truck fixed in one day in the biggest city in the country.”

Oh. Right. The text. Yeah… That was probably a bad idea. “Alright, Alright. I’m sorry. I was just late. I didn’t want to seem like the bad guy, so I may have lied a bit.” Lying would have to be part of the job if he planned on sticking to his promise to Gabora.

John gave him another look over, and put on a tired smirk. “Alright. Your lucky i'm tired, or I would totally kick your butt right now. You get a pass this time. IF!”

“If?”

“If… you let me use one of our extra rooms for my workshop.”

“Huh?”

“Your brother told you that I like tech stuff, right?”

His brother, Nolan, had said something along those lines. Zach had thought that meant John liked video games like he did. This “workshop” did not sound like something related to that.

“Yeah, I guess so.”

“Well. I have plans to make this place the coolest apartment this side of Torian, and if i’m gonna do that, i’ll need a place to work and put my junk.” He had on a smile that vaguely reminded him of Rose.

“But we only have 2 spare rooms, and I thought those would be our bedrooms. Where are we supposed to sleep?” This idea of a workshop was getting less appealing by the second.

“You didn’t see the loft?” John pointed to the area above the entrance. Part of the wall was indented, so it made a small sort of loft, though it wasn’t big enough to hold all of his things.

“And… Whose room would that be?”

John gave a sheepish grin. This couldn’t be good.

“Well… Since the 2 spare rooms are connected, and I might work later in the day… I thought you might like it.”

“You can’t be serious.”

John put on his best salesman impression, with a full goofy grin, and adjusted his invisible tie. “But wait, there’s more! If you did help me out here, You get full access to my expertise! I’ll be your tech support builder friend 24/7!”

Zach couldn’t believe this guy. This conversation had done a full 180 in almost 2 seconds. John had gone from being mad at him being late to selling him on their sleeping arrangements without skipping a beat. With his goofy attitude, it was almost to much to handle. But…. He was right. Free tech support and an IOU could make this arrangement work. Plus, John seemed like a nice guy, even if he was a goofball.

“Alright….. You can have your rooms. But, you gotta promise me that you won’t work while i’m sleeping, and that you'll help me with fitting all my things into the loft. Deal?” Zach stuck out his hand to shake on it. John instead came out with a fist bump, and both recoiled as their knuckles hit.

“Deal!’

---

The day had gone by faster than Zach would have liked. The pair had spent the next few hours talking over their bills, moving things around, and getting Zach’s stuff from his truck. John had almost dropped his precious Kindento 64, but other than that, it had been relatively uneventful. It was only after that, when the pair was watching some sports on their newly hooked up TV, that Zach received a text from Rose.

“When do you want to meet up? :I”


With all the work being done in the apartment, Zach had almost forgotten about his promise to meet up with the girl. It had been nice taking a break from reality, but he had already made his decision. He would go, see exactly what this whole mess was about, and decide once he knew all the details. There were just too many unknowns with what magic was about, how it worked, and just what he was in all this.

Meeting with Rose could wait until they went to the forest. While he felt a little bad leaving Rose to decide for herself, she was her own person, and this was too important for her to have second thoughts.

Zach thumbed a response. “Can we meet at the Starbeans near the edge of town later?” He wanted to savor his time before things got crazy again. Plus, The Starbeans was really close to the forest’s edge, so they could just walk down to the forest once night arrived.

“Alright. See u then!”

John glanced over from his spot on the couch. “Who’s that you're texting?”

“A friend”

A teasing smirk crossed his face. “Girlfriend?”

“No, just a girl I know that lives around here.” John was funnier than he intended. Him and Rose? No. She was nice and all, but from how she had acted and talked, she was a bit on the dramatic side for his taste. But then again, he didn’t know her. Not really, anyways. There was always more than what people showed at the beginning. It was like playing the world’s most confusing game of cards.

“Ah. By the way, just why was it that you were late last night anyways?”

Oh boy. More lying. “I had trouble packing the truck. Some friends that had said they would help never showed.”

All this secrecy was getting on Zach’s nerves. He wouldn’t break his oath to Gabora, but he needed to have John find out about all this stuff he was doing. The man was around him enough to where lying would eventually get him caught. John wasn’t dumb, and Zach wasn’t a good enough liar to cover himself 24/7. Plus, it didn’t sit well having his roommate thinking he was a liar. They needed a mutual trust if living together was going to work.

The pair sat in their apartment, watching some TV, playing some video games, and talking. By the time sundown had come, John had left to go buy groceries, and the apartment felt a bit lonely.

As Zach left for Starbeans, he mulled over whether his decision was a good one. But really, the decision couldn’t be less in his hands. He knew what was at stake, and his heart wouldn’t let him put others in harms way for his gain. When he saved Rose, he had made that decision. But what would Rose do? She had seemed optimistic about adventure, but this was something else. She had been in a very tough spot with that monster. It might turn her away. But then again, she had been frustrated about her lack of courage.

But Zach had enough faith to know that Rose would do the right thing, whatever that meant. She was good, and in the end, even she could rise to the occasion.

With a heavy heart, and some nerves, Zach rode closer to the forest. The forest had almost killed him, but in the end, he had come back to. Look out, Shadow, you days are numbered.

---

Author’s Notes: This chapter is a lot like chapter 3, but in a different way. It was meant to explain the motivations of Zach, and give the reader a sense of his morals. I feel like this I did this one alot better, though. Instead of giving straight plot details, I dispersed it between character introductions and other stuff. Speaking of which, John. I really REALLY like this character. He’s an exploration of my inner goofball, and he’s probably the character I relate to the most out of all my planned characters. He’s not an idiot, but he doesn’t take life overly seriously. He’s a perfect contrast to Zach’s seriousness in this chapter. This chapter also gives a look into different parts of Sollice, which each have potential to be expanded on. In the end, I like this chapter. It does a lot for the characters, and shows that this “book” won’t exclusively be about magic and stuff. I rate it a John out of 10.