Masked Hero
By the time Sunny limped back to his house, the news of the Gate opening in a prestigious district of the city was all over the network. Luckily, the school Rain attended was situated really far away from where both of them lived — none of the mayhem had reached the terrace neighborhood, leaving it as quiet and peaceful as ever.
It was a bit strange, to see that nothing had changed here despite the fact that mere tens of minutes of riding the train away, the bodies of numerous Nightmare Creatures littered the ground. Life simply went on.
Well, it wasn't really that surprising. If people reacted strongly to every instance of a Gate appearing, nothing would ever get done, and everyone would live every day of their lives in fear. So, those not affected by the disaster directly did not allow it to disrupt their moods or routines.
People could get accustomed to anything, even the constant possibility of terrifying monsters suddenly coming out of an infernal rift in reality on their street. As long as important parts of city infrastructure weren't damaged, no one was going to care that much. And even if they were, citizens knew how to adapt — public transport would be rerouted, power outages would be dealt with by switching to autonomous generators or simply using candles, and so on.
The Gate was contained, the impact area was already being cleaned by the government workers. When tomorrow came, the cafe Sunny had visited would be open again, as if nothing happened. Life would return to normal.
...And those who had experienced the terror of the Gate firsthand would go on, silently bearing an invisible scar on their heart. But that was alright, too. Collecting scars was something that everyone who lived in this world had to do as they matured. This was the reality of the Nightmare Spell.
'Why am I suddenly in a philosophical mood?'
Sunny shook his head, then scoffed and opened the door of his home.
Effie was in the living room, taking advantage of the state-of-the-art entertainment system Sunny had bought and paid for. When she saw him, a surprised expression appeared on her face.
"Gods, what happened to you? Did a piano fall on your head?"
'What a strange question…'
Sunny sighed, then glanced at her arkly.
"No. A Gate fell on my head… sort of. Damned thing opened right near a cafe I sometimes visit. They sell incredible pastries, so… good news is, I managed to finish my pastry! Before getting the hell out."
Effie gave him a shocked look.
"Goodness! You were near that mess? I heard that the government barely gave people time to evacuate this time."
Sunny shrugged.
"Near, yes."
The young woman stared at him, then grinned.
"So… how many contribution points did you get? Enough to upgrade the entertainment system, maybe? You won't believe the quality of the haptic interfaces these days… I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to, of course. Just something to consider…"
He gritted his teeth and let out a frustrated sigh.
"None! I didn't get anything, okay?!"
Effie blinked a couple of times, then looked at him with a bit of disappointment.
"Well… no need to get emotional. There's no shame in avoiding such fights. Everyone wants to live, you know."
Sunny waved a hand dejectedly, then turned around.
"Yeah, I know. Anyway, I'll go take a bath. Have fun."
Leaving his guest… well, more like an uninvited housemate… alone in the living room, Sunny went away and prepared an ice bath for himself.
When he lowered his aching body into the cold water and endured the initial shock, a pleasant numbness enveloped him. Sunny glanced at the tapestry of bruises covering his skin, and sighed.
'Can I still be considered pale if I am mostly black and purple? Gee, I always wanted to stop being pasty. But not like this…'
He closed his eyes and relaxed, enjoying the ice bath. None of his wounds were serious enough to really worry about, so he just had to wait for his body to heal itself. That was going to take a few days, which Sunny was fully intending to spend lazing about and doing nothing.
Wasn't that the dream?
After a while, he got a bit bored and decided to do something productive. He could either check on how much he had gained in the bloody battle, or see if someone had come close to connecting him to Mongrel.
Sunny thought for a few moments, then reached for his communicator.
'Let's see the extent of the damage first…'
A few moments later, a low groan escaped from his lips.
"Oh for Spell's sake…"
***
"Shocking news! Mysterious online sensation Mongrel returns to single-handedly contain a Category Two Gate!"
"In the Shadow of a Lord: Mongrel's heroic stand caught on camera!"
"Who is Lord Mongrel, the courageous hero that everyone is talking about? The answer might shock you!"
"WE KNEW IT ALL ALONG! Mongrel is a woman confirmed!"
"STAND AND FIGHT: words to live by. Mongrel refuses to give up!"
Sunny stared at the screen of the communicator with resentment, then suppressed the desire to crush it in his fist.
'What is wrong with people?!'
Apparently, a bit of his recent performance had been caught on tape. The shockwave of an opening Gate was supposed to mess with electronics, but one camera had miraculously survived.
The image was really grainy and stuttered every few seconds, but he could make out a dark figure moving through the mass of Nightmare Creatures, the Soul Serpent flashing through the bloody mist, its blade surrounded by a halo of black radiance. The battle style of the Barrow Wraiths and his need to spill as much blood as possible added an extra layer of brutality to the recording, making him seem like a demon that had escaped from some lightless hell.
Sunny grimaced as if in pain, and tentatively looked down, on the views counter beneath the video.
When he saw it, the communicator slipped from his hand and fell into the water.
Good thing it was waterproof...
'Damnation… well, you've done did it now, fool! Congratulations! You've gone mainstream…'
