The Hero, My Girlfriend, the Curse and My Fate

The morning began like almost every morning during the last few years.

Golden sunlight slipped through the thin curtains of the small apartment above the adventurer guild, bathing the room in warm light. Outside, the city was already beginning to wake: Merchants prepared their stands, wagon wheels rattled across the stone streets, and somewhere below, a drunken adventurer was already demanding another mug of ale despite the early hour.

Lyra sat sleepily at the edge of the bed, slowly tying back her long hair while User remained half buried beneath the blanket.

“You were supposed to wake up early today,” she murmured with a faint grin, not even turning around.

As always, her voice carried that familiar mix of softness and playful teasing.

On the small table beside the bed rested:

• their equipment,
• several unfinished quest papers,
• a half-eaten apple,
• and two old leather pendants they had bought years ago during one of their very first quests together.

Life had never been luxurious.

But it had been familiar.

Shared quests. Shared meals. Exhausted nights after monster hunts. Arguments about money. Laughter inside crowded taverns. And quiet evenings where both of them simply fell asleep side by side.

Inside the guild, nobody doubted anymore that the two belonged together.

They argued. They teased each other. Sometimes they got on each other’s nerves.

And yet after every quest, they always returned together.

For a while, life continued exactly like that.

Until the sky broke open.

It started with the red clouds.

Then entire villages disappeared. Monsters suddenly appeared in regions that had remained safe for centuries. Ancient ruins began radiating magic once again. And finally, the message spread across every kingdom like wildfire:

The Demon King had returned.

Within days, the entire world changed.

Nobles formed alliances. Churches began preaching salvation. Armies mobilized. And adventurer guilds transformed from simple mercenary halls into military organizations.

Then came the word everyone knew from ancient legends.

Hero.

The old prophecies spoke of a savior from another world. Someone who would appear when the world stood on the edge of destruction.

Almost nobody truly believed those stories.

Until the summoning actually succeeded.

Ren.

A young man from another world.

No royal blood. No noble name.

And yet simply standing near him somehow changed the atmosphere around him.

He spoke differently. Thought differently. Moved differently. Even his clothing looked strange compared to this world.

And more importantly:

People liked him immediately.

The church called him humanity’s savior. The people admired him. Even veteran knights seemed impressed by him.

Naturally, the Hero needed companions.

And that was when things slowly began to change.

Lyra was chosen.

At first, it almost made sense.

She was talented. Fast. Brave. And stronger than most adventurers within the guild.

“It’s only temporary,” she had said back then. “Once things calm down, we’ll start taking quests together again.”

At the time, User believed her.

But with every passing week, the Hero Party became more famous.

They traveled:

• across kingdoms,
• defeated monsters,
• formed alliances,
• saved cities,
• and constantly stood at the center of attention.

And now Lyra was part of that world.

Meanwhile, User remained behind.

Not weak enough to be useless.

But not important enough to join the Hero Party either.

So User began accepting increasingly dangerous quests.

Higher rewards. Stronger monsters. Abandoned ruins. Forbidden territories.

If User could not fight beside the Hero… then User would simply become stronger alone.

The quest that eventually changed everything was supposed to be nothing more than a simple exploration mission.

An ancient ruin hidden deep inside a cursed forest. Almost nobody wanted the request.

Too little information. Too many missing adventurers.

But the reward was excellent.

And User needed:

• better equipment,
• greater strength,
• stronger magic,
• more influence.

Not only for survival.

But to continue standing beside Lyra.

The ruin itself had been silent.

Far too silent.

Black crystals crawled across the walls like bones. Strange symbols covered the floor. And deep within the center of the ruin, something pulsed like a living heart made of darkness.

After that, the memories blurred together.

Pain.

Whispers.

Coldness.

And a voice barely crawling through the darkness.

“Even heroes cannot escape fate…”

When User finally awoke hours later, the curse had already carved itself deep into the body.

At first, however, nothing seemed different.

Until the following night.

That was when the dream began.

Warm skin.

Soft breathing.

Flickering candlelight.

Lyra.

And Ren.

Their bodies pressed tightly together atop a bed while rain struck against the windows outside.

The dream felt blurred and yet far too real at the same time.

Lyra laughed softly.

Not loudly. Not exaggerated.

Just the way User remembered her laugh.

Ren slowly ran his hand along her skin while she looked at him as though she had already known him far longer than she should have.

“He must never find out…,” she whispered quietly.

The room distorted for a moment. The candlelight flickered unnaturally. Black shadows crawled across the walls.

And yet User could not look away.

Their closeness. Their warmth. Their trust. Their intimacy.

It felt wrong.

And at the same time…

terrifyingly possible.

Then suddenly everything shattered.

User jolted awake with a gasp.

Breathing heavily. Sweat clinging to the skin.

For a few moments, reality slowly returned.

The small apartment.

The weak morning light.

And Lyra.

She lay peacefully beside User, still curled beneath the blanket while her calm breathing softly filled the room.

Just a dream.

Of course it had only been a dream.

Slowly, the first wave of relief began calming the tension inside User’s chest.

And yet…

even while trying to breathe normally again, one single thought refused to disappear.

What… if it really happens someday?