Journey of the Tethered Path: Volume 3 — Tether to the World

Okay. It’s time. Time to finally… unmask.

A shaky breath escaped Oswald as the dragon soared toward Aurelia Dominion, the island of humans—with Percival and the violet-colored pig-tailed maid beside him.

What’s gonna happen? Will I be rejected? Reprimanded? Because as someone not of this world, will I have to follow… procedures? Like the Shield Hero with the Four Cardinal Heroes.

He placed his fist on his mouth, eyes shifting rapidly at the clouds below him.

Will revealing myself trigger an island-wide manhunt? They know outside heroes have special abilities…

His neck craned upward to look at the clear blue sky.

Will everything change? Having me is a leverage on the other islands. I’m… a sword… dangling over everybody’s hea—

“Is something the matter?” Percival asked, his head tilted.

Oswald’s constantly shifting gaze finally met Percival’s.

“It seems you are stressing about that again.”

The maid looked at Percival with tilted head.

“I-It’s something I… I’ve been meaning to tell you, since I first arrived here. Since we first met. I— Argh!” He clasped his forehead, a sudden headache emerging, intensifying.

The maid crawled on the dragon’s armor to him. “Are you feeling well?”

Oswald shook his head. “No, I… I have to let it out. I have to tell you… about the real me.”

The two blinked, sharing the same silent thought: The real him?

He looked down at the armor below him, at the rust splotched around it.

This is it, a pivotal moment. After this… there’s no going back…

A series of deep breaths later, his mouth opened, lips trembling.

“I-I’m not… from this wor—”

His eyes widened as breath caught up in his throat.

F-Fuck, why now?

“It’s… I’m…”

His hands began trembling.

No, no stop.

His vision blurred, his heartbeat a war drum in his ears.

Damn it! Why now? WHY AFTER ALL THESE YEARS!

His windpipe squeezed letting in limited air, sweat drenching his face.

“Oswald!?” Percival exclaimed, scooting up to him, grabbing both his gauntlet-covered hands. “Please, remain calm. Everything is fine.”

The maid began massaging his shoulders. With their kind gestures, his windpipe opened slowly.

“Okay… Okay…” he muttered, “I’m okay… I mean, not okay… but I have to be okay… How okay? Uncountable… levels… of okay…”

His breathing steadied, and he wiped the sweat.

“Okay, I can do this. I can do this. You two can stop now.”

Both released their hands, worry ever present. He took a series of deep breaths, again.

“I can do this. I will do this. I have to do this. You know how stupid I’d look if it’s not a big deal, I’m making it out to be— Okay…”

He took a last deep breath.

“I… Oswald Jack… is not from this world. That is he— I-I mean I… am not from Aurelia nor its villages. I’m… from my world?” He strained at the last word.

Did that even make sense? It doesn’t matter.

His eyes began welling up, he knelt, hands on the armor, head hanging low.

“I-I apologize for not telling you both sooner. Hic I thought, I thought if I told who I am, I… I…”

Water droplets pattered against the armor beneath him.

“My intentions were never to deceive anyone… And, and I want to go back. I want to go back to my world, to my parents. I… I’m sorry…”

His head stayed low, shoulders jolting as he sobbed, wiping the tears and snot.

Percival held out a spare handkerchief underneath his face. Oswald took it, and looked away with his reddened face as he sat cross-legged.

“There, there.” Percival patted his back. “Nobody here is upset, is that correct?”

He turned to the maid, who returned a nod.

“See, there is nothing to be concerned about. However… I am curious about this ‘world’ you speak and the circumstances of your arrival here.”

Oswald wiped his eyes and blew his nose, the redness in his skin slowly fading.

“I was coming home… from school.” He looked at the horizon, the red lines in his eyes stark. “I recall… struggling with… talking with my parents. The struggle had continued from the previous days, months… It… broke me.”

His head hung low. “The failure of asking a simple thing—like how their day was and my hobby—broke me so much I… I just wept. I remember the tears… hitting my feet as I continued onto my bed, then I slept, weeping… Haaah.”

He sighed. “I woke up in an alleyway… in Solara Prime… And then… the rest is history. So… when I mean I want to return to my world…”

He shifted his gaze to the horizon. “I mean it, literally. But before that…”

He looked at his gauntlet-palm—diamond-plated on titanium chainmail for mobility. “I have to use my strength to deal with the perpetrators… the ones behind the parasite invasions. I feel… dealing with them will somehow… return me…”

He began lying on his side, arm as a pillow, facing the horizon.

“I’d like to be with myself… alone.”

After a pause, Percival dipped his head. “Understood.”

The dragon flew on toward its destination as the two companions processed his revelation.

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