In the small, quaint library, tucked away inside of a plane where neither the influence of time nor the permeability of space mattered, Adam found himself immersed in the endless world of books.
With a curious glimmer shining inside his majestic blue orbs, he roamed the shelves of the Library, running his fingers along the spines of a row of novels and dusty tomes.
His curiosity was evident in all of his actions as he wished for nothing more than to pull out one of those books and read them for himself.
He could feel a great aura of power emanating from them and was sure that he could get a great deal of power if he just so willed and opened the piece of literature and read through it. This was a very tempting thought to him and he would be lying if he said that he still didn't wish to read the contents inside.
Thankfully, however, he took Eve's warning to heart and curbed his curiosity and severed it then and there. He knew fully well that she wouldn't have warned him against reading the tomes if they weren't dangerous to him. She didn't wish to endanger his life after all.
If Eve told him that the books were dangerous then, this was without a doubt extremely lethal to his existence, even with his existing immortality.
As he meandered through the aisles of the small abode, Adam's attention was drawn to the figure sitting quietly at a table in the corner of the room.
An old woman, Eve, her hair a silvery cascade, sat on the chair while engrossed in a book. Her demeanor exuded a sense of wisdom and tranquility that immediately caught Adam's interest.
After managing, with great effort, to calm Eve down and temporarily diverting her idea of giving him some Maiden for him to seed and give her the grandchildren she needed, silence slowly descended between the pair of family members and Eve pulled out a book for her to read from her personal collection of books in the heart of the Library which also acted as her home.
It was not an uncomfortable silence. Far from it to be exact. The fact of the matter was that two people didn't need to constantly talk with each other to have a good time.
There was joy in silence, stability, and assurance along with acceptance of each other's presence in that silent tune. A silence that didn't feel uncomfortable usually existed between people that deeply understood each other and were comforted in their presence.
Even so, seeing the usually joyful and exuberant woman acting so calmly and with such an engrossed expression was enough to make him feel thoughtful.
They said that one should not judge a book based on its cover. But the truth was that very few people could apply this quote in their daily lives and in the discernment of others. And the fact of the matter was that Adam didn't belong to that group.
For him, associating Eve with the Mother of Humanity had always been a very complicated thought and procedure.
He had seen many facets of her personality and she seemed more like the gentle sister next door than the so-called mother of humanity that the legends about her illuded her to be.
Now though, seeing her act like this, Adam couldn't help but feel like she suited that legendary role far more than any other woman in existence.
Her atmosphere had completely changed, giving a greater aura of grandeur and wisdom that only the progenitor of a race was able to wield.
"You know… I realized that we talked many times about me, but never about you. I am very curious about your life, to be honest. For example, what is your favorite book? Yeah, let's start with that…"
There were many many things he wished to know about Eve. Her tales were myths and it was impossible to know what was the truth between all of them.
But he was pretty sure that asking about her past now was more than a landmine than anything else.
In that case, might as well start with something simpler.
Looking up from the book she was holding, and had been engrossed in reading for such a long time, Eve looked at Adam thoughtfully before thinking about the question he had asked her.
She could see that he was tiptoeing about certain matters and she found the way he cared for her mood to be rather cute.
As for the books she liked? Looking around in the room the answer was more than evident.
"I like the stories of people who brought peace to humanity."
Eve's eyes glimmered with fond memories as she recounted the experiences she accumulated while reading certain books— books that she had genuinely come to enjoy with all her heart.
She spoke of how reading had been a solace during difficult times for her— a beacon of hope during the darkest hours of her life.
Adam listened intently to all of her words, feeling a profound amount of respect for the wisdom that the years had bestowed upon her and the way she had meandered through her difficult times.
"I have seen many things and many times, I have wondered why I am even protecting Humanity and if it's really worth the effort on my part.
But every time, one human will come out and make a difference, make such an impact that would wash away thousands of immoralities that humanity would set throughout the centuries, allowing me to think that indeed… Hope still existed for my race."
"Such as…"
Eve looked up, "For example Arjuna. A fool of a man who held peace in his heart even when the world wanted war, chaos, destruction, and demise. [1]
"Even so, he was a decisive man who would not hesitate to take on his weapon and wipe out anything and everything that threatened the peace of the world and his beloved ones. Obviously one cannot speak of Arjuna without bringing in Karna— his long-lost elder brother." [2]
Her eyes twinkled when she spoke of them, "None of them were fully humans. They were basically demigods, much like many of the heroes that spanned through history. But even so, I saw them as part of humanity and they fought for the greater good while shouldering pain, betrayal, and deception of insurmountable proportions."
The light in her eyes dimmed ever so slightly at the end of her words,
"Sadly, neither of them truly managed to ascend from their mortal shells. They had power that could make even the gods fearful of their presence and weapons of absolute chaos and mass destruction but the two of them died, in the end."
"It seems like all heroes eventually die."
She could only give him a sad smile in response, "This is the weight of Fate, my dear. Some beings are born for a great purpose and for that very purpose, the world itself will accommodate them so that they can accomplish everything they set out to do. We can say that they are the most Blessed. But they are also the most cursed for the same reason."
As long as the power of the world was behind a hero, true failure was impossible for them. Yes, as long as the power of Fate remained, that is.
Defeat became opportunities for greater power for them. They would meet sages, friends, and even deities willing to help them in all possible ways and they would reach incredible levels of power in a very short span of time— so short in fact that it seemed utterly ridiculous.
All this Karma had to be repaid eventually however and the more a Hero relied on Fate, the swifter his end would be and ever more gruesome.
Adam listened quietly as Eve imparted her wisdom to him with enthusiasm and vigor. He had already heard something similar from Medusa and couldn't help but become concerned about this fact.
"So. I am a Hero?"
By now Adam understood that for people of the supernatural world, the word 'Hero' had a slightly different meaning from what was given in the fairy tales and the like. And he couldn't help but ask due to that very reason…
"Well…"
[1]: Arjuna is one of the greatest Heroes in Myth. He was a truly busted man. As an example, during a war, Ajurna had a chariot that had the weight of the entire universe. He also had many divine weapons that could either warp reality, create mountains, or destroy the world. He was like that endgame character in Elden Ring who collected all the most OP weapons possible
[2]: Karna is also a "Hero" though not in the same sense. He is more of a tragic hero. I do not want to insult any religion. But basically, Ajurna was a man loved by fate who let pride become his downfall. Meanwhile, Karna is a man who was repeatedly beaten up by Fate and still did well until Fate fucked him over. Karna was also armed to the teeth by the way. All his weapons were so busted that Ajurna literally had to ask that Karna be removed from the battlefield because it was cheating.
For example, he had the Bhargav Astra which could launch Millions of deadly weapons simultaneously. He also had a weapon of certain death but Ajurna avoided it thanks to lord Krishna.
Like when I was searching their myth, I feel like I was reading about two players who did 100% of the game but one of them had the support of the Dev and could ask them to Nerf the other. Mean no disrespect by the way.
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