Chapter
1 – A New Vocation
After a year of consideration, I’ve
become a deacon for the Church. The ceremony and celebration happen in my
hometown, Poca Bellezza, where all my friends and family gather, including
those from the agency, Seventy-Three, and my friend from Meridian, Timeo
Severe. Timeo is paying for the party we’re having, since he’s a rich and
generous man. I helped protect his city while he took care of his new family,
and it’s happening in a hall where my high school dances and graduation took
place. He offered to have it happen at a more expensive and nicer place, but I
wanted it here because of the nostalgia associated with this place.
Timeo and I talk in private
together in a corner of the hall; no one will hear us since his hero identity
is a secret to all except his closest friends. We engage in small talk about
our families, friends, and daily responsibilities, while watching our loved
ones enjoy themselves, much like retired men savoring the fruits of their long
lives, despite both of us being in our mid-thirties. He’s drinking a red wine,
while I’m drinking a simple light beer, which seems representative of our
style. I’m dressed like a heroic deacon, with a red cassock, gold cape, dark
blue pants, and black boots, and he’s wearing one of his many expensive suits,
making me look like I’m dress extremely casual.
“How are you dealing with your
first child?” Timeo asks.
“He’s fun to be around, a ray of
sunshine, that a lot of people in town say is like me. Deborah is having a
harder time dealing with him, but my parents are helping her a lot in helping
to raise him,” I say with my beer raised to her.
Deborah is my wife and is currently
being forced to dance with everyone else on the dance floor. She’s dressed in a
handmade dark gold and black dress that was made by her and my mom, and has her
usual ragged, acid-affected look, representative of her powers. Her skin is a
pale white, her hair is black and a dull gold, and her eyes are black and white
with black eyeliner on the bottom of them, an appearance scary to some, but
both cute and beautiful to me.
“She’s told me you plan to have
another, and want a daughter, in particular,” Timeo continues.
“That’s true. My adoptive parents
wanted many children, but couldn’t have any, so I want them to have many
grandchildren to make up for it,” I say.
“Darcy wants us to have many
children as well, and seven is her minimum right now, since my parents had
seven children.”
“How do you take care of it all
while also being a hero and boss of your family’s businesses?”
“God’s graces. What else can I say?
Any other reason would only be telling a half-truth. I’ve been living a life
some would consider impossible to manage or deal with because of how much needs
to be done.”
“Like turning around your entire
city and getting rid of its status as one of the most crime-infested places in
the country? I can’t imagine doing anything like that.”
“I did have help from a lot of
friends. It wasn’t just me acting alone. Your accomplishments are nothing to
disregard, but what I’m most impressed by is your simplicity and loving every
day and taking things one step at a time. Speaking of which, I’d like to enlist
your help.”
“Is there trouble in Meridian
again?”
“Not exactly. With the city now a
mostly safe place to live, I want to account for threats outside of it by
starting a hero association of my own, and having you in it would be a boon to
me. We’ll start our offices in Meridian, Poca Bellezza, and Solis, and then go
from there to expand into the rest of the country. I’m still in the beginning
stages of getting everything together, but it’s something I’m set on. What do
you say?”
Timeo has his hand out to me with a
confident smile on his face.
I bow my head and say, “I can’t.”
“Huh. Why’s that?” Timeo says,
lowering his hand and losing his smile, yet not appearing or sounding upset or
disappointed.
“My sister wants me to gain more
allies, and I felt a calling to join a hero association that’s tied to the
Church.”
“You already have plenty of allies.
Your sister and you are allies with that secretive government agency, you’ve
made dozens of friends while on the run, and there’s me and the people I know,
who I can get to help you.”
“Idelle doesn’t count the agency as
a true ally since we only help each other when our interests align, and the
friends I’ve made around the country can’t come to my aid at a moment’s notice.
I think she wants us to have something like you have, sidekicks and close
allies who are never too far from you and people you can trust without a
doubt.”
“Are you sure you want to join one
of the Church’s hero associations, though? There are many good ones, but there
are also many who fake their faithfulness so they can get the honor and riches
of being a group associated with the Church. The fake ones will stop respecting
and allying themselves with the faith once the age stops seeing it as trendy
and the thing most people are drawn to.”
“I get it. I’ve prayed on this
decision for a while in adoration, and it seems like it’s my time to fix that
problem.”
“In that case, there’s no
convincing you otherwise. I pray that it goes well for you.”
“It should. Deborah and Idelle are
joining with me, both to protect and watch over me. Our parents are watching
over our son while we’re at work. I’ll also pray for you, your upcoming hero
association, and your new child.”
“Heh. I’ll need it. Our third child
was born this year, and Darcy is also trying to get a fourth. That woman is
wringing me dry.”
I laugh with Timeo, sit back, and
enjoy the rest of my party with my friends and family. On the very next day,
Idelle, Darcy, and I head out to the hero association allied with the Church
that we signed up for, which is located in Solis, the Sunny City of Tomorrow,
where I usually operate as a hero. Other heroes are joining their association
today, and we take part in a ceremony similar to that of the one that I did
when joining my local Knights council, something similar to receiving a
sacrament, but not as grand as to put the ceremony on the same level. A bishop
of the local diocese is in attendance, along with other priests.
After the ceremony, the attending
clergy give us their blessing, and the leaders of the association allow us to
get familiar with the particular office and area of Solis we are assigned to. The
building sits in the center of the city and is decorated like a tall cathedral.
Because of my status as a well-known hero, Idelle, Deborah, and I are allowed
to get work from this office meant for the best heroes. When we report to our
superiors, they give us an assignment outside of Solis.
Confused by this, I ask, “Why are
we working outside of the city when we’re in Solis?”
“We’re an ever-expanding hero
association, and we need to help other cities as well. You’ll be doing mostly
the same things you’re used to, so it should be easy and enjoyable for you,”
one of our superiors says, who is a nun dressed in white, gold, and black.
Knowing that this is what I signed
up for, I accept the assignment and head out with my sister and wife to
complete it. Just like the nun said, it’s much the same work that I’m used to
doing in Solis. I participate in charity work by carrying supplies and
donations from one place to another, bringing the sick to hospitals, and helping
the homeless get to places that can feed and care for them. Some criminals and
villains appear here and there, some letting themselves be known and picking a
fight just because they heard I was in the area and want the fame of taking me down,
none of which succeed or get close to giving me a challenge. Everything about
working with this hero association seems to be the same as the other, except
for letting people know I’m working with them and my requests having my name associated
with them.
This changes a bit over the next
few days when I get calls from my superiors to accept certain requests to
appear in public events promoting the association or drop certain requests to
accept others. Because of my speed, I’m able to complete everything that is given
to me, despite being told to ignore or stop doing what I was originally doing. When
I see heroes from other hero associations answering the same request that I recognize
that I’m taking their jobs for the sake of my own. I’m no stranger to being
hated for taking and fulfilling requests ahead of others who want to do it, but
this is different. It's one thing to fulfill requests for the sake of helping
others as quickly as possible, and another thing to help others so the
association can get the credit for it. Part of me wants to think it’s just part
of the job, while another feels like I’m being spiteful to the other
associations and not helping others like I used to anymore.
When I bring up this concern to my
family, Deborah says, “It’s how the associations work. It makes hero work into
a for-profit and fame business rather than a service to the community, like it’s
supposed to be.”
“If it bothers you, we can quit and
take Timeo’s offer,” Idelle says.
Thinking about it for a second, I
want to join Timeo, but I don’t feel the drive to, so I tell them, “We’re still
helping people who need it, so it’s fine.”
I smile at my family, but they don’t
seem to buy it, not even my baby boy, who looks to be concerned as he reaches
out and holds onto my arm. To be honest, I don’t buy it myself, even though I’m
not lying. Still, I feel this to be God’s will for me, so I’ll bear with it,
and hopefully get used to it. The drama I’ve heard so much about these
associations getting into is surface-level rivalries about taking requests that
others take care of, so far. I pray that these simple rivalries are the only
drama I get involved in and nothing else.
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