The lowly hiking trail.

For centuries, people trod this path, inevitably paving its pathway that leads atop the mountain.

A prophecy was written that this planet was fated to be wiped out and purged of the weak by an unknown entity, but survive and ultimately be saved by its very own "hero."

An ancient sorcerer's device that is used to put an end to this armageddon is sealed away in a shrine atop the mountain, a weapon powerful enough to slay a thousand beasts that would be destined to be wielded by the hero themselves.

My only job and sole purpose as the guardian of this said weapon would be, to defend it from the corrupt and greedy that seek to take the hero's place, while also enduring the greed myself. Countless times, bandits have come here seeking to steal the weapon for various reasons, creating elaborate plans to pinpoint its location and get past its sole protector, me.

"do you hear that? Someone's here."

"Just as the boss told us, there's a guard here somewhere."

"well, how many?"

"stay quiet for now."

I hid behind pillars, making my way through the thieves whom I heard, seek to sell the weapon for an expensive price in their so-called "market." I know what selling is, it is an act of trading an item for a currency that is somehow worth said item. However, no amount of currency would be worth the price of this artifact, which I am holding close to my chest as to not risk dropping it.

"People really think that some 'ancient weapon' exists that can somehow save us from extinction? HAH! Such delusional tale."

"They believe the tale enough to have armed guards, now stay alert! We might get ambushed."

That's a lie, there are no other guards here besides me, this kingdom is too conservative when deploying their forces, therefore, they don't want to risk any of their trained soldiers to protect a possibly non-existent powerful magical artifact. I'm all alone and have only two plans in mind. Hide the artifact, or destroy it before getting killed.

Currently, there are two men wielding sharp weapons, magic affinity; 0. They're mere human beings without any worth in wielding enormous power.

So I threw a pebble directly at a gong to the east, alerting the thieves. That'll keep them distracted as I make my exit through the backside of the shrine.

"OVER THERE! GET BEHIND ME!"

"Y-YES"

Whilst the two are visibly shocked, I take advantage of the situation and immediately take my exit.

...

I keep reminding myself every day about all the hardships I go through, my purpose, and the importance of my job here.

Most days I just sit here waiting, waiting for someone to introduce themselves to me as "the hero" and tell me they've "come to save the day."

But it was my loss as I was born 20 years prior to the hero's birth, my body has become weak and brittle throughout the years before the hero even met the required age to acquire the weapon.

There have fortunately never been any raids since. People have stopped believing in this "silly prophecy" and went on with their lives. And soon, I stopped believing as well. An armageddon that'll punish the wicked and purge the weak? Give me a break. Perhaps those bandits were right.

Would such a thing even exist? Some entity that seeks destruction and chaos upon everything, yet subdue themselves to the righteous? The chosen one? The hero? I'm refusing to believe such a tale, yet I did for 50 years.

I'd eventually end up meditating just in front of the shrine's entrance. Starvation would be quick to get me as I haven't eaten for 2 days. The reason being is unknown to me, supplies stopped coming and many people started visiting the shrine again for the last few weeks. So I stay and distract myself with tales of the prophecy.

...

I remember a vague scenery that captivated me, it led me to think that there's something more to life than staying in one place.

"Don't let her get away! That bitch is still hiding in the trees somewhere!" Said a masked man, wrathful and panicked.

"IT DIDN'T HAVE TO BE LIKE THIS, I DON'T WANNA HAVE TO KILL ANYONE!" Said another masked man who seems to be paranoid and hesitant.

"She can't get far with an arrow in her leg, let's calm down and wait."

"G-good idea."

As I hid behind some trees, I lost feeling in my right leg from the amounts of blood I lost. It hurts, but I kept reminding myself to live. Live for the fate of humanity. Live.

The sickly green surrounded me and I was losing hope. So I walk forward a few steps past the trees that lead me to a cliff, what a great sight has greeted me. The wind blew at the right time as if it were welcoming me, the orange sunset was melded into my eyes as I stared back into its warm embrace. At that time I was... At peace. Like I can melt into the dirt beneath me, and become one with the soil.

I held the artifact close, and never wanted to let it go as I passed out on a cliff by the sunset.

Yet another miracle that keeps me reminded of what I'm staying for, as I sit alone and wait decades for someone to come.

I remember wondering and asking myself trivial things.

"When will they come?"

"What do they look like?"

"What would they think of me?"

"How would they greet me?"

"Will they come with a partner?"

"What would they smell like?"

"What do they eat?"

"What language do they speak?"

"What tales of awesomeness would they come to tell me someday?"

...

"Will I ever be repaid by them?"

A traveler makes his way through the overgrown leaves by the mountain's path. No one has tended to these paths for years, so naturally, the forest will try to get back to its natural state. Nevertheless, the traveler walks through branches and bushes, seemingly familiar with the path ahead, making his way to the shrine just a few steps away.

"You there" I called out. "State your business. Why are you here?"

The young man stayed silent, looking me right in the eye.

"If you're not going to talk then I suggest you leave, this place has no accommodation for outsiders."

He then silently approached the shrine as I chose to ignore him and kept sweeping. He then asked;

"Say, where do you keep this so-called 'ancient weapon'?"

"Unfortunately, the answer to that is reserved for the hero."

"And if I told you I was the hero?"

I paused for a second and examined the young man. From the way he is dressed, I can assume he's from the nearby village just below the mountain. He looks pale and weak, I can only guess that they are also struggling with food supplies down there.

So I looked him in the eye and said;

"You don't seem heroic to me. You're skinny and clearly unworthy. Plus if you were the hero, you wouldn't talk to me nonchalantly, you'd be freaking out and be in a hurry to 'save the world'."

The traveler turned away and gave out a light chuckle, then turned to face me again.

"How exactly would you know?" He said.

"I'll know when I know, and don't be holding conversations with me, I have a duty to fulfill."

I tried to calmly shoo him away with this statement, yet it obviously didn't work out.

"That's nice, so anyone who'd come here can be deemed a hero when you see fit?"

"No, everyone who ever came here is prideful, arrogant, and greedy. Like you, so if you don't want me to hit you with this blunt object I'm currently wielding then I suggest you leave immediately."

 "You're scary."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah, I think the hero might even be too intimidated to visit this shrine."

Before I realized it, what he said has put a smile on my face. What a clever kid.

"Oh well, I'm not sure I'll be as strong and menacing by the time he comes. But it is what it is."

 The young man stayed quiet for a while, sitting on a rock, staring at a distant tree. Then I came to remind him not to loiter around the temple.

"Didn't I tell you to lea-"

"Say, old lady, how come you've waited this long for a stranger you don't even know will arrive?"

 He suddenly cuts me off with a seemingly difficult question that had me dumbfounded for a few seconds.

"W-well first of all, I'm not old. And secondly, I don't know. Perhaps it's fate. I am destined to wait until the hero arrives, then, and only then, will I fulfill my lifelong duty."

"Then will you marry the hero?"

"Oh shut up."

The conversation went on for a few more hours. The boy was persistent and didn't want to leave, he kept asking me about my duty and why I'm here. But when I tried to ask about him and what he's on about, he left without a single word. Rude little brat.

Lots of meetings like these happened soon after, sometimes a group of children came to talk to me and keep me company, other times it was grieving people, people with aspirations, people that live for a certain reason. Just meeting them made me realize how completely different my life is from them. They are free to make decisions, come to the shrine in the afternoon, leave whenever they want. And I just sit here, to provide them with someone reasonable to talk to.

But much like other things, this quickly died out and I was left alone again for another decade.

Sometimes the tales I tell myself lead me to a melancholic episode where I cry all night by the corners of the shrine. But right now, I believe that if I waste another tear that I might die from dehydration. Yet here I am, reminding myself of a sad past I regret not living.

"Will I die before getting to meet them?"

"Will they arrive at a corpse of the one who should be leading them to their destiny?"

The thoughts spiral around in my head, but I do not falter. I've decided to take my fate and accept it for what it is. I can only hope that it won't be long before the hero arrives.

...

"Say, old lady, how come you've waited this long for someone you don't even know will arrive?"

"As I said, it's fate. This is my purpose. Though you're not wrong about the old thing anymore, I'm past 50 now."

I slowly look up to the figure who was speaking to me and as I expected, it was him. The little boy is all grown up.

"Hey there!" He said and gave me a bright smile.

"Hi, conceited kid." I half-jokingly said.

"Hehe. Say, do you remember why you're here with me?" He asked.

"Because you were the unexpected chosen one and have now come to attain your rightful weapon?"

He looked at me, confused for a second and I looked back with the same expression.

"No silly, you chose this path, you wanted peace more than anything else. And also, I'm not the hero, that would be my brother."

"Your brother? Have I met him before? Is he coming here?"

"I could've sworn he was the last person you met before ending up with me."

"And why is that?"

"Because you died."

...

"OUTTA MY WAY OLD WOMAN!" A hooded man with a tall figure shouted at me, seemingly in a hurry. He shoves me aside as I fell, not being able to get back up.

So I yelled;

"S-STATE YOR BUSINESS, WHY ARE YOU HERE?" is the only line I know to say when non-bandits who have come to the shrine arrive.

"QUIET DOWN! WHERE THE FUCK IS IT?!" He frantically searches the shrine for what I assume is the artifact.

"WOMAN TELL WHERE THE WEAPON IS."

"I-"

"HURRY IT UP OR I'LL STRANGLE YOU UNTIL YOU TELL ME." He looks at me with furious eyes.

"Y-you're not worthy of it, fiend!" I mustered up the courage to give him a piece of my mind.

 Unfortunately, this seems to be the end for me. Perhaps I was never fated to meet the hero, all my life amounted to this very moment, where I get to be strangled to death by a stranger. The world can be cruel sometimes, so I let go and prepare to feel death's embrace.

"WHY YOU LITTLE SHI-"

Before he could even finish, he was sliced clean in half. His hands eventually let go of me as his body fell to the ground.

I shakingly look up and saw... Him. A towering figure who is somehow both intimidating and calming, with the scent of a thousand cherry blossoms.

"I'm sorry he was bothering you, that was a friend of mine from the nearby village."

"W-who are you?" I hesitantly asked, this man doesn't look like he needed to introduce himself.

"My brother told me so much about you, though unfortunately, I couldn't visit you at the time. I was being trained by my mentor. He told me I was destined to meet you eventually, now here I am."

I became momentarily speechless, and soon, I found tears pouring from my eyes.

He looked down at me, visibly hurt by the sight and the state that I'm in, and started crying.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't meet you sooner, I-"

"There's a c-compartment hidden just by the eastern gong, there you'll find the key to a vault where the artifact should be. I wish you luck on your journey"

With no words from himself, he merely listened to me and looked me in the eyes as I spoke.

"Hero."

...

Is this it? My life summed up in a brief moment of dialogue? I rehearsed those lines a thousand times, and yet, when the time came for me to say them, I still messed up and said something else. I've always sat around the shrine thinking that I'd get a reward or some sort of compensation for what I've been doing. After all, HE was the one who convinced me to take this job.

Despite being an old friend of mine, he kept coming back and sending me supplies to stay alive.

"So where's this hero guy?"

"Don't worry, he'll be here in another 25 years or so." He said while tending to my wounds.

"Hurray to another 25 years of waiting. I might end up getting eaten by a hyena in the process"

"Hey! don't be like that!"

"I know, I know I was only teasing, you know how I adore your reactions." He replied with an adorable pout and stayed silent for a while.

"So... Do you think once I finish this long-term mission you can maybe... Take me home?"

"S-sure, I'll do that."

"Thanks."

...

"By the way, I'm going to be mentoring this child."

"Ooh that's interesting, tell me all about it!"

Conversations like these could've occurred every day if I simply chose to abandon the shrine and tell him I gave up. But I didn't, because even if I seemed like I was miserable throughout... There was still a hint of love and enjoyment that found its way in me to strengthen my resolve.

To me, this job was both the most peaceful and dangerous job one could ever dream of, and being the only person in the world to experience this somehow made me feel special. For that reason, I didn't back down to the very end, even if I was losing hope in everything including myself, there was someone who kept me going. Turns out the prophecy wasn't a sham after all.

"So what do I tell them when they do come? And also, how would I know if it's them?"

"Oh you'll know right away, they'd give off an intimidating yet calming aura and I heard they'd smell like cherry blossoms."

"Cherry blossoms? Right. I'll believe your tale once you answer my first question."

"Uhm, maybe yell at them to intimidate them, then if they don't falter that will give a much higher chance of them being the hero."

"That's a barbaric thing to ask of a lady to do, think of something else."

"Well, then how about something formal like, 'state your business, why are you here?'"

"STATE YOUR BUSINESS! WHY ARE YOU HERE?"

"That's right, you got it!"

"Hehe, I could get used to this."

Those were the first conversations we had in the shrine, and I never left since.

...

"Your next path is for you to choose, you either follow the hero and act as a guide all throughout his journey and be reincarnated right after the destruction has settled down, or you can die peacefully, knowing you fulfilled your destiny, which will it be?"

"Huh?"

The entity then pointed upwards, signaling me to look up. And so I did. What awaited me was so unsightly that it left me paralyzed.

"T-that's?"

"Armageddon. So, which will it be?"

...

"The second option... If you please."

"Understood. Say hi to my brother for me."

THE END.

...

...

AFTERWORD:

I am stoked to see you make it this far, give yourself a pat on the back! Anyways, thanks for reading my short little story. I was certainly excited to write this one ever since I thought of the concept, I don't know if it went quite how I want it to be but whatever I guess. So yeah, enough about that, let's talk about the story.

So the main concept for this is to tell the story of whom is supposed to be a side character in an RPG game, ultimately dramatizing their seemingly meaningless life, though still trying to give them a happy ending. Have you ever interacted with an NPC and be like "huh, I wonder how they got to this point?" That's exactly what I'm trying to make a story out of. Hopefully, I did at least a decent job at portraying this. I am in fact, an amateur.

I originally thought of making this some form of a comic/manga, but maybe I'll reserve that sort of effort into something waaaaaay better? Who knows, maybe I'll make a comic version remake of this someday.

Well anyways, that's all. Also, the hero's brother died from a plague brought by the inevitable Armageddon, I couldn't slap that anywhere in the story so yeah.