Become the Main Character

Amyna and Charlie stared silently at the mystical, mysterious words engraved on the armor, pondering what it meant.

"You should put it on." Charlie whispered.

"What? Why? What if I get pulled into some kind of magical journey where I'm forced to be the main character?" Amyna immediately protested. Given the way the inscription on the armor changed itself, he figured anything was possible.

Charlie couldn't help but laugh at the notion. "Your imagination is pretty fucking wild, man. What if it's just a mandate from the maker?" Charlie smiled wickedly as he prodded his friend. "Or a way to prevent purposeless nobodies like you from wearing his masterpiece?"

"Fine, you want me to wear it? I'll wear it," Amyna grumbled. "Dick."

Charlie just laughed off the insult as Amyna struggled to lift the armor, in order to pull the worn leather straps over his head.

"Hey, man, I think those are meant to be tied together from the back." Charlie teased as he watched Amyna's helpless entanglement amongst the leather thongs.

"Nah, I got it." Amyna refused to back down from his self-inflicted trial, and with a forceful shove managed to pry the straps over his head, donning the ancient breastplate. It hung haphazardly, skewed at an odd angle across his waist, prompting Charlie to laugh and tease him once more. However, he was quickly silenced as a darkness permeated the cavern, their headlamps extinguished. The armor began to glow like it was the last remaining light in the world.

Amyna fell to his knees as a chorus of voices echoed in his mind, all at once shouting the words, "γενήσομαι τό μιμητός!" repeatedly drilling the imposition into his mind, making him feel as if his skull might shatter. His body thrummed with a pulsing rhythm, as it felt like his heart had been set ablaze. A red and yellow light flared just beneath Amyna's skin.

Then, as if it were crumbling to dust, the ancient apparel dissipated into nothing, light returned to their headlamps, and Amyna panted heavily as he crumbled to the rock floor. The voices had finally lapsed into silence, but he was left exhausted and with a throbbing headache. Within a few painful seconds, he finally gave in, falling into unconsciousness. In the darkness of his subconscious mind, he felt an endless row of eyes staring at him while expressing a multitude of feelings.

...

Amyna woke with a cough as he felt a gush of water pouring down his throat. He quickly sat up, shaking his head and snorting.

"He's up!" Amyna heard Charlie shouting ecstatically, and after wiping away the water dripping into his eyes, looked up to see his two friends, Charlie and Xavier, standing in front of a line up of masculine specimens, decked out in coveralls, headlamps, and what looked like gear especially designed to climb within caves.

Sensing Amyna's confusion, Xavier concisely explained. "I found these guys exploring the caves. They got you both out. Also, we all agree that Charlie's an asshole."

"Hey-!" Charlie began to protest, but kept his peace under the pressure of a dozen glares.

"What happened to you?" Xavier helped Amyna to his feet, a bit roughly. "Charlie didn't say."

"More like couldn't say." Charlie shot back.

"Right." X just rolled his eyes.

"He's right, X." Amyna interjected. "Look, let's talk about this in private. It's... pretty unbelievable. And weird."

Xavier hesitated before nodding. "Fine. You're good, though?"

"Of course." Amyna smiled. "Shall we get going?"

However, before they could leave, they ended up being caught in a lecture by the group of cave divers that rescued them.

"Do you realize how ridiculously stupid it is to use basic climbing gear in a cave? Do you?!" A gruff voice shouted at them.

Though not all of them were quite as angry as the gruff-voiced member, they all admonished the trio as reckless and under-prepared. The lecture dragged on for roughly half an hour of intermittent shouting, but it could be summed up with saying, 'You're idiots who don't know what you're doing.'

"You need to leave this cave before anyone actually gets hurt." With these words, the twelve behemoths all glared once more at Charlie, who withered under their oppressive gaze.

"Do you- uh," Charlie gulped. "Do you know the closest exit?"

The group helpfully provided a more detailed map. To the dismay of the three friends who imagined they'd found a new path, it actually showed the cavern they'd just been pulled from. They were then pointed to an exit just a mile's walk from their location.

As the men watched the trio head off in the wrong direction twice before figuring out the right way to hold the map, one of them piped up.

"Y'know, we could've been less hard on them. They're just kids having some fun."

The one who initiated the lecture, a dark-bearded man whose muscles bulged even beneath his coveralls nodded. "Yeah, you're right. I just had this strange feeling... like they should be protected at all cost." Noticing a few nods of agreement he raised his brows in surprise.

...

Amyna sat staring idly at the dirt road ahead, sitting in the shotgun seat of a horse-drawn carriage. When the reckless trio of adventurers had finally emerged topside, they found themselves in a small Amish community. Needing a way home, they had to resort to trying to hire someone to drive them to the city where they lived. Though he wouldn't take their money, they managed to convince someone to give them a ride.

With his two friends in the back, Amyna was left alone to make conversation with the polite man with the neatly trimmed beard. However, Amyna wracked his brains to find nothing. He was too overwhelmed by recent events, and his usual extroversion had fled him. So he was left sitting in idle silence.

His thoughts were awhirl with contradictions, unsure whether to believe in the inscription on the armor or not. He wasn't even sure that what he experienced wasn't some shared hallucination with Charlie. He had never before been inclined to believe in the idea of shared hallucinations; Amyna sighed, knowing that was just his wishful thinking.

What did it even mean to 'become the main character?' To be the protagonist? Was he meant to push some sort of plot forward? But a plot required intention, and he had no ambitions beyond a peaceful life in the city where he grew up. Hardly anybody's main character. Shaking his head, Amyna tried to clear his mind. Who ever said he had to follow the orders of some piece of old junk, anyway? Wasn't he content with the way things were?

As he asked himself this question, Amyna realized it was a question he had never asked himself before. Was he really fine with the way things were? He couldn't honestly tell himself he was. Carnage was right on the doorstep. Outside his little domain of peace, chaos lurked on the frontier, waiting to pounce at the slightest opportunity. He suddenly recalled what Xavier had told him the other day at school.

'I'll never face the worst dangers while Steel Lance is alive.'

"While Steel Lance is alive." Amyna muttered this thought aloud, barely containing the urge to shudder at the implications of the last two words.

"Something on your mind, son?" The Amish man in the driver's seat smiled gently from beneath his wide brimmed hat, his eyes showing concern.

Amyna returned the smile, for once in his life not a genuine display of his emotions. "It's nothing, just... thinking about the future."

The man nodded solemnly as he agreed, "The future's a worrisome thing. When you get to thinking too hard about it, it can seem to spiral out of control." He then raised his head as he spoke, his features softening. "But if you look just a bit further, there's something beautiful out there. Something called hope." He flashed a broad grin at Amyna, "So remember, no matter what the future holds for you, there's always hope!"

Amyna felt as if a boulder had fallen from his shoulders. He realized that he'd just lost his way for a bit. He had always felt that no matter what the future had in store, everything would be alright. He laughed along with the bearded fellow, "Thank you, uh... I'm sorry." Amyna sheepishly grinned. "I don't think I ever asked you your name."

"Name's Caleb. Caleb Fisher." Caleb held out his hand as his beaming smile radiated from amidst his beard.

"Thank you, Caleb." Amyna shook Caleb's offered hand with renewed enthusiasm. "You're a good guy."

The pair rode in silence a little longer, as Amyna considered what he could do. Then he broke the silence once more. "Hey, Caleb, what do you think it means to be the main character?"

"Hm? Are you some kind of novelist?" Caleb turned his head with genuine intrigue. It appeared he might have a fascination with novels.

Not sure how else to explain, and hating to disappoint him, Amyna answered in the affirmative to Caleb's question. "I'm just gathering some opinions for my next project. So what do you think?"

With readily apparent delight, Caleb gushed. "Oh, if its for a project, well- uh, I think the main character should always be a hero!"

"A hero? You mean like a Protector?" Amyna cocked his head.

Caleb waved his arms about in denial with a conflicted expression. "Well, a Protector's one thing, but... it's really just a job. A hero is more than that. A hero stands for something, something they'll never compromise on, and will always fight to protect. You get what I mean?" His love for stories practically leaked from his pores as he passionately pleaded his case.

Amyna nodded, thinking for a moment. "What about Steel Lance?"

His hat wobbled as Caleb shook his head. "I get that he keeps us safe, but... I don't care for the brutality." Caleb shuddered in disgust and fear as he spoke these last words.

Amyna considered everything this newfound mentor had said, when a dark blur rapidly emerged from the nearest edge of his vision.

SPLAT

One out of the pair of horses drawing the carriage suddenly exploded into chunks of meat, spraying blood all over Amyna and the poor Amish man who'd been coaxed into becoming a coachman.