3 years later

*swish* *pant*

*swish* *pant*

*swish* *pant*

Signs of struggling are heard from the outside of a wooden cottage. As the door open and the sounds are getting louder and clearer, a stranger calls out:

"Adrian, can you please deliver these scissors to the tailor's?"

A wooden sword stops its battle with the wind. Sudden end of movement makes several sweat drops begin their journey down Adrian's half naked body, after which he turns to the person calling him out. He walks towards him and leans his training sword against the outer wall of a wooden building.

"Yes, Teacher." Replied Adrian as he grabbed a cloth and started drying himself off.

"I'm done repairing them, I've also sharpened the blades thus be careful. They looked dull so I did it gratis. Hopefully they will like our gesture and turn to us again in their time of need."

Adrian puts on his shirt having its left sleeve tied into a knot. He grabs the scissors and ventures down the road. Then his teacher, Tybalt, stops him and says:

"And also, use the money you'll get to buy some vegetables, we're running out."

"Okay." Replied Adrian again with the same tone.

Adrian leaves the vicinity of his residence, located on top of a cliff surrounded by a lush forest, making his way down the path leading to Mistvale. It doesn't take long to enter the town as the cliff overlooks all of its buildings. A thin river flows around making it look like a small island. Entrance to the town is recognizable by the stone bridge, built above the canal, leading to the main square. As Adrian walks over the water into the main square, his presence is veiled under the shadow of the giant clock tower in the middle. Buidlings of stone and brick embrace the main square along with the town's church, with one of them being the destination of Adrian's visit.

The door opens with a ring, usually signalizing a new customer. An old lady comes from the back of the shop, with the intention to serve the possible client, but instead finds herself being one, as she realized that Adrian walked in.

"Oh my, what a pleasure. I assume my favorite scissors were taken care of?"

"Yes, here you go." Said Adrian as he handed out her desired tool.

She proceeded to cut a piece of cloth lying around on her table. The sharpened blades have split the woven material clean like it was cutting through air. The old lady cheered joyfully:

"Amazing, I am so glad I found someone that could do such a handiwork. You know, they are my treasure and the only one who could fix them is our town's stubborn blacksmith. But he brushed me off like a dirty rag and boasted about how he only makes weapons for men. Little does he know that under all that armor, a person needs to have a good set of clothes." She laughed.

"Sorry for taking your time with my blabbering, dear. Here is your payment, and something little extra."

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

The old lady hands him few pieces of differently colored coins and see him off.

"Be sure to give my sincere thanks to Tybalt as well. Have a great evening." The old lady sees him off.

Adrian nods and goes on his way to buy groceries to the nearby stall. Approaching it, he eyes its vast selection but asks only for a sack of potatoes, as the other vegetables are too expensive for what small payment he have gotten. Exchanging the goods left him with only few copper pieces in his pockets.

Preparing to depart home, he tries to swing the bag on his back to ease the travel, but the material doesn't hold and tears open. All the bag once held has fallen on the ground, rolling all around Adrian's vicinity. When he began to pick them up, he noticed that at least half of them were moldy and squishy. He looks at the trader as if wanting to ask him about the meaning of selling bad potatos, but is swiftly overtaken by him saying:

"Sorry but you've dropped all the merchandise on the ground, no refunds. Now bug off cripple, you're blocking my customers."

Knowing his initial goal, he doesn't try to pick a fight and instead resumes collecting his bought goods. Kneeling on the ground and being puzzled about how he will transfer the potatoes home in the now teared bag, he reaches for the remaining stray one. But all of a sudden the potato is taken from his reach by a slender hand. Looking up towards the assumed thief, he sees a girl with long puffy golden hair, observing the vegetable carefully after which she proclaims:

"Don't worry, it's still edible. Just cut off the bad part and it should be as good as a normal potato." She smiles and hands him the last piece.

Adrian nods and replies: "Okay, thank you."

"Let me tell you a trick-" She stops after seeing Adrian's missing arm and rephrases her sentence.

"-or better let me show it to you. Pull your shirt away from your chest and hold it there."

Adrian follows her instructions, as she kneels down to him and starts putting the potatoes onto his pulled shirt.

"You will need to wash your shirt later but at least you can take all of them home easy peasy." She smirked proudly.

"Thank you."

"My name is Victoria, and you-“

"How many times do I have to tell you to not talk to strangers." Yelled a man from behind, after which he grabbed her arm and pulled her towards the local tavern.

Being dragged away, she waves him goodbye. Adrian, wanting to wave back, instinctively tries to raise his unoccupied hand but the only thing he does is dangle his shirt's knot. Not coming up of a better way to say goodbye, he just nods and goes on his way back.

Upon arrival, Adrian puts the potatoes on the table and brushes off the dirt from his shirt. Since the sun was slowly setting, he went out to chop up some wood for fire. Tybalt meanwhile prepared the vegetable for a stew and afterwards they both had a warm meal. As they were almost finished eating, Tybalt said to him:

"A letter arrived. People I know seek my help so I'll be gone for a short while, only for this night. I am sure you will manage by yourself, so I'm leaving the school in your hands."

Adrian nodded.

After dinner, Adrian bid farewell and safe travels to Tybalt and went to bed. In an almost complete silence, with only the charred wood crackling, he laid down. Staring blankly at the wooden roof above, he reached out with his hand towards it and contemplated:

"Is it enough? After these few years, am I ready? Waiting for a sign, a clue, upon which I can begin my hunt. Before that happens, I need to get stronger. But... is it enough?"

Adrian lowered his arm down on his face, covered his eyes and fell asleep.

The next morning, he woke up with the bird orchestra playing all around. His usual routine consisted of cleaning his face in a bucket of fresh water from the nearby pond. Continuing, he took a strip of cloth with a grounded charcoal on top, and with it, he scrubbed his teeth. After eating the breakfast of usually bread and water, Adrian started training.

Swinging with his trusty wooden sword against the air or a wooden structure resembling a human, filled most of the time of his days. Today was the same just like every other until he heard something rustling behind the building. Being the only one around, Adrian felt the need to confront anything that would otherwise disturb the course of life in the School of Heroes.

Adrian, with the wooden sword in his hand, approached the rustle, coming from the giant lush bushes, behind the school. He stretched his arm ready to smack whatever was hiding behind the wall of leaves, but his intentions were promptly stopped as the "something" jumped on him, throwing him on the ground.