The pleasant Eldenhills was no more.

Darkness engulfed all, minds became twisted, rage and despair spread in the town like a disease.

Only the strong survived the eternal nightfall that ensued Bahram’s wrath.

A few, however, kept hope alight.

Fighters, not the strongest ones, but those who had been someone before the blackout.

Scholars, artists, mothers, those were the people who talked of a hero. A saviour whom, with righteous rage, would knock out the Mountain God with one punch.

Some spoke of a mighty kick to the head. Some of a slap so strong, Bahram’s head would spin around like a top.

Whatever the method, all spoke of a hero who would defeat Bahram once and for all.

But after centuries of permanent darkness, who could say if ever such a hero would arise?

And so, Eldenhills kept supplying its own brand of violence to the Valley of A Thousand Punches while Bahram was deep in slumber, having all but forgotten the curse he had enshrouded the valley with.

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Let us now get closer to Eldenhills, closer to that inn where Bahram had lost his patience centuries ago, dooming the town.

A man, not nobler than any other by birth or by morals, as both birth and morals were things little celebrated in the valley, was occupied with picking his teeth with a sharp bone.

The inn was no more, ruins laid in its place. The place was deemed cursed by the folks of the town and none would choose to lurk there without a good reason.

The man was sat on a low stone, with one leg bent under him and the other stretched out and bouncing slightly.

A noise - sharp - a stone clacked on the paved street.

The man turned his head toward the sound and dropped the bone.

It was midday in Eldenhills, which made the shadows look even deeper.

The man felt exposed and slowly rose to his feet. A fine sliver of metal reflected from his right hand for an instant, as if a thin ray of sun had found its way through the dense darkness.

The man extended his blade toward the source of the sound.

As most folks in Eldenhills, he could feel, more than see, movements.

And there was someone, or something, moving in the shadows.