A curtain of darkness was slowly descending upon the Iron Empire. For the majority of humans, beasts, and other creatures, it was high time they sought after some shelter.

With the emergence of the night came forward certain incomprehensible, and unspeakable horrors that could scare to death even the most brave of men. Legends died, and new ones were born; mysteries were unraveled, while some deepened even further. The luckiest came across unfathomable riches, while the unfortunate died miserable deaths inside the bottomless shadows that lurked ever closer.

While all these interesting things, and many more happened, Biff was still inside his room, eating bare rice. His face distorted to some extent, making it obvious that he was trying his best to chew and swallow his current dinner. After what seemed like a long time, he finally finished eating. Plain rice wasn’t that bad, however, consuming the same damn thing over and over again was becoming a real challenge.

Biff cleaned the dishes then went towards his bed. For almost an entire hour, he stood there with a blank expression. At the present, he was walking on a very thin path. He could not fall too deep into depression nor lie blatantly to himself that everything was fine. In the end, he fell on his back, waiting for sleep to come, and take him into the dream-world.

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“Forward! Kill every single one of them!” shouted Biff valiantly, and with great passion. He was currently leading three hundred men in a battle that would decide the fate of the entire empire.

Wielding a gigantic sword that was partially wrapped in chains, and tightly secured to his hand, Biff dashed with great speed and full of rage towards the legions of monsters that threatened to invade and kill everything in their path. Suddenly, his speed decreased considerably, and his belly started to hurt.

‘I urgently need to take a shit!’ sweat poured down his forehead like a river. The moment was the worst possible. ‘Why now?!!’ Panic quickly settled in. Before succumbing to despair, Biff finally woke up from his dream. The saving of the empire had to wait, for it was not on top of his priority list at this particular moment.

Jumping off the bed, Biff furiously limped towards the bathroom. In his mad dash, he stumbled and fell, almost shitting his pants in the process. Gritting his teeth, Biff made one final struggle before reaching the toilet. With a loud sound, most of his pain vanished.

“This rice…”

After finishing his important business, Biff checked the time. It was five in the morning, one hour earlier than his usual wake-up time. ‘I can sleep for one more hour, great!’

Laying on the bed, he tried to resume his previous dream. No matter how hard he tried, he could not achieve such a feat. Instead, his brain started to hurt from the futile effort to reproduce what had seemed to be the start of a great dream. One hour passed in the blink of an eye. Sadly, he gained nothing. No rest, no great dream, only a headache.

“Today is the day! This morning marks the beginning of a new life. One life full of adventure and excitement. Beauties and riches, everything starts with this single step!”

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If a random person heard his words, they would surely be inspired, and become full of energy and enthusiasm. Despite the powerful words, Biff’s face was as plain as a wooden board. Only God knew how many times he said such words. Strangely, despite the low effect, this kind of prose still managed to shake his heart to some extent.

Getting off the bed yet again, Biff washed up, and ate some more ‘tasty’ rice. It took a great deal of willpower from him not to smash that plate into oblivion. Forcing the last remaining food down his throat, Biff got up, and changed into his work outfit. The clothes looked more like rags than anything else decent a human would wear.

He planned to go and talk to his boss Bart about his one-week break, not go to work. Unfortunately, his other few clothes were no better looking than these.

‘Am I overdoing things?’ this thought started to become louder and louder inside his mind. ‘Are these the most efficient actions in the long run?’ Eating the same low quality food over and over again could bring a plethora of problems in time. To make things worst, the rice he ate wasn’t anything close to premium quality. Tiredness and fatigue was becoming the norm, and that wasn’t good.

Biff’s eyes became sharp for a moment: ‘I urgently need to change a few basic things!’

The amount of money he was gathering at this moment was pretty much at the maximum, out of his current situation. Alas, the same speed could not be maintained for too long of a time without any consequences.

Biff’s desire to heal his leg was enormous, but it was high time he slowed down a bit, and maybe rethink his strategy. Health was an important factor, so damaging one part to fix another would be just pure madness.

‘It’s high time I ate some decent food, and wore some proper clothes.’ With these thoughts in mind, he left his room, and headed towards the place where he spent most of his time during these years.

Even though it was still early in the morning, there were plenty of people on the stone paved streets. Most of them went to work, or had various stuff that needed to be taken care of first thing in the morning.

Biff tried to walk confidently, even with his injured leg that refused to obey his will from time to time. The pain was still there, and at a higher level than before, but still manageable.

As he walked, to his left and to his right were different kinds of buildings. Some small, some big, but generally having the same level of quality. From time to time, he could also spot a few buildings that were way above the norm in that particular part of the city. Most probably, those were the houses, or the stores, of the local business leaders.

Biff’s attention was diverted by the blooming sun on the horizon, golden petals stretching ever outwards into the rich blue. Under such conditions, the flowers present on the streets, as well as inside people’s courtyards, became a mesmerizing sight to behold.

“How beautiful!” exclaimed Biff with a firm voice. Knowing that this was the start of his mini vacation in a very long time, his body, and mind relaxed greatly. This fact allowed him to fully, and unhurriedly, take in the gorgeous scenery that he usually ignored.

With a large smile, and with his mood improving by the second, Biff finally reached his destination. Going in through the metal doors, and seeing the huge hall, his wide smile vanished on the spot. The large building obstructed the light of the sun, thus everything became noticeably colder and darker.

‘Would it kill him to put some flowers around this place, and let some space for the light to shine through?’ thought Biff, feeling some hatred taking form in his mind.

Ignoring the drastic change in scenery and ambience, he proceeded forward. Typically, he was among the first ones to arrive, but this time, it wasn’t the case anymore. Upon entering the shady hall, he noticed everyone present, including a few others, not that familiar figures. It was Lara, and her two bodyguards.

‘What is happening here?!’

This was a first for him. Remembering the scene from two days ago, and seeing the current situation, a tingling sensation went through his spine. This could very well be that one opportunity, that one step that he needed to change his life.