Chapter 1: The Masked Hero

Edhas stabbed the ground with his two swords as he forced his body to stand. Blood was running down through several deep cuts in his body and his plain white mask was stained with purple liquid.

“Foolish human,” The Demon King Styx spat as he tore his eyes away from the stump where his arm once was to the young man. “Why do you fight? You have not been chosen by the light. You cannot kill me.”

“I got your arm, though,” Edhas forced a smirk behind his mask as he pointed one of his swords at his adversary. “Why don’t you come over here so I can take your other arm?”

The demon lord roared in rage as he charged with blinding speed, the ground behind him exploding at the force of his feet. Edhas barely had the time to raise his swords in defense when the demon lord’s sword swung at him. The two entered an intense duel. Cuts and scratches appeared on both of their bodies as both of them were too tired to avoid each other’s blows.

“You fight well for a human,” The two locked blades once more when Styx broke the symphony of steel.

“And you fight well for a Doom reject,” Edhas felt his lips move as another spoke through his mouth. With a grunt of effort, Styx launched Edhas back. The man dug his swords into the ground and created two lines in the ground to stop himself. Before he could do anything, he saw a burst of light approaching Styx.

“No!” Edhas shouted as he dashed forward. Styx raised his sword to stab the light when Edhas appeared in between the two.

“Shade?!” As Edhas felt the sword piercing through him, he light dissipated to reveal a woman with flowing blonde hair and wide, blue eyes. “What are you doing?!”

“Nuisance!” Styx shouted. Edhas threw his swords aside and grabbed Styx’s weapon with both hands and pulled, not caring about the searing pain from his bleeding hands.

“Now!” Edhas shouted.

“Thank you,” The woman whispered as her rapier started to shine.

“You know, when this is over, you should retire,” Edhas felt himself love control of his body. He felt himself smile against his will. “You’ve fought too much.”

No! Edhas wanted to shout, but his mouth wouldn’t move. Don’t do this!

“Let me do this one thing for you,” He heard himself speak as the light began to engulf his vision. “Please, Edhas. Live for me.”

“Starlight Breaker!” The woman shouted and Edhas’s consciousness faded into a comforting light.

----------------------------------------

Edhas’s eyes flew open and he abruptly sat up, panting and clutching his chest. He could feel the cold sweat dripping from his forehead and the warm tears falling from his eyes to his chin.

“A dream,” he breathed out between pants. He repeated the phrase a couple times as he forced his breath to steady. He got out of bed and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

He stretched his arms before making his bed, patting the red and white sheets as he finished. He then made his way to the bathroom and looked at the mirror. His short, jet black hair looked as if it had been styled by a tornado and brown eyes still sagged from his restless sleep.

“Clean,” Edhas commanded. Droplets of water formed and swirled around him and started to flow across his body and underneath his garments. When all the dirt and grime had been removed from his body, Edhas flicked his hand and the water formed into a small ball before falling into the sink.

“Better,” Edhas’s back straightened and he brushed his hair with the wooden comb on the sink.

After he finished, he went back to his room and changed his clothes. He wore an oak-colored tunic and pants that were kept in place with a belt that had a buckle for a sheathe. Edhas grabbed the Jian sword that was on top of his dresser and secured it on his belt.

“Time to get started,” Edhas muttered as he walked out of the door. He took in a deep breath of fresh air as he looked at the view. His cabin was on top of a flat hill facing the rising sun. The sun was completely out, but it still had to make its way to the top of the sky. On the hill was a large field with a plentiful harvest of wheat and a shed off to the side. Behind the cabin was a trail that led to a dense forest of pine trees.

Edhas made his way over to the wheat and examined them for a few seconds before nodding.

“Looks like this harvest is ready,” Edhas said before taking a few steps out and grabbing the hilt of his sword. “Wind Cutter.”

With a swift motion, he unsheathed and swung his sword. As he cut the air, the wind flew at his command and a blade of wind flew from his sword and launched towards the grains of wheat. Within a second, the blade flew through the grains and they flew upwards, cut from the lower stem.

Edhas walked over to a large, wooden box in front of his cabin and opened it. He grabbed several long pieces of rope and made his way back to the field, where grains of wheat laid all over the once orderly field.

“Gather,” Edhas tossed the ropes towards the field. Instead of falling on the ground, wind started to circle around the field. The wheat started to gather into bunches and the wind guided the ropes to wrap them into sheafs. As they did that, Edhas went to the side of the house and grabbed a large, wooden wheelbarrow and brought it towards the field. He beckoned the floating sheafs towards him with a finger and they glided over to him and stacked themselves orderly into the wheelbarrow.

“Alright, I’m almost ready,” Edhas said as he placed the wheelbarrow down. “There’s only one more thing.”

----------------------------------------

Edhas navigated his way through the forest with ease. He knew the place like the back of his hand. After several minutes of what seemed to be aimless wandering and random turns, Edhas found his way upon a path.

“I should really work on finishing the path,” Edhas muttered to himself as he followed the path down the forest. It only took a couple minutes for Edhas to find himself at the end of the path. As he stepped through the underbrush, he found himself at a clearing where the sun shone down upon a grave.

The stone grave stood erected from the ground with two blades crossed behind it. The two blades were polar opposites of each other. They were both longswords, but their colors were mirror opposites. One of them was a pearly white with blue veins decorating the blade and the hilt while the other one was an obsidian black, the crimson veins weaving throughout the swords as if blood circulated through the weapon itself.

Behind the crossed blades was a wooden cross. A black cape was tied to the base of the cross and a mask was hanging from the top. The mask was pure white with no holes for eyes or a mouth and no design.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Edhas sat in front of the grave and smiled as he read the words engraved on the tombstone for what seemed to be like the billionth time.

Here lies Ryan Shade, The Masked Hero

Who fought not for our right to survive, but our right to live

May his heroics and sacrifice never be forgotten

“I can’t believe it’s been two years already,” Edhas breathed out. He sat in silence for a couple seconds before sighing.

“The wheat harvest is ready,” Edhas forced a smile. The grave, as expected, made no reply. Edhas frowned again.

“I’ve been trying, you know?” Edhas closed his eyes and leaned backwards, using his hands to support him. “I’ve been living a normal life for two years now, but I don’t feel anything. I’ve been talking to people and making friends, but I feel like something is missing. I don’t know what to do.”

He sat in silence for a few more minutes, listening to the birds chirp. He took a deep breath and stood up.

“I’m going into the city again. Maybe I’ll learn this time,” Edhas said as he turned around. “What it means to live.”

----------------------------------------

The trip down from the hill to the town was uneventful. Luckily, there was already a path when Edhas moved, so he didn’t have to spend time working on that. As the large, wooden gates came closer, Edhas started to slow down until he stopped right in front of the gate. The two men standing guard approached Edhas with easygoing smiles.

“Morning Edhas,” The taller man said. Both of them were wearing steel armor and helmets and carried normal spears.

“It’s nice to see you again, Cain,” Edhas nodded to the taller of the two before turning to the other man, “You too, Eric.”

“Haven’t seen you in a couple weeks,” Eric said. Eric was about an inch shorter than Edhas, while Cain was roughly half a head taller. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I just needed some time to myself,” Edhas replied with a strained smile. “Still not used to this lifestyle.”

“An adventurer’s life is never over, huh?” Cain said with a chuckle. “I still remember the good old days…”

“We’ve heard,” Eric deadpanned and Cain laughed.

“Come on! My stories can’t be that bad!” Cain said, mirth flickering through his eyes.

“They aren’t but you’ve told them a billion times already!” Eric said with faux irritation.

“Whatever. Let’s just get our friend through the gate already,” Cain shook his head. “Our prize depends on it.”

“Yeah,” Eric looked at the sheafs of wheat on Edhas’s wheelbarrow. “I can’t wait for Martha to get her hands on these.”

“If you could stop daydreaming about bread,” Edhas butt in with a scowl, “I would like to get through. I have business in the town.”

“Oh!” The two flinched as Edhas spoke. Cain shook his head and smiled at the man. “Of course. You may pass.” 

“Thank you,” Edhas nodded to the men as they went to open the gate. As the gate opened fully, Edhas walked through and into the town.

----------------------------------------

The first place Edhas went to was the trading guild. It was a large building made of dark wood and was draped in blue and silver. Edhas walked around the building with his wheelbarrow. Behind the building was a shed with the doors open. The inside of the shed was fairly empty, except for the large scale in the corner of the room and table next to the scale. Edhas left his wheelbarrow in the shed and made his way back to the front door, closing the shed doors behind him.

As Edhas walked through the door, he was assaulted with a cacophony of sight and sound. Several business deals were being made as there were people sitting on each table, discussing numbers as items were weighed on the small scales on the center of the table.

“Ah, Edhas!” A boisterous man greeted him. Edhas turned to see a lean man approaching him. He wore an olive green suit and although his hair was gray, it was still full and well-groomed. He had a small mustache and goatee and his eyes were a dazzling green.

“Good to see you again, Graham,” Edhas nodded as he offered his hand. Graham’s grin widened and he shook the hand with a grip stronger than a man his age should be capable of.

“What brings you in today?” Graham asked.

“I finished my harvest. Left the wheelbarrow in the back shed.” Edhas explained with a shrug.

“Wonderful!” Graham’s expression brightened as he brushed past Edhas and out of the door. The young man followed him with his hands in his pockets. “Martha’s going to be happy, and when she’s happy, I get rich.”

“Good to know,” Edhas muttered as they made their way to the shed. Graham opened the shed door with a smirk.

“Quite the haul you have here,” Graham noted as the two started to load the scale. As they finished, Graham pushed a button on the scale and magical energy shimmered in the air. The particles started to float towards each other until a blue “173” floated in front of the two men.

“Damn,” Graham whistled. The two loaded the wheat back on the wheelbarrow and Graham looked at Edhas.

“This is quite a lot,” Graham said as they went back to the guild building. This time, they entered through the back door where there was a room with a single table. Edhas sat down while Graham walked into another room.

“Since you’re a frequent customer, I can give you a bonus,” Graham returned with a bag of coins after a while. “How does eighty-eight silver coins sound?”

“That’s a good deal,” Edhas nodded, taking the coins and pocketing them. The money system was quite simplistic, as 100 silver coins was worth one gold coil and a silver coin was worth 100 copper coins. Wealthier folks could obtain platinum coins, which were worth 100 gold coins and the richest of the rich could turn in 100 platinum coins for a mithril coin.

“Pleasure doing business with you,” Graham shook Edhas’s hand once more. “You can come pick your wheelbarrow up tomorrow.”

“Thanks, Graham,” The two men stood up and walked out of the room. With one more wave, the two parted ways. Graham went into the shed to pick up the merchandise while Edhas left the trading guild, his mind set on one more errand.

----------------------------------------

Edhas sighed as he looked at the small building before him. It was nothing special, as it looked like any other medieval house on the outside, but to Edhas, it was the most important building in the town. He opened the door and a wave of heat brushed his skin. He closed the door behind him and walked over to the counter.

“Hey geezer!” Edhas called, ringing the small bell on the counter. “You have a customer!”

“I’m coming, blast it!” A rugged voice shouted back. Edhas could hear the sound of metal clanging and heavy footsteps until a small, tanned dwarf wearing overalls walked into view from the hallway at the end of the counter.

“Greetings, Even Förfalska,” Edhas dipped his head at the gruff man. “May the god of smiths bless your hammer.”

“Don’t you greet me with respect now, brat,” The dwarf replied with a furrowed eyebrow. The dwarf was bald, but his beard was a dark, ashen brown. His biceps bulged from years of working with steel and his eyes shone from experience. “What do you want?”

“You have any Cold Steel?” Edhas asked. Cold Steel was a metal found on the top of mountains. Centuries of being in a frigid environment made the metal easier to attune with ice magic, making the metal perfect for swords with battlemages in mind.

“Apparently several dragons have appeared in the Verschneit Mountains, so exports have been slow,” Evan explained as he pulled a drawer under the counter and placed five navy blue ingots on top. “I have these, but I’ll have to mark the price up to sixty-five silver coins.”

“Fine,” Edhas pulled the bag that he got from Graham out of his pocket and started to count the coins. When he counted sixty-five, he pushed the stacks of coins in the dwarf’s direction.

“Here,” Evan crouched down and grabbed a large sack and placed the ingots in them before pushing them towards Edhas. “I’ll expect the sack returned during your next visit.”

“Sure, whatever, old man,” Edhas grabbed the sack and turned to walk away.

“May Värja cleave your enemies,” Edhas stopped when he heard Evan speak the second half of the Dwarvish greeting and smiled, waving before he walked off.

----------------------------------------

By the time Edhas made it back to the top of the hill, the sun was already starting to set. The first thing he did was make his way to the shed. He opened the door to reveal a fully furnished forge. Several swords were hung on the wall and several boxes with labels were lined up below them. Edhas walked over to the box labeled “Cold Steel” and dumped the contents of the sack before leaving, placing the sack next to the exit.

Edhas then made his way to a rectangular patch of dirt. He stretched his arms and legs before extending his hand outwards.

“Earth Golem,” Edhas demanded. The ground shot upwards in the form of a humanoid figure. He smirked as his hand reached for the hilt of his sword.

“Can’t let myself get rusty,” Edhas muttered to himself. “Earth Golem, attack me.”

Two orbs of light glowed where the golem’s eyes would be as it sprung to life. It extended its crude arm and rocks formed from the earth and launched itself towards the hand, forming a club.

The golem charged, raising its new club. Edhas only uttered two words as he unsheathed his sword.

“Let’s dance.”