As I made my way out of the room, I was met by an unfamiliar face. The girl that I had scared upon waking up. Well, she cowered at the side of the wall, her hands trembling as she clutched at her uniform with both hands taut. Her eyes were huge and round. The face was of feline descent, and her outfit was typical of a maid or house cleaner. She checked all the boxes for your stereotypical maid or servant girl at a local inn. She was undoubtedly a person of the realm, and I had scared her half to death.

Feeling bad, I slowed my roll. After a deep breath and a few thoughts, I proceeded cautiously.

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to startle you. I was just excited to be alive and more excited for well.

I made a slow motion to my stomach and was about to ask for the food, but with a grumble, my stomach answered for me.

At this, she smiled and let out a small laugh. Her voice was thrilling and young, everything that I needed to hear upon waking up. It took the tension out of the moment. Life wasn't always dark, the ocean didn't always crash, and sometimes, it just takes a cute face and a pretty laugh to make you remember all that.

I'm sorry, it's just the way they talk about you. The man who sleeps soundlessly on the bed upstairs is the same man who broke the waves that keep us walled within our cage; how can you shake the air with a power that crackles like lightning but strikes like thunder? Well, I was expecting someone powerfully looking. Someone scary.

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She spoke like a girl who spent too many hours by fires listening to the tall tales adventures loved to exaggerate. Being from a small village, those were probably the highlights of her day. I hoped that sooner or later, she would learn that not all tales are genuine and not all feats are grand.

Was I telling myself that? Was I again trying to weasel myself out of the role I was fated to play? Whipping away my thoughts, I answered the girl kindly.

Oh, so I could be more powerful-looking?

I laughed as I examined myself in a mirror across the hall. I looked smaller, frailer, and malnourished. I was not living up to any battle stories, that's for sure.

Well, I don't mean to offend you. It's just the way they talk about you. It's like they were talking about a living legend….

Her voice grew small and quiet as she scrunched her eyes and whispered the last bit.

A myth among men...

Smiling, I didn't want to feed into anything more than that. Any more, and I would earn a reputation, which would cause a rumor to spread. With rumors came quests, and with quests came attention. The last thing I needed was a flock of adventures with good or bad intentions.

Knowing the system, I was probably already on track to finding some troubling circumstances.

Well, it's an inn; you know how people get. They embellish; they make their tales taller than they are. It's all in good fun, I assure you. Only buy some people's stories, not all of them; most aren't worth the price.

Without missing a beat, she responded as if ready for my verbal deflection.

No, I've seen fibbers, liars, storytellers. These people don't sprout stories from their lips; what they say is true and solid. I can see it in their eyes. I can feel it in the way it makes the room grow cold. Big tales, lies, those liven up the room. When they talk about what you do...they get quiet and small, making everyone else listen like we are at a church.

As she said them, her eyes held a fire that burned with a resonance that I didn't like. It was like that of an apostle, someone searching for a higher being to make some change in the realm. She had heard stories, and now she looked at me with eyes that knew what I was.

I wasn't some adventurer to her or the men who told those stories.

I was a hero.

Shit, I thought.

Shit..shit..shit.

It's begun already. And the realm couldn't even wait for me to fill my stomach.