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Chapter 1: Rising Fame
Part 1
700 years ago, the world was a paradise. That is if you are a monster. For the rest of us: Humans, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, or any civilized race, the world was full of pain and suffering. Despite vastly outnumbering the monsters: demons, werewolves, hideous beasts, and the likes, the civilized species could not escape their torments, as the False Gods were protecting them.
God, oh wise and merciful God, you created this world so we could live in peace, prosperity, and happiness so that we can be loyal servants to you in return. Yet wise as you are, no one could have foreseen the betrayal from your ultimate creations, the False Gods. They destroyed your physical body so that you could no longer save us from them. The False Gods then declared themselves as Gods, but we never stopped resisting. We would never accept them, no matter how harsh their oppression was. We knew deep in our hearts that God would never abandon us, that one day he would save us.
On one faithful day 700 years ago, twenty heroes, we call them the Great Twenty, banded together to save the world. Each of them wielded an artifact given by God, and these heroes would go on and defeat the False Gods one by one, evil could not stand in their way. Their final battle against the Strongest False God was epic, it was a saga of the ages. The False Gods were all defeated, the monsters would soon be driven away without their leaders. The world was once again at peace, once again ruled by us, the civilized races, the ones who remain faithful to our true God.
After their chapter came to an end, the Great Twenty part ways, most of them founded their own nations. Some of their artifacts remain to this day as national treasures, some would be lost through time.
“Our nation, the Narn Empire, was founded by 3 of the Great Twenty: First Emperor Jariba the Great, and his 2 friends, Sorceress Zesni the Beautiful and Narnatic the Hero. All 3 of their artifacts still remain in our Capital to this day. We were blessed with such a great beginning that our Empire remains the most powerful nation in the continent until this day.” A man in his mid-thirties repeats the story in the book he’s holding to his six-year-old son, who is sitting next to him and listening to the story intently. From the man’s attire, anyone can see that he’s just a humble farmer. Still, he saw greatness in his dear son, so he never gets tired of telling him about great sagas of heroes in the past.
“I love this story! Yay daddy!” The boy cheers happily, he has heard of this story for the hundredth time, yet he never got bored.
“So tell me, Eden, who is your favorite hero in the Great Twenty?” The father asks his son kindly.
“Narnatic! He’s my favorite! I wanna be like him someday!” Eden cheerfully answers as he stands up and draws his imaginary sword into the air. “With my Sword of Destruction, I swear to destroy all that is eval, just like how Narnatic destroy the False Gods! Take that!” Eden says as he swings his imaginary sword around while running outside to play with his friends.
“Now wait a minute son. I don’t think Narnatic wielded...” The farmer is about to say something to his son, but Eden has run too far outside to hear anything.
*****
14 years later
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*****
“Yarghh!” A muscular middle-aged man grunts as he swings his wooden warhammer towards a handsome young man sparring with him.
The young man moves his upper body backward swiftly as the wind, the man’s swing misses completely. The lad smiles, he wastes no time exploiting this opportunity and uses his swords to hit the muscular man repeatedly. The middle-aged man tries to use his warhammer to defend against his opponent’s relentless assault, but he quickly shifts his position slightly to the muscular man’s left, and continues the attacks on his arm. He grunts in pain, his left hand lets go of the warhammer he’s holding, so the young man then shifts to his right and attacks his other arm. Within a few seconds, the muscular man drops his weapon before he can even react to the attacks. He smiles as his opponent puts the wooden sword in front of his throat. He yields.
“Well done Eden! You truly are the best student that I have ever taught.” The muscular man compliments his star pupil, a handsome young man with short black hair, slightly tanned skin, and a lean body. He’s wearing simple peasant clothing, but enough to cover his entire body, with some worn out leather armors in his chest, elbows, and knees. Eden, the six-year-old boy all those years ago has turned into the greatest swordsman in the entire village.
Well, the only swordsman in the entire village as well.
“I still don’t get you though, you can easily beat me even if I can multiply into another 3 versions of myself had you used any other weapon, even a dagger. Why did you limit yourself to only the sword?” Eden’s teacher asks him in genuine confusion. Even before the rise of the Great Twenty, swords had already become an obsolete weapon, as armors and shields were capable of defending against swords of the same quality. It’s much harder to damage an opponent using blades, compared to almost any other weapons. One would mostly have to rely on either being extremely powerful, or waste efforts aiming for the exposed points of their opponent, like how Eden did back then to him.
“Master, you have heard of the hero Narnatic right? He defeated the False Gods with a mighty sword and shield by his side. I strive to be like him, and I won’t have it any other way.” Eden replies with a fiery spirit.
“But Eden, Narnatic didn’t use a swo..”
“I know, he also uses other types of weapons as well. But that image of him I saw all those years ago, his heroic image standing alongside the other heroes, while holding his sword and shield...I would never forget that moment.” Eden cuts off his teacher’s sentence and starts making the passionate speech he has practiced over a thousand times. “One day, there will be a statue of me, just like that. Standing there heroically, with my friends by my side, after we have saved the world... When that day comes, I will raise my sword to the sky, and thank Narnatic for guiding me towards victory.”
His teacher is unfazed by his speech, he has also heard of it for at least a hundred times. He also tried to explain to Eden that never once he saw Narnatic using a sword in any historical records, but Eden refused to listen to him. He’s disappointed that his most excellent student would be so adamant on holding himself back like that.
“Perhaps if one day I can finally beat you again, you might change your mind.” The middle-aged man smirks and tells his student.
“I will make sure that will never happen. And I won’t change my mind even if you beat me a thousand times.” Eden replies, also unfazed.
“How do you make sure of that? You will slip up one day and I will win.”
“Oh, it’s simple. I’m going to leave this village and venture out into the world, so you won’t have a chance to fight me any time soon.” Eden laughs out loud after telling his teacher the news. The teacher’s face turns red, but it soon turns to sadness. Eden sees this and frowns as well.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you this sooner.” Eden tilts his head down, regretting his decision.
“It’s alright, I understand you enough to know you would make this decision sooner or later. It’s just...I’m going to miss you, Eden.”
“I’m going to miss you, too.” Eden says as both approach each other for a long hug. It is late afternoon so Eden invites his teacher, parents, and friends to the tavern for his farewell dinner. They all wish him the best, confident that his skill will give him fame throughout the Empire, or at least land him a prestigious job with great pay. Some wish he would stay for a few more years, but they all understand Eden shouldn’t be held back by this village any longer.
“I promise I will visit you often and send enough money back.” Eden speaks softly to his mother later that night.
Next day, early in the morning, he’s already on the road.