Gripped onto the strands of fate, a hero is caught in the webs of evil. Guided by blind justice, he follows his heart. Inevitably, he often escapes with cheap tricks, but not this time. This time, he has to face his destiny.
But from another side, one has been conceived by the dark shadows of uncertainty, and malevolence. She does not know where she is going, or what she is doing, but she always seems to be on the right path for her final vocation.
Chapter 1
The sun begins to shed its light on my field, making my flowers glow and my pond sparkle. It makes the air warmer, and everything glow with a weak light. My eyes open to the beautiful sunrise, after another sleepless night. I was slightly glad after another nightmare. These are the nightmares that haunted me every single night, but they do not make any sense. At times, I see myself with a girl hidden in a cape, saying strange words. Other times I can see myself with a beautiful girl, fighting against the dead. They do not make any sense, since I do not know of anyone like that, and I do not fight. I am merely a simple farmer, who wants to grow his crops and get rich before retiring. Well, enough of this, I better water my crops and feed the fish.
I felt nervous throughout the morning, all because the nightmare last night was the most intense thing I have ever imagined in my sleep. My plants seemed very healthy, my garden was stunning, as it usually was, and the fish were riveted to go through with the rest of the day. I didn't share the same ambiance as my farm, I just couldn't take it off of my mind. The nightmares must mean something, something that will alter my destiny. I pondered about it until noon, and I thought of a possible solution. I should head into Galeria, and ask Hinotu, the fortune teller for predictions of my nightmares. I know, the Hinotu can help, she's always right.
I began my walk down the beaten path to Galeria, hoping to find Hinotu. My hands started to slightly sweat, I was getting really nervous. I was really eager to see what my dreams were about. Soon enough, I arrived at Galeria. There was a large number of children running around, many adults working. I then saw a sign that pointed to Hinotu's hut. Eagerly, I ran towards the hut. As I entered, Hinotu raised her head to me, and said: "Hello, Johan. I knew you would come to ask about your nightmares." I replied, saying: "How do you know my name, and why I have come here?" "Do you not know? I can see the future, I am a fortune teller." "Ah... Well, what can you tell me about my first dream? Where a strange girl in a cape is talking to me?" "That strange girl, will be the one to help you set your path onto your destiny. That girl will be your most helpful source. That girl is known as one of the Time Leapers. Time Leapers are those people that can jump into any point of time, but cannot interact with the environment. They help by speaking to the ones they intend to help." "But why would one want to help me?" "You do not know it yet, but you will be a great hero soon. That is all I can tell you about this dream." "Then what about my second dream? The one with the girl fighting with me against the dead?" "That girl will be your greatest companion throughout your battle to defeat an evil possessed knight. The knight is terrorizing all of Rutheria. He raids cities, towns, villages, down to every beggar's belongings. You must defeat his army of risen warriors, for the spirit that possessed him was of a powerful necromancer." "Ah... I see. Thank you, here's a hundred gold pieces for your help." "This is the first time I'm tipped. Good luck on your journey, Johan."
Chapter 2
"One day child, you will be the greatest heroine of this land....." as a dark but familiar voice echoed to her. She awoke frightened; she reached for an old book and hugged it like it was a child. "Oh father..." said the hooded girl with an agonizing voice. She sat still and recalled haunting memories of her childhood. The forest was her wake, she only knew this place. She withdrew the book from her grasp and set it on her lap. As she fingered the rough symbols of a language she didn’t know, a cold feeling shivered down her spine. She thought about her father, their last moments together. She shut her eyes and the memories came back...
"Give us all yer goods and we’ll letcha go!" sneered a bandit, pointing his sword at the men and women who had lined up along the grass. Nobody moved, or even flinched to this man, they only stared to the ground with dead eyes. The girl was only a child in her mother’s arms but she knew what was happening, this wasn’t the first time the bandits came to plunder her village. A man on a horse came riding in, he was recognized as the leader of the bandits. "Now now, you aren’t giving my men a hard time now, are you?" the bandit leader said as he trotted along the line. He came up to the child’s father and pulled a sword to him. "Now now, is that a silk shirt? How could you have possibly afforded that? Did we not clean you out last time?" He said as he scraped his sword up his chest to the man’s neck. "Why don’t you hand over all that money you have?" He signaled his men to go inside the obscure house.
A man came out carrying a book with strange markings on it. "This is all I could find, he’s dead broke." said the bandit. The leader took the book and when the father realized what the bandit lord had taken he was suddenly sparked to life. He sprang toward the leader, knocking him off his horse latching onto the book with all his might. The bandits rushed over and managed to pull him off their leader. "If you’re so passionate about this book, you can have it." He said as he threw the book into their house. The bandits rounded up all the people and locked them in their houses as they began to burn the houses down. The father went up to his child, "Do you remember what I told you?" he asked, the little girl nodded. Her mother opened a small latch and wrapped a piece of bread in a cloth. "Here Shinozu, now run off!" said her mother. The little girl took the bread and started to climb down the trap door. Before she could run down the tunnel, her father came to the entrance, "Here take this, it is meant to be yours." He says as he hands her the book. She ran down the tunnel and heard the scream of her mother....
She awoke back into her reality, heart racing, she looked around and decided it was time to move on. Enough of the past, she had to let go of it. She read the book, but she could only understand it's illustrations. The illustrations were of a man and woman defeating a common evil. That was all she could understand, sadly.
She got off the grass, and exited the small rock wall that enclosed and protected her. She took her knives, fixed her long, draping cape, and put her hood on. It was time to raid another area. She headed east, and found a small farm. She entered and started looking for any valuables.
Chapter 3
"I don't understand it. How will I become a hero? And who is this girl I will meet? I'm so confused... I'm just Johan. A simple farmer, I just want a normal farmer's life." Johan complained to himself as he walked down the beaten path back to his farm. He kept thinking about the second dream the most, so much that he stopped in the middle of the road and dropped his hoe. "What am I doing? I'll just finish the farm work for today then I'll think of it." he said. He picked his hoe up and started walking again. The walk was warm; it was almost sundown by the time he came home. I greeted some wagons passing by, a couple of guards doing their early evening patrol, and then I arrived home. I hung my hoe and took off my thick coat. "Ahh, it's time to rest." As I said that, I heard a sudden rustle of fabric and light footsteps. Someone else was in my farm. I took my shovel and some rope, wrapped it around my arm and held the shovel tightly in my hands. I held my breath for a few seconds, to try and listen to the intruder's breathing. I heard a light cough, and looked in that general direction. I took a step forward and swiped my shovel, but the intruder was able to evade. I was sliced in the elbow, and she ran away. The cut was heavily bleeding, it was a deep wound. Now I know the pain of combat. It didn't hinder me too much, but it was really painful. I ran towards the intruder, and was able to hit her. The intruder fell unconscious; I first thought I killed . I cleaned my wound and covered it with two layers of cloth. The cloth layers were quickly drenched in blood, but it was enough to stop the bleeding. I took off the intruder's hood, and saw that she was a woman, and she looked like the one in my second dream. I was extremely confused and at the same time frightened, and I thought more about her and how she looked like the woman in my dream. She was wielding the same weapons, she had the same hood and cape, I was sure it was her, but I didn't want to believe it. I carried her to a pole and tied her hands so she couldn't escape. A few minutes passed, and she finally woke up. She seemed surprised as to how she was taken down. "Let me go!", she exclaimed. "No, not until you answer some questions for me." I said. "Fine, what do you want to know?" "First of all, who are you?" "I'm Shinozu... A rogue thief without a family. My family was killed by bandits." "Okay... Now what do you want from my farm?" "I thought you would be smarter than this... I'm a THIEF. I steal things, but there's nothing of interest in this hellhole." "Keep your mouth shut about my farm." "Well, I didn't find anything, did I? My pockets are empty." A short silence followed. "Well, if I let you go, will you hurt me?" "Yes, I probably would. So, go ahead and let me go." "Who said I would? I'll take you to Hinotu, the fortune teller in Galeria, and see what she has to say about you." "No! Don't take me to Galeria! If any of the guards see me there, I'll be beheaded!" "I need you alive... So I can't ask Hinotu." "Why do you want to take me to Hinotu anyway?" "Because I want to confirm who you are." "What do you mean by that?" "Because I think you are the girl that appeared in my dreams. We were fighting side by side against an undead bandit army." "What did these bandits look like?" "I didn't really see them that well, but the main theme of their armor's color was brown, with a large skull insignia on their chest pieces." "That's them..." "That's who?" "The band of bandits that destroyed my village, and killed my parents. They raided our homes, and burnt down all of our homes." "That's... Sad to hear. Hinotu told me that I'll be fighting the bandit leader alongside you. So I guess we'll be allies." "You really think I'll help you?" "No, I'll be helping you. I'll be helping you avenge your family." "If I wanted to avenge my family, I could do it myself." "If you don't agree with me on helping you, then I'll leave you here and let you die from starvation." "Fine... Let's work together." "Good, we have an agreement."
