“Once upon a time, dragons and devils were humankind’s greatest fear and enemy-”

“….. then the Hero slayed the Demon King and King of the Dragons with the Legendary Sword, Magnaxia and then the humans lived peacefully happily ever after”.

A mother closed her bedtime storybook slowly after reading that last line to her son.

“Mom, can I also become someone like that hero in the story as well?” Ron asked her mother with hoping eyes.

“Of course, my son is the strongest as well as the cutest.” Leira answered as usual as she raised her 8-year old son and hugged him smilingly.

“Hehe.” Ron was giggling happily for his mother’s compliment but then his expression turned sour as he turned towards his mother.

“Mom, when will I see my father?”

Leira forced a smile and said lightly, “He’s in a far place, far from here while doing his job. Maybe after he is done.”

“What does he do?”

“Oh, your father is-” She suddenly tickled Ron, sending him to pits of laughter. The conversation stopped there as the mother-son pair cheerfully played with each other and then eventually fell asleep.

In the middle of the night.

“Ron, Ron, wake up.” Leira woke her son up with hushed but hasty voice.

“Ahhhmmm. Mom? What is it?” Ron yawned and asked tiredly. He could sense that something’s wrong from the attitude shown by his mother and the unusual call in the middle of the night.

As he woke up, he can hear screaming noises outside and smell something burning.

“Hide inside the closet.” His mother pushed him hurriedly towards the closet and put him inside. “No matter what you see or hear, do not do anything nor make any noise”. She said hastily and to make sure, she blindfolded him and covered his mouth with cloth.

Ron can’t keep up with the sudden turn of events. The only thing he can do is nod his head and obey his mother. The next second, he could feel his mother embracing him and enclosed her forehead to his. He could feel her warm face wet with tears as she muttered lovingly.

“Ron, I love you and I always will. I hope you grow up into a fine young man. I hope you, no, I want you to avoid evil and you must become someone good like the hero you’ve always admired and always help people, okay? Promise me that. I’m so sorry.”

The next second, he felt his mother’s embrace leave his body. He could not help but reach out with his hands, but he felt nothing but the force of the slight push of the closet’s door as he heard it being closed and the faltering steps of his mother walking away.

A few seconds later, he heard a loud growl the same as that of a beast and something slicing through flesh followed after by a scream only stopped midway. Then he heard a chewing sound. He felt a foreboding sensation and then he-

“That nightmare again, huh” Ron woke up as he felt the sunlight hit his face. He raised his body from the cold and hard stone bed and made his way to the shore of the lake. He washed his face as he sobered up from his sleep.

Currently, Ron is in the woods, hunting for wild animals as he looks for something to eat and sell to make a living. Located at the outskirts of the Beruth Kingdom, and between the city of Grud and Newa, the forest is quite lively with animals and it’s not very dangerous. A perfect place for sole hunters for hunting.

He did his usual morning routine, a 4km jog, a hundred push-ups and hundred sit-ups.

Ron heard his stomach grumbling, he went to his temporary hide out and checked his storage, he saw four pounds of wild boar meat left. He took it and cut in half, returning the half to the wooden chest and took the other to the lake. There, he washed it and made a fire as he grilled it with simple seasoning which is just salt that can be bought cheaply. You can buy a 5-pound salt with a silver coin.

The currency in this world is simple. Starting with copper, silver, gold, and diamond. Ten copper coins worth a silver coin, hundred silver for a gold. The standard should be silver coins. Diamonds are very rare and valued for their size and texture. The better they are, the more valuable it is. So only the high nobles and royalties have them in their treasury.

As he waits for the meat to get cooked, he thought about the dream he had. 

‘I’ve been having that dream recently. Is there a meaning behind it?’ He thought to himself.

The dream he had was the incident of the death of his mother happened. Rather than incident, it would be more right to call it a massacre. Ten years ago, in his home village, Plidusz, that night, hundreds of people died in a single night. Demons and monsters attacked their village, houses burned down, bloody bodies were only left.

That incident was referred to as “The rise of the demons” by the bards that is roaming around the continent. And it made the surrounding kingdoms and countries cautious and fearful as well. Even the strongest ones have been preparing for it, training knights and soldiers.

Because of that incident people lost their loved ones, children either become oprhans, street childs and even slaves. Luckily for Ron at that time, his surviving neighbors helped him until the time he knows how to take care of his self.

That was the only attack that the demons made. Even so, humans are still in constant fear of the uprising of the demons and monsters.

He swallowed the last portion of the meat.

“Sigh, I should stop thinking about it and it would be better if I start hunting.” He muttered. He patted his bulged stomach as he stood up and stretched his body.

He took his hunting tools and equipments and started his hunt. He walked through the thick bushes and trees and looked for a prey stealthily. He found one.

“Oh, what a great find, another wild boar.” He said sarcastically. He was about to aim his arrow, when the boar suddenly ran as if it’s escaping for his life. “Shit, my food.” He wanted to chase but on second thought, he stopped and thought calmly about the reason why it escaped.

Ron was sure he was stealthy enough for the boar to not notice him. Also at the same time that the boar ran, the birds and other animals also made wild movements as if they were escaping from something.

’Maybe they detected danger’ He thought cautiously.

Ron advanced cautiously through the woods as he suddenly heard a woman’s scream from the west. He traversed skillfully towards the source of the sound. And then there he saw something that he would not expect.

A bloody body without a head on it. The body was missing some parts and it’s like it was chewed by something. He looked around and found a ‘thing’ chewing on something. He gasped, luckily he is far from that ‘thing’, had he been a little near, he might have been found out.

‘It’ was not a human nor is it an animal. Its skin is red with reddish-black veins protruding out from its arms and legs. Three toes and three fingers, with claws that are as sharp as a katana. It’s quite huge as it’s two times bigger than an adult horse. With wings that of a bat, but as huge as an average kid.

The head, which is as big as a four adult heads combined together, is even scarier than the body. Its bloody mouth, that looks like the hole of death, has teeth bulging out that seems like that of variations of weapons stuck together. Its eyes looked like it’s darker than black. And on its forehead, a horn was swelling, a horn that looks like it’s saying ‘I am a demon horn!’.

 ‘A demon-monster!’ Ron thought, terrified and struck with fear. He was traumatized by demons.

But what terrifies Ron the most is the sound of the flesh and bones being crunched and chewed. He can still remember that night as clear as day. His breathing became uneven; he is sweating so hard.

‘I should escape while it’s busy eating’ He thought of how to escape, but he cannot move. His instinct tells him that if he makes even a small mistake, he will die. After five minutes that seems like an hour, he mustered his courage and stepped his left foot back carefully. Slowly, but surely he does, next is his right foot. Then, he did the same thing again and again. Until--

‘Kriik’. A sound of branch breaking was made. ‘Crap! I’m a dead man.’ He looked towards the demon-monster, and it saw that it’s still busy munching. He sighed, full of relief. ‘I should be more careful.’

Ron slowly crept out, and then when he thinks that he is far enough, he ran like he had never ran before. He was crying out of fear, cold-sweat pouring out from his back. He never felt scared like that in his life.

He thought nothing but to run, no matter how careless he is or how many scars he took, he doesn’t care as long as he can get far away from this place as fast as he can, and when he seems to be tired to the point where his lungs would burst out from breathing too hardly, he stopped.

He noticed that he seems to be have many scars, not endangering but some have blood dripping out from it. He rested for a while, and when he seems to have rested enough, he started walking towards the same direction he ran to.

Little did he know that the blood dripping out from his scars attracted the demon-monster which became a trail for it.

Ron walked and walked non-stop, and when it seems like his thoughts are back, he looked around his surroundings. He is in an unfamiliar place. He remembered the rumors about the things deep in the forest where monsters, plant monsters and even demon would appear.

He stopped in his place, and turned around so that he can get out of this place but then, at the distance, he saw the monster-demon again, seemingly like lowering his head as if it’s smelling something at the ground like a dog.

’My blood, he followed me here by following my blood.’ That terrifying though struck him.

He ran deeper to the forest. While advancing, he took leaves from plants and bushes to cover his dripping scars. The demon noticed him, and chased him with a speed that of a racing car. It caught up to him and attempted to bite him. Ron dodged sideways, rolled and got back to the track. The chase continued.

It appears like the demon is toying with him, playing him to death. The demon seems intelligent enough to have that kind of ego. It seems like he is the mouse while the demon is the cat.

Ron thought. ‘I would have already died after that first attack, but it seems this demon is playing with me.’

He can’t be more thankful enough that he can live longer, but even though he knows that he will end up dying in the end, he doesn’t give up. He still had many things to do. He thought about his mother, to revenge her, to find his father and his dreams. These things drove him to live.

He ran and ran and ran, when it tries to bite him, he dodges either way, and get back again to track to run again.

This seemingly loop of action continues, until he saw a cave with a small entrance, enough for a single human to go through. ‘This is my chance’. He ran towards it. The demon also noticed, as if it’s like human, it suddenly changed its pace.

Ron instincts kicked as he felt a prickling sensation on his neck, he suddenly ducked head down. The bite was only an inch away from his head. Cold sweat poured out from his back thinking that he was almost only one step to hell.

He ran even faster, he surpassed of what his human body can do.

50 meters, 40, 30 ,20 ,10, 5 ‘Almost there!’ Then he rolled forward towards it. He got inside the cave. He advanced forwards for a bit and then lied down when it looks like he is far from the demons’ reach. He closed his eyes as he thought ‘I lived, I lived, I lived’. He is so tired to the point where five seconds after he closed his eyes, he fell asleep.

1^st Person POV

‘Clang, Clang’ A man is fighting against a demon, beheading it with the bluish-red sword in his hand. He advanced to the next demon.

The man was slaying demons left and right, carrying with him a beautiful sword. With each stroke, a black head with horns would fall.

He treaded the path of slaying demons, walking on top of their corpses, alone, painfully without a companion.

He was chosen, it’s his responsibility, his mission. He cannot undo it as the peace of the humanity lies within his actions.

I seem to be the one doing the slaying, at the same time, I’m looking from afar.

He suddenly looked back. He was staring at me, while I dazedly gaze at him. He smiled at me while holding his sword above his head like a banner and smiled. But the smile seems like sadder than the saddest smile a person can muster. It’s a smile of a lonely hero.

I felt perturbed, I don’t know why but I felt it too.

Then the man suddenly engraved the sword to the ground full of corpses then the world was shining with blinding light, the next thing I knew-

‘Cough, Cough’ Ron woke up while coughing up blood.

‘What is that dream? Why am I fighting demons? What does it mean?’ He thought.

The sensation of the dream Ron had was too real. He felt an ominous feeling. ‘The dreams that I had, is it connected to that dream of the incident?’ He asked himself. He seems to be loaded with so many confusing things.

“Stop thinking about it for now and try to live.” He muttered to himself as he noticed that he seems to be dying, not literally. He stopped thinking about it and gazed at the entrance of the cave, he can see the demon staring at him, seemingly like waiting for him. Shivering, he can’t look at it for so long.

‘This demon seems quite intelligence, did its intelligence rise from eating humans?’ He shivered while looking at the demon. Fearing he might lose consciousness out of fear, he diverted his attention to the cave.

Ron is very thirsty and hungry, hoping that he can find something in the cave, he walked deeper, trying to forget the terrifying demon. The only thing he can hear is his breathing and the sound of the footsteps echoing. He is staggering as there are scars he got in his legs from the running he did.

The strange thing is, there are no sources of light, but the caves seems to be bright by itself.

As he walked deeper, he noticed that the cave seems to be getting bigger. There are also strange engravings on the walls. At times, there would be two to three paths to take and he would choose randomly.

‘How strange.’, he thought. Ron is thinking that the caves seems to be man-made. But at the same time, its mystical how walls of cave would produce their own light.

He proceeded, until he can hear something like a drop of water. His eyes shines as he thought that it must be a water source, so he advanced to the source of the sound.

There, he found a small pool of water, he can’t be more thankful enough. He went for it and drank like his life depends on it.

“Gulp, gulp, ahhh, this tastes the best, I can die peacefully now.” He sighed pleasantly. The next moment, he suddenly felt refreshed and rejuvenated. He was shocked that the scars he had was healing at the speed that the naked eye could see.

’Am I still dreaming?’ Ron was doubting the reality of the situation. But no, he knew this is the real. After a few moments of waking up out of his stupor, he looked down towards the water. He was surprised to find shining.

Previously, because of his thirst, he didn’t think anything else except for drinking water so he didn’t notice it. The light seems to be glowing bluish hue of white and red.

He reached out his hand to it, he felt it was hard and kind of heavy when he tried to lift it. Still, he was able to get it out of the water.

‘A sword? It’s a sword!’ He was pleasantly surprised as he lifted the sword near his face to examine it closely.

The sword was bluish-red and a bit of white in it. The sword is made out of unknown materials, but from its texture and hardness, it seems expensive and valuable. It’s one meter in length and 2 inches in width. As its quite thin, it’s expected to be fast and swift good for piercing and slashing.

But then, Ron panicked. He felt a foreboding sensation. The sword seems to be similar to the sword that the man in his dream was holding. He knew what this meant, he should be excited as it is his dream to become a hero of mankind, but he remembered that man’s smile, that loneliness.

Ron is afraid, not everyone with dreams can do what they dreamed of. Determination and resolve are the biggest factors to a successful dream.

And then, Ron remembered his mother’s last words to him. ’You must become someone good like the hero you’ve always admired and always help people, okay?’, the father that Ron seems to be looking for so much, the tragedy that happened to their village and especially the dreams that he is having recently that seems like a prophecy, it seems like this is his fate. Something he needs to face.

Suddenly, the sword glowed blindingly, shining up the cave. At the next moment, Ron suddenly felt strength seep into his body. The feeling of being the sole owner of the sword gets stronger by each moment. He felt the responsibility of it with the power given to him.

“Magnaxia,” He mutters slowly through his breath, “this is the legendary sword that slew the demon king along with his minions.”

Instead of feeling excited, he felt responsible. The countless of lives that needs to be saved with this sword, Ron can’t help but think that he seems to be unworthy of it.

He is afraid, afraid that he would fail their expectation. Like how her mother expected him to be a good boy, but failed her somehow. But his will to save people is stronger than his fear. He remembered the demon appearing, imagining it if goes to the city, it would kill more people.

That’s why there should be a hero for people to rely on. The sword chose him; he must not deny it. He suddenly felt clearheaded, and now had a direction he wants to tread on. He will become a hero for the mankind to rely on.

Ron stood up, held the sword as he made his way up to the mouth of the cave. He has skills for the sword as he trained himself after the tragedy. He resolved his self to take revenge, that’s why he is not unfamiliar with the sword.

But he didn’t expect that as soon as he saw the demon guarding outside the cave, he shivered in fear. He still hasn’t gone over his traumatic experience.

‘How pathetic’ He thought, ‘You can’t even slay a single demon nor get near it, how can you even expect to save mankind with that puny courage’ He scolded his self.

The sword shone with light and then the youth felt himself getting over his trauma for a bit but-

“No Magnaxia! I don’t need your help to overcome my fear, just give me your strength so that I can slay the source of my fear.” Ron shouted resolutely. The sword understood his intention so it stopped.

The youth again started shivering while holding the sword with both hands while facing the demon-monster which is in the outside.

The demon-monster is not dumb, but it’s a low rank demon, so it doesn’t recognize that the sword the youth holding is the highest-rank demon-slaying sword. It is just smiling gleefully, as it feels pleasured from sadistically playing with the puny human. So it waited there, thinking that the human can’t kill it.

The demon is low-rank, so even if the sword touches it once, it can be defeated easily but the person holding the sword don’t know this. It’s up to the youth if he is able to slay the demon.

Ron closed his eyes, trying to stop his arms and body from shivering. He tries to remember his mother’s last moments with him, her laughs and her tears. He could not help but tear up, thinking ‘Mother, this is my revenge for you, I will become the person you want me to be, a good person, a hero that will help people. Please rest in peace’.

Then he opened his eyes, determination could be seen in his eyes, he lowered his leg, then pushed his body outside towards the demon, he imitated the man or rather his self from his dreams. His posture, his handling of the sword, and his hopes.

With one stroke, the demon who was still smiling gleefully, suddenly had its head fall, it didn’t even recall his last moments as it just died like that and evaporated as the sword burned its soul.

Ron collapsed, his body wet from the sweat he has been accumulating. He felt his heart lighter than before. He felt stronger, not in a physical sense but in emotional sense. He overcame his fear. He is happy. He is happy he had avenged her mother and the people in the village.

He is happy he will able to keep his promise to her mother with his new gained strength. He felt contented, he fell asleep. With this a demon-slaying hero is born.

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Please comment if you've read it, I want to know your opinions and what you like and don't like :).
-Author