Seventeen years of age. The year the two boys were waiting for ages. The promised year where the two can finally have the freedom to explore the world.

From how Marko saw it he thought there would be some sort of coming of age ceremony, but ultimately it’s merely the case of both of them leaving with no fanfare whatsoever, to his slight disappointment. “(At least I don’t have to deal with a possibly cheesy farewell. I did promise to come back in a year or two or it’s not gonna be goodbye forever.)”

“Let’s go, Marko.” The person waiting for him was the one who helped to inspire his dream. Dane, the energetic boy who was by his side since childhood.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Marko responded before looking back one more time, seeing the grandparent and child duo watching them. Marko has a small sneer on his face, staring at Cece. “When I come back, I’ll win. Got it?”
She didn’t respond, but it didn’t matter as long as she got the message, for him that’s all that needed to be said before his journey. For all this time he may not have defeated her in a duel, but he reassured himself, thinking that when he comes back as an experienced adventurer he will certainly surpass her.

All they had were supplies of preserved foods, water, weapons, armors, and the bags to carry them all. It was rather minimalist for such a long journey, but they have taken some notes on how to live out in the wilderness so to them it should be manageable with this much.

A lot of emotions come to them further they step from the small village they call home. A bit of sorrow, but also hope and excitement. For anyone who has to leave a place they called home, some sense of loss would manifest itself.

“Just have to observe the sun… Remember to go west…” Marko muttered within Dane’s earshot. Their village was far east from the kingdom’s capital, isolated from many notable locations aside from the port town at the continent’s shore.

“Man, I wonder if we’ll end up meeting some big shots at some point. You know, making us look super impressive.” Dane mentioned as they continue their march. So far walking through the bright green fields casually, basking in the smell of nature untouched by humans, something Marko never went out of his way to seek in his previous life, resigning himself to essentially be a shut-in when he doesn’t need to work.

“(I wonder… Do people back there get to see this kind of scenery often…)” Lost in his own thoughts he kept walking, ignoring his companion’s question.

“...Earth to Marko?” Dane said to him, sounding a bit annoyed, staring at his friend who isn’t paying him attention.

“Wha-? Did you say something Dane?” Snapping out of his thought he obliviously asked Dane what he just said.

“Haaah… I was saying… Do you think we’re gonna deal with some big shots in the future?” Dane repeated his query more clearly.

“Well… Didn’t she say something about high enough ranking and you will attract the attention of nobility and even royalty? I guess if we tried hard enough we might get some requests from them.” Marko replied, somewhat unsure of his line of question. “(I guess he just asked for the sake of it.)”

“Right. We’re gonna try, and we’re gonna… What’s a good word that rhymes with try?” Dane asked, having the wind a bit out of his sail, unable to come up with a good rhyme to hype them up.

“Well ain’t this a good start.” Marko sarcastically replied at his partner’s bumbling. A bit of an awkward moment as they continue their walk. It wasn’t the fastest they could do, but it is good for their stamina, which they have a good amount of. The exercise, the battle experience, the sparring, all culminate in the two starting strong on their journey. “(I don’t really want to think what it’ll be like if I didn’t prepare jack. Those weak starting protagonists go through all kinds of suffering before anything good happens. I don’t think I can survive those kinds of situations, unless there’s some sort of miracle… Well maybe that would happen, but it’s not like I can test that now can I.)”

It was a peaceful walk from dawn to dusk. First day of no doubt many, the two set up a campfire for the night, eating the preserved food that they know full well that while filling aren’t doing their taste bud any favors.

“Man, when we get there one of the first things I’m gonna do is buy their food.” Dane said as he finished the dried and salted meat.

“Well we need to get some actual money first before that. Registering and doing requests are the first things we need to do. We can’t even go to the capital city without some sort of identification.” Marko remarked.

“Yeah yeah… We need to stop at the nearby town first, one that has the guild building or whatever.” Dane replied, recollecting the information the old lady generously gave them. “You think their houses and stuff will be a lot more fancy or what?”

“That’s probably the case in the capital, can’t be sure about the surrounding towns and villages though. Is this about buying a house?” Marko answered with a question thrown back at his buddy.

“I don’t really know too much about that, but I do think it’ll be nice to have a house of my own, a really nice one. Having to live in a small room where you need to pay everyday to sleep there seems like a pain.” Dane responded.

“Well we just have to deal with that, if we were to sleep on the dirt the whole time monsters will be the last of our problems.” Marko mentioned. He can tell that sleeping in the dirt isn’t the best for one’s health.

“Yeah, I don’t wanna wake up to nothing but pain either.” Dane replied. If nothing else everyone knows sleeping on a hard surface is different to a soft one.

“Right. But right now we just have to deal with it… Maybe find a particularly soft patch of dirt or something… No, that might get things messy… Whatever, let’s just sleep already.” Marko tried to come up with clever advice only to fumble, leaving him to just make his friend ignore it and go to sleep already.

The next day came with both of them grumbling and feeling like a mess. As they thought, a night of sleep on the floor was not pleasant at all. “(At least it’s not hard as fuck rock I guess…)”

“Let’s go… I wanna find a bed already…” Marko said to Dane who nodded in agreement, packed their bags, and quickly resumed their travel.

They’re not sure how many miles they covered, they can only hope it was a lot, as more days sleeping on the dirt sounds anything but enticing.

“You sure just running as fast as we could wouldn’t be better?” Dane asked, as such a casual and continuous stroll was his friend’s idea.

“If you want a chance for monsters or bandits to catch us when we’re exhausted, be my guest.” Marko sarcastically responded. He might not be some sort of athlete in the past, but he knows better than to spend stamina rashly.

“Yeah I’ll pass on that.” Dane replied with a sigh. Suddenly he and Marko heard the sound of footsteps behind them. “Huh? Is that-?”

A horse ran past them, with them only catching a small glimpse of its rider. Since it comes from behind them the horseman came from the east.

“I don’t think we have one of those back home…” Dane remarked. It’s a small and tight-knitted community, there was never a need for such a long distance travel, and therefore lack of a mount.

“Huh… Maybe it came from the port that was mentioned every now and then?” Marko theorized. It was the only notable settlement as far as they know, the small villages scattered throughout, including their own which was surrounded by water, don’t really come to anyone’s mind.

“I guess? Well those are faster than us walking for sure…” Dane muttered, clearly a bit frustrated that he didn’t think about it.

“Get over it, we have come quite far already, just continue the walk and we’ll reach a town eventually.” Marko said to his slightly bitter friend.

“Yeah yeah.” His friend dismissively replied, continuing to walk on regardless.

Soon enough the sun slumbers and leaves the two to sleep on the ground once more to their chagrin. They just quickly resigned to the situation and went to sleep, eating some of their rations. The second day they have to sleep not in the comfort of their own bed.

The next day wasn’t all that eventful as well. It was walking and walking just like their first day.

“You know, I was expecting monsters or bandits within the first few days…” Dane mentioned.

“We have been traveling on a clear field so what did you expect? Those two things love ambushes and this place ain’t it.” Marko replied. Aside from a few trees and bushes they didn’t encounter much foliage just yet. “(Didn’t that granny say something about a lot of greens existing west? In that case we’ll probably find a big forest eventually.)”

“You think there’s a carriage or two that we can hitch so this whole ordeal will be easier?” Dane remarked, continuing their long walk.

“Look, just because I joked about that before doesn’t mean it’ll happen.” Marko said with slight exasperation. It would make the journey easier for certain, that much he knows. “We just have to endure the walk, I'm afraid. Don’t worry, misery builds character.”

“How about it builds me a carriage instead…” Dane replied, sounding slightly frustrated. Marko just avoids eye contact as they continue their walk. Their supply decreasing and morale dropping.

“(Well he’ll probably get better quickly once we saw signs of life aside from just one horseman.)” Marko thought so optimistically. Soon the moon came and another day sleeping on grass.

The next day came and they continued their walk. It’s been a long and boring journey so far that let them down a little.

“Surely we’ll find some settlements by now…” Marko remarked. He’s sure interesting events will pop up on this journey, but he wasn’t expecting it to take so long.

More walking once more, it reminds Marko of games with really long and repetitive levels. “(Well this is more of an open-world game… with a lot of empty space between P.O.I… Shitty level designs.)”

*Splish* *Splash*

“Huh?” Marko let out a bemused sound as he looked up at the cloudy sky and noticed something. It was raining. “(Great, we sure needs more setbacks…)”

“Maybe we should’ve got some umbrellas?” Dane remarked. It’s something neither really consider until this very moment

However something interrupted their line of thoughts.

*ZIP*

A roaring wind. The blurry silhouettes. Within a mere second a sense of dread and fright ran through both of them as something moved at unimaginable speed, passing them and almost blowing them away due to the velocity itself.

“W-What did we just…” Dane asked, looking back and seeing nothing there. It almost feels like the two were hallucinating, like a daydream. Regardless of the comparison to delusion and fiction, what they felt was more than real. The force that ripples through the air was not some make-believe. Dane turned to look at his companion who was still frozen, staring where whatever that passed them was going. “Marko, did you see what that was?”

“A horseman, that’s the best I can tell…” Marko muttered. He noticed some characteristics of the rider. Red armor, black coat, pale light green hair, but aside from that he can’t make out what the rider actually looks like. “Fucking scared the shit out of me, thankfully neither of us get hit… (Honestly getting hit by a car would probably less painful than by that…)”

“Here I thought the last one was fast. What would it even be like to ride one of these super fast horses…” Dane remarked, trying to make light of the situation now that they realized they weren’t in any real danger.

“Hmm… (Like a rollercoaster? No I’m pretty certain this is faster than even some daredevils ones…) I think your face would’ve gone numb.” Marko answered, while he wouldn’t be surprised if worse could happen he just goes with what he has already experienced before.

“Huh… Yeah I guess that would happen. Wind gets all pissy when we try to move really fast.” Dane just went along with it.

“(It’s called air resistance but he wouldn’t know that.) Yeah that’s the thought process. Let’s continue, we’re not gonna talk about someone we don’t know for hours are we.” Marko replied and urged his friend to continue their travel, in which he just nodded along and continued their walk as asked. “(And back to regular scheduled boredom…)”

*Shine*

“Huh?” Marko looked back with a stupefied tone.

“What is it?” Dane asked, seeing Marko looking back for some reason, where the nightmarish rider was going.

“Feels like something happened behind me… Maybe I was imagining it? (I could’ve sworn I noticed red glow in the corner of my eyes.)” Marko answered, feeling a bit confused.

“Really now. You gonna talk about it?” Dane said, staring at his still confused friend.

“Don’t bother, just confused for a moment, we should get a move on.” Marko insisted as they continued on, and on… and on… For many more hours… “(Maybe I shouldn’t ignore it since it gives us something to worked up about…)”

Then the rain stopped and they saw a rather large forest in front of them, something that actually disrupted their long, peaceful, and uneventful walk. A bit of an obstacle in their way that actually derails their smooth sailing.

“Huh… Good timing now that I think about it, we’re low on food right now.” Marko remarked at the convenience, they didn’t pack too much food since it’ll be a bother to carry so much, and they have been eating in small portions each time to conserve it. “Huh… Why is there some sort of clean trail right here-”

*ZIP*

“What the fuck!? Another one!?” Before they could even enter the forest they can feel the same sensation as before, something moving at inconceivable speed, but this time it’s from the same direction as them, right into the forest before they could. Running on the clear path into the forest Marko just noticed.

“...Was it the same person?” Dane asked the person besides him who has anywhere near good enough perception to verify.

“Yeah… Whoever that was seems to be on a return trip…” Marko answered. He wasn’t sure what to make of this. Whoever they were not only had a powerful mount but clearly enough skills to ride one. “(Whoever that was is probably a top dog from somewhere… Maybe I’ll get to see that person again.)”

“...Freaking hell, why are we scared of something that didn’t even attack us! Let’s get a move on already!” Dane however doesn’t want to further ponder on the topic, and just walks into the forest using the same path, with Marko following silently behind.

When they actually went in they noticed how oddly quiet it was. Even if there weren't that many animals or monsters around it was way too quiet.

“It’s really not convenient considering- Wait what the hell!?” Marko was remarking on the abnormality only to see a massive corpse on the pathway. Both he and Dane were left in shock seeing it.

It was a giant green humanoid with an ugly face as well as pointy ears and nose, looking somewhat similar to a goblin but much larger and different body proportions, at least from what can be estimated with how little there is to see. What was shocking wasn’t only its presence but also how mangled up it is. The entire body was chopped up indiscriminately into a bunch of bloody chunks, with the two only able to clearly make out its limbs and face. The fact that the bits of flesh were spilled out and flew everywhere implied some sort of large impact.

“(Is this what roadkill looks like?)” That was what Marko thought seeing it. The giant’s body wasn't lying cleanly on the floor, but blew away and splattering its innards on all sides of the makeshift road. “(…That rider hit it and basically disintegrated most of its body. What kind of speed causes this much carnage? Not to mention the rider clearly comes out unharmed, since there isn’t another set of limbs here…)”

“This is fucking disgusting…” Dane said for what it is, turning to look at his friend. “Is this from that thing that passed us?”

“Yeah, most likely. Whoever that was is also strong enough to run through unscathed too…” Marko replied. He isn’t a smart kid but he does know that harder force means harder recoil, and withstanding something that can blitz through a giant monster is clearly not normal. “Hopefully we don’t run into them as an enemy.”

“Hey don’t jinx me as well!” Dane playfully replied, in part to distract from the dread of such a possibility, before taking a long sigh. “Hey do you think pretty much everything fled the scene? If so, hunting here probably won’t yield much of anything.”

“...Now that you said it, yeah, that’s kinda the case huh… Crap.” Marko replied while understandably concerned. Their food supply was enough for less than a meal, and more of a snack.

“Any plan in that head of yours?” Dane asked, seeing his friend as the smarter planner of the two.

“Travel to another point of interest as fast as we can, or in other words, let’s stop talking and pondering here and get moving already.” Marko answered, clearly starting to get hasty and impatient. They both immediately move on from the carnage and have a smooth travel out of it.

Their leisurely stroll was now more of an impatient walk, it was clear they were now rather concerned with the state of their supplies and how long their travel has been.

“Just a freaking village, or town, or whatever!” Dane began to loudly complain. Many days have passed as the two are absolutely on edge, and yet they haven’t found anything noteworthy on their travel, aside from feelings of dread by an unknown rider.

“It wouldn’t be long I’m sure…” Marko said knowing full well he doesn’t actually know that, and so they continue moving on and on once more, no doubt anyone would be infuriated at this kind of scenario.

“Hm?” Marko then stops his walk and looks forward, it was clear something caught his attention.

“What is it? See a town finally?” Dane asked, desperate for any good news, as he hunched down looking rather exhausted. During these past few days they have been taking things slow and conserving their stamina well, but now that they turn impatient they abandon that notion.

“Yeah… It’s on the horizon… I can actually see a town!” Marko said, sounding uncharacteristically excited.

“Hell yeah! Finally a nice place to sleep!... Also actually start our adventure for real!” Dane practically shouted out as he ran forward, excited would be an understatement.

“Wait Dane!” Caught off-guard Marko called out as he had something else to remark, then suddenly…

“Whoa!” Out of seemingly nowhere two blades were put under his throat as many cutthroats appeared, ambushing the two late teens.

“Hehe. Seems like we’re getting something our size today after all boys! Now pay up or this one’s head will go flying!” One of the bandits spoke up, holding his cutlass closer to Dane’s chin as more of them showed up to surround the two. It was something they expected to happen at some point, but this is clearly more than they thought.

“(Shit. Gotta play it cool…) Sorry, but we’re all out of cash, out hunting, not spending.” Marko said, trying to reason with these bandits, or getting them to lower their guards, just anything.

“Haah? You really think that dumb talk gonna save yer ass?” One of the bandits holding Dane hostage said as he lowered this blade for a moment.

Unfortunately for Marko, Dane did not capitalize on this small window of opportunity like he thought, as he remained frozen in fear, not willing to take any chances.

“(Damn it Dane! Need to try something else… Anything at all…) What? Not like we have anything of value on us.” Marko said, trying to show some bravado in this peril they’re suddenly in, with all eyes on him while his companion is taken hostage. All on him, trying to put on a brave face, and failing.

“Hah! Yer sure talk big for a brat shaking in his boots. That’s it boys, just kill them straight up they’re easy pickings!” One of them replied while the rest chuckled and confident at their victory, the two cutlasses were lowered for a moment as the two bandits ready for a slashing motion, ready to split Dane’s face from his head.

At that moment. Singular moment of fear and impulse. The late teen seeing his friend about to be killed, lifts his foot off the ground and moves as fast as he can in that short moment.

*Throw* *Slam*

First he threw his knife clumsily into one of the two bandits, hitting him and only weakly lodging into the bandit’s cheek before falling off, which is still plenty painful to the bandit, then ran over to tackle the second one to the ground. No one was expecting a scared boy to make a move like that in a chance of certain death, but it got his friend away from immediate danger.

“Wha-!? Kill them!” One of the onlooking bandits shouted out as all of them brandished their weapons, rushing towards the two, with the two injured bandits quickly getting up despite the concussions and scar. Marko and Dane barely pulled their weapon in time as the bandits bombard them.

Multiple swords and axes were swung towards them with no way to dodge, needing the two to confront them head-on and likely die trying, or try something possibly riskier.

*Grab* *Tackle*
Grabbing his friend by the collar and crouching down as the bandits’ weapon were to hit them, Marko then leapt and tackled one of the bandits from down low, knocking their balance and formation of the encirclement, barely managing to get out.

“(Holy shit that was close…)” Marko thought to himself with the small brevity given, as the bandits were caught completely off-guard by such a bold move, some froze and others almost hitting each other due to huddling too close trying to prevent the two from escaping, which ended up working against them. He then turned to look at his friend who was on the ground, barely processing what was going on. “Dane! Let’s do this!”

“R-Right!” Dane replied, gripping his sword tight.

The two ran in different directions as the bandits reorganized themselves.

*Slash* *Parry*

The two ran in and flanked the group of bandits. Marko skillfully cut down some of the bandits, leaving them to bleed out on the ground, while Dane has a bit more trouble as his swordplay is not fast enough to catch his opponents off-guard, having to parry and counter instead, quickly going from being on the offensive to defensive as more bandits start attacking him back, quickly overwhelming him.

“[Fireball]!” Marko shouted out, aiming his hand at the bandits attacking Dane while still preoccupied with a few bandits as well, though having a considerably easier time fending them off compared to his companion.

*Sizz*

A decent sized ball of flames appeared and launched towards the bandits, exploding and causing many to catch on fire. Screams of panic and agony followed as some ran away trying to douse the flame, others rolled on the floor. As Marko put down another bandit and looked at the damage dealt he froze for a moment, with a horrified look on his face as Dane knocked out the unlit bandits on his ends and fully realized what just happened as well. “What the fuck… Wait Marko look out!”

Unfortunately on Marko’s end he froze before he could finish off the remaining bandits on his end, and so the bandits in his vicinity quickly rushed in, seeing the obvious threat in a moment of weakness.

*Clang*

One bandit that was dangerously close to cutting him down was interrupted by Dane at the last moment, who barely reached out with his sword to block the incoming sharp steel. “Marko! Snap out of it!”

His body flinched as he heard his companion’s voice reaching him, coming back to his senses as he heard multiple footsteps coming towards them, there were still many bandits to deal with.

*Parry*

“(Damn it! I thought this kind of encounter would’ve been easier! I barely get a moment to breathe… I could’ve died multiple times already, I need to pull it together… I know they outnumbered us but just taking out one is exhausting already, and there are still more coming…)” Marko was deep in his own mind as he considered the situation. While he managed to take out the majority of the bandits by himself, it was straining on his body and mind, and Dane can barely deal with more than one at a time. “(How the hell do those protagonists take these out like flies?)”
*Slash*

Time continued to pass as the two defeat the last of the bandits, some burnt bandits stood back up to confront them as well, but were defeated all the same, leaving a rather bloody scene neither were accustomed to, some bleed out to death, some burnt, while other only passed out and will most likely join their brethren in death if they were left sleeping on the dirt.

The two were left nearly paralyzed, collapsed onto the ground, fatigued mentally and physically. They were already running themselves ragged trying to find a town, only for this misfortune to fall upon them.

“I need a nap…” Marko sarcastically remarked, the two barely able to move as is, and neither wanted to sleep among the corpses.

“Here! There was some commotion… What the hell!? You three! Come here quickly!” The two heard someone say something as they can hear a group of people coming their way, and can only hope they were not more enemies…