The story of Abelard the strong

Intro:

Some time ago, on an unknown island, in a fishing hamlet nobody remembers, a fisherman came upon an egg in his net, this egg was so large that he figured the contents would be able to feed his family for a week, however upon the fisherman carrying the egg back to his cottage, the egg hatched into a baby creature!

The baby was bluish green with big fishy eyes and gills, being vaguely humanoid with a long tail, having always wanted a child of her own, the fisherman's wife was smitten with this strange baby and raised it as her own, naming the baby creature Abelard, which meant divine strength.

Over the years, Abelard grew to embody that meaning, as he was only 12 years old but was already 8 feet tall, muscular and covered in thick bony armor plating from his head to his toe.

His massive strength could move massive boulders and he could carry bunches of barrels on his shoulders with little difficulty.

However, as his mother nurtured him with love and compassion, his father would scold and beat him for no reason, often calling him an ugly monster who should cover himself lest he incur the wrath of random passersby, this caused Abelard to wear a large cloak that covered his entire body, obsessively dulling his claws and sharp teeth in an attempt to make himself more pleasing to look at.

One day when Abelard was in 21, he was picking flowers for his mother as she watched from the porch, when she suddenly had a heart attack, Abelard attempted to get help from his father, but the drunkard only beat him worse than ever before, blaming him for her death.

In his fear and anguish at the white hot poker his father regularly beat him with, Abelard lashed out and killed his father with a single blow.

With neither parent to scold or encourage him, Abelard had a mental breakdown and stormed into the countryside, all the while sobbing about how none of it was his fault.

It was not long before Abelard was noticed by the other villagers, their fear at his monstrous apperance culminated in the village running the 20 foot sobbing Wotan into the ocean, where he just started swimming.

This is his story.

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Chapter 1

The crook and the sea monster

"Shit! Shit shit shit!"

Blonde, scruffy Adrian Crowe bolted down the boardwalk, holding on to his hat as a Marine with a sword pursued him down on to the beach, "get your ass back here, Crowe! Your days of stealing food from honest working folk are over!"

Adrian jumped over a rock and kept sprinting up the beach, "you marines boast about being the best mariners in the world, but I still havent seen ONE of you run on sand!"

The Marine was indeed tripped up by the sand, but kept going in spite of it, "Its only thieves that learn how to do that! Your skill isnt going to keep you from getting caught!"

Adrian laughed at the ineptitude of the soldier, "Tell that to my DUST!" He laughed as he rounded the bend, still looking behind him, "if I can get to my dinghy, I'll be off this damn island before soldier boy can rally his frien-HOUFF" he collided with what felt like a massive boulder, as a result he fell on his ass, he rubbed his hurt face, "that wasnt there before..."

The Marine rounded the corner and stopped as he saw Adrian scaling the massive segmented boulder, "Get down from there! You'll hurt yourself!"

Adrian laughed, "eat my ass, Police man!"

As Adrian had reached the top of the boulder, he was suddenly jostled as the massive thing pulled itself from the sand, Adrian grabbed a small outcropping and clung for dear life as a massive creature rose from the beach on two massive armored arms, it coughed and the Marine stepped back in fear, this thing opened its armored eyelids to reveal bloodshot eyes, it looked at him and the sword he carried, "No! No!" The massive Wotan began to struggle to escape, The Marine standing awestruck as this beast fled from him, "i didnt...i didnt..." the monster was sobbing tears, The Marine felt a rush of bravado and stood strong with his sword held out, "you put that man down right now!"

The Wotan looked at either of his claws, "i dont have anyone..." he grumbled, slowly backing against a small beach cliff as Adrian clawed his way to where he figured the freature's ear would be, "you're just gonna let that small man bully you? Look at him, he's tiny! Smush him!"

Abelard, none too bright, figured this man was his inner voice speaking to him, "Mother always said that Big people should protect people, not smush them!"

Adrian groaned, "well see, this man is a mercenary, he's the worst of the worst, a soldier, he's probably killed hundreds of people! Not just men either...but Women...and children.."

Abelard's eyes widened and he looked at the Marine, "What!?"

The marine could tell he was loosing ground, "I've killed many people! But I've never killed any children!"

Abelard's tail suddenly whipped up out of the sand where it was buried and slammed back down, creating a small tremor, "I know your type, you're really strong and think it gives you more rights than other people... I know a bully when I see one! You THINK you're strong...you're not!" And with a mighty punch, Abelard created a sinkhole 8 feet deep where the Mercenary used to be, huffing and crying angrily, Adrian had NO idea how he'd thought himself out of that one, but he decided he owed this monster his life.

"Hey! Hey dont cry...' he slowly began to dry the Wotan's tears with his coat, "hey man, you look like you could use a friend."

Abelard looked down at the man on his shoulder, blinking until his tears cleared, revealing the small man on his shoulder, it wasn't his inner voice after all, "Friend?"

Adrian nodded, "I'm Adrian, Adrian Crowe, I'm an adventurer."

Abelard's eyes lit up, "adventure?"

Adrian nods, "yep, I'm a bit landlocked at the moment, seeing as I dont have a large ship, but I'm slowly getting enough coin to buy a larger ship...cuz right now all I have is a dinghy."

Adrian casts his eyes around and lays eyes on his little Dinghy sitting tethered to a stake on the beach.

"I'd offer to let you come aboard, but it's uh...kinda small."

Abelard adjusted his position, sitting on his haunches as his massive tail shook itself off, "I could carry that on my head while I swim."

Adrian smiled as he began to think, "hey buddy...do you think you could give me a ride? I'm heading for a place with a larger city and you should be headed to an island where you havent just killed a Man."

Abelard nodded as he looked at the sinkhole, "where to?"

Adrian smirked, "oh...I'll think of something...for now let's just get to know each other..."

TO BE CONTINUED