I don't know about this…
Hero thought this to himself while playing a high stakes game of Card Pairs in his hometown of Oakvale with one of his many fans.
This is 10 years after the final battle he had with Jack of Blades in his dragon form, who was previously the greatest hero of all time. After defeating him, Hero had to make a choice: wear Jack's mask and become the most powerful being in all of Albion, or destroy the mask forever. He destroyed the mask, and is now 75 years old.
"What's wrong, the great Hero cannot beat a simple man like me in Card Pairs?" his competitor asked jokingly as he realized Hero's pause.
"I think I got you beat," he tried to say lightheartedly as he matched the last pair of cards. "I win," he added with a smile because he has always been undefeated at this particular game.
"So close," he said with a sigh as he handed over his money and walked away.
In the middle of the night, Hero was sitting at the shoreline fishing, just thinking to himself. About five minutes later, he began to hear a few gruff voices in the distance.
At the entrance of the town.
Hero began to rush to the entrance of Oakvale, taking out his weapon, the Tear of Avo, in preparation for who, or what, he may encounter.
Approaching the entrance, he embraced for attack. But, as he got closer, he realized they were just two traders. "Isn't is a little late for traders to be switching towns?" Hero asked them suspiciously as he subtly analyzed them.
"Yeah, I guess," the taller of the two replied lazily.
Odd, Hero thought to himself, traders are usually the most polite people you meet.
While thinking this, he saw one of the traders pulling something out of the sack he was holding in his hand.
Bandits! Hero realized.
During that split-second, both traders unleashed their blades on Hero. He responded by unsheathing his blade on them a fraction of a second before, a product of countless years of training. He struck them down before they could even scream.
As Hero turned around to return to his fishing spot, he spotted a little girl, about five years old, who had woke up as she heard the noise.
"Mr. Hero, were those men going to hurt me?" she asked, yawning.
"It's okay now. They won't hurt anyone now. Especially not you. Now why don't you go back home to sleep?"
"Thank you," she murmured sleepily as she walked home.
The next day, Hero decided to go through Darkwood to check on the bandit population. He heard rumors of an uprising in an attempt to overtake him, the beginning of which was most likely last night. While preparing for his journey in a store in Bowerstone, he asked the shopkeeper if he had heard anything.
"No I haven't Hero," the shopkeeper replied as he handed Hero his new gloves. "I sure hope that you're wrong. I don't know what would happen to the people of Albion without you Hero."
"Thanks," said Hero as he walked out of the store.
Hero unsheathed the Tear of Avo cautiously as he entered Darkwood.
Something's wrong here… he began to realize. Looks like I was right.
He slowly walked deeper into Darkwood.
"AAAAAGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" was the last thing Hero heard before losing consciousness.
He woke up in complete darkness. A cave, he realized. He felt throbbing in the back of his head. Damn bandits. He tried to stand up… and fell right back down. His hands and feet were chain-linked to the wall. Just like Jack's prison. Hero shuddered at the old memory from so many years ago. He tried to scream but all that came out was an angry, "Grrrrumph!" His mouth was gagged too. He head footsteps approaching.
"Hey! He's awake!" the grubby-looking bandit shouted. Another larger bandit walked over to Hero.
"So. This is the amazing Hero. The one who defeated the great Jack of Blades and saved the Guildmaster himself. Not so tough now, are you?" the bandit shouted at Hero. Then, a few bandits propped Hero up as the bandit leader jabbed his fist into Hero's gut.
"UGH!!!"
It would not have hurt nearly as much if they had not taken Hero's armor.
The bandits who were holding him up were laughing as they hurled him against the wall. "I'm disappointed," the large bandit laughed. "I figured it would take more do you harm. Oh well. I'll still enjoy it just as much." All of the bandits then walked away.
Dammit! How the hell am I going to get out of here? It was then that he spotted his blade and gear carelessly tossed aside fifteen feet away from him. He would just have to wait for he bandits to fall asleep, then he could sneak over and escape.
Hero patiently waited through ten hours of the bandits' celebration until they all finally passed out. Hero quietly lifted the chains bound to his feet and walked over to his belongings. "Vile bandits," he muttered under his breath as he put his armor on. He used his blade to slice the chains that bounded him. He walked over to the circle of unconscious bandits, then he began to conjure a fireball in his palm. It slowly began to grow larger and threw the great ball of fire at the bandits. Hero ran as fast as he could, but he could still hear the screams of pain behind him.
While traveling through Darkwood, Hero saw some shadows in the distance. Bandits that escaped? Hero wondered as he approached. Then he heard those unmistakable voices. Hobbes. To make this quick, he took out his bow. They were all taken out with ease. Hobbes aren't exactly the smartest creatures in the world. Then, before he knew it, Hero was on the ground face-to-face with a White Balverine. I thought I killed the only one years ago. The Balverine's teeth were at his throat as he grabbed his sword from behind his back and plunged it into the Balverine's stomach. A tortured cry came from the Balverine as it died and fell to the ground. Hero got up and pulled his blade from the fallen beast. "Tonight's just not my night," Hero sighed while he walked away.
