Prologue
A single man stood deep within the misty forest, clad in black armor and fur. His breath was steady and almost silent, the cold embrace of night had come upon him and one could see his breath coming out in puffs. His heart beat was steady, and his calm expression was hidden behind his helm. He held tightly to the sword in his right hand and kept the same grip on his shield in his left. The warrior moved only his head as he heard noises coming from around him. He was surrounded, he knew that. In the dark, and through the fog, he could see small pairs of glowing lights….like the last embers of a fire that refused to die. The lights moved all around him, and he would hear a quick bark here and there. Then, all at once, the lights stopped moving and there was only silence. That's when they stepped out of the fog towards him, creatures made of twisted roots and branches that took the form of wolves. He could see through the beasts and could see within them, their fiery cores that hid beneath the wood of their bodies. They circled him again now that they were in full view and he saw now that they would spew fiery flecks when they barked, the same kind of flecks that their eyes were composed of. In that moment, words from his past echoed in his mind.
"What do you think makes a man a hero?"
The first wolf lunged towards him without any warning. He quickly raised his sword as he stepped to the side to avoid the beast's bite. He brought his sword down to slash at the creature's side. It let out a yelp and hit the ground with fiery coals dropping from the cut in its side. Before it could run away or rejoin the others, he brought his boot down on the creature's head. There was a loud snapping sound, and then the body of the beast burst into sparks of fire that floated away with the breeze.
"Is it his courage, his fearlessness in battle? Or his ability to hide his fear?"
The death of the first seemed to agitate the others and two more rushed towards him. He brought the edge of his shield down on the back of one of them and the other got a taste of his sword, using the beast's lunge against it by thrusting the point of his sword into its open maw and into its body. As that wolf was reduced to ash, he plunged his sword into the flaming core of the wolf he had pinned with his shield.
"Are his deeds what make him a hero? The slaying of beasts, his accomplishments in war, the overthrowing of a tyrant?"
The three wolves that remained would each come from a different direction. He used his shield to deflect one of them, and a second clamped its jaws down on his sword. The strong grip the wolf had on his sword would caused him to lose it as the third wolf tackled him and pinned him to the ground on his back. Even though the wolf's teeth appeared to be made of wood, they clanged against his helm like stone or steel as the beast tried to wrap its jaws around it. He brought his hands up to grab both of the beast's jaws with his hands. The man pit his strength against the beast's as he slowly pulled its jaws apart until he finally snapped both halves off and the wolf burst like the others. He got to his knees just in time for the two that remained to lunge at him, biting down on the armor that covered either arm.
"Do you think it matters where he comes from? Whether he was born on a farm or raised as the son of a noble?"
He pushed back on the wolf to his right and managed to get his arm free so that he could slam his fist into the wolf's face and knock it away. He grabbed his sword, which was laying nearby, brought it down through the neck of the wolf that still had a grip on his arm. The beast made a strange choking sound and then he twisted the blade while it was still in the beast, the choking noise suddenly stopped then there was nothing but sparks and ash. He grabbed his shield and strapped it to his back before slowly turning to face the last of the creatures. The side of its head where he had punched it was caved in. It let out a snarl before it lunged towards him once more. He kicked it to the ground before it could get to him and plunged his sword into its glowing core. It wasn't until the wolf burst into embers that he slowly rose up and returned his sword to its sheath.
"I think all that matters is that he is willing to do what is right. What do you think, Krathis?"
"People have only been celebrated after they sacrificed themselves for a just cause. I think that if you have to die before you get some meaningless title, you are better off being a farmer for the rest of your life."
"Hmm….I think I could be a living hero one day."
The man stood there in the forest as he had before, watching as the remnants of those hollow beasts and the fog blowing away as the wind picked up. He took in a deep breath and let out a heavy sigh before he began walking again, hoping he would find an exit to this forest before he encountered more of those creatures.