Chapter 14

Raven and I were sitting on two stumps in the middle of Brightwood once again. I was meditating and he was reading another book. "What book do you read every single day? You should've finished it by now." I always wondered that. "Well, it's a very long book." He lifted it up, but it looked small. "That's a lie. You know that book is short. Can't you read?"

"Yes!" he was very angry at me. "Never mind." He turned away and folded his arms. I crept over and snatched the book from him. "HEY!" he shouted. I laughed and chuckled as I ran off, trying to read the contents of the book. It wasn't big, its text was very small that covered the entire page. I kept running, hearing the twigs and branches snapping behind me. "Get back here!" he snarled. I ran and ran until I came to a large clearing. I listened to the forest… nothing. Something was wrong. In the forest you should hear thousands of sounds, but I only heard an eerie silence. Slowly, I drew my black sword and laid the book onto the ground. Bushes started to shake and I jumped towards it, revealing a small rabbit. I sighed deeply. "Bugger." I walked away from the bush, chuckling. A twig snapped. I turned but barely deflected the broadsword that was aimed for my head. "Damn it." I swiftly kicked the bandit's face, knocking out several of his teeth. He flailed wildly, cursing loudly. I yelled loudly. "Raven!" another sword appeared out of mid air. "Die already!" I slashed the bandit's head clean off. Another one jumped at me and was met with a Fireball to the face. "I'm sick of this." I prepared a Vortex which started to wave the trees around, making cracks among the trunks. "Crap." I awed at the vastness of the bandits. There were about fifty in all (not counting the three at my feet.) and were flying around as the tornado tossed them about, breaking bones, trees, and wrecking havoc. "You bastard!" a particular bandit shouted. He was very tall and wore a long black cloak that seemed to consume the rest of his body. "You killed too many of my friends already." I looked upon the bloody masses around the trees. He saw a violent look on me, so he started to run and more bandits dropped from the trees.

"Go Chief!" voices rang out. They sharpened their swords on me, but I easily deflected most of them and then responded with a quick stab. Five of them were on me at once, so I had to draw my white sword to counter the blows that were aggressively given to me. After a few failed attempts, half of their men lay on the forest floor and had small orbs dribbling from them. Some were yellow, blue, red, and green. They inched back, but broke into a sprint. I started to go after the bandits.

It was fairly easy to track them, they left a great many heavy footprints. I walked across large ruins. Bridges spanned wide across the broken stone fortresses that amassed the forest. Of course I left an easy trail to find, for Raven would've been greatly upset. I walked past the bridge, and found a long slope that led down into a small camp. It was just a huge hole in the ground with a ramp. Many bandits were there, mourning for their friends. Friends… that's when it hit me. I slowly looked upon my hands that were stained with blood. My blades were coated in it, and the orbs from the corpses followed me, and whenever they touched me, odd memories popped up. I hated them, and kept running from them whenever they came near. I felt like crying.

I wiped off the tears, and decided that it would be over with soon. The bandits also had slaves. Only a couple and they were strange. They were a girl that looked my age, and a tall man with dark brown skin. They were stuck in cages in the middle of the camp, near a large tent. The familiar black figure came out of it, and stood in front of the captives. He must've been having a horrible conversation, because a look of disgust and embarrassment came onto his face. He spun around soon and headed for his tent. That bandit camp was quiet then. Night came over the land and that was when I decided that now was the time to strike.

Preparations were simple enough. I cut about three fourths of a trunk off and had a ridiculous amount of rope, but it worked. I made these preparations as the man was talking to the prisoners, which were quite a good distraction. I pulled slowly on the ropes. The tree started to groan with pain. I smiled as it fell down on the opposite end of the hole as I. "Get the Chief!"

"Intruder!" I heard the shouts among the men. They ran to the tree, looking puzzled. After I was satisfied with results, I jumped down to greet any bandit with steel and Will, which actually happened twice, but they're dead now. It seemed I didn't think about killing until the battle was over, but the battle wasn't over quite yet. Bandits began to flood the camp as I approached the large tent. The tall man came, but unexpectedly opened the cage and pressed a knife to the girl's neck. "Get on the ground now, or she dies." The girl didn't fuss or scream. She just mouthed the words 'Do it'. I was confused, for no one doesn't fear death. "You see these blades?" I questioned him. "Do you know who they belong to?" he still pressed the knife. "Twinblade." He stopped for a moment, which was all I needed. I released a small Vortex that sent him sprawling and cursing. The girl flew into the air and fell on the ground. She was out cold. "You little…" the tall man began. Before he could finish, I released another tornado. The bandits surrounded me, and struck all at once. They all met the same fate, which was a deep pit that dragged them into the Underworld. The tents disappeared, which left the black cloaked bandit all by himself.

"Spare me!" he pleaded. I looked at the orbs slowly drifting to the surface of the ground. "No!" a yell shook the valley. Raven approached from behind me, and knocked me on the head. "What the hell happened here?" he roared. "You took my book!" he snatched my swords. The bandit had a sign of great relief, but soon met Raven's fist. "Why are there so many experience orbs here?" I tilted my head in confusion. "Uh… they came out of the corpses and keep following me around! Why do they keep giving me memories?!" I yelled. "Do you know what his name is?" I pointed at the unconscious bandit. "I know his name, his father's name, and every single man that I just killed, and I've never even met these people!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "Why?!"

"Well… a Hero's greatest strength is also his curse. In every story of legend, Hero's get their strength from an unknown source. Well, the source is obviously from the men, women, and creatures he or she killed. By gaining all of their memories, you have gained more knowledge and strength." He punched my arm. "That would normally have hurt, right? Well, by gaining all their memories, you know how to take hits, beatings, and suffering. It is greatly unnatural for someone your age to be exposed to these many orbs."

"Sorry."

"Don't be. You just killed an army of bandits, saved Albion trouble, and even stopped them from making slaves out of its citizens. This should've been a quest that Heroes gain glory from. You can probably get your guild seal soon and complete official quests!" I thought about it. I would be respected. "I also hear they're allowing Heroes to carry all of their weapons now!" I looked forward to the day of graduation. Unfortunately, my visions of glory were cut short when I had a little meeting of my face and the ground.

"Wow… he massacred all the bandits?" a deep voice called.

"It wasn't his fault. He was using the black blade over the white one…" Raven spoke.

"I don't care if he lost control! He saved our lives!" a very familiar voice rang. Soft hands touched my eyes, and I slowly opened them. "He awakes!" I jump up and boy, do I feel embarrassed. "Uh… sorry." I stammered, scratching my head. "It's OK!" a young girl wore a long white robe with red trims. A hood lay on her back, and her long auburn hair was tied back in a long ponytail. She had brilliant green eyes but seemed to be staring intensely on something. "Why were you touching my face?" she blushed. "I'm blind…" I almost slapped myself. "It's OK though, most people don't know. I only recently lost my sight. Damn those clothing dyes."

"I wish I could tell you my name, but I have amnesia."

"No way! We're the people who found you!" she cheered. I stared in disbelief. "You're kidding me… right?"

"No. We aren't young bandit slayer." The quiet man finally came into the conversation. "I am James. We've come in search of new housings because the Temple of Shadows attacked Oakfield recently, and we don't feel like fighting off shadows."

"We have room at the Guild." Raven offered. "You look like a man who is used to hard work." My teacher added. "We could give you a well paying job. We have plenty of spaces, so you can choose whichever one you prefer." James pondered on it. "Why not?" he shrugged. "What about that bandit?"

"Let's take Darrell with us, shall we? I'm sure your Guild Master would LOVE to ask some questions." Taking James' advice, Raven quickly tied him up. "Lead the way, mages."

Even though we lead the way, it seemed that the girl was a pretty good fighter. "I'm sorry, I didn't catch your name."

"Jackie." She smiled at me. Darrell started coughing the words "FLIRTS!" which resulted in a swift kick from me. A few times we ran into about three Hobbes. Now, when I said Jackie was a good fighter, I meant she killed a Hobbe. One brushed her foot and she broke its neck by stomping on it repeatedly. "I… hate… Hobbes…" she blushed and quickly turned her head away. "Remind me not to make her angry, will you?" Raven tried his best to hold in his chuckle, but to no avail. That got a quick thump from James. "Why'd you do that?!" My mentor angrily shook his fist. "I felt like it." James grinned.

When we finally arrived, it was the late afternoon and we were greeted by an entourage of apprentices. We stood in the middle of the bridge when they all came pouring out like ants. "It's about time you showed up!" Christopher walked up to me, patting me on the back. "So, what took you so long?"

"I'll tell you later." I brushed off his hand and accompanied Raven to the Guild Master's office.

"So… Raven. What the hell took you?!"

"A large amount of bandits were stationed in Brightwood forest. My apprentice," he pointed at me, "killed them all. We actually brought back a prisoner." Raven yanked on the rope, almost knocking Darrell on the ground. "Damn it! What the hell's your problem?!"

"Shut up." The Guild Master kicked him in the gut. "Who is the Bandit King?"

"You should know him!" Another kick was delivered. "Who? Is? It?" he said slower. "Bah, you'll never know." This time he wound up the kick, sending Darrell halfway across the room. "I won't tell you!" I didn't want to hear to any more violent interrogations, so I stepped forth and made a small Fireball in my hand. "OK! OK! The Bandit King isn't actually one person! It's our lead council which basically controls all operations in, out, and around Albion. The Bandit King is now going to have its first meeting in five decades. They're going to be introducing some new… 'interesting' members to our ranks. They'll all be meeting in the Cow & Corset in two weeks." He chuckled. "You won't stand a chance!" Raven took a pistol mounted on the wall and hit the back of his head with the butte of it. "So… we need to send someone in to deal with this… Bandit King. Nameless, you obviously did very well on assaulting the bandit camp. For that deed, I'm promoting you to a Hero! You'll be the youngest Hero ever, and also you'll still be able to stay here until you have enough money to pay for a house!" The Guild Master grabbed my shoulders tightly. "You are going to be a great influence on Albion. I'll get the graduation ceremony ready." He grinned toothily and shooed us out of his office, still leaving Darrell inside, probably still going to receive abuse.

When I left the office, I went to my room to relax only to find Christopher. I smiled and said "I'm going to graduate."

"YOU'RE GRADUATING?!" Chris yelled. "You're kidding, right? I still have to wait TWO YEARS to graduate!" his voice was thick with admiration and jealousy. "Don't worry, I'm staying anyways. It's not like you get a hundred thousand gold pieces for graduating." I chuckled. "I hope you stay here. It'll be too boring." His squinted eyes almost opened as he pleaded, but he made them clamp tighter. "However, since I am a Hero now, I guess I'll be taking a few quests. Who knows? Maybe I'll even find somewhere to settle down if I get sick of life on the road."

"Maybe… anyways, who was that girl?"

"She was going to be sold as a slave. She's blind too, so fate must've been fairly cruel." He nodded. "Anyways, when is the celebration?"

"I don't know… I'm just going to hang around here to see if there's anything I can do."

"That sounds cool. I'm going to have to go practice my skills some more." He sighed as he rose up and left the room. Before he left, he said over his shoulder, "I'm very glad you're graduating." and then closed the door, separating me even further from my best friend.