The sun filtered through the open wheat field. The golden color mixed with the aroma of earth and freshly wet soil. It was an ordinary day for the inhabitants of Mourfou village, the kids played with a leather ball in the village's central square. The city watch stood guard at the gate, their steel clean and sharp. The blacksmiths hammered away at raw materials, turning them into formidable weapons. Among all the commotion in the village, an outsider napped in the middle of the wheat farm, using some dry hay as a bed. The outsider in question was Jack Lancaster, an independent adventurer who has quickly amassed a reputation as a fast and effective dungeon clearer.

  His blue eyes opened, slow and droopy, as if sleep was still calling to him. He ran his fingers through his short, golden blonde hair as he stood up. After splashing some water on his face, Jack headed straight to the local tavern. Once he found a nice and quiet corner, he sat down. Within seconds the tavern’s bartender, Linda, stood right beside Jack’s table. Her eyes sparkled with her usual enthusiasm for work.

  Linda: “Good evening Jack, it's always nice to see you here! What can I get you?”

  Jack: “Holy shit Linda,” Jack says as he grabs his heart, clearly shocked. “Why do you always sneak up on people like that?”

  Linda: “I am always testing you, dummy! Now, let me tell you about today's special, we have some amazing lamb ribs with a side of mashed potatoes.”

  Jack: “Hmmm, that sounds very nice actually, yeah give me that and a pint of ale.” Jack says as his eyes wander on a hooded figure on the other side of the tavern.

  Linda: “All right I will go ahead and ring that in for you.” Linda says as she flashes Jack a smile.

  While Jack waits for his order, he stands up and takes a look at the job board. Mourfou isn’t the place a lot of adventurers pick, because of its lack of jobs and because of the smaller scaled community. Jack quickly glances through the available jobs without much interest. An escort quest, a simple herb harvest, a hunt for a lost heirloom and such. Though one job stands out a little too much. A pack of mountain trolls has been harassing travellers and adventurers in the road surrounding the cave just north of the village. Trolls are usually more timid and less aggressive monsters, usually not attacking unless provoked. For them to go out of their way and attack nearby people is very unusual, something fishy is going on.

  Linda comes back with her tray full of delicious food and drinks. She puts down Jack’s order on his table, “Enjoy!” She says as she moves to the next table. Jack sits down and enjoys his drink and his food, debating if he should go ahead and accept the troll extermination quest. The hooded figure in the back hasn’t moved at all, Jack throws them a look of intrigue before he continues on his meal.

  A little while after, Jack finishes his meal, pays up and with the job poster in his hand, he heads to the village’s city watch office in order to properly accept the job. Without him knowing, the hooded figure is following him in the shadows, their footsteps silent as they jump from shadow to shadow.

  Jack greets the guard outside of the city watch office and opens the heavy oak door. Inside are a handful of off duty soldiers, some of them are drinking their lives away and others play cards, gambling their little money for some sort of dopamine in their dull lifestyle. A deep loud voice cuts the usual murmur, Jack looks at the direction of the voice, already knowing of the man that it belongs to.

  Jack: “Roguard, what are you doing here you big piece of dumb meat.” Jack says, though his voice carries no actual diss, just a tease.

  Roguard: “Ha! I have the exact question for you. I am here to offer my help of course! There is a broken bridge that needs fixing and some bloke offered me ten silver pieces. Easy work for a guy like me!” Roguard says as he kisses his flexed bicep, the huge battle axe strapped to his back swaying a bit. Roguard looks at the job poster in Jack’s hand and his face pales for a fraction. “Woah Jack, are you seriously gonna do that troll extermination quest? I mean I know you are strong, but people say that these trolls are anomalies.”

  Anomalies is a term used for monsters and people that display bizarre and unique characteristics and thinking. Most of the time it is used in an excessive sense.

  Jack: “I highly doubt that Roguard, these trolls are probably just greedy little bastards that just want more food for their stupid little brains.” Jack says as he hands over the job poster at the receptionist.

  The receptionist signs Jack’s name in the job poster, now with the paperwork done and plenty of sunlight left, Jack promptly leaves the office and heads north towards the mountainside cave where the trolls have set their nest.

  Before Jack leaves the village however, he has to get geared up for the job. In the small room he rents at the village’s inn, Jack opens his closet and reaches for his standard equipment. For his upper wear, a cotton undershirt with some stains that refuse to leave, his trusty chainmail and of course, his favourite jacket. Made by a special fashion designer who used self regenerating fabric, it did set back Jack about 80 gold coins, but Jack always thinks that it is worth every penny. For his leg wear, Jack has some beige baggy trousers that allow for full movement freedom. Jack finishes his look with some sturdy leather boots with reinforced steel in the heels and toes.

  Jack looms over a locked drawer. Using a key stashed in a secret pocket on his jacket, he unlocks the drawer. Inside it lay a pair of gauntlets, made from high quality leather and coated with Namerian gold. They were a gift from Jack's foster father, Sir Aphelon. A retired military general and best friend of Jack’s biological father, Head monk Mawron.

  Jack never talks about his past other than Aphelon, it haunts Jack every waking moment of his life, he tries to keep going, to ignore it, to forget the fact that his family was killed in front of him by a monstrosity that plagues his nightmares every night.

  A single tear travels down Jack’s cheek but he quickly wipes it away with the back of his hand. He cannot show weakness, not even to himself. With a sigh, he puts the gauntlets on, tightening the straps with a burning anger.

  With that, Jack hits the road. The path to that cave is mostly carved out, only making a small detour towards the end of the hike up the mountain. The road is less busy than usual, only a couple of merchant caravans pass by and most strange of all, very few solo travellers journey. Jack is in high alert, making sure he cannot be ambushed, though even in high alert, Jack cannot sense the ominous hooded figure that is following him through the tree tops.

  The hooded figure laughs quietly and mutters to a whisper only he can hear. “Oh little ruined one, I love it when I play with your fear, you are in for a ride!”

  Jack continues on ahead, the sun starts to drift towards west, painting the sky in vibrant oranges and purples. Jack only worries he may be getting a little later than usual. Then, Jack feels his foot snapping something. Just as fast an arrow whistles through the air as it flies towards Jack’s head. With light fast reflexes, Jack grabs the arrow mid flight, crushing it under his grip.

  The bushes rustle and two bandits come out, their armor a poorly stitched leather mess. Their hands covered in dirt as they hold a pair of dangerously sharp daggers. Their smiles shine with golden teeth.

  Lead Bandit: “Oy pretty boy, that catch was impressive, but yah outnumbered, how about you give us those shiny gauntlets and scram away before things get bloody in here!” The bigger of the two bandits sneers as he grips his dagger harder.

  Lanky Bandit: “You better do what he says, or else you will live to regret it.” The second bandit says, but his body stance says otherwise, sloppy, nervous.

  Jack: “Tch, you think this will intimidate me? You are in over your heads if you think that I will fold so easily.” Jack slams his fists together, lightning sparks flashing from the force. “I think I will warm up with the two of you, before I head to the trolls.”

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  The Lead Bandit takes a step back as he sees Jack take a fighting stance. He thinks the kid is cocky, who heads out of town with no weapon, only a fool. Jack however doesn’t need a weapon, he was trained in both martial arts and his innate Lightning magic from Sir Aphelon.

  Jack puts his arms closer to his face, making sure he leaves enough room to see his opponent. He bends his knees and puts his right foot a bit forward. The lanky bandit whips out a small crossbow, the string already stretched and ready to fire. Jack wastes no time, before the bandit can even think about pulling the trigger, Jack blitzes him and punches him hard on the jaw with a right hook. The kid flies out and hits the ground, clearly passed out.

  The Lead bandit instinctively tries to slash Jack at his side. But Jack reads this and protects his exposed ribs with his right gauntlet, the two metals screech as sparks fly out. With the bandit now exposed for a counter attack, Jack jumps and brings his left foot in a devastating kick aimed at the bandit's spine. The bandit can only scream in pain as he falls to the ground.

  Jack: “Don’t worry, the city guard will come shortly after all that screaming you did. Next time, maybe don’t pick a fight you can’t win..” Jack says with a serious expression as he leaves the two of them in their own misery.

  The journey towards the cave still continues. With the sun almost set, Jack doesn’t have the luxury to slow down. After a bit, Jack finds himself in the cave’s entrance. Summoning a lightning ball to help him see better in the dark humid cave, Jack enters the nest of the mountain trolls. Jack wanders for a bit, going through small passages and tight hallways, but something is definitely off, not a single troll is here.

  Jack knows he is in the right cave, this is the only one on this side of the mountain. The stalagmites drip down water like a clock counting the minutes before disaster. Jack finally stumbles upon some sort of room. The top of the cave is open, letting the moonlight illuminate the room. The walls are riddled with scratch marks that indicate troll activity.

  After a quick look around, Jack realises some weird symbols carved on the ground. Jack’s eyes widen as he realises what the carvings are, runes. Trolls aren’t smart enough to use, let alone learn magic. This is bad, someone has been here and they are somehow working with the trolls. Jack feels a pressure, a flood of negative emotions. Sadness, guilt and worse and most powerful of all, a sense of fear. Jack rummages through a pile of rocks until he finds the source of this aura. A single glowing crystal, its edges rough and sharp, the size of it barely bigger than a coin.

  Jack feels immense fear coming out of it, almost like it laughs at his pain. Jack breaks the crystal instantly, letting the pieces fall off his hand like sand. Jack looks up at the open cave top and sees smoke, heavy smoke. The direction of the smoke perfectly reflects where Mourfou is. A sense of danger overflows Jack, lightning appears on his legs as he bolts out of the cave and starts to run as fast as he can towards the village.

  The village gates are ruined, their stone walls doing nothing to protect the civilians inside. Jack is stunned, but he cannot waste time, he charges inside the village and he sees it, the dread, the death, the blood. Several city guards laid down on the floor, their heads crushed, their guts spilled into the grass. Just moments ago they were arguing about which Magicball team was best. Now their lifeless eyes stare at Jack like he is responsible.

  In his shock, Jack fails to see a troll charging at him, its claws rake at Jack’s side, biting hard despite his defenses, the pain wakes him up just in time to dodge another attack and counter attack with a right jab that breaks skull. Roguard fights with the intensity of a true warrior, his armor may be in shambles, his left arm is gone, bitten off clean by a troll. But that doesn’t stop him, his battle axe a whirlwind of troll organs and blood.

  Roguard: “ABOUT TIME YOU JOINED US JACK, I WAS WORRIED YOU WOULD MISS ALL THE FUN! I WON’T LET YOU GET ALL THE CREDIT THIS TIME!” Roguard said as he saw Jack. The amount of blood loss that he encountered had surely made him go berserk.

  Jack stared at Roguard fighting, he wanted to join in, but his legs wouldn’t move, the air around him almost choking him right there. Why wouldn’t his body let him move? Then, Jack felt it again, that aura, of negative energy, of fear. A monstrous troll, the size of a building stomps towards Jack. Its body etched with the same runes as Jack found in the cave, in addition several of the glowing crystals stuck out of the monster's skin. Casting the village in a shroud of terror. Jack instinctively dropped into a fighting position, though it did nothing as the troll used earth magic to summon a wave of jagged clay spikes. The wave traveled fast and Jack barely managed to create a barrier of lightning to protect himself. In that split second of indecision however, the troll charged in and grabbed Jack by the head, its hand easily twice the size of his head. The troll wasted no time as he hurled Jack across the village like a ragdoll.

  Jack tumbles on the ground before he comes to a stop as he smashes through the stone wall of a house. The family inside the house screamed as they saw Jack bash through their home, their eyes watery as they feared for death. Jack lazily forced himself to stand up. The pure aura of fear pressing him down like physical weight. Could he even defend such a foe? A monster three times his size, of equal magic level, is he even worthy of calling himself an adventurer?

  With the corner of his eyes Jack sees something, something so tragic, his eyes widen. Linda, the sweetest person he knows. She was injured, not only that, she was being eaten alive. A troll gnawing at her shoulder as she screamed for help.

  Time seemed to stop for Jack, his mind replaying the memory of his family's death. He remembers it like yesterday. The sky was dark, rain pouring down onto the tiled roof of the monastery. The screams of the monks being slaughtered by the demon, muffled by the locked gate in the safe room they were in. Head monk Mawron scrambled to fortify the gate’s defenses. His mother, Nema, however held the young Jack like nothing was happening.

  Nema: “Don’t worry Jack, everything is alright, mommy and daddy are doing everything they can to make the monster go away.” Her smile was bright, although it masked her inner fear.

  Soon the demon broke through the front gate, their sharp teeth already stained with blood, their claws long, ready to pierce through their hearts. It made quick work of the ordinary monks as it walked towards Jack. Mawron tried to fight it back, and he almost took the demon down before its teeth severed the Head monk’s head. Nema stepped in the middle between the demon and Jack, her hands already weaving a spell, a spell to teleport young Jack far away, to the only person she trusted, Sir Aphelon. As the spell finished, Jack saw his mother smile as she fell on the floor, her heart pierced by the monster.

  As the memory finishes, time seems to continue, though now a sense of determination fuels Jack. Adrenaline spiking, the skies darken.

  Jack: “I will never be this powerless again! I won’t let anyone else die in front of my eyes!” Jack screams, the fear inducing crystals doing nothing to even slightly scare him.

  A lightning bolt splits the sky as it strikes the troll that attacked Linda. Jack magic surges through the entire battlefield, a surge of sparks and static meeting the gore. Jack channels lightning in his right hand as he dashes forwards and lands a powerful strike on the monster troll. The troll writhes in pain, but it doesn’t yield just yet. It summons another wave of jagged earth spikes, Jack doesn’t hesitate this time, he slams his left fist into it, making the attack crumble under his pressure. The troll charges again, trying the same surprise attack. Jack is focused more than ever, he blocks the troll's punch with an x shaped block. He then amasses a huge amount of mana, releasing it in a single brutal right hook aimed at the troll’s side. The force of the attack splitting the troll clean in half, raining down its blood onto Jack, the smell of ozone and iron enveloping the village.

  The smaller trolls flee upon seeing their leader’s gruesome death. The hooded figure from before, sat on top of the town hall’s tower, watching the entire fight sighed.

  Hooded figure: “Looks like I underestimated you Lancaster, don’t worry however, your fear is tasty, I will finish what I started.” With that inner monologue, the hooded figure melts back at the shadows.

  Jack and the remaining of the able guards and citizens, start on helping the injured. Jack bandages up Roguard’s wounds, his technique sloppy and amateur.

  Jack: “I am sorry Roguard, I wasn’t here sooner. You were right, you know, they were an anomaly, they should have trusted you.”

  Roguard: “Don’t worry lad, you came just in time to save the day, as you always do. I didn’t even need my left arm, my right works just fine.” Roguard jokes, trying to lighten the mood.

  Jack smirks, but his eyes are on Linda, due to her injuries, she went into a coma. Jack feels responsible for this, but something tells him that Linda would disagree.

  Suddenly, a messenger bursts through the doors of the infirmary. His breath coming in fast gasps, his hands on his knees as swallows hard, preparing to speak.

  Messenger: “By order of Her Majesty, Queen Stella, the village of Mourfou shall receive immediate financial aid and proper manpower for the rebuilding of the community. Furthermore, Her Majesty will personally inspect the whole process herself, you will expect her to be here tomorrow’s first light!” The boy announces to the inhabitants of Mourfou in a loud and clear voice.

  Roguard: He smacks Jack getting his attention. “For the Queen herself to come here and monitor the situation, something even weirder and more dangerous than simple anomaly trolls is going on. You are the one who dealt with the mess, she will surely speak with you personally, do me a favour and get to the bottom of this.” Roguard’s voice is low, almost like a secret.

  Jack: “That’s true, I will Roguard trust me.” Jack responds as he finishes bandaging up Roguard.