In a land as old as the first men, with beasts as large as mountains and magics as strong as the will of the gods, there is a city known as Damascus, a city that holds a secret to its people, a city that holds a secret even to its rulers. In the sewers of the city deep underneath the ground, there is a heinous ritual happening.
A mysterious figure wearing dark robes and a ghastly pale mask with blood dripping from its pale and smooth texture. "Our Lord has waited patiently for this moment, heathen." The figure walks in front of an altar where a man whose body is still bleeding from the uncountable number of wounds he has, the man on the altar is skinny, little to no fat with barely any muscles whatsoever, it was obvious that the man was starved before he was put on the altar and cut an uncountable number of times.
After the mysterious figure finished talking, the still bleeding man spoke, "Your god of death and darkness shall fall before the light of Lathander!" To this the mysterious figure merely chuckled and said weakly "Deliver me the sacrificial dagger and bring me a rope so I may mute this heeden, these sacred walls do not deserve to listen to these foolish beliefs," and with this statement, the man is gagged and his four limbs that are tied to the four corners of the altar are tightened even more but the man doesn't even grunt at the pain. A few moments pass and a dagger kept in fine silk is delivered to the figure, the figure grasps the handle and picks up the sacrificial blade.
The blade had a handle made of tough rope-like material, it is rough to prevent the wielder from losing grip on the handle, the blade is made up of material that can only be found in the heart of a demigod, it is sharp enough to cut through common metals with ease while wielding this blade one does not even need to exert as much force as one would normally use to cut flesh because of how sharp it is.
The mysterious figure walks to the back of the still bleeding man and stabs his heart with the sacrificial blade, using little to no force whatsoever.
***Time Skip, 10 Years***
10 Years have gone by since that day, and a young man by the age of 21 is doing honest work in the farms, he is sowing the fields with his brothers while his sisters tend to the animals. While this young man was sowing the field his mother had called him "Alexander, I need you to go to the city and sell these Dragon Fruit(1) and Wild Embers(2)"
Alexander looked somewhat confused, normally his older brother Daniel was the one that went to the city and sold the fruit "mother? Has something happened? Why my?" Alexander asked questioningly as this was not normal
A few short moments later and his mother answered "It is because your father told me that he has recently found a new merchant that is willing to buy at a higher price, however the merchant had one prerequisite of sorts, it needed to be your fathers youngest son, if you ask me I don't trust the merchant but your father placed his trust on him" She said at a loss of words at her husband's decision
Alexander was even more confused now 'Why did father trust that merchant?' 'What was father thinking' 'Why the youngest son specifically?' Alexander had a plethora of thoughts racing in his head however he couldn't do anything about it, his father had made the decision "... I'll get ready then mother"
Alexander never learned any sword skills because he never needed to fight, he was always the runt in the family but he was still 'helpful' nonetheless
His brothers were stronger than him, and his sisters were always smarter, his oldest sister maria was even given the opportunity to become a wizard, but because of it she had to leave him when he was 6, although he was young, he still remembered the fun they had
Alexander went to their home and quickly took everything that he needed, a few torches, a week's worth of rations and a shortsword that he doesn't know how to weld properly, all he knows is 'Aim the pointy end at the enemy' but even if he can't properly use the shortsword, he knows how to punch
After this, Alexander had returned to his mother "Mother, am I missing something?"
His mother had looked at him with a smile "Always follow the road, even if it's broken" after saying this, she hugged him
Alexander looked confused again "What do you mean by that Mother?" Although he was confused, he still hugged his mother back
His Mother had hugged him tightly and then she said "You look like a man" after this she pushed him to the door "Good luck my little man" then she closed the door on him
Alexander stared at the door blankly, still not recovering from the weirdness of the recent events that have happened(I english good)
Shortly after returning to his senses, Alexander took a donkey and cart to deliver the fruits to the mysterious merchant, while traveling for about half an hour, he started wondering about something 'How many years has it even been since I've even left the village? Has it been three, wait no, five? How do I not remember… ' as Alexander was wondering, he suddenly stopped at a crossroads "I don't remember there being a crossroads here?"
Alexander went to his bags and quickly took a map and reviewed it, and looked for where he was at, "Wait.. according to the map, there shouldn't be any crossroads here" Alexander looks at the crossroads with sleight disbelief "I couldn't have gotten lost, have I? I followed the road and I looked at the map whenever there was a crossroads" unlike others of his family, Alexander had almost no survival instincts, aside from the "HIT IT TILL IT DIES" philosophy that he and almost every single creature that lives follows.
Alexander contemplated for a moment "the city is straight west from here, however the road becomes rocky and rigid… they sure have died down with the maintenance." Alexander looked at the other road, it was still in good condition and it wasn't a bumpy ride, however it went north, maybe he could find a way to safely get to the city, "This shouldn't be a hard decision but the road to the west is going to get me a headache!"
After thinking about it for a few minutes Alexander remembered his mother's advice "Always follow the road, even if it's broken" her voice echoed through his mind, then he decided to follow the road westward even if he was going to regret his decision, it was a deal made by his father, he didn't want to ruin it by being late or anything
The road was long and twisting. He had spent several days traveling on this rocky and bumpy road, if he looked to his right he could see deer grazing in the distance, a bear sleeping under the shade of a tree, a skeleton walking towards him with a greatsword, -wait what. Alexander looked at the skeleton multiple times, he even blinked several times just to make sure that his eyes hadn't played tricks on him.
mm
At this moment Alexander spoke "It's ok, it's ok, it's just a skele- what am I nmmm it isn't ok, I need to get out of here!" Alexander urged the donkey to move faster however the donkey didn't move any faster. Alexander stared at the skeleton that was walking towards him. "I can take it right? It's just a pile of bones, I can survive"
Alexander got off the cart and looked at the skeleton that was about 30 feet away "I can do this, I just need to hit it till it dies, again" Alexander took the shortsword off the back of the cart and pointed it at the skeleton that was now 29 feet away. Alexander's arms were shaking and his legs were turning to jelly, even though it was only one skeleton he was still afraid.
When the skeleton was 15 feet away it suddenly charged at Alexander, it put it's arms into the air along with it's greatsword. It was getting faster and faster, a few moments later it was in front of Alexander swinging its greatsword in a very choreographed way, Alexander was afraid but he mustered enough courage to dodge to the left, making the skeleton miss.
The skeleton pulled it's greatsword from the ground then swung again at Alexander aiming for his head, Alexander ducked down intime to not get decapitated by this skeleton. Alexander then rolled to the left then swung the shortsword at the skeleton's brittle legs, hoping to make it trip and fall
The skeleton had put too much of its strength into its swing, so when the shortsword had landed on its legs it tripped and fell, moreover it had lost its grip on the greatsword because of it's sudden fall
When the skeleton fell Alexander heard a loud CRACK sound, he looked at the skeleton and saw that it's head had hit a rock, leaving a giant crack on the head of the skeleton.
"Wow… bones are brittle" Alexander exclaimed in shock
Then he heard a loud bang behind him and fell unconscious..
"We found a brat.."