Now that the history lesson is done, we can start the story- my story. One that begins a thousand years after Ira was sealed and the victory of Philip the Hero of Light. While a lot of stuff happened in between, it makes more sense to start my story with my journey in the desert of Drogmaria.
Hundreds of years ago, Drogmaria was once a beautiful land where fairies and gnomes lived happily. But then one fairy, who was an asshole, thought it would be funny to summon fire giants. The land was scorched with heat rivaling the sun, and the once bountiful continent filled with flowers and trees had become an uncomfortably hot desert with sand stretched for miles.
I can perfectly remember how ridiculously blazing that place was. The sun was releasing its heat waves without a care in the world and the sand burned my feet through my shoes as I walked. I made it harder on myself since I was wearing a gray cloak that covered my whole body from head to toe. The reason I wore that was so I could keep my identity hidden from anybody I came across which worked for the most part. A good number of people would just ignore the weird dude in a cloak carrying a sword on his back. I had no money, only a single leather bag with some clothes, a toothbrush, and my trusty weapon which was wrapped in cloth and tied to my back. And I had a pouch filled with water…no wait at that point I recalled it being bone dry.
"Dammit! There's got to be an oasis out here…"
While sweating, I continued to traverse down the eastern side of Drogmaria where the villages were supposed to be located. The villagers were smart enough to build their homes close to the oasis so that they could have an endless water supply. But I bet you are probably wondering why I was in such an uncomfortable place anyway. My goal was to find the Village of Mo, which was on the hillside. In the village was a monk named Sora, who had incredible intel on the land.
The reason I wanted to go there was to get information on a certain monster in Drogmaria. Avaloria: The Silver Line of the World, a giant silver snake that has lived in that desert for years. It is said to be the size of twenty giants and could block out the sun with its head. The beast was once worshipped as a god by some of the people but when the Demon King was freed the snake went wild and started killing and devouring anything in its path.
I wanted to find it and fight it. Crazy right?
You would think that a snake, which is bigger than a town, would be easy to find but I was proven wrong for almost a month. Avaloria is said to have incredible speed while moving under the sand. You would know if the giant snake was near if you felt the earth shake under your feet. And while I have felt a few earthquakes in certain moments I had yet to see Avaloria which greatly annoyed me. Getting impatient, I decided to go find the old monk, hoping that he had some information on where the beast lays its head when it's exhausted.
Before the thought of giving up and letting the sun bake me, a miracle was displayed to me. A few miles away from where I was, I saw the silhouette of two palm trees and glistening little lights in the center of them. In Drogmaria the palm trees were marked points letting villagers and travelers know there was an oasis.
"Thank God! That better not be an illusion!"
I put my remaining strength into my legs and rushed towards the oasis. Sweat flew off my forehead as I picked up speed. In at least a minute or two, I was able to see the clean and fresh water that looked beyond appetizing to my dehydrated self.
But as I was getting closer, I noticed something in front of the oasis. Four men harassing a little girl. They threw her to the ground as they took a big stone jar that was in her hands. The four men stared down at the child with intimidating looks which caused the girl to cower and cry out for her mother.
"Judging from their attire they must be bandits," I said to myself as I observed the situation. "That girl must have pissed them off or something."
Three things were going to happen to that girl either she would get robbed get beaten or be killed. Or it could be all three in that order. A very terrible fate for a child to endure and any person with a heart would try anything to save that girl. However, I did not have the luxury to be kind. Because of who I am I could not be found out by anyone so I tried my best to ignore the scene before and walk away.
However, the cries of the little girl stopped me in my tracks. Yes, I knew that the smart thing for me to do was to mind my business, but my foolish and soft heart could not ignore someone in need. I groaned aloud knowing full well what I was going to do.
"You think I would learn after two years..."
I casually walked in between the bandits and the little girl while smiling.
"Hello there!"
"Who the hell are you!?" One of the bandits yelled his spit getting on my cloak.
"Nobody," I answered nonchalantly. "Just a wanderer passing through here to get some water."
"Then go get some! Can't you see we're busy?!"
The bandit took out a dagger and pointed at my throat. I couldn't care less and went over to the crying girl.
"Are you okay?"
I knelt to be face-to-face with the little girl. She rubbed her eyes and sniffled as she looked at me. My face could not be seen due to the massive hood over my head which was good for me.
"I-I'm scared…these men won't leave me alone…"
"Don't worry I'll take care of them."
"Take care of us?"
The four bandits started cackling.
"You must be new around these parts! Can't tell who we are? We are members of the Ironclaw! The Rulers of Drogmaria! And if you wanna get in our way then-"
BAM!
Having enough of the bandit's annoying voice I clenched my right hand into a fist and delivered a strong punch to his face. In seconds, the body of the bandit went flying a few meters landing on a hill of sand. The broken-nosed bandit lay on the sand unconscious as the wind blew over more sand to cover his body.
The other three bandits looked over at their knocked-out partner in disbelief. They turned back to me snarling like enraged dogs and took out their daggers.
"Let me give you all a warning," I said as I wiped the blood off my knuckles with my cloak. "If you continue with this ridiculous decision to prove how manly you are I promise to leave you all as bloody messes before the sun sets."
"No one messes with the Ironclaw and gets away with it!"
As the three bandits covered an excess, I had in escaping they then charged right at me like bulls that saw red. Fear was not even registered in me as I saw myself in that situation. I can tell from the bandits' stances they had no proper technique or fighting style. They were no different than a kid waving a knife around. While I did have my sword to counter their daggers, I figured that my fists would be enough.
And they were.
"Fire Magic: Sword of the Inferno!"
One of the bandits' daggers ignited with a small flame and became a fire dagger.
'How the hell he do that?!'
Well to the people of Ocaleveth in my era, it was not uncommon to use magic.
Magic is the manipulation of Mana which is life energy. Mana exists everywhere in humans, plants, animals, and minerals. The entire planet is a whole globe made of Mana.
There are six categories of magic: fire, water, earth, air, light, and darkness. Out of the six, light and dark magic are the most powerful. They cancel all the other ones out and those who wield power go down in history as the greatest sorcerers in Ocaleveth. However light and dark magic was extremely rare for humans to obtain. All souls were born with the ability to use one type of magic, for example, a person who has a fire affinity can't use water spells and vice versa.
Back to the battle the bandit recklessly swung at me with a fire blade.
"Take this!"
With minimal effort, I dodged the attack. And the next one after and the other one after that. All I was doing was sidestepping as the bandit was literally throwing himself at me. After the fifth dodge, I stuck out my foot and tripped the guy he fell face-first into the sand. The bandit quickly stood back up and spit out the sand that was in his mouth.
"Bastard!"
"Ice Magic: Glacier Blade!"
I turned around to see the other bandit transforming his dagger into a blade of ice. While screaming like a madman he charged at me in hopes of stabbing me in the back. But I easily moved out of the way and grabbed the bandit's arm that held the knife. I forcibly turned his body back around to face me and struck him right in the middle of his stomach.
The ice bandit gasped for breath and fell to his knees, but I wasn't done with him yet. I spin-kicked my enemy right across his chin rattling his brain and making him fall face-first into the sand. His ice blade melted under the heat of the sun.
The other two bandits who still haven't attacked yet started to move in.
"Lightning Magic: Zeus's Judgment!"
"Fire Magic: Hellfire!"
A lightning blade and blue-fire blade were pointed in my direction. The two launched themselves at me and proceeded to swing with all their might in hopes of cutting me to pieces. But as if dancing to a beat I was familiar with I avoided all their strikes.
After a minute of embarrassing the two bandits, they were left covered in sweat and panting heavily.
"D-don't underestimate us jerk! W-we are the Ironclaw!"
The other bandit yelled out, "Why haven't you used your magic yet!?"
"Why should I be against weaklings like you?"
The two bandits' faces turned red with anger as they gritted their teeth.
"You'll regret toying with us!"
The bandit with the lightning dagger raised his weapon into the air.
"Lightning Magic: Lightning Rod!"
Some of the lightning from the blade shot up into the air which covered the clear blue sky of Drogmaria with grey clouds.
"Hey!" I shouted happily. "Are we finally about to get some rain?"
After that thunder started to sound throughout the sky and flashes of intimidating blue light peeked through the darkened clouds.
"Oh…"
When I quickly realized what was going on I wasted no time moving from the spot where I was standing. It was easy to move around after taking out one of the bandits, they couldn't circle me anymore. And I was thankful because a second later the spot from where I was standing was struck with one fast bolt of lightning burning the sand.
But the attack did not end there as I found that I had no time to stop moving. Every second the lightning bolts would come and try to electrute me.
"Try to run if you can!"
The lightning bandit shouted while laughing like a maniac.
To the bandits at that moment, it may have looked as if I was panicking but I couldn't be more calm. During that moment I was beyond happy that the hot sun was being covered for just a few minutes keeping me from being overheated.
"I really wish it would rain…"
"Got you!"
The first fire bandit that I punched in the stomach tried to stab me from behind. While I was able to avoid the attack some of the embers from the blade got onto my shoulder.
"Ah, shit! Hot!"
Pissed off I kneed the bandit in the stomach and put him in a chokehold. I then threw him to the ground and gave him five quick punches to the face. After the fourth one, his eyes rolled to the back of his head indicating that he was out cold. But I punched him one more time for good measure.
"H-holy crap!"
The lightning bandit was starting to panic after seeing two of his teammates go down. But instead of doing the wise thing and throwing in the towel, he continued to summon bolts of lightning wherever I was standing. It was aggravating but a part of me sympathized with that way of thinking.
In an instant, I bridged the distance between me and the lightning bandit and picked him up. I squeezed him so tight to the point I was crushing a few of my ribs and he screamed aloud in pain. Then like tossing a rubber ball, I threw the bandit into the air, and he was immediately struck by his own lightning attack. Because the caster of the spell was unconscious and covered in soot the gray clouds dispersed and the normal weather of Drogmaria returned.
"Ah damn! It's hot again!"
I grumbled aloud as the sweat instantly started to pour from my forehead again. Hearing painful grunts, I turned behind me to see the soot-covered bandit wide awake and trying his hardest to move. I figured that the lightning strike wouldn't be enough to kill him due to his affinity being fire.
"W-who are you!?"
I remained silent and walked over to the pond of fresh water. The sight of the crystal-like liquid alone was able to cool my body. I took out my leather pouch and filled it with as much water as possible. Immediately downing a majority of the beverage in my throat I sighed aloud thankful that my miserable life was now prolonged.
"That's the stuff…"
"Um…sir?"
I turned to my right to see the little girl. She had a gentle smile on her face and was holding the stone jar that the bandits originally took from her. As I looked at it I understood the situation. The girl was at the oasis to collect clean water and unluckily encountered the four bandits. But at the time I couldn't wrap my brain around why a child, who looked no older than seven, was out in the hot desert of Drogmaria by herself.
"I-if it is no trouble, sir," The little girl said in a low and shy voice. "Could you please help me fill up this jar?"
Without complaining I grabbed the jar and filled it up. I felt the weight of the jar and looked over at the little girl beside me. She looked malnourished and I could see the bones in her arms, legs, and face. There was no way she could make the journey back to her home with such a weak body. I groaned inwardly at many voices in my head telling me that this girl was not my problem, but it was that one voice that reached my heart.
The voice of the younger me. The child who was so kind that he was stupid, the child who wanted nothing more but to be a hero like Philip the Hero of Light. But in the end, I realized that there wasn't that much of a difference between me in the past and the me who was wandering the world for two years.
"I'll help you take the jar to your village. Do you know where it is?"
The little girl smiled at me.
"Really? Thank you so much, sir! Yes, I know the way follow me!"
Fully energized the little girl skipped ahead as I walked slowly from behind.
"My name is Jessie! What is your name sir?"
"...I'm nobody."
"That can't be true!" Jessie pouted. "Everybody is a somebody!"
"And that somebody is nobody," I answered. "There is no need to know my name or talk to me."
Jessie grumbled.
"Okay…"
And so, the two of us walked off into Drogmaria, except the one benefit that time was that I had water to keep me going. As we got further from the oasis and closer to Jessie's home a heavy sense of anxiety fell over me. I just hoped that no one would recognize me.