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A Hero Tale: Jeff

"Me? Oh not a whom, but a one! One whom, dare I say, defies the very essence of what makes one whom one is!" The man said with varying pitches in his voice, "Damien Valefor, though all who address me, do not live to say it again! Call me Vale, as it may be more suitable to your lifespan, I assure you. Now, those little berries in your stomach... You may want to find a way to remove them post-haste! Within an hour, the magic within will begin to corrupt your mind, and perhaps, your body as well, ahaha! Wouldn't want to end up a beastly little thing like those poor little Hyena brothers, would you?"

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Dacer nodded and rolled his eyes. "If you can't hurt them, you run. Got it?" Dacer ordered while Tiger slowly moved towards the cliff side, next to the huge hole in the wall that Dacer made earlier.

A Hero Tale: Victor

Vermont looked at victor with a wholesome smile but shook his head, rushing the boy out with his hands as quickly as possible. "No, no, Victor. I appreciate your praise, but I must ask that you abandon this idea of yours. I work alone for a reason, and I really must get some rest. This ritual has put quite a bit of stress on my arcane network, and I'm very tired. Tomorrow, I will gladly be explaining the process behind my restorative progress to anyone who approaches me... But, if you'd like, I can save you a key meeting at 6 AM," Vermont urged, ending with a calm offering, albeit only to get Victor to leave. He'd acknowledged the boy's potential in the back of his mind, but was awfully eager to have his study empty as soon as possible.

The moonlight glistening tiles went dark for a split second as something shuffled past one of the windows. There was nothing there, but the occurrence made Vermont visibly startled. He stepped back and grabbed his chest, breathing deeply. "I'm awfully excitable, right now."

Victor might have noticed something strange in the passing shadow. It was played off as if it were a crow or some other animal, but there was a distinct purple glow that flashed into his peripheral vision as it happened. Something familiar. Something like.. Eyes.

A Hero Tale {Complete}

~ Chapter 40 ~

_{Climbing Against True Earth, Orobo Rears His Ugly Gem}

Jenso felt somebody poking at him until he awoke. Dacer was nudging him awake with his bow. "Ey, wake up. We gotta move now," He said sternly, pointing up at the top of the Mountain.

A Hero Tale: Ren

Nexus stalked away from Ren and conjured a collection of dark blue lights around his hands. In moments, they traveled up his armed, and ate away at his body, until his was completely gone in a plume of magical resurgence.

The townsfolk were locked up inside, but once Ralph noticed Ren's figure through the slit in the large wooden doors, he unhinged the lock and let him in. Several people rushed to care for him after he spoke, bringing bandages and ointment to treat his wounds. Laura looked down at him, confused by his statement.

"We couldn't stay and fight that... Thing, Ren.."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

"Helped? Hah, I haven't done anything yet," Dacer insisted, laying down by Tiger's feet. The Large beast shrunk down again and curled up by his torso like a little ball of fluff. "And it was the same village, Jenso," Dacer muttered, closing his eyes. "Lark was my father, after all."

---

~ End Of Chapter 39 ~

A Hero Tale: Ren

The twisting blue energy followed Ren into the mist, pulling his body and soul out of the darkness that it hid within. Nexus held his newly formed blade at the ready, allowing his magic to worm its way into Ren's body and burn him from the inside out, but as he was about to strike the killing blow, Ren's dark form faded, and revealed the boy as he was before, burnt and broken before him. Nexus loosened his stance and stood down, dispelling his darkened form and returning to his standard set of light armor. The blue clad warrior was taken aback, unsure of how to react to this new revelation. He'd just lost himself moments earlier, and now Ren was helpless?

"I should... I should put you out of your misery. But-" Nexus turned his head towards the book that was now in tatters on the floor. "I've done all I've come for."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Dacer shrugged. "Everyone's gotta find their own way, man. I just remember what my da-" Dacer paused, and the life drained from his face. He smiled and shook it off. "Somebody told me that there's no point in aiming for something you're never going to hit. But as long as you can still shoot, or swing, you 'aint dead yet." Dacer looked at Jenso and then to the ground. "A loss is only the end of you let it consume you."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

"Well," Dacer immediately stopped talking and huffed nervously, but stood up and started again, "You 'aint got Gaian Blood, so that's kind of shitty already. Gaia's prophecy always said that Gaians were the only ones who could Manifest their Ki. Course, that's total bullshit, cuz I've seen it done before by perfectly normal humans. We've just got a... Y'know, knack for it. I can tell ya this much though, it's like taking all of the memories that help you tap into your Ki, and uh... Coming to terms with them." Dacer summoned his bow, this time with an actual drawstring. He then formed a wooden arrow in his right hand using his magical abilities and pulled back, aiming for a nearby boulder. "Ki just makes you stronger if you don't really know how to use it. That's common sense. Before I could summon my weapon, I had to use normal weapons, but I never had much luck with any of em. Whenever I thought about my mom though, it got a lot easier to pull back on the drawstring of a bow. The tension didn't hold me back at all. But I wasn't able to do anything with all that power until I came to accept Mom's death as just... Something that happened, and nothing more. I turned it into a growing experience, and then- Well," Dacer coated the wooden arrow in white energy and fired it, splitting the boulder in half. "Pch-ew! It all came to me, like some kind of magic... Haha, well, not magic. I guess it was just me finally growing the fuck up." He turned to Jenso and smiled. "If you ever wanna disrupt a Ki user, hit 'em in the heart. Make 'em sad, make 'em angry. That'll fuck up their focus like mad. They might get stronger, but they won't be able to put all that power anywhere useful."

A Hero Tale {Complete}

Dacer stayed silent for a few moments, troubled by Jenso's resolve. "Listen," He finally said, "You aren't capable of even fighting those things, Jenso. Unless you can harness your magic, or manifest your Ki, there is literally no way of hurting those bastards, ya feel me? Gaia's people spoke legends of the four elementals. They aint gods, but they also aint pushovers. Unless you can strike at their arcane network, you can't hurt them, and you'd literally, and try to follow me here, quite literally killing yourself. That aint gunna help anyone except the bad guys, ya feel me?"