The Reluctant Hero - Vol. 1 - Chapter 1

Vol.1 - Forced to be a Hero

On a warm summer's day, a gentle breeze blew through the air and ruffled the dark black hair of a young man. He sat on an old tree stump that’d been sat on so much over the years that it actually looked polished. Emerald green eyes stared out over a large field of wheat swaying gently in the breeze. He plucked at his linen shirt to rearrange it from the breeze moving it around. All of his clothing was made from simple linen while his feet were covered in plain leather sandals. His image is the quintessential example of a peasant farmer, not a dirt poor one, however. Though his suntanned skin and calloused hands show just how much work he is used to doing outside.

As he stared out over the swaying wheatfield, a palpable air of excitement started to grow around him. Today was a very important day in his life. Indeed, today was an important day the world over for every young person turning sixteen.

“Axel!”

At the loud masculine voice shouting his name, the young man spun around on his makeshift seat and looked back at his father. His father was a mountain of a man covered in bulging muscles. Not to the point of it being disgusting like some men, but put him in a suit of armor with a sword in his hand and you would see a powerful knight. The similar head of black hair, set of their jaw, and other small details make it clear that the shouting man was the father of young Axel.

With a bright grin, Axel hopped to his feet and charged over to stand in front of his father. Axel stood a good foot shorter than the older man. Though that’s not to say Axel was short as he stood at a respectable six foot one. Rather, his father was abnormally tall, standing at seven foot one. The older man looked down at his son, his own soft brown eyes sparkling with excitement as he asked, “Are you ready for your Awakening Ceremony?”

The Awakening Ceremony is one of the most important days in the life of anyone. On the day of their sixteenth birthday everyone the world over heads to the nearest temple. There they either pray to any God who will listen or to a God they specifically worship. Axel fell into the first category. Everyone believed in the Gods. It was impossible not to when proof of their existence was everywhere every day of their lives. Just which God was the question on most minds.

Axel practically vibrated where he was standing as his excitement built even more. He rapidly nodded his head before answering his father, “I’m ready! I hope one of the gods sees fit to give me a trait fit for a Rogue!”

Axel’s father’s shoulders slumped as he groaned in a long-suffering way, “Why? Why did that blasted rogue have to poison your mind?! Why can’t you see the absolute glory of the warrior's path?!”

To emphasize his question, the man flexed his large muscles like a bodybuilder on display. His thick and powerful muscles strained against the thin fabric of his simple clothing. As he shifted through various poses that caused different muscles to bulge he continued what was clearly a conversation that had happened more than once, “You could become bigger! Stronger! THICKER! You could gain powerful muscles to show off! You could even gain the attention of a beautiful woman like your mother!”

Bell-like laughter echoed from the doorway of the small house sitting behind the man at his last line. Both males focused on the doorway where a woman stood. She appeared to be the opposite of the large man in every manner. The dichotomy was more striking as she approached the pair of males. To his seven-foot one, she stood at five foot nothing. To his thick black hair, she had long thin golden blonde hair. To his bulging muscles, she had a decidedly waspish feminine form. To his brown eyes, she had a pair of emerald gems that her son had clearly inherited.

“Don’t listen to your father Axel.” She eyed the man in question, “Not every woman has my… preferences, after all.” She turned to face her son, “You pick whatever starter class you like. None of them are bad, just different.”

Axel nodded happily, “I know mom. I just want to be like Antilles! I just really hope I get a trait that will help me as a Rogue.”

His father decided to speak up, “Don’t worry too much about it son. With very few exceptions, all traits are just random. Whatever trait you get will never hurt your chances.” He waved his hand as a signal for Axel to follow him, “Come on now. It’s still an hour's ride to the temple. We’ll go get your trait and pick your starter class.”

Axel nodded eagerly and followed his father to the nearby barn where two horses were already saddled and ready to go. Axel had gotten them ready before sitting down to wait for his father to be ready. Together they rode their horses toward the temple. Their area was a simple farming community with a small town in the center that everyone went to in order to meet up and trade or sell their crops and other goods.

During the ride, Axel recounted what he knew about the three primary starting classes to himself. First was the Warrior class. It was pretty much how it sounded. Weapons, armor, and shields were a Warrior’s bread and butter. Depending on their equipment and skills, they could be stalwart defenders standing on the frontlines protecting their friends with their bodies, or fast swordsmen that flitted in and out of combat dealing deadly damage. Or anything in between. The Warrior class was also a good basis for many classes of the second tier and above.

The second class was the Mage, the most basic of spellcasting classes. Though the first of many different kinds, the Mage was great in that it had a skill called Spellcraft that allowed a Mage to design their own custom spells. Their second-tier classes and above heavily relied on what kind of spells a Mage designed. There were limits to what a mage could design for a spell, of course. A common story was about a Mage that designed a spell meant to instantly kill anything he desired. The spell was made and would do exactly that. The Mage could instantly kill any living thing with a thought… In theory. In reality, the Mage never had enough mana to ever cast the spell. It simply cost far more mana than the Mage ever managed to get. Still, wise Mage’s usually had a nice repertoire of spells. It also helped that Mages could learn each other's spells.

Lastly, there was the class he fully intended to select for himself, the Rogue. The Rogue class had many useful skills for any adventuring group. Only stupid groups dared venture into higher-level dungeons without a Rogue along. Their ability to find and disable traps alone made them invaluable. Add in their stealth, trap setting, lock picking, pickpocketing, backstabbing, and a dozen other skills and they become a central part of any group. Best of all? That’s just a base Rogue! Add in the truly interesting and diverse classes at second-tier and above and they can become unbelievably powerful in their own right.

Axel couldn’t resist reminiscing about the night that he decided he wanted to be a Rogue instead of a Warrior like his father. It was the night of the Spring Festival just a few months before his eighth birthday. The whole family was in town celebrating with all their neighbors. Just before sundown, a party of adventurers close to Ascension rode through the town.

Their leader was a large man, as large as his father, wearing bright silver full plate mail with golden accents and the symbol of some god on his chest. A specialty third-tier warrior class, Paladin. He looked magnificent on his pure white stallion as it pranced through the town. Riding next to him was a gorgeous woman wearing light clothing under a cloak with a tall staff in her hands. It was hard to tell exactly which class she was just at a look, but it was clear she was some higher-tier Mage class. She didn’t hold his attention any more than the shiny Paladin.

Instead, it was the individual behind them, the one that seemed to just want to fade into the background. It was the very fact that Axel was encouraged to ignore the man that drew his attention so rabidly. There was nothing about that man that stood out really. He wore simple-looking dark leather armor with a basic black cloak and had his hood pulled up. Yet, there was something mysterious and magnetic about the man that drew Axel’s attention to him. It was at that moment that Axel knew he wanted to be like that man.

Of course, it took two more years for Axel to learn the man's name and his class. Antilles, fourth-tier Rogue, Alchemical Blade. He had no idea what it took to become an Alchemical Blade and didn’t honestly plan to try to find out. For all that he admired Antilles, he didn’t want to just become a carbon copy of him. He would start as a Rogue and forge his own unique path!

Despite his excitement making the hour-long ride feel like a portion of eternity, he and his father did eventually arrive at the temple where Awakening Ceremonies were performed. The temple wasn’t a grandiose building of any sort. Rather, it was a simple, if well built, building that anyone who worshiped any god could enter and offer their prayers. Axel and his father tied their horses up at the designated area before entering the temple.

The interior was as utilitarian as the exterior. Simple pews filled the interior and faced a wall covered in literally hundreds of small plaques. Each plaque had a pictograph representing a specific god. Several men in similar outfits milled around inside the temple, various Priest-type or Cleric-type classes of unknown tiers. They all volunteered at various intervals or when they happened to be passing through an area. There was usually only a single, retired, local that served a temple full-time. In the case of this particular temple, it was a rather elderly-looking gentleman with strands of stark white hair hanging limply from his mostly bald head.

On spotting Axel and his father, the elderly priest moved towards them while raising a hand in welcome, “Typhon, Axel! Is it that time already young Axel? It feels like only yesterday that I was healing Shara after she gave birth to you.”

As he stopped in front of the pair, the old priest smiled brightly, “Sixteen years passed by so fast!” He stood shorter than Axel so he looked up into his eyes as he asked, “Are you ready? I know you plan to leave here as a Rogue but remember young Axel. Choose the class that best fits your trait! Only pick what you truly desire to be if your trait serves it well. It would do you ill to reject the blessing of whichever god gives you your trait by picking a completely incompatible class!”

Axel nodded in understanding. The gods might not walk the worlds among the people, but their power was real and those who scorned their gifts often paid the ultimate price. He looked serious as he replied, “I know, sir. But, unless I get a skill that’s specific to a class, I should be able to use just about anything thanks to the veritable avalanche of skills a Rogue has.”

The old priest laughed as he patted Axel on the back, “True! True! Rogues are certainly flexible, aren’t they? Come. Let’s get you your Special Trait and pick your class! Then I’m sure your family will be celebrating tonight like some others.”

With excitement bubbling away, Axel followed the old priest to a small altar in front of all of the plaques. Without needing to be prompted, Axel got down on his knees and clasped his hands together in supplication. He had no specific god to pray to, and that was just fine. He didn’t even have to pray to begin with. Just being sixteen and not having a Special Trait was enough for him to get the attention of some god somewhere.

Just moments after he knelt in supplication, Axel was covered in a golden glow. He watched with bright eyes as a small blue screen began to form in front of his eyes. Only those sixteen and above could see status screens and information so it was the first time that Axel had laid his eyes on it in person. He’d been told all about it, but seeing it for the first time was a wonderful experience.

As the screen finally fully formed, he rapidly began to read the information displayed on it. This was it! His personal Special Trait, something that could become a core part of his journey as a Rogue! His eyes widened in shock and disbelief as he quickly read over the information on his Special Trait, “N-no… NO!”