First Countdown Part 1

** 14 hours before the destruction of Littlehaven Village **

After arriving at the village, Raven watched Rainheart interact with all the villagers.

'Well, Rainheart was right when he said they act realistically.'

A small crowd gathered around Rainheart, congratulating him on his success.

"Oh, thank the gods!"

"You saved our children, how can we ever repay you?!"

"I always believed in you, son!"

Rainheart smiled as the villagers patted him on the back. "Thank you guys! Now, don't worry about repaying me. I would ne- EEP!" Rainheart yelped after getting struck in the back of the head by a stick. Confused, he turned around.

Behind him was young boy with red hair, and feisty grin. He was carrying a long stick, laughing boisterously. "Welcome back, fellow adventurer! I see you killed those goblins! Hah! One day, you might become half as strong as I!"

Rainheart smiled, and got down on his knees, bringing himself eye level with the kid. "Oh, you give me too much credit, great master adventurer!"

The 'great master adventurer' pointed his stick at Rainheart. "Now that you came back, we must train! Be ready! It will be hard, painful, and also harder!!"

Rainheart nodded gravely. "Of course, great master adventurer. However, are you okay? You look a little tired."

The kid scoffed. "Tired? I am fine!"

Behind him, a young women laughed warmly. "Actually, Adam was really worried about you. As soon as you left, he kept pacing around the town's entrance, waiting for you to come back. He stayed up all night, watching for your arrival."

Adam pouted. "Moooom! My name is Adamantium Alzonzo the Avenger! Not ADAM!!!"

The women chuckled. "Sorry, sorry. My bad. Now, come back home for breakfast. You can play with Rainheart after that."

Adam crossed his arms, sticking out his toungue. "Shut up, old hag! I can do what I want, and I am not even hungry!" After saying that, his stomache rumbled.

The women put her hands on her hips, scowling. "Watch your tongue, young man! Or do you want me to tell that fancy adventurer all about how, whenever you sleep, you need your teddy bea-"

"NO STOP! PLEASE! I am sorry mom! I will go eat breakfast!"

She huffed. "Then walk your ass back home, little guy! Don't start acting up just to impress the adventurer."

Adam slumped, a downcast expression on his face. "Yes mom..."

"Adamantium Alzonzo the Avenger, I have something to say."

Adam turned towards Rainheart, eyes wide.

Rainheart stared at Adam, a serious look on his face. "If I hadn't been well fed and well rested, I may not have been able to defeat those goblins. Remember, a true hero always sleeps well, eats well, and treats their mother with respect!"

Adam perked up, suddenly excited. "Of course! I knew that, I was just... testing you! Anyways, I am off!"

Adam ran away. His mother thanked Rainheart, and then followed after him.

Rainheart watched the young boy run, an earnest smile on his face.

Raven stood nearby, watching as Rainheart began talking with the other villagers. While he was doing so, he heard a voice behind.

"Goddamned young whippersnappers. One fat young bastard comes and slays a few goblins, and suddenly he's a hero! Back in my day, I..."

Raven shuddered, as he was forced to listen to the most senile, incessant, unhinged ramblings he had ever heard. It was as if he was listening to every cranky old man ever born, all condensed into a single man.

After a few minutes, the voice stopped, and Raven let out a sigh of relief.

"You are a pretty quiet guy, ain'tcha? That's good. People who ramble on and on are truly the worst."

Raven turned around, studying the owner of the voice. It was a short, old, balding man, with a wrinkled face and hunched posture. His clothes were ragged and torn, and his back was covered in scars.

He scowled. "The fuck are you looking at, little turnip."

Raven shrugged. "Nothing much, just some wrinkly old geezer."

The man stopped for a moment, taken aback. Then, he laughed. "Tough talk, coming from some gangly, pale freak! God, you look sickly! Your eyes, so red and creepy! You look like a vampire, but if vampires were ugly. Your mother must have been so ashamed, what with your feminine face, frail body, and weak stature. I bet she took one look at you, and keeled over, dead from shame!"

Raven blinked. "Huh, that was oddly specific."

The old man grinned, exposing a mouth with only a few rotten, yellow teeth remaining. "It's true though, ain't it?"

Raven chuckled. 'You know, this guy is kinda funny.'

"Sir, what is your na-"

"Shut up. Anyways, what was I talking about before? Oh, yeah, I remember! Ah, it was back many years ago, before the war! I was in the far northern reaches of..."

The ramblings continued, and with a much stronger ferocity. Within moments, Raven's mind had been turned to mush.

***

The village of Littlehaven was a humble farming village, bound to the noble family Starfein. The Starfeins were a relatively influential family, controlling several small fiefs near their home-city.

The villagers of Littlehaven subsisted off of grain, vegetables, and fish from a local lake. It was peaceful, near the center of a country that had remained stable for centuries. So, the villagers had hope. Even though monsters were becoming more common, and there was trouble in the capital, they still believed everything would turn out okay.

***

Raven sat on the edge of a dock, looking out across a large lake. The golden rays of sun reflected off the blue surface of the water, and a cool breeze brushed past his face, soothing him.

Raven smiled, closing his eyes and taking in the moment.

'Well, I am not sure how the game does it, but it feels real. This is so much prettier than anything I have seen in real life...'

There were nature preserves in the real world, but it was still a world covered in the advanced technology required to run a utopian society. The natural, untamed beauty of the world had long been lost.

Raven grabbed another smooth, flat rock from the pile next to him, and tossed it out onto the lake. The rock spun quickly, skipping near twenty times across the lake before it lost its' momentum, and then sunk into the water.

'Apparently, my Ranged Discipline can help me skip rocks better. How quaint.'

Raven laid back onto the dock, letting the warmth of the sun wash over him.

He had spent the past couple of hours talking to the villagers, asking about anything they knew about the land he had arrived in. Most of them didn't know much; Peasants didn't travel, really, and only rarely interacted with the local Nobles or travelling merchants. Since the nation wasn't at war, no villagers had been conscripted into the army, so the only two people who had traveled was the annoying old man and a retired merchant.

Raven idly thought about what the old merchant had told him.