Steve's Resolve

Steve walked into the training ground, a large piece of empty flat grassland in the outskirts of the city. Steve had trained here ever since he was six years old so he was familiar with the environment there. But today, there was something off about the aura here and worse still, someone left a sword stuck in the ground there,

'where is Grandpa?, Could it be that he hasn't arrived'

Steve thought and walked to the center of the training arena to check the sword out.

The air suddenly became heavy and he caught a flash of steel from his peripheral vision, he suddenly took a stance and dodged a slash from a masked man that would've chopped off his head in an instant, 

'Who is this?'

Steve thought as he quickly backed away from the masked attacker, 

'where did he come from?'

The masked man ran towards him and made to slash off his abdomen in one swoop but Steve shifted his waist back and raised his left leg to connect with the man's hand but the man seemed unfazed and brought the sword back to Steve's head region. Steve back flipped out of the man's reach and took a fighting stance, 

'I'm sure my kick was hard enough to crack his arm but look at him there acting like nothing happened….ugh… he's fast!'

Steve thought as he dodged another slash from the masked attacker, 

'I need that sword, but first I need an opening'

When the masked attacker made another wide slash, Steve bent down and swept him off his feet with his legs then dove to grab the sword but before he could reach it, he felt a strong grip on his foot, the masked man pulled him back with immense strength and speed and raised his sword to thrust it into Steve's abdomen but something knocked the sword off his hand, a man was suddenly standing beside him, 

'When did you .... How??'

The masked man thought. 

"Grandpa!" 

Steve screamed in delight as he realized that the person that rescued him was Grandpa Matt, the masked man tried to attack Grandpa Matt but couldn't land a single hit before he was knocked out and sprawled on the floor.  

"Grandpa….Grandpa….who the hell is this?"

Steve asked as he repeatedly kicked the masked man so as to make sure he wouldn't wake up.  

"Boy, we need to talk"

Grandpa Matt said in a voice that relayed the urgency of whatever it was he wanted to talk about and motioned to a bench by the side of the training ground, 

"Arghh, I thought we had training today, I was really looking forward to blowing out some steam" 

"first, who is that? Do you know why he's here?" 

Grandpa Matt asked while pointing at the immobile body lying in the distance.  

"No, he just attacked me out of nowhere" 

"I have never told you about our history as Heracles because I have never thought that such a day would come"

he paused and cleared his throat while looking at Steve's face like it would give him inspiration,  

"Grandpa, what are you talking about?, I don't remember anything peculiar about our family history"  

 "Now listen to me carefully….and do not interrupt me till I finish this tale, this is a story about the first Heracles, also known as fiend slayers" 

Grandpa Matt started as Steve gave a small nod of affirmation, 

"A long, long time ago, divine beasts existed amongst us and lived in harmony with man. As time went by, these divine beasts began to desire to enslave and control man but these desires were met with opposition from the swordsmen and mages that lived amongst men, but the opposition was futile because apart from having bodies that were immune to man made weapons, these divine beasts were miles ahead of man in magecraft so the war was kind of like a one sided massacre. When it seemed like the divine beasts would eventually wipe humanity out of the face of the earth, a certain man, Oloye Idan, the most powerful mage in history, a level ten mage created a sword called the "fiend Slayer" along with techniques to use it called "Litanies", the fiend Slayer was a weapon that had the ability to kill these divine beasts but there were so many capable swordsmen in the land and so a contest was held in order to determine who would wield the fiend Slayer and defeat the divine beasts. At the end of the contest, a talented swordsman called Noble Heracles emerged as the winner and hence was entrusted with the fiend Slayer and it's litanies. 

Noble Heracles led the remaining armies of men to battle and after ten years, most of the world had been rid of these divine beasts and when they realized that man had won the war, they retreated into the shadows away from the sights of man.  

After the "divine war" as it was called, a council was formed by Oloye Idan to guard the fiend Slayer and keep it safe while Noble Heracles got married, had children and taught all of them the Litanies of the fiend Slayer which have been passed down through generations till date.  

There have been times in the past when some of the divine beasts which were later called "fiends" resurfaced and began to wreak havoc. When they reappeared, the council would hold the contest again and a person suited to wield the fiend Slayer would be chosen…..Since then, the Heracles have always won the contests except for some notable exceptions because we are undoubtedly the most talented family of swordsmen.",

Grandpa Matt paused and looked at the enchanted face of his grandson beaming with a million and one questions,

"Patience boy, I will entertain your questions when I am done with my story….. 

I had wanted to teach you the Litanies later on when you must've mastered the basic swordsmanship well but it seems that we are unlucky enough to witness the attack of a fiend in our generation…",  

"The attack of a fiend!!?"

Steve retorted with a grave expression on his face,

"In our generation??!!…. that's bad grandpa, is there even anyone in this advanced era worthy enough to wield the fiend Slayer?",  

"Hahaha"

Steve's incredulous expression was so funny that he laughed in his rich strong voice forgetting for a moment the urgency of the matter, 

"Oh yes, there are a lot of talented young lads like you all over the world and they will all participate with you in the contest" 

"Grandpa, how did the divine beasts…..sorry…. fiends live with man in harmony, what are they exactly?" 

"Fiends are creatures of immense magic power and brute strength, they include dragons, wyverns, griffons, imoogis and others but out of all these the dragons were the most powerful and well versed in magic, these fiends had the ability to take the shape of any creature they wished and as such were able to live in harmony with man"

"Ohh, I understand now"

Steve replied and looked across the field, it was getting dark but Steve could still see the motionless body lying in the field, 

"so what does that masked attacker have to do with all this?"  

"Well….the fiends this time seem to be playing at something big, rumors at the council have it that they intend to resurrect the greatest and most fearsome dragon in history, Tobijulo, and to do that, they have teamed up with some treacherous humans. So that man.."

Grandpa Matt said while pointing at the body lying on the field,

"….is an agent of the fiends who was sent to kill the Heracles who might impede their evil deeds in this city…. 

Seeing as you couldn't handle small fry like him, it is obvious that you're just a normal swordsman who has no chance at surviving the contest, so within these three months remaining till the contest begins, you will undergo hellish training under me"

he stood up and held his hand out to Steve. 

"Are you ready to take down these fiends and uphold the Heracles family name?", 

'Three months!!'

Steve thought 

'can I really be a better swordsman than I am now in three months?, After all he just said that I'm a normal swordsman who has no chance at surviving the contest…..No!, I must win, I must show the world that we Heracles are the real deal….

…..You Heracles or whatever you call yourself, you're as miserable as a street beggar and as lazy as a sloth, people like you aren't supposed to make money, you belong in the slums, get your lazy, day dreaming ass out of my office and don't ever show your face here again…'

The words of his former boss, Arnold, hit him again and he clenched his fists then quickly unclenched them and shook his grandpa's hand while looking at him dead straight in the eyes, 

"Yes, I am ready".