: A Helping Hand

This world is full of people who want to travel the globe, fight monsters, find treasure and use magic. They are adventurers though few who start upon the path make it out in one piece.

It is a highly dangerous and sought after job, many countries who turn away others will accept adventurers who wish to travel. You will be offered many Tasks and prizes once you become one.

Our story starts in the slums of a developing kingdom where two boys will pledge to become adventurers.

Since before I could remember I was an orphan. I was parentless, talentless and homeless. looked at with a sneer sometimes not even. I Had to beg and steal if I wanted to eat. I was lonely, no one talked to me except to ridicule or to show pity. One day not so long ago I found someone like me, an orphan. At first I was too scared to say hello after all he might hit me or get angry like everyone else. So I just watched, I found some comfort in the fact that he was going through the same as me. I wasn't the only one who was abandoned.

He started to act strange. He's coughing and he's not eating as much anymore one day when I came to see what he's been up to I couldn't find him. He was gone. I ran and ran until I saw Him lying face down in the alleyway. I tried to wake him up but he just groaned and winced. I felt his forehead, it was hot. He's been sick and I just watched, I need to help him. I constructed a crude shelter with discarded boards and scraps of clothing and I put him there. At least it would protect him from the rain. Every night I'd bring him some food and water I managed to steal or get. I slept next to him to keep him warm and he woke up one day after his fever broke and asked "why did you help me"? I told him "It's because I'm the same as you" . After I said that He smiled for the first time since we met. He slowly got better and we began to play and steal food together. Sometimes we'd get caught or beat up and we Would both be hurting but happy because we were not as lonely anymore. One day at the shelter I made, he asked me "do you have a name". I told him no and he looked at me and said '' me neither, why dont we come up with names for each other". I sat for a moment deep in thought. He piped up suddenly "I got one for you, how about Gale cause you are fast like the wind". Then I said "Then my name for you will be Monty. I think it suits you because you're smart". We got lucky with a lot of food that night so we had a small feast Inside our little shack and quickly got swept away into sleep. We spent a long time in this state despite having to engage in a daily struggle just to eat. That place was our home and I don't think either one of us would have given up that time to even live in the castle if given the choice. Sometimes I wonder If the shopkeepers ever felt Bad for us because once while stealing an apple I was sure the shopkeeper had seen me take it but instead he looked at me and smiled.

After some time Monty and I promised that one day we would go on an adventure away from these slums and become heroes. Monty learned magic before I even fully understood it. He would move things with his mind or do little magic tricks like conjure sparks from his fingertips or turn a piece of mud into a rock. Eventually I convinced him to teach me how to get a flame to come out from my finger. He told me first to imagine an ocean inside of a glass ball. For me this ocean was much more like a large bowl of water in terms of size and as for color it was rather red. "Imagine it growing and growing". He told me to "focus on that feeling trying to push that glass away whilst not breaking it but growing the container". He told me "this is how you grow the amount of magic you are able to perform before you pass out". I learned that It was easier if you imagined a stream flowing from that water throughout your body into your hand and out through your finger whilst imagining fire. By myself I experimented with imagining different things. Instead of fire I imagined a tree and whenever I brought my finger near the ground a little sprout would start to grow. I imagined a rock and a small stone shot from my fingertip. I imagined water and a steady flow of water left my finger arcing through the air. As I did these things I felt My body grow weak and my mind become faint. whenever i imagined The Sphere in my mind It looked like it was almost empty and I quickly developed a dull but strong pain in my torso. That didn't fully go away till the liquid at least filled half of this glass sphere that now seemed almost ever present in my mind.

I was so happy that I had learned Magic, That I could barely concentrate. Monty said "I know you are excited but don't overexert your magic or you could end up dead, or worse". After a While of thinking to myself I realized it would be Hard to become Heros if We never trained. I Yelled "Monty, Monty!" "What?" He exclaimed. "We should join the academy and train to become adventurers!" Monty Just stared at me blankly. "Even if we broke our backs everyday for a year we would only have enough for one person to go." "Fine what if we both join the militia and learn to fight"? "Once we leave they will give us a lot of money and we can become heroes". "Gale, heroes are not made through hardship. Heros are like you, those who help, not caring if anyone sees them." I looked up to him, I don't know if it was because he was older than me or that when he spoke I always knew what he said was the truth. After a while our stomachs began to growl and he got up and said "you are right about one thing though gale if we want to continue to eat we are going to need to get some money".

If you knew the right places to look and people to ask you could make some coin. Someone always dropped a few coins in the market and as long as it didn't shine like gold or silver It was hard to spot amongst the bronze of the dirt and sand. In this manner you would always have enough for a meal or two but only just. Before too long Monty left on his own adventure and told me to come after him when I was older. He said before he left " I have some things I'd like to figure out on my own."I Had only known him for a few years, but He was my friend. He was the one of the only people I had ever said more than a few words to since before I could remember. By this time I was already 12 or at least that's how old I thought I was. At this time my sole focus was now being able to catch up to Monty And show him that I was also strong enough to go on an adventure with him. I trained until the moon was Full in the sky 6 times meditating and expanding my core until It could grow no more and felt as if it might break if i pushed it any further I don't know what triggered this change, but I was too scared what might happen if my core breaks. If it can fuel flames I produce with a thought I shudder to think what it could do to my body if allowed to break. I trained my muscles as much as I could with what's available to me. I lifted heavy rocks and I ran and ran everyday until I was so sore I could barely walk. I would swing a heavy stick acting as if it was a sword until my hands bled. I was way hungrier because of my training so I would eat more than double what I usually would. Every now and then whenever somebody was getting robbed in an alleyway I would try and Fight the Culprit which normally ended up with me getting beaten half to death. Today was different however. Today I was hiding right behind a pile of trash near the thief and I accidentally made a noise. He noticed and yelled "who's There "! whoever he was robbing ended up running away. I was so scared But I thought if I didn't hit him he might stab me so I took my club and brought it down onto his knee as hard as I could. His eyes rolled back in his head and he fell over dropping his knife and a silver coin. I swiped both before running away as fast as I could as I could hear guards coming.

As soon as I got back to the shack I had built years prior, I rummaged through some boards and rags until I found my stash, a small wooden box that I kept there. Then I took out the silver coin looking at it as if it were a diamond before tossing it into the box and hiding it again making sure nobody was around before I did. Then I examined my trophy of victory, the knife despite being so obsessed with swords and adventurers I had never held a blade in my hand myself. It was heavier than I imagined it being and the blade was over half the length of my forearm. It had a rectangular crossguard and a leather wrapped grip. Naturally I swung it a few times to get comfortable with it. Imagining a monster as my blade cut the air. I went to sleep that night imagining what it would be like leaving this place and becoming an adventurer. I will figure it all out tomorrow whenever I finally set out.

Although living in the slums of a small kingdom my whole life never could've prepared me for what was to come, I didn't even know how someone becomes an adventurer. Nonetheless I woke up with a start eager to finally go find Monty. I threw the boards aside and grabbed the wooden box that contained the small fortune I had been saving for this journey. I wrapped it in a wrag and tied it to my stick. I had decided that before I set out I should probably buy some supplies. I went to the combat shop "Arm´s and More" in the town whilst getting various odd looks and stares as I went. I entered the shop and the door slammed shut behind me making a loud smack, and startling me. From behind the counter I heard a Voice yell "mind the door will ya! You lot always disturbing my peace and quiet". A broad and short looking man with dark hair and onyx eyes looked over at me from behind the counter "well 're ya gonna buy something or not lad". I looked across the walls and saw blades of gleaming silver and iron and unwrinkled leather armor looking back at me. I looked around in awe, never seeing so much at once.I gathered myself and said"sir what can i get for 100 copper coins" .

"Copper eh? Should be able to buy yourself a leather cuirass, a dagger or a spear with what you got with you. Have a look and take yer time Nothin's worse than unreliable tools, 'specially when your life's on the line." I looked around already having a dagger myself. I decided that some protection might be a good thing. I picked up a leather cuirass that was about my size rough and sturdy whilst still having flexibility in the right places. I put the copper on the counter and made my way out before ducking into a side street and hastingly putting on my new armor. It was a little too big for me but I've managed with worse choices of clothing. I probably looked quite the spectacle considering my ragged clothes and a brand new cuirass on my body. I still had some coins left over so I decided to invest in some boots as well as some food and a waterskin for my travels. I stuffed whatever leftover coins I had into a bit of cloth so they wouldn't jingle around and put it in my boot for safekeeping, it was something Monty taught me to do so people wouldn't find my money if I ever got robbed.

I was finally ready to leave this city and head outside those high walls I've stared at my whole life, to go on an adventure. I arrived at the gate just before noon and started walking down the only road that led away from the only place I have ever known.