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It was a very dark night. The moon’s rays were powerless against the darkness surrounding the young man. He didn’t know where he was, or where he was going. All he knew was that he had to run. He didn’t know why, he just knew that if he didn’t, something bad would happen.

The only thing he had to tell him he was alive was the sound of his footsteps, pounding against the ground. When he looked up, he could see the moon, but its light was unable to cut the unfathomable darkness, created by the thick clouds. Suddenly, the man’s footsteps stopped. He felt his foot hit a tree root and flew forward, collapsing on the ground. He rolled over onto his back, and looked up at the sky. It felt like he had a sprained ankle. All he could do was look up at the moon. In time, the image of the moon became fuzzy, and soon it disappeared.

He awoke to the bright rays of the sun, gleaming upon his face. As he opened his eyes, he was blinded by the intensity of the light. His eyes soon adjusted, and he realised he was in a bed. When he tried to get up, he felt a striking pain in his chest, and he soon relaxed back down into the embrace of the warm bed.

After a couple minutes, an old man entered the room. He had a scruffy old beard, and clothes that other people would use as rags. His eyes were nothing more than little black beads inside of his head. He soon realized the man was awake.

“Oh my, you’re awake! I was a little worried; you looked like you took quite the beating when I found you. I was starting to think you were never going to wake up!” The old man’s voice quivered with every word and had a squeaking sound to it. He was missing a couple of teeth, and the ones he still had were a vibrant shade of yellow.

“Wh-.... Where am I?” The man was clearly confused. One second he was running away from something, he couldn’t remember what, and the next he was lying in an old man’s bed.

“Well, you’re in me home my boy! Like I said, you were pretty beat up when I found ya. I reckoned you had been chased by the imperial guards.”

“The what?”

“What?! You don’t know who the imperial guards are?!” The old man was clearly flustered by this. He began tending to the man’s wounds as he explained who the imperial guards were. “You see, the imperial guards run this land. They come here once a month to collect the taxes the king has set over everyone in the area. Nobody lives in solitude here. This whole forest is scouted every day to make sure nobody lives here without paying taxes.”

“The King... I think... I was running from the King last night.” The young man closed, and rubbed his eyes. The sun had given him a headache, which really did not go well with the pain. “I think... I tried killing the King. I ran into his advisor before I got to the King.”

“The advisor?! He has been hailed as the greatest swordsman in the land! Not only is he good with a sword though, he’s also very intelligent! No wonder you’re so beat up!”

“No... I beat him. I cut off his right arm. However, he is very good. I may have won, but when he had given up, I was out of energy. I knew I had to retreat, but there was no way out. The front entrance was where all of the Imperial Guards were waiting. The only other way out was the King’s chamber, which would have just as many if not more guards.”

The old man continued to address the man’s wounds. He soon realized a large scar across the man’s back.

“What happened here? Did one of the Imperial Guards get you?”

“No, the advisor can use his left hand for sword fighting as well. It isn’t as good as his right handed combat, but that wound would have killed me, had you not found me. I believe it was the blood loss from that wound that made me lose my memory.”

When the old man had finished, the man had eased back down into the bed. He stared at the ceiling in silence for a couple minutes, before the man asked him one final question.

“So... Are you going back?”

The man looked over at the old man quizzically.

“How? I have no sword, I am broken down to the point of immobility, and they all know what I look like now. There is no way I can go back now.”

The man continued to look up at the ceiling. The old man left, but promptly came back. He held a sheathed sword in his hand.

“What’s that?”

“What do you mean what’s that? It’s a sword! This is the sword that I used when I was the last king’s advisor. Never lost a fight with it.”

The man looked at the old man quizzically again. He slowly reached out and grabbed the sword.

“Who... Are you exactly?”

The old man smiled, as he looked out the window of his little shack.

“Oh, I’m just someone who wants to see a change in the world. By the way, what is your name?”

The man pulled himself up off the bed. He stretched his neck out, and looked out the window before answering.

“The name is Lance.”

“Well Lance, I am sure that you will go down in history, as the man that saved this land! Now go and finish what you started.”

With that, Lance went on his way. After a couple hours he came upon the castle walls. He grabbed the hilt of the sword, and unsheathed it. He closed his eyes, and drove the sword into the earth. The ground suddenly began to crack, and a bright red light began shooting out from the cracks. Suddenly the ground beneath the wall exploded, leaving a small path under the wall.

Lance pulled his sword out of the ground, and proceeded to walk through the newly created opening. When he got through, he was greeted to hundreds, if not thousands, of imperial guards. He closed his eyes once more, and pointed the tip of his sword at the army standing before him. The guards started charging at Lance, yelling up at the heavens, and bearing their weapons. Suddenly, Lance was on the other side of the army. They all turned around quizzically and looked at Lance who was re-sheathing his sword. Once it was placed firmly back in the sheath, the whole army collapsed. Lance made his way into the main hallway.

As he entered the hallway, he was greeted to a familiar voice.

“My, my, my, you actually had the nerve to come back hmm?”

The Advisor slowly walked toward Lance. His right arm had been replaced with a metal one.

“A metal arm?! You actually have the technology to develop a fully functional robotic arm?”

“Oh my dear boy, we have the technology to take over the world, and then some.”

The two men faced off with their hands on their swords. Each knows that attacking blindly is useless. The Advisor drew his weapon, and lunged at Lance. Lance was ready however. He side stepped the lunge, and unsheathed his sword. The Advisor suddenly had a look of fear on his face. His sword still lunging, and his forward motion unable to be stopped. He was helpless. Lance Slashed downwards. The cut itself not enough to kill a man, but the impact stopped the Advisors heart. He collapsed to the floor and remained motionless, as Lance made his way into the King’s chamber.

The King had an imperial guard on either side of him. Lance looked at both of the guards, and finally laid eyes on the king. The king then spoke to Lance.

“What exactly are you trying to prove by killing everything that moves? What exactly are you trying to accomplish?”

Lance placed a hand on the sheath of his sword. His eyes closed once again.

“You are destroying this planet... I will not let you destroy something that all of us live in. You have done what you wanted to this planet for too long.”

Lance’s eyes flashed open; a fire can almost be seen burning in his eyes.

“You will no longer destroy something that the rest of the world needs!”

“Oh hohoho, you think you are going to kill me? Look at you! You’re on your last legs! You probably couldn’t even take these two guards I have with me right now!”

Lance just smiled as he unsheathed his sword once more.

“I already have.”

With that, the two guards collapsed to the ground. Lance slowly walked towards the King, who was now quivering in his chair.

“Don’t... Don’t get any closer! I will call the advisor, then you’ll be in for it!”

“The Advisor is dead. He was just another rung on my way to you. You have nothing. This is the end.”

“Please... Please don’t kill me... I know! I’ll make you my advisor! What do you say hmmm? I will pay you top dollar!”

Lance finally came and stood in front of the quivering king.

“You won’t need any of that money where you’re going.”

The King’s eyes widened in fear. Lance brought his sword back. In an instant he lunged the sword forward, and his long quest was finally over. He slowly made his way to the door of the chamber, and collapsed right in front of it. He had clearly over exerted himself. The world around him suddenly became fuzzy. His only regret was that he wouldn’t be able to see how the world turned out now. The world soon plunged into darkness. His quest finally over.