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| credit to: ~dman, deviantART |
Foreword
Scribes and songsters alike immortalize many a hero as they
traverse through time— terraforming the past with their footprints. Daring
knights pulling out sabers drenched in draconian blood… Mages toppling barbaric
dynasties and repelling raiders with sheer force of mind… Peerless Elven
marksmen summoning a hawk’s eyes to snipe out evil via treetop… The cunning stratagems
of Shaadric thieves turned princes… Resourceful
Dwarven warriors crafting fate upon a hot myrthralean anvil … All such figures
are commonplace epics in the annals of time, told through their various
channels. Alas, the handsome champions of yore are propped up by the jewels
reaped from their spoils, overshadowing the true saviors— too humble or foolish
for fame.
Aye, this tale I shall tell is one you can now only hear in
passing at a pub— uttered drunkenly by a godforsaken creature with the
longevity to have the memory but without the airs to deny its existence. This
is an unsung hero, ignored even in the wake of his greatest of triumphs. Not forgotten but blacklisted from glory. Though
fully deserving of the praise, fate played out in the hero’s favor anyway as anonymity
was his only desire in life. Ugliness hath spared the soul in question from the
limelight, and though he left this harsh realm without a tombstone and barren treasury
his blood still courses through the veins of his closest companion… and his
impact on the world remains. When the master scribe’s scrolls unravel, this tale
shall be omitted… but I am writing it nonetheless. There shall be nothing to
substantiate my claims. for a request for this story even mutes the boldest
bards.
The hero’s life, though tragic, drips with so many important
defining moments that I am forced to tell it in its entirety, beginning at its
very start so as not to rob you of the full effect. Rest assured that I am a
man of numbers and logic, devoid of the fancy regularly associated with practitioners
of my craft. There shall be no falsehood, bias or embellishment— just the
absolute truth, magically transcribed from time itself. I have no motive, no
lesson to teach. I make no request of you beyond your ear for a day or two. You shall be better for listening anyway, at the
very least for amusement’s sake. For it is a tale without equal, filled to the
brim with heart, intrigue… and bloodshed.
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