Okay... so here's something a little different... about 8 years ago, I began working on my own video game. It was a pretty standard, traditional, fantasy RPG. However, it became a little too overwhelming to make a decent RPG all by myself, so I eventually quit the project. Still, I really liked the story of the game. I figured I'd start converting the game's script and events into a postable form and share it with people. I spent a few hours today typing up what's just the beginning of the game to the first scene in the first town you arrive at... which is like 5 minutes of game play tops x3

If anyone likes this, I'll type up more of what happened in the game's story.

Disclaimer: This story contains its own fictional world and that fictional world has its own fictional deity and religions. These are not in any way intended to represent real-life religions or offend anyone. They're just invented for the sake of a story, but if hearing about fictional religions within a story context might offend you somehow, I don't recommend reading this.

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A young boy with short black hair, dressed in a blue shirt and brown shorts was walking along in his home town with two other boys—presumably his friends. One of the boys, dressed in green and with brown hair, said to him, “Hey, Will, we’re gonna go into the forest and hunt monsters! Wanna come?”

“The forest? But isn’t that dangerous?” responded Will with a look of worry upon his face.

The third boy, a blonde dressed in red clothing chimed in, “What, are you scared~?”

The brown-haired boy added, “It’s a man’s job to fight monsters so he can protect his family. If you’re scared of monsters, you’ll never grow up to be a man!”

Will shook his head. “I don’t want any part of that!”

The other two boys began to poke and prod at him, laughing and calling him names. “We’re going to be real men!” said the blonde. “You’re never going to be anything but a useless crybaby!”

Will did indeed cry as a result of the teasing and ran off home.

Later that day, Will could hear a lot of commotion coming from outside of his window. His mother went out to see what was wrong. Townspeople were running about and screaming. “Wild animals have invaded! All men take up arms and defend the village! Make sure all women and children can escape!”

Will, have a natural child’s curiosity wandered outside. This caught his mother off-guard. “Will, it’s not safe out here!” Before she knew it, a wolf had approached, baring its teeth in a menacing manner. She turned back to the wolf, looking as brave as she could muster, but scared to death inside. “There’s no time! Follow the rest of the villagers up north! Once your father comes home, I’m sure he’ll find you there.”

The young boy was very confused by the situation. “But… what about you, mommy?”

“I’m not going to let you get hurt. Please hurry while I hold this beast off,” she pleaded.

“You’re coming too, aren’t you…?” inquired the boy.

The mother paused. She was filled with immense sorrow at the question. She didn’t know what to say. Eventually, she decided to lie. “Of course, sweetie… now please hurry. The sooner you leave, the sooner I can follow.”

This was enough for Will and he quickly made his way off. Of course, that was the last he ever saw his mother. Of the course of the next ten years, Will would always blame himself for his mother’s death. If only he was stronger. If only he wasn’t such a little crybaby. He quickly dedicated himself to training to be a warrior. He wanted to be someone who could protect those he cared about in any situation. However, this sort of living didn’t exactly pay the bills. On Will’s eighteenth birthday, his father had finally had enough.

“When are you gonna get a job, son? You can’t just lay around the house all day and sponge off of me!” asked the frustrated parent.

Clearly offended by this, Will snapped back, “I’m not laying around the house all day! I’m training to be a great warrior.”

Will’s father let out a belittling laugh, waving a hand in the air. “Ha! You think you can make money by fighting? You’re not going to make anything stepping on bugs. Only the best of fighters make any money through combat. They go to the arena in Spartville and compete for prize money.”

“Then I’ll go to Spartville and test my skill!” Will enthusiastically declared.

His father let out a sigh. “Don’t be delusional, boy… the best fighters from around the world gather there. It’s not easy at all to make a living fighting. Unless you’re extremely good, you’ll never make enough to keep yourself fed.”

Will slammed his fist down on the table out of anger. “I’m sick of your criticism, dad! I’m a good fighter and I’ll prove it by fighting at that arena!”

His father’s face appeared noticeably annoyed at this point. He shook his head, muttering something to himself before asking, “Why do you have to be so stupid, boy?” He then paused for a moment. He knew exactly why Will was doing this. He knew what the boy had gone through and how he blamed himself for what had happened ten years ago. He let out another deep sigh and added, “Well…just don’t get yourself killed.” He then finished around in his pocket and pulled out his wallet, opening it up. “And here…” he began as he handed some money over to his son. “Take this. You’re going to need some money to make it there. This’ll be the last you get from me until you get a real job.”

Will carefully counted the money he was handed. It totaled five hundred Mystos in all. That wasn’t a whole lot, but his father was always a cheapskate, he figured. Still, this was better than nothing. The next day, he began to make preparations to depart. It would be his first time leaving the town of Drentol since he escaped here as a child. His first destination would have to be a nearby down called Sacen. Sacen was about five miles to the southeast of Drentol. It wouldn’t be a fun walk, so he made sure to buy plenty of food and drinks for the trip with the money he got from his father. He almost completely exhausted it just preparing to go to the first town. This definitely wouldn’t be easy.

On the road to Sacen, Will was attacked by a variety of creatures…insects-like monsters of various types. His father wasn’t kidding when he mentioned stepping on bugs. Of course, there was no money in this. Monsters don’t carry money, after all. Still, there was a chance that he could sell any items they might have been carrying or even parts from them in some cases to make back a little money. Monsters had a tendency to be drawn to shiny objects and collect them. Fortunately, humans also valued such things so if he could kill a monster that had something considered valuable, he could actually profit from his efforts. This was an incredibly rare thing to occur, however. Will found nothing of value on his way to Sacen.

As the tired adventure arrived in town, he bumped into a girl who was hurrying along the town’s road. “Oh, I’m sorry!” she immediately called out.

Will looked over to see a beautiful young woman dressed in some sort of a green clergy robe. He could also see black sleeves and leggings where the robe did not cover. Her boots were a lustrous white color. It seems the collision had knocked a hat off her head, giving him a good look at her blond, shoulder-length hair that was a bit wavy. Her sparkling blue eyes gazed at him with concern. “Don’t worry about it. Are you all right…?” he asked.

“Oh yes, I’m fine. How about you?” inquired the girl.

“It’ll take more than bumping into a cute girl to hurt me,” Will remarked with a coy smirk. This caused the girl to look away, seeming a bit embarrassed by the comment. Will continued, “I hope you’re not in a hurry, only for me to get in your way.”

“Oh, no…not at all,” she replied as she reached for her falling hat, adjusting it on her head again. It was a green biretta with some sort of religious insignia Will did not recognize on the front. (image link because my description of this character’s design probably isn’t very clear: here)

Once the girl had fixed her hat and taken good look at Will, she noticed his sword. “I notice you have a weapon there,” she observed. “Are you a warrior of some sort?”

“That’s right. I’m heading to Spartville to prove my ability,” Will said with a grin and a nod.
The girl’s eyes widened. “Wow! Spartville? You’re going to fight at the arena? You must be a really good fighter to even think about attempting that.” She pauses for a moment before speaking again. “But it’s a long and dangerous road there. You could get worn out! Wait…I know! Why don’t I accompany you there? I can heal you if you get tired.”

Will blinked. “Heal me? I’m not sure I follow.”

“I’m an apprentice cleric from the Order of Decipas,” she explained. “Those who devote themselves to serving Him are granted his blessings and are able to perform miraculous acts of healing.”

Will rubbed his chin as he considered this. “I suppose that could be helpful. What’s your rate?”

The young woman seemed confused by this question. “Rate…?”

“Is it just a flat fee up front? I've never really dealt with clerics before, so I'm not exactly sure how this whole idea works... what do I do to obtain your services or otherwise enlist your aid?” Will elaborated.

She laughed nervously. “I'm sorry; let me explain a bit clearer. Since I'm only in training, I'm supposed to be assisting people as part of that training. I am to find a person in need of my aid and provide it for my assignment to become a full-fledged cleric. I wouldn't be charging you a thing.”

That was fortunate. Will didn’t want to admit to her that he was almost out of money. “Wow... that's...convenient. There really ought to be more of you around. You're like a walking miracle the way you make it sound...”

She looked away, her cheeks tinting red slightly from the embarrassment she felt at that comment. “Oh, no...not at all. I'm just following the ways of Decipas.”

“Who is this ‘Decipas’ you keep mentioning anyway?” asked the puzzled warrior.

This question greatly surprised the cleric, catching her off-guard. “Oh my...you do not know of the Creator?”

Will still appeared lost. “Uh... creator...? Creator of what?”

“Why, the creator of everything,” she began explaining. “Decipas made the world and all that is in it. He watches over us all.”

Will began to nervously look around. “Wait, what? Watches us? Like...always???”

She nodded. “Yes, he is an omniscient and omnipotent being.”

Will scratched his head. “So...he watches...everybody? At all times...?”

“Yes. That's right.”

“What if somebody is in trouble...?”

She paused for a moment to consider her words before replying. “I've heard many a story of people saying that they saw these little hints...these signs...and upon following them were led to the aid of other people. I imagine those signs were given by Decipas.”

“And...those who receive no help...?”

She shook her head. “I can't really say. There may be a reason why Decipas chose not to lend any aid...or perhaps tried to give a sign to someone and that person chose to ignore it. We as people are free to make our own choices in life.” Will folded his arms, a bit displeased with the ideas being proposed. Given no audible response, the cleric decided to speak up again. “At any rate...would you like my assistance on your travels?”

“Well, I suppose I can't really afford to say no. An opportunity like this doesn't exactly come along especially often and it'd be a real fool move to not capitalize on something beneficent like this...” he told her.

She smiled softly and replied, “You won't regret having me along. Now allow me to introduce myself. My name is Rosetta Barret.”

“William Porter…but just call me Will,” he noted.

“A pleasure to meet you,” Rosetta cheerfully replied. She then remembered something and added, “Oh, I should get Rocco. He's a monk who's been assigned to accompany me on my training.”

Rosetta looked back, and saw a man who appeared to be in his late twenties approaching. His dark brown hair was extremely close-cropped and his eyes were brown. He was dressed in reddish-orange garbs typically worn by Buddhist monks and had black sandals upon his feet. “Ah, perfect. He's already here.” She turned to the man and said, “Rocco, this is Will. We'll be seeing him to Spartville for the assignment.” She then turned back to Will. “Will, this is Rocco.”

“Hey, Rocco,” Will greeted. Rocco nodded in acknowledgment of the greeting, but said nothing.

A slightly flustered Rosetta quickly jumped in to explain, “Oh, Rocco took a vow of silence, so you’re not going to get much out of him.”

“Okay…” Will didn’t really understand the ideology behind that, but he wasn’t about to question it right now. At the moment, he had a more pressing question. “You wouldn’t happen to know exactly how to get to Spartville…would you?”

Rosetta blinked. “Huh? Oh, it’s on another continent entirely. We’ll have to go by ship. I believe there’s a port town east of here.”

“Sounds like that should be our first destination then. I’m a little tired from my walk here, so how about we rest and depart first thing tomorrow?” he proposed.

Rosetta nodded. “That’s fine. We’ll have to pass through a cavern to get there anyway, so we want to make sure we’re at full strength before taking the trip.”

With that, the party headed to the local inn to stay the night. Will was becoming increasingly more excited about this journey. He now had allies to help him succeed. The more he thought about it, the more he was sure he would be able to accomplish his goals.