On the outskirts of the Kingdom of Lisbea, the unassuming town of Dawnwood lived in peace. Dawnwood town was a little town without much that could stand out, it was just a place where its citizens lived in peacefulness without much ambitions on their minds. A fresh breeze could be felt through the streets of the town, filled with the scent of flowers that had just bloomed with the arrival of spring. The plains next to the town were filled with sprouts of multiple kinds of vegetables the farmers of the town had planted recently, they prayed to the goddess of nature and the goddess of life for a good harvest this year as they always did. The streets of the town, despite not having many people around, were filled with life, a life provided by the spirit of camaraderie and friendship between its citizens who all knew each other like one big family.
In the outskirts of the town, a young 19 year old man, with short blonde hair, black eyes, his height was average for a guy his age, his muscles were defined, but not so much. He wore pieces of clothing that any other civilian would, mostly of brown colors but going more into the yellow. His name is Lyle Heiwane. Someone who, in general terms, was good looking, not handsome, just good looking. Lyle found himself slashing a tree with his sword, he was sweaty and tired, he had been doing it for some hours already, attempting with little success to cut the tree in half. Sitting nearby, a guy that seemed to be around Lyle's age was sitting on the grass, a big iron axe lying next to him. He was eating from a bag of carrot pieces while he looked at the training of the swordsman.
"Come on Lyle! Cut that tree already!" The guy sitting said as he stood up.
His name is Ascalon, he is a bit taller than Lyle and also a bit more muscular than him. His hair is black as well as his eyes, his attire was similar to his friend's, although with prominence in red colors instead of yellow ones, similar to Lyle he was good looking but not that much.
"I'm trying over here! But this goddamn tree, WILL. NOT. SUCCUMB!" Lyle said with anger as he continued to slash the bark.
"Just use the Dark Boost, you're overcomplicating yourself" Ascalon told his friend as he put another piece of carrot inside his mouth. "You know that won't help!" Lyle said exhausted "I can't even maintain it for more than a few seconds when I'm at my full, and you expect me to try now that I'm all tired?".
Ascalon leaned in to grab his axe from the floor. He walked to a tree next to the one Lyle had attempted to cut down unsuccessfully.
"Then let me give you a demonstration on how it's done", Ascalon said as he looked at his annoyed friend.
A dark aura began to emanate from Ascalon's body, he held the axe in the air and then swung it towards the tree in front of him, doing a clean cut to it that caused the upper half of the tree to fall down.
"See? Easy?" Ascalon said with a bit of arrogance.
"It's not the same, besides, you have an axe, I have a sword, that thing it's much sharper" Lyle said as he tried to regain air.
Ascalon grabbed his friend's sword, once again the dark aura began to emanate from him and he cut another tree with little effort.
"Show off" Lyle said as Ascalon gave him his sword back..
"Come on Lyle! At least try to use the Dark Boost!" Ascalon said in hopes to convince his friend.
The blonde sighed and began concentrating his magic, a weak dark aura emanated from him, he continued to focus and the aura became even stronger, but it didn't last long until the aura faded away and he fell to his knees, completely out of energy.
"Eh, it was worth the try" Ascalon said with resignation, he then took another carrot from his bag and offered it to Lyle. "Carrot?"
Lyle didn't say anything and just took the piece of carrot and ate it.
"Let's go back home". Ascalon told him. They began walking back to Dawnwood town.
On the way back, Lyle caressed his aching body, mostly his arms. Spending 2 hours doing the same movements again and again didn't pay off well.
"I'm beginning to doubt that I'll get it", Lyle said, a bit toned down.
"Don't be like that man. I know you can do it, your problem is that you do not believe in yourself" Ascalon said to his friend.
"You've been saying that since we were 11" Lyle said, remembering the several times Ascalon had given him the 'believe in yourself' speech.
"I know, I know, but it's because it's true. You don't make progress on your skills because you don't believe you can do it, and overall, because you are lacking motivation!" Ascalon said with confidence.
"It's always been the same, you doubt, you lack confidence in yourself and because of that you don't get the motivation to improve".
"Whatever you say", Lyle said.
"Lyle, I'm serious, you have to change that attitude, we are adults now, and in not much time we will leave our little town to explore the world and fight strong opponents!" Ascalon said, looking at the sunset sky with inspiration.
"Yeah… explore the world…" Lyle said, looking away from Ascalon with a hint of doubt in his voice.
Ascalon took Lyle by his shoulders and looked him to the eyes. "I trust in you Lyle, after all, you are my best friend, and I know you can do it". Guilt began to surge inside Lyle's mind.
The two friends finally arrived at the village, where they finally separated ways, each one heading to their own home.
Lyle entered his house, where he was received by his mother and little sister who had been cooking dinner together. Lyle's mom approached him and gave him a kiss on his forehead.
"How was your day sweetie?" The woman asked with her usual kind and motherly tone.
"It was fine", Lyle said, a bit turned down.
"Have you told Ascalon yet?" The woman asked, although she already knew the answer..
"No", Lyle answered.
The woman sighed, she had been advising her son about how to tell someone something you know they aren't gonna take well, but as much as she wanted to help him further, he was already an adult and he had to manage this sort of stuff on his own. The woman accommodated her blonde hair and told her son to sit at the table so his sister could serve dinner.
"Where is dad?" Lyle asked.
"Oh, you know your father, he isn't satisfied until everyone else is", Lyle's mother said as she thought of the father of her children, a man who worked at the town hall and could never end a day without helping everyone with his problems.
Even if that meant that sometimes he would have less time to be at home, she didn't really care, it was his kindness that conquered her heart, and it was nice to have time for herself. Dinner went out without much, the three present family members ate what the women had been preparing during the evening and they all enjoyed the good meal. Once done, Lyle headed to his room, it was already dark, so he turned on a candle and closed the curtains.
Lyle sat at his desk, there he looked at his incomplete job, a dragon themed blue dress, only halfway done. He resumed the job he had left incomplete, it was a bit hard to work with the room's current level of light but he was already used to it. He really liked this, just to be there and create clothes, it made him happy. After 2 hours of work, he had finished it, it looked nice. The only problem was that he made it without a model in mind, it was certainly too big for either his mother or sister to wear it, and he also noticed that the neckline was very pronounced, not to mention that the dragon he had designed on it didn't look much like a dragon. At least he tried. It wasn't his best job but not for that it had made it any less fun to work on it. Satisfied with what he had created, Lyle folded and put away the dress alongside many of his other creations and got into bed to have a good sleep.
The next morning didn't have much that could be told. Lyle ate his breakfast, took his sword and left his house. What is his purpose on this day? He has no purpose. Sometimes someone just wants to walk around, relax and have some peace, that it was Lyle desired more than anything, to just live a peaceful life and have his own tailor shop. It was his ideal life, but there was something, or rather someone, who was in the way of that dream, his own best friend, Ascalon. Ever since they were kids they had been training to become great adventures, but it had always been Ascalon the one who desired that, Lyle just tagged along because… well, he was his best friend.
But as years progressed, each day Lyle realized more and more how… he didn't want to become an adventurer, he wanted to stay at Dawnwood, with his family and maybe start one of his own. He has been thinking of telling this to Ascalon but he just can't bring himself to do so, Lyle knows how much it means for his friend to become a great adventurer and he doesn't want to disappoint him. Lyle sighs as he walks through the streets of his town until he gets to the local bakery and enters to buy a bun. He takes his bun and walks to the plaza at the center of the town, he sat on a bench and began to eat the bun.
"Mind if I sit there?" A brown haired girl with dark eyes, she was wearing armor like a soldier.
"Oh, hey Lizzie, go ahead," Lyle said to the girl.
Lizzie sat next to Lyle in the bench, they had known each other for a long time, although Lizzie was some years older than the blonde, she had recently become a guard of the town, there weren't many of them as the town was a very peaceful place, so it was pretty much a job where you could slack off all day. The brown haired girl noticed that something was wrong with the tailor wannabe. "Is there something wrong, Lyle?" She asked with genuine concern. Lyle looked at her and doubted whether to tell her or not, but after some reflection, he decided to tell his friend about the situation going on with Ascalon.
"Oh, for Eternal. That's… that's indeed quite the complicated situation" Lizzie said, trying to come up with something good to tell Lyle.
After thinking about it very seriously, she managed to come up with something.
"Well" She began speaking "I know you don't want to abandon Ascalon on his dream, but at the end of the day, those kinds of stuff are reciprocal. I'm pretty sure that if you explain how you feel to Ascalon, he will understand. He's your best friend after all. He wouldn't want you to be unhappy just so he can be happy"
"Huh" Lyle thinked for a while "That actually makes a lot of sense" The blonde stood up, Lizzie had made him have a realization. "Thank you Lizzie, a lot"
"Is the least I could do for a friend, besides, I really liked the bag you gave me on my birthday, tailoring is really your thing" Lizzie said as she held said bag in her left hand.
Lyle gave her a kiss on the cheek before leaving, he walked down the streets of Dawnwood, he was going to find Ascalon and tell him that he did not want to become an adventurer with him. Yet, he couldn't just not feel nervous about this, this really meant much for Ascalon, but, if he really is his best friend, he is gonna accept his decision.
This gives Lyle a bit more confidence, he trusts in their friendship, after all, they've been friends since they were 4.
However, as he walked through the town, something gave him an eerie sensation, like if he was being followed. He looked back but saw no one, then, when he looked front, in less than the blink of an eye, he felt someone hitting him in the back of the head, Lyle fell to his knees, he tried to remain on his senses, but it was to no avail.
Lyle fell to the ground, unconscious.