In his childhood, heroes were always presented as larger than life individuals with fantastical abilities, using their power to save those who were unable to save themselves. They were champions of humanity, often risking their own lives just to save a few extra people. They were people to be admired, worshipped even. Defenders of the Earth who not only sought to keep its denizens safe but also improve upon their lives as well in any way they could.
So, if it came down to a world where there were people with abilities and people without, surely the people with power would make it their mission to protect the rest of humanity from the dangers that threatened it. That's what heroes do, right?
However, as Iago watched the scene unfold in front of him, he knew that this wasn't heroism in the slightest. He was surrounded by towering trees, a bed of dead leaves scattered all over the ground and shadows cast in every direction from the tick canopy overhead.
In front of him was a clearing where four people were present. A young man with pale blonde hair was on the ground, being approached by a posse of three people. The one in front was a rather handsome male with scarlet red hair and a scar that ran down one side of his lips. To his right was a pretty young woman with the same scarlet red hair and piercing green eyes. To his left was a large, rather rotund male with a shiny bald head and a thick, black beard. All three of them were wearing comfortable looking workman clothes and could've been mistaken for simple hunters if it weren't for the fact that the man in front was pointing a shining steel longsword at the young man on the ground.
"Hey man, what're you doing?" the blonde on the ground asked, his voice faltering slightly as he warily eyed the tip of the sword in front of him. He scooted back, trying to put distance between himself and the blade.
"Getting a little extra moolah, what's it look like brah?" the man with the scarlet hair replied, shrugging, "It's a tough world to survive in and a man needs every coin he can scrape up."
"Food is getting pretty expensive nowadays you know," the large man said haughtily, smacking his belly, "And hunting monsters is getting more dangerous by the day."
"But that's why we work as a team," the blonde said, grinning anxiously, scooting back again. The man with scarlet hair took another step forward.
"Yeah, but if we take your stuff and sell the monster corpse, we only have to split it among three people, which is more individual profit," he replied, "I have to take care of my sister somehow." He gestured at the girl to his right, who batted her eyelashes innocently.
"You wouldn't want me to end up on the street would you?" she asked in a baby voice.
"Of course not, but we can just hunt a few extra monsters," the blonde suggested, "I'm still ready to go."
"Mmmm, a man with stamina," the scarlet haired woman said, biting her finger with a grin on her face.
"The way I see it, you'd have to kill four tree walkers alone to even approach what we're gonna get from your gear," the large man said, scratching his beard, "I don't think you'll make it out of that alive."
"Not that it matters," the man in front said, "There's no way we're letting you out of here to report us to the high guard." He thrust his sword forward, stopping it right in front of the blonde's nose.
"Surely there's something I could give you to make you reconsider," he said frantically, his heart rate picking up. He looked around the clearing, praying for a miracle.
"What're you looking around for?" the woman taunted, "No one's gonna be out here to help you, not in this world."
"That's where you're wrong!" a voice said from behind a tree.
Iago didn't know what had come over him at that moment. He put his foot forward and stepped out from behind the tree, his fist clenched around the handle of an old katana and his eyes narrowed.
He was a shorter boy, standing at around 5'6" with splotchy crimson hair and brown skin. He was wearing a faded burgundy hoody, blue jeans, and some faded sneakers. A faint crimson hue outlined his body as he stared his quarry down. He was a paladin, and he was actually gonna act like one.
"Aaaannnd who the hell are you?" the man with the scarlet hair asked, raising an eyebrow in annoyance and not pulling his sword away from the blonde's face.
"My name is Iago Winters," Iago said, letting his confidence fill him, "And I'm a member of the Paladin High Guard." Silence engulfed the clearing as Iago stared down the three paladins. However, it was soon broken by the sounds of hysterical laughter. The three people erupted into a fit of laughter, the man with scarlet hair clutching his chest as he hooted and hollered. Iago felt heat rise to his cheeks and spun the katana in his hand.
The paladin high guard were a group of paladins tasked with policing paladins themselves, making arrests and executing those who used their abilities to break the law and harm others. They glanced at the blonde man on the ground who was looking from his assailants to Iago, confused. Iago gestured at him to run and he immediately scrambled to his feet and ran off. Immediately, the man with scarlet hair stopped laughing.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?!" he called after the young man as he darted and dashed between the trees.
"Oh great, now we have to catch him before he gets to a checkpoint and reports us," the woman said, evidently annoyed, taking off after the man, "Nice going brother."
"Blame that little shit pretending to be a high guard member," the man with scarlet hair fired back at his sister, "Handle him Bert."
"With pleasure," the large man, Bert, affirmed, a wide grin spreading across his bearded face. Iago immediately took up a combat stance, holding his sword out in front of him with both hands clutching the grip. Bert stood at an impressive 6'9", towering over Iago, his width complementing his height. Iago swallowed hard, a bead of sweat appearing on his forehead.
'C'mon, this is what you practiced for,' Iago thought to himself.
Bert reached back with his right hand, gripping at the handle of the mace on his back. His movements were slow and deliberate, obviously trying to intimidate Iago. To Bert, this was all just a game.
'I'll use that against him then,' Iago thought concentrating. 'He's big, so he ought to be a little slower.'
The moment before Bert's fist closed around his mace, he stepped with his right foot, pushing soul energy into his leg and lunging forward. He brought his fist up in a wide, arcing uppercut, slamming his knuckles into Bert's chin. The shock from the punch shook his arm, putting tremendous pressure on his forearms. Iago quickly recovered however, as Bert's head snapped back. He dashed around to Bert's right side, clutching his katana with both hands and slashing it horizontally at his hip. The blade made contact, making a shallow cut in his side.
'Tch, too shallow,' Iago thought to himself. He continued around to Bert's back, jumping into the air above his head and raising his katana above his head with both hands.
"As a member of the High Guard, I sentence you to summary execution for attempted murder."
Iago tried to bring his sword down onto Bert's face, splitting his head in two, but was suddenly stopped by a large hand snatching him out of the air by the scruff of his neck.
"Wha," he was barely able to get out before he was slammed into a tree, knocking the air out of his lungs and making him drop his katana. It clattered to the ground as he struggled to breathe, clutching at Bert's hands. Bert had him pinned to the tree with his right hand, a nasty sneer on his face.
"What kind of weakling doesn't even know how to reinforce their body with soul energy?" Bert asked in a dumbfounded voice. Iago didn't answer, still struggling against his grip.
"They'd never choose a failure of a paladin like you for the high guard, even if it were to be a grunt," Bert taunted, pulling his mace off of his back. An orange hue outlined his body and he swung the mace with all of his force, slamming it into Iago's chest. His body recoiled, a mixture of spit and blood flying out of his mouth as the tree shattered and he was sent flying through it. He hit the ground with a sickening thud and rolled until he hit another tree, stopping back first against it. His chest felt like it had been hit by a train, he couldn't draw breath and his lungs were throbbing.
His vision was dark and blurry and all he could do was watch Bert spit on the ground near him and turn to walk away. Still gasping for air, all he could do was reach out his arm, and collapse to the ground.