You’ve just arrived in a swampy, dim town. As you look around, your gaze is met with shacks and cabins. It smells of rotted wood and wet moss. You duck and step into a tattered tent, illuminated by a series of candles suspended in the air. At the back of the tent, an old hag raises her head, “What brings you to this dingy town? she begins, then pauses to study your face—”Ah, it’s you. I’ve been expecting you. Sit,” she gestures at a cushion, “Tell me your story.” ((How do you respond?)) As I settled onto the cushion, feeling the rough fabric beneath me, I couldn't help but fidget nervously under the old hag's calm gaze. Her wrinkled face seemed to hold centuries of secrets, and I always felt like she knew me better than I knew myself.
"Uh, hi," I spoke tentatively, trying to sound confident even though my voice was a little shaky. "So, would you like to hear my story?"
She nodded encouragingly. It was strange; she seemed old, yet her eyes were still as clear as water, calm and friendly.
I began to tell my story, trying to infuse my words with some of the epic grandeur I felt, though I wasn't sure if I had the right words. "You know, I'm from a place called Eternalis. It's cool there. Magic fills that region, and everywhere is vibrant and green, yet peaceful and quiet. The people and their animals live quietly."
I gestured wildly with my hands, trying to paint a picture of the fantasy world I came from. "Anyway, I was born there. I never fantasized about what great things I was going to do in the future. It seemed like everything was smooth, and the days just went by."
I skipped some of the less exciting parts, like my boring chores and student days, and focused on the good things. "But then, one night, the stars started to get weird, blinking as it shouldn't of."
I paused for a moment, trying to think of what was going on at the time. "It was like, 'Uh-oh, something's going on.'"
I involuntarily leaned my body closer as the candle's flame pulsed, mirroring her face; magically, though, its flame isn't that bright. "Turns out, there's a dark force that threatens to destroy everything,
I fixed my sight to the ground. Bad memories bring me a low mood. "I was a teenager that time. You know that without power you really can't do anything... Long things short. Bad things happened and I hide away from them, not spectating but listening, knowing what's going on..."
I looked to the old hag, hoping she'd believe my story. "I stayed at that place forever. But after I persuade myself to come out when there came a guy dressed like a wonderer, I found everything was destroyed. He looked at my eyes, and I don't know when he has that though but he give his necklace to me... Here in case if you need it, and he shown me the path here, then he disappeared, as if he never existed. Then is the story of traveling... Met a lot creepy stuff but as I'm here you know that I managed myself run away from them. And now I'm in this creepy town because, well, fate and all that. Who knows what's going to happen next, right?"
"Yeah, who knows," the old hag responded mindlessly, getting up and heading for the room.
After I finished telling the story, I sighed with relief, as if my entire being had relaxed and slumped into my chair. "Come, child," the old hag walked back, carrying a drink that gave off a warming scent as well as holding up a folded shirt with a fist-sized shimmering colored stone on it. "I have something you might need."
I looked over at her curiously and sat back up. "Oh? Is..."
Before I could finish, she said, "A cloak, a stone," placing the two items in front of me, "and a cup of fireweed tea."
I took the cup of fireweed tea and looked at the old hag quizzically. "Don't worry, drink it. It will bring you warmth on your journey."
I first took a small sip, and after sensing that what she said was not false, I drank it all in one go, and all of a sudden, warmth rose up in my body.
"Son, I will not be evil with you. My door is always open to you," I looked at her quizzically and wiped the tea stains from my mouth. "In the south, where you will pass through the extreme cold which will eats away at your bones, you can find what your heart desires. Go, and be safe."
I stood up, still seemingly unsure of what had happened. But the stone floated up by itself and circled up and down around me; stranger still, it was as if I knew what it was thinking. The cloak, too, floated up of its own accord and draped itself over me, put on its hood on me by the way; it quivers, and as it is quivering, I seemed to sense a joy of reunion.
I looked searchingly at the old hag, and in her face, I found a hint of what seemed to be a smile. "My child, your story has just begun. But remember, the true adventure is not just your fight, your development, but your journey to discover yourself."
When I came back to my senses, I was standing in the doorway. It seemed that everything in there was a dream, yet the cloak on my body and the colored stones on the side told me it was all real.
"Me? Who am I? I'm nothing more than a guy who can't even defeat a bunch of phantom spirits and has to rely on an outlander to secure the wreckage of his own house." I looked at the cloudy sky and recalled the memories of that night's helplessness. The sudden appearance of the stone in front of my eyes and the quivering cloak on my body suddenly brought my thoughts back to reality.
"Ah, oh, ah," I felt them, felt something new to me. I can't really use them as it for now, I don't even know them a few minutes ago: "Is that so... Damn, I really don't want to go though. I know nothing about the magic except what I've been taught by the folk story. But let's go for the sake of... Of wisdom and power."
The teenager, slowly but firmly, set off towards the south.
