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It is said that the world is filled with many heroes. It is said that they come in all shapes and sizes. But only until the individuals comes to realize their power, can they perform great deeds. With great power comes great responsibility.

This is a story about a pair of heroes. This is a story about a pair of heroes who come to realize just what they are capable of doing. Many trials lay before them, and only together will they be able to make it through, and finish their quest. Their abilities will ring through and surprise them. It is their gift.... their curse. Together, they are--

"MOTHER ********, YOU BETTER ******** SHUT YO ******** NOISE HOLE, AND GET YO ******** ******** SELF ON WITH THIS ******** STORY. I AINT SITTIN' AROUND HERE LISTENIN' TO YO BULLSHIT, ********. GET. THE ********. GOING!!"

...

.... ...R-right then. Moving on.

Sentria. This country lives well up to its reputation of having the harshest climate on the continent. The entirety of it is one big desert, and those who roam it are either local brigands... or fools. The land was very different in the past, but nowadays it is home to bandits and thieves. A multitude of groups reside in the ever changing sands. Some groups are small, probably just starting out. They are forcibly pushed around by the larger groups, who know they can get away with it. The larger and more powerful the group, the more dominance it has over the country. At the very top sits one group, led by a mysterious figure known only as the "Serpent's Fang". That group and that group alone has complete dominance over all other bandit groups; even the one that Feo led, when it still was in existence.

It seemed like only yesterday that those intruders had come and ruined everything. In fact, it was only yesterday. Only one day ago had an entire bandit group and its leader been completely wiped out by some random appearance of riff-raff. There was no more Sajid. There was no more treasure left behind in the fort. There was no more sight of that woman with the long dreadlocks. ...There was no more Feo. (THANK GOD) There had been, however, one lonely boy left behind, as well as one surviving bandit. The bandit had found the boy and freed him from his cell. The bandit then leashed the boy and told him that he was going to find another group to join. Thus, the super-awesome fantastic adventure of Jaren and Ali began.

"Sand... sand.... sand.... more ******** sand." Ali groaned to himself, as he pulled the leash behind him. "Why the ******** haven't we reached one yet?!" In his frustration, he yanked the leash slightly, but continued his normal pace of walking. As he continued on, he reached the bottom of a dune and began to walk up it, dragging the leash on the ground. "I swear, if all I see when I get to the top is..." When successfully arriving to the new level of sand, Ali paused and his face slowly began to turn, fuming all the way. "MORE ******** SAND!!!" In his rage, he yanked the leash, completely apathetic to anything but his own anger. "Why the ******** is there so much sand in this ******** desert?! I know that there's a village around here somewhere, damn it! But nooo, this ******** has to hide away. Nooo, Ali, you can't sleep on something other than sand, watching out for sudden sandstorms in the middle of the night! Nooo, Ali, that ******** fatass couldn't have gotten a ******** map before he died! You'll just have to wander around until you come upon one!!"

Hearing a noise behind him, Ali turned around and saw the boy. He had nearly forgotten about him, but now he remembered that he had yet another thing to rage about. "AND WHY THE ********... WHY. IN THE ********..." Ali raised his arms, showing his anger, and his fingers seemed to mutate in their positions. "...ARE YOU ******** NAKED?!?!"


(People with Sentria NPCs who wish to make an appearance in this RP, please contact me beforehand and we'll see if it can be worked out. Thank you.)

"Shut yo mouth, foo!" Ali waved his arm, pulling the leash and thus the boy with it. "Get up, we leavin'." He began to walk down the dune, then stopped when the slack in the leash was gone. "I said get up, crackah Jack! Come on, move it! We reached the village. Don't make me throw you down this dune!"

After a little struggle and some more pulling of the leash, the two travelers eventually continued on and were soon enough at the entrance to the village. Ali stopped and looked down to the boy. "Alright, listen. I'm gunna take off this rope. You try to run, and this blade will be right across yo back, if not yo neck!" He grabbed the hilt with his free hand and raised it slightly. "I aint goin' into no village, lookin' like some child rapist of naked white boys. So just act normal, and everything will be alright." Clearly, Ali did not really know this boy very well, yet...

Ali slowly began to remove the rope, and roll it up to keep with him, if he needed it later. Once the rope was completely removed, he put one of his hands back onto his hilt, just in case the kid tried something. And just to make sure that he had more control over the kid, Ali made up something to help keep him in line. "Sides, I hear this village has it in for Learanians. Don't want 'em to know where ya came from, do ya? I hear they torture em' and then eat em' for dinner. Don't act out, and I can guarantee that won't happen." Ali gave a smug grin, pleased by his own cleverness. "Now get. And remember what I said."

The two then entered the village and began to stroll down the main street. Townspeople instantly started looking the two over. It wasn't every day that a black man and a white boy in a loin cloth came to town. Worse yet, some could tell what the black man was. He had the typical appearance of a bandit. But since he was traveling without a group, people just ignored him. So far, Ali wasn't causing any trouble.

"Hey!" Ali suddenly shouted to a guy who had stared at them for too long. "You looking at sometin'?! You like lookin' at naked boys?" Ali bent down and lifted the loin cloth up. "Well get your peek! Go on!" The man jumped and quickly walked off. "Yeah, that's right... you keep on goin' where you were goin' Y'don't need tah be all up in our business. Get!" Ali let go of the cloth, then pushed the kid to keep walking. "********' little..." He went off into a soft grumble, and continued it until he stopped once again. This time, it was in front of a building with a picture of a shirt above the entrance. "Hey, get in." He waited until the kid went inside and then followed behind. Inside was a tailor's shop, filled with clothing. "Pick out some clothes. And don't be askin' me to help!"

Finally, the kid came back. And what do you know, the outfit he got was actually decent. And he even picked out a cloak, like somebody with common sense would. Really, a cloak in the desert was a great asset. The only reason Ali didn't have one already was because his old hideout kind of got battered by Learanians. Not wanting to continue thinking about the entire cause for this journey, Ali grabbed a cloak for himself, then headed to the door with the kid.

The bandit knew the kid would ask about paying, so he had conjured up something to tell him. "You know what, you picked out such a great outfit that he said tah just take it fo-" Ali was interrupted by a shout from the kid, who took off randomly into the street. "Hey! Where you think you goin'?! GET YO a** BACK HERE, BOY! I TOLD YOU NOT TO RUN!" Ali paused for a minute and though about what the kid had actually said before rushing away. "...Da ******** you mean 'heroes'?!" Unfortunately, Ali was more or less talking to himself.

When the bandit got outside and looked around for the kid, he instantly spotted him. He growled, then took a step forward to get him, but then stopped when he saw the two bandits in the alley. "s**t..." Ali grumbled to himself. He had hoped that wouldn't run into any bandits in this village. If bandits were here and then people saw him, then he would be piled in with them. And then on the other side of things, the bandits would reject him as one of them and Ali would be stuck in the center of complete and total crap. But worries aside, Ali wondered what group these two guys belonged to. If they happened to be a part of the group that Ali hoped they were from...

Then the kid got involved. Ali facepalmed. "Da ******** does he think he doin'...? Idiot's gunna get hisself killed!" Ali continued to listen and heard the bandits say that their boss was in charge of the village they were in. The black bandit frowned. These brigands were not from the group that he was interested in.

Ali grumbled to himself, then watched in shock as the two bandits got their asses kicked by kid. Ali didn't move because he was stuck standing there because of the freaking long post that didn't allow him to do anything. His jaw dropped. It was not only because the kid had managed to live, but also because the villagers had helped take these guys out. There was nothing worse for a bandit than villagers who revolted.. and these villagers seemed the type. Ali looked to his right and saw a couple of villagers looking at him judgmentally. "...I aint with them."

Eagerly wanting to have attention go away from them, Ali stomped toward the boy and hit him in the back of the head. He whispered to the kid in a hissing tone. "What in the ******** are you doing, ********?! Come on, we're gettin' outta here!" However, before Ali could drag the kid away from the center of the street, a man came up to them.

"Well done, lads! Those scum belonged to the Talleywag bandits" The man paused for a moment. "Their.. boss isn't really good at naming things. Though he thinks is he. He gives all his men new names when they join up. Those two you dealt with were named Dildoon and ******** style="color: saddlebrown"> Ali's eye twitched a little and thanked himself for not wanting to ever join this group. "Anyway, the day is almost over. Have you got anywhere to stay the night, strangers? I'm the innkeeper of this town and you're more than welcome to stay there for free, for one night."

Of all the things to happen! They were being proclaimed heroes. Ali, a hero?! Ridiculous! The black bandit shook his head at the innkeeper. He just wanted to get away from all of this. However, as the final words from the man came out, Ali's head stopped shaking. "..Free, you say?" Hey, why not? Ali was planning on just stealing a free night, anyway. This made it a lot easier.

A little later, Ali and the kid were standing in front of the inn. The sun was starting to go down, and they had to be weary from everything they had gone through. The two entered and went to the front counter. "Yeah, hey, uh... the keeper said we get a free room tonight. Make with it."

The man behind the counter turned and saw the two, and a cheerful look instantly plastered onto his face. "Ah, it's you! You're here! The heroes of justice! The great Jaren and his bodyguard!"

"..."

"So, will this be one bed or two?"

"TWO."

The man took the quill and began writing in the book in front of him. "Very well, you'll be in the first room at the very top, third floor. I hope you have a wonderful stay, heroes!" The man gave a rather unpleasantly cheerful smile that did not end.

Ali's eyes were as narrowed as they could get. He was so annoyed by now that yelling just seemed like too much bother. Instead, he just took the room key and stomped off, muttering to himself. "******** little... hero my a**." Eventually, after climbing three sets of stairs, the duo finally reached their room. "We just had to be put on the top floor! ******** you, counter man!" Ali thrust the key into the lock. He fumbled with it for a while, until eventually he got the door open. When he got inside, he tossed his things to the side of one of the beds, claiming it as his own. He didn't bother to take off any clothing, not even his shoes. He just plopped down on the bed and rolled onto his stomach. "Go to bed. We leavin' in the morning. Keep me up and you'll be missin' body parts.

Ali clenched his eyes shut and twitched, trying to drown out the noise the kid was making. He pressed against his ears hard, and began to grind his teeth a little. But it didn't work. His eyes blared open and he let his lower lip hand low and loose. "Boy, I told you tah go tah sleep, dammit!" The bandit blurted. He muttered incomprehensible babble, as he turned over to lay on his back. He crossed his arms behind him and laid his head comfortably atop them. "Who am I kiddin', I can't sleep on this s**t... aint used to it."

The bandit looked over at the kid and then sighed, giving in. He reached over and picked up a rolled up piece of paper and opened it, revealing a map of Sentria. "Well, now that we got one o' these, I can take us tah where I wanted tah go all 'long." Ali pointed to the fortress looking icon. "There. The old capital, a'fore the bandits invaded. That's where my future is." Ali glanced at the boy. "We'll see if you can cut it."

He looked at the kid's sword. He beat those brigands without even having his own weapon. If Ali hadn't been convinced that it was complete and utter luck, he would have been impressed. But what really got him to mentally grin was the fact that the kid took the one guy's sword. That right there was the bandit way. Plus, it saved Ali from having to punch out the armorer, which had been his next stop. The boy was tame enough to walk on his own, and that meant he could wield his own weapon. He wouldn't be much help except for being a meat shield, without a blade.

Realizing that he wouldn't get a lick of sleep while the kid was still awake, he decided to ask something that he kind of was wondering for a while. He was sure that the answer had been said before by others, but frankly he wasn't listening. "So kid... the ******** your name, anyway?"

Ali was slowly learning that he would never just get a simple answer from this kid. He had asked Jaren one question. One. And then the kid was suddenly going on with hardly taking any breath!

The bandit just stared at Jaren blankly as he kept yammering. Slowly, Ali's jaw began to drop, amazed at the sheer annoyance level this kid was at. The weariness he had made it difficult to even hear everything the kid said. He caught something about his name, something about a guy talking to his Betsy sword, whatever the hell that was... it wasn't quite reaching Ali's brain.

When Jaren finally finished yacking, Ali slowly raised his fist up and then spontaneously knocked it into Jaren's head with enough force to knock him out. That was certainly one way of getting the kid to shut up and go to sleep. Satisfied that there was finally quiet, Ali laid back and rolled back to his side. "Daaaaaaamn..." That was the last thing he said that night. He blew out the lit candle and quickly fell asleep.

*locking for a little bit, sorry Joshua*