Prologue

The hero rushed to the Demon King's castle. Planning on slaying the Demon King all by himself and restoring peace to the world. 

Having lost almost all of his companions in the harsh journey, he was filled with resentment, anger and hatred. 

But none of these emotions could match the sorrow and sadness deep in his heart, for he had lost the only woman he ever loved as well.

After long gruesome battles, he finally came face to face with the Demon King Urul. 

The battle went on for three days. 

On the first day, the castle shook. The walls cracked but managed to stay together.

On the second day, the Demon King's armor finally broke as his defenses fell and he had to activate his trump card.

By the third day, neither of them had the strength left to continue anymore. Still, through sheer will power they stood their ground. 

They both picked up their swords and stared at each other. They knew that death was inevitable in this battle, but still continued.

They rushed towards each other in their heavily injured state for the final blows. 

They were equally matched.

The hero had cut the Demon King's neck and severed his head.

On the other hand, the Demon King's sword had pierced right through his heart.

The Demon King's body erupted in flames. Before he would turn to ash and disappear, his severed head started talking.

"Splendid, Hero. You have not only matched me in battle today, but also defeated my army. It is the human's victory."

"But in the process you sacrificed yourself as well. Take this amulet of mine. I once used this to gain the power to conquer the continent. It is yours now."

The Demon King's body moved as his hand gave a green amulet adorned with three gemstones to the hero.

Even though the hero hated the Demon King, he accepted his praise and reward.

"Farewell hero."

His body had completely turned to ash and finally the head also erupted in flames.

"I'm sorry my dear."

He left those words to no one before perishing completely.

The hero's wound started to turn black. The sword had been laced with a certain dragon's poison, which cannot be cured. 

As he was taking his final breaths and remembering his companions, the amulet started glowing. 

When the hero looked at the amulet, he saw two of the embedded gems were glowing along with the crystal in the middle.

The light of the second gem dimmed and eventually it stopped glowing. Then the amulet stopped glowing altogether.

The hero was completely consumed by the black plague roaming around his body and perished before he could make sense of this event.

Some time later, a person rushed towards the Demon King's castle all alone. Their face was hidden in a cloak.

They travelled all through the castle, only seeing the corpses of demons and monsters sprawled everywhere.

They followed the trail of corpses and entered the Demon King's court.

The first sight they saw was of the hero sitting on the floor with a sword stabbed through his chest. 

His body had completely turned black as the poison had corroded every cell. 

The figure broke into tears at the spot.

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The cloaked figure brought back the hero's ash with the news of the Demon King's death. 

The entire continent celebrated the victory of humankind and prayed to their deities. In honour of the hero, they declared that day a festival of the Hero Krys.

The ashes were publically buried in the most protected cemetery of the hero's country. The same cemetery where the king's families were buried. 

This was the highest form of honour the country thought they could give to the hero who was born a peasant. 

Little did everyone know. The real ashes of the hero were buried in the town where the hero first found his love. 

Hundreds of years passed since the hero's victory. Many wars were fought between the demons and humans, but the humans mostly emerged victorious. 

The times had changed and most of the world was at peace.

But nobody knew that peace was about to be disturbed.

Exactly 500 years after his death. Above the place the hero was buried, a tree had grown. 

But this tree was not like any other, for this would be the starting point for the next hero's journey as well as the continuation of the previous one.