A frustrated hero

Origins

I was a simple royal guard, someone very carefree, ambitious and who let himself be bribed whenever he needed money. I had brown hair and light eyes. My face was somewhat long and not very expressive. The whole town knew me by my position. I had gotten the job thanks to my father's connections with other people. I saw all kinds of all races coming daily, especially dwarves, who were very strong for wars. My country is called Met, for being the best for doing all kinds of business or so I heard once and the city where I lived was Dert. It was quite a hot place, but the wind was very good, it reduced the discomfort that the weather caused. 

I was only guarding the gates at the entrance of this city, I was 19 years old, and I had no other reason to live, other than to eat and drink. I had no desire to get married, or anything like that. Life as a guard was the best job, at least it paid well, but one day I made a big mistake. I let a strange person into the castle, I let myself be carried away by a juicy bribe, given to me by someone who seemed to be a hero. He wore a cloak, pants and a bow on his back, he also covered his face, with a kind of rag it was normal to see such strange people, I did not care, but unknowingly led the kingdom to perdition. That man was a spy from another country, he infiltrated the city's castle when I least expected it. That was not my mistake, it was something that belonged to the guards of that place. 

Unfortunately that same night, in the blink of an eye the castle was in flames and an unprecedented war began. 

A rain of arrows with fire was the announcement of a fight that would last for days, and it was not only humans, I saw elves who were also involved in this, from the place where I was. I never thought of seeing something like that. It was like thousands of splinters falling rapidly to one place. I could do nothing but run and hide in a safe place. The place was on fire and there was not much to do. 

Being dressed as a guard I was one of their main targets, my armor was a cheap iron type with some red parts. Mainly on the chest and shoulders. 

As I decided whether to leave I saw some bodies of guards and adventurers along the way, one of them had a gleaming sword. I didn't want to take it, but I felt it was calling me, it was too flashy that I wasn't able to leave it there. It could serve me to get out of that place and be an adventurer or something like that. In spite of everything I was ambitious, a miserable being who preferred to live well, without caring about the others, without knowing it, life would give me a lesson that I would never forget. 

As I fled I avoided at all costs to cross paths with any invader, I knew that I would be one of their main targets because I was armed, but I was not going to protect anything, I only thought of myself and no one else. 

I walked through the streets of the kingdom and looked for a hiding place or a safe exit from the city. I had heard that there were many illegal exits and entrances at some points. Illegal and prohibited goods were coming in there that were impossible to stop. 

Many people bumped into me in that situation. Many houses were on fire, as they started throwing objects that were burning. Everyone looked very stunned by the situation. Out of nowhere a war without truce had happened and no one was prepared for something like that. For a moment I thought about my family, but I could not go with them, as I was a military target for the invaders. 

This kingdom was somewhat small compared to the others, the only thing that was done was to plant food and send it to various parts. That was the only activity that was done, so for many countries it was important and they wanted to invade this one. 

While running side by side with hundreds of people, I could see a crack in one of the walls that protected the city. Thanks to the movement of some individuals who were trying to get out. I decided to follow them as if nothing happened, and I got into a hole that led me to the outskirts of the city. From there I could see a whole army fully armed to invade this place. Because of the darkness they could not see us, so I followed all the people who were also trying to escape. 

[...] 

I was able to survive that night that seemed endless, something I never thought I would live through. 

I left at dawn along with hundreds of people who were able to flee from that kingdom, I had taken off my guard's clothes and looked like a peasant. I took that from the body of a person who died on the way. And I did not want anyone to reproach me for the stupid things I did. I didn't want to receive complaints from anyone either, I just wanted to leave and look for another place to live. I was very tired, I walked all night without stopping, and there was still a long way to go to reach another city, however we were followed by a group of men on horses, which managed to reach us. It was a group of invaders who were armed, all were completely dressed in black and covered their faces and looked very annoyed. 

-Stop!" shouted one of them. 

I looked them in the eye and was a bit terrified. Even though they were dressed in black, they were covered in blood, as if they had fought all night. 

-All the inhabitants of that place will be free under a new king, but you who dared to escape will be our slaves from now on. If you resist we will execute you. 

I was cold when I heard that, I did not want to die, so I knelt down to show that I surrendered, but unfortunately some of the people who were with me objected and took out their weapons. A fight started between both sides, the invaders had bloody long swords and the people who were with me had daggers or knives. It was a violent fight, there was blood everywhere. Unfortunately they lost, and it was unfair. They managed to subdue them and in front of me they killed my compatriots with their swords. I was the only one left alive. Despite the terror I felt at that moment. I closed my eyes and stood up. I was not prepared to be executed, so I did nothing. 

[...] 

After that little battle, they tied me with a rope around my hands and feet, prevented me from walking freely and took me to another place. 

I did not resist because I knew what would happen to me. I knew perfectly well that my life was at stake and I was not capable of doing anything stupid. To my surprise we did not go to the kingdom they had invaded, we went to a kind of training camp. There were hundreds of people from the city that had been attacked. All of them were just like me, we did not know what they would do with us. We just had to keep quiet and wait for them to talk to us. However, I already had an idea and it was not a good one. We would probably be their toys for bow training. Those were very cruel practices they performed, but we had already lost our freedom. Now we were just slaves. 

I kept my head to the sky all day, waiting for them to tell us something, but without knowing it, time went fast and night came, they hadn't given me anything to eat. I kept sitting on the floor and waited for them to tell us something, but they seemed more focused on dividing everything they had stolen from the kingdom, but luckily for us a group of people came to us. They all had weapons and didn't look like soldiers, they looked like adventurers. 

A muscular man with a thick beard and a cold look approached us. He had cotton clothes and with a sword he stopped in front of us. 

-So these are the slaves who will check the dungeons? They are very few, but let me tell you, there is a very dangerous dungeon waiting for us. 

My face showed that rage for what I was living, no matter how much I ran away from death, it was chasing me. I had heard of dungeons and dangerous places like that, but I had never thought of entering one. Against our will they lifted us off the floor and we began to walk slowly in a deserted place where the sun was shining with all its strength.  There were hundreds of armed men and strangers, some of them with scars on their faces and missing limbs. At that moment I felt that my life was over, but there was nothing more I could do. I was in the middle of nowhere in a deserted place and escaping alone would be worse, without food and weapons I would not survive alone. 

[...] 

We spent about three days walking in the middle of nowhere, they only gave us bread and some water during the trip. We advanced during the day and slept at night, to end up like barnyard animals at any moment. 

We arrived at a strange place in front of a mountain. There were hundreds of people talking to each other. They all looked like adventurers, as they were armed, but they were dressed in a singular way in a uniform manner. Tights and dark shirts as if they were some secret group, they seemed to be in their free time, since no one was armed. 

They all looked at us like trash when they saw us coming. Maybe they did not like the practices of this kingdom, but they could not meddle in other people's business, they remained silent. 

There were about twenty of us, as some were left on the road, as they could not endure the journey and others got sick from wounds that were not treated in time. We were all men, under 40 years of age. The most recent material for any kind of combat. 

[...] 

The next day, they only gave us some old swords, and a helmet to all of us. It was time to go into that dungeon. The leader of the group of adventurers spoke to us and made things clear. 

-You are our slaves, as such you must obey. The only thing you must do is to go and bring an object of value. With that we will set you free. If you try to leave we will kill you. There is a group of men guarding the entrance. 

That man was maybe over 30 years old, he had a scar on his face, his hair was half long and he had a black beard. His gaze was somewhat cold and sinister, his face was elongated. He was missing a finger from his left boat. 

Hearing him say that, I felt a miserable object to hear that, we were sent there to die, it was obvious that they were afraid of finding something, and we were just the bait so that they could have security to enter without fear. 

We no longer had the rope in our hands and feet, but it wouldn't do to be like that in a place like the one we were going to, it was crazy.