This is the tale of a Hero, a legend of tragedy and chaos, of triumph and light. An ancient myth of an elder day when magic still flowed and the Old Creatures still walked. When swords and bows were wielded, when the innocent were rescued and when the helpless were aided. A time when adventurers roamed the land, and a time when a great darkness fell over all of Albion. Paladins still championed the light, saving the defenseless and upholding Justice, but Rogues, bandits, and murderers also dwelt here, and this is also their tale of destruction and evil. This is the tale of when the destiny of all of the people rested on one soul, one man, one Hero, this is the Fable.

It was a bright summer day when our Fable began. The sun was shining, the townsfolk were going from house to house, chatting happily, and the birds were singing merrily. One boy was especially excited, for today was his sister's birthday. He vowed to remember to buy her a gift, because last year he had forgotten. But alas, where was the lad to get a present worthy of his big sister? He had no money, no precious items, nothing he could give her at all. But the young boy's father stepped in, and they say that this is how it began.

The father agreed to give him a few gold pieces if the boy helped out around the town. He warned the boy to be on his best behavior, and told him that the townsfolk would report on any mishaps. The boy was eager to get his sister a present, he merely nodded and dashed off as soon as the speech was over. He first met a girl that was even younger than him! It seemed that she was missing her teddy bear, and our hero gallantly agreed to track it down. He walked around town, inquiring about the bear, and finally just began turning the place upside down to find it. Soon the boy looked behind his neighbors house, only to encounter something besides an innocent teddy bear.

His neighbor, young Miss Amy, and the village butcher, Mr. Jenkins, were locked in an embrace! The butcher stammered an excuse, and then saw the futility of it on the youth's shocked face. He made the boy promise not to tell, and offered him a bribe. The boy stared at the shining gold piece for a second, thinking of how happy his sister would be with her present, but then remembered poor Mrs. Green and their children. He shook his head defiantly, and dashed off with Miss Amy and the butcher yelling after him. He quickly reached Mrs. Green's house, and met her at the doorway. Fuming, she told him about how her husband always ran off, no doubt fooling around with some woman. The boy was mute, faced with a difficult problem. Tell the wife and ruin a marriage, or keep silent and let the terrible secret stay hidden? His fathers words came back to him, and he told Mrs. Green the whole tale. She stormed off immediately, and he ran off to find new work to be done.

His next encounter was with the local bully, Butch, and the local mama's boy, Clarence. It seemed at first that Butch was attacking Clarence for no reason as usual, but Butch had a different story. He claimed that Clarence had stolen his sisters bear, but Clarence said that he was about to return it. The youth did not particularly care for Butch, remembering the insults and small abuses he had committed in the past. The boy quickly threw a flurry of punches at Butch, knocking him down and making him retreat. Clarence thanked him, and then gave him the bear to return.

The boy tracked down the young girl in distress, and quickly returned Rosie the Bear to her. She was overjoyed, and promised to tell his dad about the good deed. Next, Mr. Donalds came running up to him from the warehouses in town. It seems that he needed to attend to "business", but needed someone to guard all of his barrels. The boy agreed to help, and patrolled the warehouses vigilantly. But not long afterwards, Jimmy the sneak came along and began to tempt the boy with rumors of hidden riches in the barrel. The lad didn't much care for Jimmy either, he was known for being a liar and tattle-tale. He landed a right hook on Jimmy's jaw, and sent the boy scurrying for a guard. Mr. Donalds quickly returned, and thanked the boy for a job well-done.

The boy then began the walk home, but was stopped by a hulking guard waving a broadsword. The guard charged him with "Violent acts against...", but let him off with a warning. When the boy returned home, his father lectured him on being good again, and sighed at the trouble he had caused. But the man kept his word, and gave the boy three gold pieces for his good deeds. The boy had never had so much money in his life, and quickly looked around town for a suitable gift. The inn and shop were closed, but a seedy looking trader was hanging around town. He sported a massive mustache, grease into a thin and crooked line on both sides. The boy was intimidated, but traded in his gold for a box of chocolates. He knew his sister would love the chocolates.

He ran up to the Barrow Fields, where he and his sister, Theresa, often played. A lonely scarecrow sighed in the breeze, and the ground was hot under his bare feet. He talked to his sister, and shyly handed her the candy. She was overjoyed, but began to tell him about her strange dream. In the dream, she had recieved chocolates, and then something terrible happened and she woke up.
"BANDITS!"
The boy and his sister were jolted out of their conversation, and saw Mr. Brown running through the town gates at breakneck speed. The man wheezed and gasped, and had almost cleared the gates when they all heard the zzzzzthump! of an arrow burrowing into flesh. Mr. Brown fell, a pool of blood spreading from his body as the children watched in horror. Theresa screamed for her brother to hide, and sprinted away to warn the town. A laughing and whooping horde of bandits poured through the gate, waving torches and longswords. One leaned over the corpse and plucked out the arrow, chuckling, "Got one!"

The boy hid for hours it seemed, he heard screams and the crackle of flames in the distance. Oakvale was burning, his home destroyed. He sobbed quietly, and he finally heard the raiders exit the town, lugging the pitiful treasures that they had salvaged. Only then did he run into town, a blazing inferno of death now, and he picked his way through the debris to his old house. There his father lay dead, and the boy began to run to him. An old man came out of nowhere, and told the boy that he would only meet the same fate as his father if he did not escape. The boy struggled, but then saw the truth in the mans face, and they both teleported away in a flash of blue light.

The boy awoke to the insistence of a young girl standing above his bed. She warned him that he was already late for training, and to hurry up and meet the Guildmaster at the Melee Ring. The boy rubbed his eyes groggily, trying to forget the nightmare that he had been having that night and many nights before that. The nightmare out of his past, of his burning town and slaughtered family. He jogged out of the main guild hall at a good clip, nodding to all of the senior Apprentices that passed him. The boy burst out into the sunlight, and then spotted the Guildmaster and the girl Whisper already at the ring.

The Master admonished him for his tardiness, and handed him a stout quarterstaff. A practice dummy of straw was set up in the ring, and the boy quickly demolished it with ringing blows from the hard stave. Whisper also picked up an oak quarterstaff, and stepped into the ring with him. The boy easily blocked her first attack with a thwock of wood on wood, and then countered, smashing the staff into her side. She dropped back, and tried a lightning fast rush with the end of the pole pointed towards him. He rolled sideways and smacked the staff into her unprotected back. She cried out, and then conceded the match.

The boy was then charged with emptying the nearby woods of a wasp infestation. He entered the tranquil woods alone and unafraid, with the smooth staff in his hands. The wasps charged him, but he smashed them with the heavy stick and easily deflected their attacks. Once his task was complete, he returned to the guild for more training. He picked up several apples on the walk back, and the cook rewarded him with a piping hot blueberry pie in exchange for them. It had been a good day, and the memory of the Oakvale massacre began to heal.

It continued that way for many more years, until the boy was no longer a boy, but a man, trained in the sword and the bow and the energies of Will. He was tall and lean, with a large Iron longsword and a stout Yew longbow. He had learned to channel lightning from the heavens, and was full of confidence for anything the world could throw at him. Before departing from the guild, he decided to fashion a name for himself.

From then on, the world would know of the Hero known as Ranger, and would listen as the tales and legends about him grew in length and deed, and he was welcomed throughout all of Albion. But for now, he was merely a teenager, charged with ridding the local picnic grounds of yet another wasp menace. This is only the first part of his saga, and the next will tell more of Ranger.

-Searo, formerly known as Pr0be.