"Andy, you're back, where were you?" ...... "It's been years! Come with me, we can show the whole world what you're made of! ...... "Andy? ...... "Wait where are you going? ....... Andy? ANDY!!!
How many times have I had that same dream... I can never seem to forget about it. Andy... where did you go.
It was 10 years ago when I first met him. I was a wandering mercenary, obsessed with strength. Back then there was nobody stronger than me, afraid of no one, heartless and cruel, the epitomy of the food chain, I was the Perfect Warrior.
That was until I met Andy. For the first time in my life.....I lost. I didn't stand a chance, my pride had been crushed, all of my effort to get this strong had been for naught. I knew nothing of my past and family and had lost my goal in life, but Andy decided to take me in.
There I met many others, some who I could say I even became friends with. Andy was the head warrior of the entire maple army, and the people I met were part of his personal squadron. Together with Andy and the entire army, We bested countless foes, conquered entire nations, and lived a life in luxury. Having seen Andy as he fought with all of us, I had rediscovered my reason for existence. I wished to become like Andy; loyal to his nation, caring towards his soldiers, and more than anything else, I wished to surpass him.
There as Andy's right-hand man I trained to become stronger, I swung my sword until my arms collapsed, ran until my body dried out, and sweat until the ground was mud. All for the sole purpose of surpassing Andy. Time and time again I challenged him to fights and time and time again I lost. Even with everything I could muster he was always 1 step ahead. What was it that pushed him to become this strong? What was it that Andy went through in order to reach such a level? I felt as if my training was not getting me anywhere until 3 years after I met him, for the first time in over a hundred of our duels I managed to make his back touch the ground. I lost the duel yes, but I could finally see the limit to his seemingly limitless power. Throughout the next year I trained harder than ever and I managed to push Andy into a corner; that day I had almost surpassed him....and it was also the last day I had ever fought against him.
During one of our missions we were ordered to take forcibly take down an underground syndicate called the Black Wings and capture their 6 executives where they secretly partook in the trade of stolen goods and slaves. Due to the difficulty of the mission only me and Andy were allowed to partake in this and our squadron was left nearby in case of an emergency. They were no match for the combined force of us and we easily captured all but a single executive, Francis the Puppeteer. I was given information on all the executives and their abilities and realized that we had been fooled. I left Andy to keep watch on the executives and I returned to the surface. There I saw another Andy, and a body, and another body, and another body, and I had instantly grasped the situation. I reeked of bloodlust; Francis fled immediately and I could not make it there in time to find him. Andy could feel my bloodlust all the way underground and he abandoned the hostages to see what had happened. I explained the situation to Andy and explained the situation to the squadron but could not convince them. We were both banded as traitors by our own men. Andy sensing my intent to kill asked that we both turn ourselves in. Trusting in Andy's judgement I did as he said. The Black Wing's had escaped, but that was not of importance. With only me as Andy's witness, I couldn't do anything to prevent the actions to come. The King, sentenced Andy to death and me to 10 years in prison. Andy pleaded with me that I don't do anything to harm the ones who viewed him as a traitor. Believing in Andy's words to the bitter end, I watched as he wholeheartedly accepted his own death maintaining his loyalty to the nation as he gave his last breath.
A year passes...
While in jail and even to this current day I still could not fathom the decision that Andy made. Why would he maintain loyalty to the nation that betrayed him? Why did he tell me to stop? I reeked of vengeance that night. Andy did it out of the good in his heart, he didn't want to cause trouble for the rest of the nation even if it was not his fault. He did what he thought would be best for everyone........except me. "Do you know how it feels Andy?" "DO YOU KNOW HOW IT FEELS TO WATCH YOUR ONE AND ONLY DREAM AND REASON FOR EXISTENCE STRIPPED AWAY FROM YOU AS YOU WATCH IN SILENCE?!"
I had it. I went on a rampage that night.
I escaped the prison and killed every soldier in sight along with my squad and the King. My already blood-stained hands were now drenched. I fled the nation to continue working as a mercenary. Over the course of the next 2 years I tracked down the Black Wings and annihilated all of them and took my time especially with Francis. Now I had nothing left to do. I remained feared as the strongest being in the world. Too indecisive to end my life, I continued to train every day and had many monologues and dreams about Andy every day.
"Oh Andy, the world knows nothing of your strength. I have yet to find a single soul who can even dream of matching you. I could never beat you at anything and the moment I come close you go and disappear on me, I never got the chance to prove myself to you. Now no matter how hard I train I'll never be able to surpass you. But that's okay, because there will never exist a being who can do that either. That's too bad, we'll never be able to show the world what true strength really is. Andy, the only person in this world I have ever admired, where did you go?
I continued to repeat these lines and variations of it in my head over and over again, year after year until Andy became this sort of invincible incarnation of power in my head and I had tried to convince myself that Andy had simply disappeared. For reasons I don't even know myself I still chased this imaginary incarnation of power and continued my training to somehow surpass him one day. I knew it was futile but I could not accept the way I was now nor could I ever.
3 years pass which now leads into the current date and by now I may have already long surpassed Andy as well with everyone else in the world but I still can never accept the fact. Still indecisive of my future hoping for one day where Andy will come back and now I'm left with an interesting opportunity.
"The Black Mage huh. Well he sure wouldn't be able to do that with Andy around. But since he isn't why not. If there's one last I can do with my life It's to prove that Andy was truly the best. " "BLACK MAGE. IF YOU WON'T LET ME PROVE TO THE WORLD THAT ANDY IS THE BEST THEN I'LL PROVE IT TO YOU FIRST. I'LL SHOW THIS WHOLE WORLD WHAT TRUE POWER REALLY IS. "Andy...I'm sorry that my ability lacks so much compared to yours. As for me I have reached my limit. I don't know who this black mage is but there is no one in the world who can best you"
