Simba's Quest for Power

I was born in a small village on the border of two kingdoms. It was supposed to be a peaceful hamlet, but the king of one of the kingdoms wanted it as a buffer zone between his kingdom and the other kingdom. The king of the other kingdom also wanted it as a buffer zone between his kingdom and the first kingdom. So I grew up in the middle of a conflict that would eventually lead to bloodshed.

During my childhood I had a friend, a boy named Mark. We went to school together, we played together, and we were in the same class. We both wanted to be adventurers when we grew up, so we always talked about our adventures we would have.

There wasn't much to this village, but there was an old man who lived in the forest, away from most people's homes. He didn't like talking to people, and he hated people talking to him. But if you needed help he'd help you if he could. And I remembered that Mark and I went to him once when we were kids because we got lost while playing hide and seek in the forest. The old man took us home.

I often wondered why the old man lived in the forest. It's not like anyone would want to live in a forest, because it's dangerous to live there. There were all kinds of wild animals in the forest, dangerous animals. And the forest was lonely, nobody wanted to be there.

But the old man lived there, and he seemed to be perfectly fine with it.

I think he enjoyed living in the forest, because it gave him a lot of opportunities to practice with his sword. He was an adventurer too, and he found most of his adventures in the forest. I heard stories about the dangers in the forest, and how the old man saved people from them.

And then I started having my own adventures. My first adventure was when I was 9 years old. I was walking home from school, and I saw smoke rising out of a nearby house. I ran to the house and entered it. I saw that the house was on fire.

I screamed "Fire!" and ran outside. I ran to a house next to the burning house and shouted through the door, "Fire! Help!"

The man who answered the door gave me a weird look. "I can see that, dummy," he said.

"Oh," I said. "Do you have a bucket?"

The man laughed at me. "Why would I have a bucket? You've got your own bucket, idiot."

I ran back to the burning house, and sure enough, there was my bucket. I brought it to the house and threw the water inside the house. The fire went out.

I stood in front of the house, my chest puffed out with pride. I saved the day!

Then the man who lived in the house walked out. "What are you doing?" he said. "You've ruined my house! Now I have no place to live!"

"But it's on fire!" I said.

"What do you mean it's on fire? It's not on fire, you just poured water on it!"

"No, it was on fire before that. It's all burnt around the edges."

"That's where the fire was, dummy. It's not on fire right now."

"That's not fair," I said. "You're trying to trick me."

"I'm not trying to trick you. I don't even know you."

"You don't?! You're ruining my life!"

I left, and went to Mark's house. Mark's father was the mayor of the village. I told him what happened. He said it was a shame and gave me a bunch of money.

"I don't need money," I said. "I want you to punish the guy who lives in the house. He's trying to trick me."

Mark's father said he would check into it and left.

When he returned, he said, "That guy is the richest person in the whole village. I can't do anything to him."

"Well," I said, "I don't want the money. I want you to find me a better sword. I want something I can use to kill people with."

Mark's father said that wasn't a good idea. He said killing people was bad and I shouldn't do it. He told me that he thought I should leave the village and go somewhere else. He said I could be a good adventurer, and maybe find some adventures in the big city.

I liked that idea. I packed a bag and left the village.