BennyBT

My candidate as well.

Whaaat? Oh my God! That was unexpected!

Well, here's my story. Last minute upload, as intended 🙂 Since space doesn't count as a character in high school/university essays, I stuck to those rules here as well. I hope it isn't a problem. Character count (excluding spaces): 2970 Based on a true story, but of course many of it is only fiction. Enjoy! ---------- The small tavern in Armor Cliff is every night crowded. Warriors of old come here and tell exciting stories. As the bartender of Ugruck’s Tavern (my name is Ugruck), I had the luck to hear a lot of these stories. Some of the visitors come here to listen to one particular warrior of the old ages: Tatelan. He became famous and rich rapidly and everyone has heard of his name. Every night the same thing happens and so it happened this time too: someone asked him to tell his story. The old man took out a ragged leather book from an inner pocket of his garment and drew a line on a clear paper. - ‘This is the 255th’ – he said. – ‘The 255th time me telling you the story. The story of how I became famous and popular. Not like I don’t like talking.’ – he opened his mouth to smile. Even only slightly opened, I could see that several of his teeth were missing. – ‘War is not merciful towards your beadwork.’ – he always said. Tatelan took a deep breath and then started the tale. – ‘You know; in this world it is not an easy job to stand out from the crowd. There are so many excellent warriors around, that it is really hard to find appreciation among them. You either have to be able to buy yourself into the elite, or you have to commit something great and unrepeatable. Being a poor guy with no familiar support, I had to climb up the rank leather to reach the top. Sleepless days of simultaneous work, sometimes overnight. Keeping every piece of crap to sell, working extra hard carrying all that stuff. Good thing is, over time, I got all the muscles on them arms.’ - he rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, showcasing his bare arms, to the admiration of the surrounding crowd. I admitted to myself, that despite his age, this warrior was still in a real good shape. - ‘Back to the story’ - Tatelan continued, sipping from his ale - ‘you know the raid Bosses of Arinar, do you?’ - ‘Of course we do,’ - a young blonde boy answered - ‘Kronus, The Faceless, The Black Elm and The Engineer.’ Tatelan looked at him for a few seconds, and the nodded. - ‘Yes, exactly’ - he said - ‘Robust monsters with special powers. They can even emerge from the dead and return over time. Well, as I said, with time and declaration, I managed to make myself into the fancy guilds of Arinar. Together with the finest warriors I went to fight these bosses. All of them. But there was one especially difficult boss. The Black Elm. You know, the most precious trophy of these monsters is the skin. But the hardest to obtain is the skin of The Elm. You may get pieces from time to time, but to have the whole set at once… Nearly impossible.’ Tatelan smiled. - 'But not for me. It was a rainy day, and the team has just defeated Elm after hours of long fighting. The folks were exhausted and were disappointed to find no significant relics. Not speaking of the crust. So, after a brief discussion, everyone left to the nearest tavern. All, but me. I wanted to try and get that skin anyway. And.. Lady Luck was barely with me before, but this time she was! What seemed to crack for the others, came off perfectly for me! I was standing there, with a whole skin of The Black Elm!’ Tatelan looked around. - 'It was a really big deal back then. The Black Elm is a really tough enemy and he rarely drops relics. Me getting his skin unhurt; it was the way to fame and richness. I got a lot of gold for it and got invited to the fanciest companies of Arinar.’ ‘And what happened to all that gold?’ - somebody asked. - 'Well, some of it I used to upgrade my gear, and the other was spent on booze.’ - Tatelan answered and then turned to me. - 'Another round, Ugruck, everyone's my guest!’

The Promise - the title made me think of the film. Very nice story, definitely my candidate for winner place.

The reason why you see this imbalance during wars is the very simple and is has a reason why me myself don't ever take part in it either: it SUCKS. You don't get much in exchange for an hour of constant running-dying-fighting. Besides, wars are in the least convenient timespan possible: 7pm is the busiest hour in most of the families.

It is a masterpiece of writing. It describes struggle and pain in a very high level of philosophy. Definitely my nominee for first place.

I guess for the easier judging, the story should be in English.

Oh, right. Okay. Was thinking about something else 😄

Excuse me? Game process? What do you mean by that?

I guess the second one.

Now it's my job to just not let the one who you guessed arrive on time... Yet I also guess Higgs.

I guess you can, if you highlight that the new one is your entry and ask them not to take the first one into consideration.

Genius.

Gotta admit it's well done 😄 Easier if you've got a guild at hand, and are not a lonely wolf like me. Nice, I like it!

That won't be a problem.