It was another clear day in Stormwind as Alaina came back from one of her many adventures. She meandered over the cobbles by the canal, and saw a rather poor looking man with his feet dipped down to the ankle. He was roughshod and tired, with scraggly hair and a hood over his head. Alaina held out a generous amount of silver coins from the bounty of what she had just earned and held them out to him.
“I couldn’t help but notice you looked sad, sir.” She said, in a cheery tone. He hovered his glance just over the coins and pulled his hood off, showing his scarred visage, and took them with a smile.
“Thank you. I was, for a bit.”
“Do you mind if I join you?” Asked Alaina.
“Only if you won’t complain about having to share the canal with an old man.”
Alaina stripped off her sabatons, her boots, and sat ankle deep with him.
“Aren’t there crabs in this water?” She queried.
“If there are, there’s nothing from us they might want.”
A raucous chuckle left Alaina. “I don’t know… after the day I’ve had, perhaps there might be aught they could feed from.”
“And just what sort of day have you had?”
Alaina had had too many dire adventures recently. To finally have one she could beam with pride about was worth everything.
“A difficult one, but more so in challenge than anything else. In the southern marshes, near where the border meets that land razed by dark energy, I had heard tell of plans from some self-appointed demonic warlord to follow the path of the Old Horde and conquer Azeroth for himself.
A foolish notion, clearly, he’d be stopped at the gates of Stormwind if nothing else. But left to fester and amass more troops, he could surely have done too much damage to too many people before that point. I challenged him to a duel, wishing to use his pride against him, and though I’m certain he was an excellent weaponmaster in whatever horrid plane he was born from, he was no match for me. I banished him and perhaps taught him a lesson for the next time he returns- do not bite off more than you can chew.”
The old man cracked a bit of a smile. “If you can slay demons, what are you doing sitting here next to me? Seems Stormwind is full of important people who can't help but chat to strangers they’ve passed on the side of the road.”
“I’d not say I’m that important, sir. Not yet at least.”
“Why not, and why yet?” He queried.
“An awfully strange way to phrase that question, but I understand.
As to why not? Well, I’ve only really just started. I was about eighteen when I began my adventure. I was sixteen when I first tasted true battle. And I was six when I began my training. I am twenty-three now. There is time.
As to why yet? I’d very much like to become important in the future. In fact, I believe it to be my destiny.”
“And why is that?” The bedraggled man asked, clearly at least somewhat entertained by the discussion with his curious partner.
“Because I have chosen it to be. We all have dreams, don’t we? And mine is to save the world, to become a Hero. I grew up reading and hearing stories of these grand adventures, people larger than life, tales written in gold etched into the very fabric of history. To be remembered, and to be remembered for doing something Good.
Do you have a dream, sir?”
“I certainly did.”
“Then why did you give it up?”
“Why do you say I gave it up? No, I completed my dream.”
“Oh… then what was it? What did you do?”
“May I be honest?” He asked, sitting a little straighter up.
“Of course.” Alaina said with a smile, her full attention peeled upon him.
“In my youth, so many millennia ago.” He snorted. “I was not quite unlike you. Only, where you wish to succeed, I actually did. You might think adventure and heroism are some lofty goals, but to me it was something I stumbled into, and something really rather quite easy. With a sword and some grit on my side, I took to the world and brought it to my knees. Magic and faith was overrated, of course. I won every battle I was faced with, bested every foe. I travelled every length and breadth, seeing every land we didn’t know of then, and even some you do not know now. I slew every single monster, saved every single person, every single time. Eventually tales of glory reached mayors and lords and even kings. I defended their kingdoms, and sometimes destroyed them too. But I was ever a man of the people. I had my pick of suitors, clearly, but married my childhood beau who passed some years ago. Every quest, every adventure, everything- I conquered them all. I was unmatched.”
“I am stunned, sir!” Alaina uttered. “Who are you if you have done all this? Surely there is some book, some record of your great deeds, if your influence extended that far.”
“I’m afraid I’m the last one left. History does not always remember you.
There are certainly some books describing my deeds, or details of my battles etched into the fields they took place, but whether they are ascribed to me is another matter entirely.”
“And however did you become a beggar on the side of the road?”
He snorted. “You assume too much. Just because my clothes are old and worn and I’ve not shaved for some weeks does not make me a beggar.”
“Oh, so you didn’t need that silver then?” Alaina questioned, more worried she offended him than wanting to take it back.
“I did. But not because I am a beggar.”
“It is just so hard to believe. If the stories you tell me are true, then how are you left with nothing, after all that?”
“As I said, history does not always remember you.”
“Then I will remember you. What is your name?”
The old adventurer ripped off a hangnail and washed his finger in the canal water next to him. “And what would be the point of that?”
“Because your deeds had meaning. If you helped save that many people, you should be written down in legend forever, for all time. So future peoples can know that bravery and courage are true and good and that we should fight for the future we want to make.”
“You did not know of me, yet I would argue from your own tales that you know bravery and courage are true. Being an adventurer, being a hero, is really not all that hard. To some they stumble upon it. To some, it comes naturally. People do not need to be taught to follow the Goodness in their heart.”
“Then what is the point of it all, then?”
“Isn’t it all to help people?” The man knew where this conversation was going, but led it anyway.
“Well, obviously. That is why we do these things. But why does that mean we must be forgotten, lost to the annals of time? If we have helped so many people, have we not earned the right to feel pride for our good deeds?”
“Is Pride truly what we should be looking to earn?”
“It is not wrong to want to be proud of what we have done after we spend a lifetime serving others.” Alaina scowled, thinking she knew where this was going. “Should we all just cast off every trophy just because it makes our deeds truer? I’m sure my wife would be rather displeased with that, considering she could count among their number.”
The old adventurer shrugged at her, and steered her onto a different line of thinking.
“Perhaps I am saying it the wrong way. Consider this, if you are still willing to listen.
You say you want to become a Hero. You seem to want glory. Adoration. Or at least appreciation. To be remembered. You seek legacy. Immortality, the easiest way mortals can find it. There are others, obviously. But the easiest.”
Alaina raised an eyebrow at him.
“But if you wish to save people, to be loved, to win… have you not already?
Just by what you did today, you have saved people who would have been in that demon’s warpath, even if they did not know it. So you have succeeded in making the world a better place.
You have found glory and adoration and recognition for your deeds, already. You were paid generously, and have adoration in droves. I will wholeheartedly say you have heartened me with your deeds, and I am glad to see the young carrying on my good work. So you have succeeded in making yourself known.
And finally, and perhaps the greatest gift of all, you have already won the heart of your lady - your Princess. If there is nothing else Heroes seek, it is to win the heart of another so wholly they might as well own it. So why is this not enough? Why do you continue to seek more?
You have succeeded. You are, by definition, a Hero already. You could lay down your sword tonight and have won. You have won! Is that not what you wanted? Isn’t that all we could want?”
“But I can still do more.” Alaina struggled to admit it, it must sound awful. The pride, the ego, she had everything but she still needed more. Surely her legend couldn’t end here. “I can still help more people.”
“And do you still want more fame?”
Alaina sighed.
“I do.”
“Then at least accept it wholly. I find it frustrating when people hide what they truly want.”
“It is not wrong to-”
“I never said it was wrong. You are already convinced of this. Or are you? You seem to be trying to tell yourself that it isn’t wrong.”
Alaina crossed her arms tightly. It was wrong. But was she wrong for wanting it?
“Should I stop wanting it? Should I give up my dreams?”
“No. If your dreams of glory are what you need to strive to do good, then it is a net positive that we have you very prideful.”
“But I don’t want to be prideful. I want no net positives. I want whole positives. I want to be all, and everything, and perfect, and flawless.”
“That just seems like another form of pride. You are human, aren’t you? Humans aren’t perfect. I think a little bit of pride is perhaps preferable than… say, wrath.”
“I don’t know why I’m even asking.” Alaina huffed. “You did everything right and you still weren’t remembered.”
“In the end, I found I had everything I wanted. I lived through those experiences. I did have glory. I did have love. I did have wonton gold, showering me.”
“But it did not last forever.” Alaina said sadly.
“But it did. I am still happy. I remember them. The countless feasts. The dances that lasted long into the night. The warmth of my husband’s hand. They are all gone, and yet they are with me still. You ask for so much, yet I promise you- when you have it all, it won’t matter no one reads the stories. Just that they were made at all.”
“Then should I just give up now and be happy with what I have?” Alaina pressed, still confused over this one last thing.
“Like I said, no.”
“But I already won?” She asked again.
“But you still want more.”
“I do, but that’s wrong.” Alaina shook her head.
“Ah, must I spell it out for you?” The old adventurer cried. “I am not saying you must give up your dreams. And I never said it was wrong, that all came from you.
If you can still help, then help. If you must adventure to the end of your days to be satisfied, whether it be in gold or battle or adoration or simply to revel in your lady’s love, then so be it.
All I am saying is you are looking at the wrong side of the picture. Immortality and dreams don’t have to last forever. It is not sad or a failure to fade into obscurity. And when you have won, and satisfied yourself, you will find that you no longer need many of the things you once did. Isn’t that exactly what satisfaction means?”
“Why didn’t you just say that from the start?” Alaina muttered. “I find it frustrating when people can’t say what they really mean.”
The old adventurer chuckled. “Then I will consider ourselves both thoroughly frustrated with each other.”
Alaina couldn’t help but smile a little at that. “So, what was your name again?”
“I’m not falling for that one.” The old adventurer chuckled, and set off into the crowd.
But as it passed, Alaina could not see him. And she never found him there again.