"Your mom?"
"Hey, I am telling a story! Now SHUT. THE. FUCK. UP!"
"Sorry..."

If I remember correctly, I had just turned twenty-two. I was making a living as a simple tradesman; however, I had recently been raided by some bandits. I tried holding them off, but I was not much of a fighter. One of them delivered a deadly blow by slicing my chest. It was how I got my first scar... Afterwards, it began to rain while I laid in the road screaming for what felt like a century with my cart destroyed, and coat soaked in blood. I did not know what to do. I lost everything, and I was severely injured. So, the first thing I thought of doing was getting up and trying to find a village where I could at least find a doctor of some sort; however, I found something much more benefitual... But, it came with a much bigger price than I had hoped for...

The cold sensation that filled his entire body made him quiver as he slowly stumbled down the rocky road. The bandits had taken everything, and they even had the nerve to take his shoes. The rain that was bombarding the area, however, made his trip down the road a bit easier. There was still one problem... The giant gash that went down his chest continued bleeding more and more as he moved. He could have waited for help, but no one would travel during the rain. Being an ex-salesman himself, he knew this fact all too vision began to blur, and he could already feel his body growing weaker and weaker from the blood loss. The rain also began to give him a cold, but that was nothing compared to the gash. He was protecting it with his favorite jacket. The jacket belonged to his father before he died in combat. The jacket, a symbol of military prowess, soaked up Hugo's blood and the rain. To reduce this jacket to a mere bandage made Hugo feel even worse.

Hugo fell to the ground once more. He did not feel any strength in his body that would allow him to continue moving. Would this really be the end of his life? His journey for adventure cut short because he tried to travel down a notorious road for bandit attacks just because it would cut his trip's time in half. He felt like crying again, but he heard something that stopped all thoughts. He looked up and saw a light on the side of the road that seemed to fill up the entire world. Its brightness was something holy to Hugo at this point, and he suddenly felt a burst of strength saying "this is it! This is your salvation! WALK!"

Hugo got back up again with the bloody coat becoming heavier as it soaked up even more and more blood. He stopped walking when he arrived underneath the light and began to look around for anything else. Was it just the lamp in the middle of the road? Who would do that? Hugo let out a few bits of laughter as his sign of acceptance. He knew he would die now, and he could not help it no matter what. This was the end of his life. He went to sit down be the lamp but suddenly fell backwards into... a house? The bright lights from inside the house blurred his vision even more so than the rain had. He then heard something that sounded like mumbling, and an image of a person hovered above him, as well. He could not focus on the image, however, because he had already passed out from blood loss...

"SO THE IMAGE WAS THE LADY THAT HEALED YOU, RIGHT?!"

"Oh my god, do you ever shut the fuck up? Let me tell the god damn story!"

"Right, sorry..."

Anyways, I woke up afterwards with a splitting headache, impaired vision still remained, and a killer pain in my chest. When I came to, I saw an unbelievable sight...

Hugo, despite the aching headache and pain in his chest, tried to stand up from the bed that he had been resting in. Curiosity only increased as he stared around the small house with his bloodshot eyes. He rubbed his eyes a few times so that he could get a better view and became surprised to find that the house seemed to be very simple. The room he was in looked like the main bedroom. There were not that many decorations around the place. There were no pictures, either... He looked around the bedroom some more but stopped when he suddenly realized something terrifying. His wound! Hugo looked at his chest to see bandages wrapped around him very carefully. He was incredibly surprised to see the wound taken care of, and he couldn't believe that he was still alive. He was sure that he had lost most of his blood. Before he could analyze the situation anymore, he smelled food cooking from the other room. He quickly left the bedroom and looked shocked to see a woman cooking what seemed to be breakfast. He blinked a few times before the woman spoke to him with a smile,

"Good morning there, son. I hope you are fully rested! You have a busy day ahead."

Hugo was speechless. This woman with crimson hair who seemed to be no younger than him was not only making him breakfast, but she even called him her son! He really must be dead, but his mom was not a redhead. Who was this woman? Hugo tried to speak, but his voice only made a strange sound that did not articulate any English words. He tried and tried, but nothing came out but a few grunting noises. The woman placed a few plates on the table which had an assortment of foods. She sat down in one chair and motioned for Hugo to sit in the other. Her voice was calm as she spoke to him,

"How about you sit down. Your body is probably still regenerating after the ritual."

Hugo was greatly confused at this point, but he decided to play along with this strange woman. He did not feel very comfortable with her because she had mentioned something about a "ritual." This was something that made him feel a bit uneasy. What had this woman done to him? He stared at her while he ate the food with caution. He feared that the food might have been drugged or even poisoned! So, he prepared to spit the food out if anything tasted strange to him. Maybe he was being paranoid... It wasn't right for him to judge the woman that just aided him in recovery. Hugo decided to give her a chance... And the food was incredibly delicious, anyways. He actually couldn't remember the last time he had a home cooked meal such as this. He ate his breakfast and decided to help the woman out until his voice could return to him. When it did, he would have many questions...

"Okay. So, you were injured severly, pretty much dead, somehow stumbled into an invisible house, and then a mysterious and beautiful young woman helped you recover? That is some story, but it doesn't answer my question." The young reporter questioned Hugo in the midst of his story.

"Calm yourself, young man. I am getting there." Hugo said with an agitated look on his face.

It had been another three days with the woman who made me recognize her as my mother. I do not know why, but I slowly started seeing her as a mother figure after each day passed. I never argued with her or rebelled agaisnt her because she did it all for the sake of keeping me happy. We had to clean the house a few times, which I didn't enjoy, but I was at least a little help to her. I had to pick her vegetables every now and then, but she never made me do anything serious. I guess she didn't want me to hurt myself, however, I felt fully recovered after the second night. It was... Weird. Well, it had been my fifth day at her house, and I was finally able to speak. That is when she gave me the true intentions of her kindness...

"I'm sorry, but what did you say?!" Hugo exclaimed with an astounded look.

"I know that this might be hard to take in, but you are just going to have to accept it, son. You died five nights ago, and I revived you as an immortal. You still classify as human because I performed a higher-classed ritual. I would never create something a slowly as a zombie. Be grateful, and I will gladly let you keep this ability as long as you promise to do as I asked." The red-headed woman crossed her arms over her chest after replying nonchalantly.

"But you are asking for the impossible! How am I to do that?!"

"As I said before, you are immortal. Your abilities should have fully developed by now, and you should be able to fight against such a force. Besides, I have also given you a special ability other than immortality and regeneration. You have incredible strength. With these abilities, I want you to do as I asked, or I will take away the abilities. If I do this, you shall die."

"I... But... I have no idea how to... 'use' this power."

"Just fight. Punch, kick, and do whatever else to win. It is what I made you for, son."

I didn't know what to say at that time. From what she told me, she had taken apart my insides and bound them each with a spell that could not be erased unless done so by the creator. This gave me my immortality, but it also gave me a permanent scar across my chest. My regeneration ability could never heal it. This saddened me greatly on the inside, but I moved on anyways. The woman threatened to remove my spell if I didn't do her task... So, I pretty much had to do it... Even if it would put me through hell...

Eagerly, the reporter interrupted Hugo again with a question, "So, what happened?! What was the task she had assigned you?!"

"I am getting to that, dammit!" Exclaimed Hugo with a look of irritation.

My supposed "mother" had sent me to rid the road of the bandits. This was apparently a very dangerous mission because the bandits were actually apart of something much larger than I thought. They were actually the same as me in a way because the woman informed me that they were all undead knights! They didn't hold immortality or regeneration, but they did have immense strength like myself. I couldn't dream of defeating these knights. Let alone with my bare hands! I MEAN FOR GOD'S SAKE, THEY HAD A GOD DAMN FORTRESS! HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSE TO DEFEAT AN ARMY, FORTRESS AND SOME KING? Well, despite these incredible odds, I went in anyways. It was my best shot at not dying... I found this ironic.

A cold breeze flowed past Hugo who proudly wore his father's uniformed jacket. He had no weapons, and he was not a very good fighter; however, he had nothing else to lose. So, Hugo walked down the path that the woman had told him to go. It was suppose to take him to some insane fortress with some insane number of villains and some insanely overpowered leader. As he walked further and further, he began to regret his decision more and more...

Hugo finally reached the large wooden fortress at about midnight, and his feet were actually not killing him anymore. He walked to the door and clenched his fist tightly. This would wake up everyone in the fortress, and it would probably start his first fight ever. With his fist clenched tightly, his teeth gritting, and his eyes closed; Hugo punched the front door to the fortress, and he was suprised to see the front door go flying through the walls of the fortress inside. He slowly walked in with both fists clenched and a fake look of bravery on his face. Within a few seconds, he was surrounded by the same type of bandits that had attacked him when he traveled down that ungodly road.

Hugo seemed shocked by what was happening! He was actually killing these undead knights with one punch each. The swords would try and hit him, but his natural fear of being hurt would help him dodge most of the blows. He would grab them by the neck and easily snap it, or he would just punch them until their bodies were completely squashed. This was what being strong felt like, and he loved it!

Hugo never felt so powerful in his life and felt like he couldn't lose. The feeling remained constant as he defeated the army of soldiers with great ease and few scars. The scars would heal quicky, though. He felt amazing, but it all flushed away when the final soldier came out. The giant, undead king looked at him with a grin of pleasure. It sounded like it was trying to speak to him, but he could not understand a single thing he said for some reason. Hugo actually couldn't tell what was going on. He just went on a rampage really without even realizing it. He blinked a few times at the giant and just shook his head. He readied himself and then charged at the boss. Almost right after he took the first step, the boss drew his giant claymore, which was easily the size of Hugo, and swung it at him. Hugo dodged the sword, but the ground beneath him shook from the claymore's impact with it. This caused Hugo to loose his footing for a mere second. This was how Hugo got his next injury which will leave a permanent scar as well.

The boss swung the sword down on Hugo's leg and severed it like a knife splits butter. His screams filled the air while he grabbed the nub of his leg. It felt unbearable until the greater pain of a new leg growing from the nub overwhelmed him. He looked at his new leg with horror and noticed that there was still a deep cut where the sword originally hit. He ripped some clothing from one of the dead bodies near him and quickly wrapped it around his leg. The boss looked at him with a disgusted look. Hugo stood back up and ran towards the boss again. This time, Hugo was able to grab on to the man's leg. With a grunt escaping Hugo's lips, he picked up the man and then slammed him into the ground three times before the king kicked off Hugo. This injured him greatly, but it also infuriated him. The next hit was another life-scarring one. The boss turned around and sliced upward. This cut off the right half of Hugo's head. The side of his head grew back quickly, but his eye did not form completely. There was no pupil, and the iris was only a tad bit darker than the rest of his eye. Hugo now lost his eyesight in his right eye. In order to prevent any problems, Hugo tied another piece of cloth from a dead knight around his right eye.

Again Hugo charged at the man finally disarmed the man of his giant claymore. It was surprisingly a much longer battle than he had thought. The fight with the army took at least two hours, but the fight with the boss seemed never ending. Since he finally had the claymore in his hand, Hugo did the final charge at the man. He pierced the man's chest with the mighty claymore and felt happy to watch the battle end. It was over... Or at least he hoped. With whatever strength he had left, the boss reached his hand up and pierced Hugo's chest with ease. This stunned Hugo, and he felt helpless while the boss ripped out Hugo's heart. Hugo watched as his heart was crushed in the boss's hands, and a great pain suddenly flowed through him. His heart... Crushed before him, yet he was still standing? Hugo removed the claymore from the boss's chest, sliced the head off of the man, left the fortress with claymore in hand, and began heading home. His chest healed slowly, and he felt greater and greater after each minute passed by. He still couldn't forget the image that floated around inside his mind. His own heart torn from his chest, but he was still standing? How powerful was this woman's magic? Hugo dragged the claymore through the ground and slowly approached the lantern again. He spoke with an exhausted tone, "It's done! I killed him! Please... Please let me live..."

Hugo heard no reply after that and assumed that he was set free. He placed a hand on his chest and began to cry a bit as he walked away from the scene... He survived... Somewhat...

"I am guessing they were tears of joy?"

Hugo placed his hand over his chest as he looked at the young man. He smiled a bit and spoke with what seemed a sad tone,"Sure. Joy..."