THE ROGUE SNIPER
Once upon a time I met an adventurer known only as "The Rogue Sniper." I'd previously heard rumors about him, and I'm talking really, really crazy rumors. The people of Orkinshire (the village where I lived as a boy) was always ablaze with constant discussion on his apparent kills, adventures, and quests. I can dimly remember the first time I heard his name; I was about 11 years old, and I was playing Knights and Castles with the other children that lived in Orkinshire. As I was fighting a large pretend beast, I felt something wizz right past my ear, and I heard a sharp "ting!" on the wall, I blushed, looking around to see what happened. All the children had focused on the wall; stuck in the wall was an arrow with a small piece of paper on it, gently fluttering in the breeze. I was the only one to move, so I walked over, and gently plucked the note from the arrow, still shivering lightly at how close the arrow had come to ending me. The note read only this: "I got another." It was signed....The Rogue Sniper.
It was several years later when I had understood what that message had meant. I was a young man of roughly 18 years, and I was sitting in a bar with some of my mates. It had been a long night of tending to the village animals, and we were getting rather drunk in celebration of the new year. As the night progressed, we discussed several things, our favorite women, the royal family, and several other things. Some of us broke into fights, but they were quickly dispatched by the town watchmen, who carted them off to the jailhouse. Soon it was just me and my friend Pete left at the bar. It was quiet until he said "So, did you hear? That Sniper guy killed another one." I looked at him obviously surprised, because I had not heard of The Rogue Sniper in a long time. "What do you mean he killed another one?" I said, frustrated at not knowing what it was he killed all the time. "He killed another dragon, man." Pete said, smirking widely, and injesting another pint of beer. "He...He killed a DRAGON?" I had said, because when I was younger, I was told that dragons were the fiercest, most dangerous creatures walking this earth. "Yeah man, he kills them like they are kittens, it's like they don't even try to put up a fight against him." It was that day on that I had dedicated myself to my obsession, finding The Rogue Sniper, and seeing him bring down a dragon.
Another few years into the future, I was an adventurer myself. More of a scout, as I knew most of the land like it was my own home. On several of my adventures I had killed fiends, and saved innocent women, much like the stories that my parents had told me to get me asleep when I was a lad. As I was walking silently along a path, I felt the air start to lessen, and it got warmer around me. I thought this odd because I was heading north, toward the outlands. As I walked, the miles seemed longer, and the environment changed. The grass turned black, and the trees began to die. I stopped in my tracks, falling to my knees as I looked up and saw it. Standing over me was a 50 foot high black dragon, rearing it's head angrily and spitting fire and lava onto what was left of the charred landscape. As my breathing quicked, I closed my eyes, quietly accepting that I was going to die, and there was no way out. I bit my lip as I heard the dragon roar angrily, but nothing happened to me. I looked up, and saw the dragon with an arrow piercing through it's unarmored neck. I gasped, and saw a black figure zoom out from the foliage, and two more arrows fired from the wizzing blur of a man. The dragon wailed painfully, spitting fire all around, its tail smashing the weak, dead trees to the ground in it's rage. I saw the black figure jump high into the air, and shoot another arrow, which landed straight into the beast's eye, and then, slowly, the dragon tottered, and fell to the ground with an emmense "thud!"
I looked up, still on my knees, at my savior. He looked down at me quietly, planting a piece of paper on me that said "I got another one." it was signed....
The Rogue Sniper.