Birth of a Legend

Story of how Aval Herzen, the defender of men, gained his legend.

The elevator continued its ascension, shooting up through the levels of the base. For each level it passed the stronger the smell of blood…the smell of death, got. The fighting had been brutal, the soldiers in the base had been forced to flee to the underground bunker and any that didn’t were left to die above. Aval stood in silence in the middle of the elevator, remembering what had happened only moments before. The cheering of the soldiers after he volunteered to go to the surface and protect the entrance to the elevator, all of them chanting his name, it was almost deafening and Aval couldn’t help but let out a few tears as he remembered he might not see them again. ''Calm Aval, you…you will survive! They cannot kill you!! YOU WILL SURVIVE!! ''

*BANG*, the elevator slammed to a halt as it reached the ground level. Taking several deep breaths Aval drew his pistol as the doors of the elevator opened and revealed the enemies behind them. At least 4 squads, maybe more, plus a rather posh looking commander that was standing in front of the rest, all with guns of various types pointed strait at him. Taking a few steps forward and raising his pistol in defence, Aval was interrupted just before he could fire when the commander began talking.

“And what the hell are you supposed to be? A one man army? I advise you get out of our way young man because otherwise we are going to sh-“

“What am I? Doesn’t matter, all you need to know is that while I’m here YOU ARENT GETTING DOWN TO THAT BUNKER!!!”

The commander let out a loud, mocking laugh and raised his hand, obviously signalling for his troops to prepare to fire and in return Aval activated his semblance and prepared himself.

“While you’re alive? Oh well then it’s all good. FIRE!!”

The first bullet barely even caused Aval to wince, the second brought out a loud groan, the 3rd, 4th, 16th, 32nd, 65th, now they caused some pain, but Aval didn’t flinch. The soldiers fired an almost never ending stream of bullets at Aval but he didn’t move, didn’t show any sign of wilting under the fire. Only when the very first sniper round pierced his shoulder did Aval show any sign of real pain and he let out a loud cry as it burst out through his back, leaving a large hole in its wake. Seeing the damage the round had caused, the soldiers re-doubled their attack, seemingly tripling the amount of guns being fired, or at least that’s what it felt like to Aval as his body began to shake due to the sheer amount of bullets hitting him. It lasted for mere minutes, but to Aval it felt like hours, and by the time the firing ended he was left battered, bloodied and he let out a loud roar before falling to his knees in front of his attackers.

<span style="color: rgb(242, 242, 242); line-height: 115%; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 242; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #F2F2F2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: background1; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;">“Look at this pathetic bastard, thinking he could stop us from getting in and slaughtering every single last piece of meat in that bunker!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; padding: 0cm; border: currentColor; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 31.0pt 0cm; tab-stops: 297.75pt;"><span style="color: rgb(242, 242, 242); line-height: 115%; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 242; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #F2F2F2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: background1; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;">Laughter broke out amongst the soldiers but was quickly silenced when Aval began to rise up off his knees, a bloody, gruesome smile of satisfaction on his face and a look of shock and horror on the enemy commander’s as Aval once again raised his pistol.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; padding: 0cm; border: currentColor; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 31.0pt 0cm; tab-stops: 297.75pt;"><span style="color: rgb(242, 242, 242); line-height: 115%; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 242; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #F2F2F2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: background1; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;">“How….how are you….we...HOW ARE YOU NOT DEAD!?!?!” the commander screamed out, his fear obvious in his voice. Aval spat out a mouthful of blood and laughed as he stood up to full height, showing off the number of bullet wounds littered across his body.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; padding: 0cm; border: currentColor; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 31.0pt 0cm; tab-stops: 297.75pt;"><span style="color: rgb(242, 242, 242); line-height: 115%; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 242; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #F2F2F2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: background1; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;">“HAHAHAHA!! You expect this to kill me!? This is only a flesh wound!!!”

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; padding: 0cm; border: currentColor; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 31.0pt 0cm; tab-stops: 297.75pt;"><span style="color: rgb(242, 242, 242); line-height: 115%; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 242; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #F2F2F2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: background1; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;">Before a single man could reply Aval had already emptied his pistol’s clip into them and had begun to charge his attackers. --

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; padding: 0cm; border: currentColor; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 31.0pt 0cm; tab-stops: 297.75pt;"><span style="color: rgb(242, 242, 242); line-height: 115%; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 242; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #F2F2F2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: background1; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;">Coughing, Aval leaned his bloody body up against the wall of the elevator, pressing the activation button and letting himself collapse as it began its descent. The combat had been short, bloody, and horribly intense, but he had still had an endless amount of fun killing the men who had threatened to kill his friends. As the elevator descended faster and faster Aval felt the life draining from him as the pool of blood under him grew and just before he could close his eyes, *BANG*, the elevator hit the ground floor and doors swung open to reveal a room full of blank faced allied soldiers.

<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; padding: 0cm; border: currentColor; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; mso-padding-alt: 0cm 0cm 31.0pt 0cm; tab-stops: 297.75pt;"><span style="color: rgb(242, 242, 242); line-height: 115%; font-family: "Helvetica","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-themecolor: background1; mso-themeshade: 242; mso-style-textfill-fill-color: #F2F2F2; mso-style-textfill-fill-themecolor: background1; mso-style-textfill-fill-alpha: 100.0%;">“W…w-what? You guys act as if you are surprised to see me?” Aval said with a laugh, and the room was suddenly filled with cheering, laughter, and all Aval could hear was the constant chanting of the sentence ‘Alexander! The protector of men!’ as he happily drifted into unconsciousness.