Are true Heroes born or created? Are they products of their environment or are they simply destined for heroics? Is it simply within their soul's nature or is it nurtured by those who surround them? Do the souls of Heroes wander? From person to person? Making them heroes until their untimely end, then flirting off to another body and creating a new Hero? Or are the souls of Heroes fostered, grown through combat and forged in fire? Are these people born ordinary and they rise to the challenge the world presents them?

It could be one or the other.

Or neither.

Maybe it's a little of both?

Jaune examined himself in the sole dusty mirror in his room, by most people's standards it was drabber than drab but with eight children the Arc family couldn't exactly spring for new linens or furniture whenever something got worn.

Jaune quickly ran his hands through the blonde tangled mess on his head, his eyes drifting above his head.

Jaune

Warrior

The blonde boy groaned, of course he hadn't Advanced overnight. The words floated over his head, the second one in particular mocking him. He looked at his name and Class with slight disdain. Thoughts rushed through his head, the main one being whether or not this endeavor was suicide. He was only Level 10, he was Skill less and more importantly, he hadn't reached his Advanced Class yet.

Jaune turned away from the mirror, shaking the shadows from his head, and facing his bed where his armaments lay, a chestplate, a sword and a shield. All simple as they could be and made of average as could be steel, it was all his family could afford. His father was Ansel's sole Backsmith but the farming community usually only contracted him to fix broken tools.

Jaune slipped on the plate, shifting under the new weight on his shoulders as he tightened the new leather straps and securing the piece of armor. He picked up the shield in his offhand, testing the weight before slipping it onto his back. He slipped the sword into the specially made sword belt his mother had bought for him as a birthday gift, she was a Shopkeeper so she managed to haggle herself into a good deal on it.

The determining of one's Class was similar to normal genetics, if your parents were two Hero classes then there's a good chance you'd be born as one of the classes or develop as a combination of the two, if each were part of the Soldier Class then you'd most likely be born as a Soldier and in Jaune's case, if you were born from a Blacksmith and Shopkeeper, you should be a Blacksmith or Shopkeeper, an NPC or Needs Protection Caste.

Jaune was a genetic miracle.

When he was young his father had explained it to him, an ancestor of his was a Hero at one point and fell in love with a Blacksmith and had a child. The Blacksmith gene won out and continued to do so with each successive generation of their family…

Until Jaune was born.

The gene was still within his father and it had shined through in his only son and now Jaune had the monumental task of being something his family had pushed him toward since he could walk. A Hero. He didn't feel forced into his current situation, he'd been given plenty of points where he could have turned back, but he had been nudged towards this. Most likely unconsciously. His Mother saying she couldn't wait till her son's name was a household one. His Father saying that he'd forge a sword befitting the young Hero his son was. His sisters all ecstatically telling people that their brother was a Hero.

Jaune wanted to be a Hero. He wanted adventure and glory and to save as many as he could from the dangers of the world. But could he? Jaune sat on his bed, staring down at his gloved hands before shutting his eyes, focusing mind on himself. His body, mind and soul. His Stats came into his mind.

Jaune

Level 10

Warrior

Str: 22 (B)

Con: 16 (C)

Agi: 17 (C)

Int: 11 (D)

Wis: 11 (D)

Aur: 12 (D)

Lck: 10 (D)

Skills

-None-

Jaune wearily opened his eyes, looking at his Stats while knowing what he was about to face always discouraged him a bit. He knew his Stats and Skills were stunted, whether it was by his less than ideal birth, the facet he hadn't Advanced yet or maybe even the fact he had no serious training. Though the latter most likely hurt either way, some Heroes began training as early as five year old, training with their parents and tutors until the reached of age to enter one of the Hero Academies that dotted the Kingdoms.

Jaune had managed to get into one of these Academies, Beacon. The school was a three day ride from Ansel in the City of Vale. He had managed to charter a ride on a trading caravan that had come into Ansel a week ago and they were leaving in approximately an hour. Jaune found his anxiety grating on him as the morning sun began to drift into his room, making the sun stained wood of his floor appear even lighter.

The same question that had been racing through his mind ever since he could remember screamed at him; Could he do this? Could he become a true Hero?

Jaune grabbed the knapsack of his bed and stood, slinging the canvas bag over his shoulder. The answer to his question ringing in his mind as he walked towards his bedroom door.

Could he become a Hero?

He wouldn't know for sure till he tried.

AN: I did it! I wrote a Prologue that was under a thousand words! This was fueled by me reading Forged Destiny and watching a lot of Fate while I have a head cold. If I'm being a hundred percent honest, I don't know what I'm doing with this. I don't have a planned plot or romance or anything like that. I'm going into this story blind (which isn't rare for me because I'm impatient as hell) but, I do have a good idea off the world and such.

Much like Forged Destiny, the people in this world aren't playing a RPG they're living it as naturally as we live in our own. The rest of the world is inspired heavily by DnD and the Fate series as well as SAO, WoW as well as a many other RPGs. This world has its own rules and history that's a melt pot of all these and my own thoughts.

I have a lot of ideas for this story and will eventually sort them out to get a better idea of what I'm doing with this. I hope you stick around and see what happens. Keep it real.