Adil/Stories
Out in the desert, Alk and Light are asked to deliver food, water, and a message of atonement.
Villager: AHHH!
Bandit Boss: You're wasting my time.
Bandit Boss: And my time is valuable, see... Worth one or two lives, even.
Village Head: No! Please! Just don't kill anyone!
Bandit Boss: Then you'd better give me what I want.
Village Head: But if you take all our food, that'd be the same as killing us! Have mercy, sir! At least leave enough for the women and children.
Bandit Boss: Oh, don't you worry about that. We'll be collecting your belles and your brats, along with the grub.
Village Head: *sob*
Bandit Boss: Still stalling, eh? Hey, fellas! What do you think my rate should be? One life a minute?
Village Head: A-all right! I'll take you to the storehouses!
Village Head: *sigh* Here we are...
Bandit Boss: It's darker than the inside of a camel...
Bandit Boss: Whoa!
Flustered Bandit: BOSS!
Villager: Close the door!
Village Head: Adil! Now!
Adil: Sink into the depths... Sand Falchion!
Bandit Boss: GYAH! Re-RETREEEAT!
Villagers: Adil! Your plan was a success!
Villagers: My family's safe again! How can we ever thank you?
Adil: Let me use this town as a pit stop between hunting trips. That'll be more than enough.
Village Head: What if we just built you a house?
Villagers: That's brilliant! No bandits'll be able to touch us when Adil's around!
Adil: No. I wouldn't stay in it long enough to justify the cost.
Villagers: ...Then, please, at least take this. It's food and water.
Adil: Your kind words are reward enough. Now, if you'll excuse me.
Village Head: And there he goes... Empty-handed again…
Alk: Is everyone okay?
Village Head: Travelers? What brings you all the way out here?
Alk: We saw a bunch of dust go up and got kind of worried but…
Village Head: Oh. Well, everyone's fine now. Thanks.
Village Head: ...Though now that you're here, there's a favor I'd like to ask of you.
Village Head: Could you deliver these gifts and a message? You see, there's this man, and he acts pretty reserved around us, but we—
Light: Will you not tell us the story from the beginning?
Alk: Adil!
Alk: Phew... We finally caught up!
Adil: Huh? Who are you?
Alk: We've got a delivery for you!
Light: And a message.
Light: These are gifts of gratitude, not tokens to buy forgiveness.
Light: They will never forget that they abandoned your village in its time of need... It is a burden they are prepared to shoulder for the rest of their lives.
Adil: ...You can talk?
Adil: I-I mean... I can't believe they told you all that…
Alk: Will you take the gifts?
Adil: ...
Adil: This place is a wasteland. Even the royals don't send their patrols out here. Inhabitants are always being forced to choose between their own lives or the lives of their neighbors.
Adil: One day, there was a famine. The people who gave me these gifts chose to survive, and my own village was left to die.
Adil: In a way, they're carrying around the lives of my friends and family. I couldn't let bandits get to them— that's all.
Light: Will you go on fighting alone?
Adil: I made myself a promise.
Adil: I don't want to lose anything ever again.
Light: Then will you not come with us?
Light: We know of a place where neighbors extend their hands not to take from, but to aid one another.
Light: You will find comrades there, willing to fight alongside you.
Adil: Heh. Sounds like you're trying to sell me on a dream.
Adil: But your eyes say it all. You're dead serious, aren't you?
Alk: Does that mean...
Adil: Yeah, I'll bite. Who better to make miracles happen than a mysterious boy and a talking animal?
Adil meets Yusef, a young goat thief, and learns that they lost their loved ones to the same famine. Yusef is determined to avenge himself on a village that stockpiled food and water while others starved, but Adil urges him to break the cycle of suffering.
Boy: A couple of goats, Yusef. That's all we need!
Yusef: Hoo... I got this. Today's the day I finally prove I'm worth something.
Yusef: Chaaarge!
Yusef: Wait!
Yusef: Waaait!
Villager: Thief!
Yusef: Shoot. Gig's up. Better grab a bleater and get—
Yusef: AH!
Villagers: Wake up!
Villagers: Goat thief! Goat thief!
Yusef: Ugh...
Villagers: Where are you from? Who sent you here?
Yusef: I'm a Desert Hawk!
Villagers: Liar! They don't let kids into the Desert Hawks!
Villagers: Where are you really from?!
Yusef: Yeah, you're right. The Hawks don't accept anyone that can't fend for themselves. But I was gonna show them! I was gonna show them all up!
Yusef: Hah. Whatever... It's not happening now... If you're gonna kill me, hurry up.
Yusef: I know this village. You guys survive by hoarding food and letting every else waste away. You've got so much blood on your hands, killing me will be like a drop in the bucket!
Villagers: Shut his filthy mouth!
Village Head: Wait!
Villagers: Did his village die in that famine?
Villagers: Then he's the same as Adil...
Yusef: Wh-what? You here to do their dirty work?
Adil: No, I'm here to adopt you.
Adil: From now on, you're my son.
Yusef: ...What? Hey, uh, I think your jailer's broken.
Adil: My name's Adil. I lost my village to the same famine that took yours.
Yusef: You did?
Adil: Yeah.
Yusef: Wait. If that's true, why are you working with these dirtbags?
Yusef: They left our friends and family to die!
Yusef: Kids, the sick, the elderly... Everyone came to them for food and water, and they just looked the other way... My mom starved because of them!
Yusef: Hey... Join forces with me. Let's take over this damn village. That'll be more than enough to impress the Hawks.
Yusef: Then we can give these vultures A TASTE OF THEIR OWN MEDICINE!
Adil: No.
Yusef: Why not? Don't you want revenge?!
Adil: Enough people have suffered.
Adil: It's true... I'm full of this hurt and anger, and for the longest time, I didn't know what to do with myself. But thanks to you, I think I just figured it out.
Adil: I'll build my own village. It'll be a place where all honest people can find food and a home, and its gates will always be open to the needy!
Adil: I can't make this village on my own though. Is anyone willing to help me?
Villagers: Yeah! No more suffering alone!
Villagers: Be the change you want to see in the world!
Yusef: You're all delusional.
Village Head: You're going back to the Hawks?
Yusef: What do you care?!
Village Head: I'm not asking for your forgiveness. I'm asking you to be a witness.
Yusef: A witness?
Village Head: Here and now, we pledge to do everything in our power to make Adil's village a reality. ...Won't you stay and make sure we keep our word?
Yusef: *sigh* Fine. But it's only 'cause I don't trust you.
Village Head: The sun's rising. Finally, an end to a long, long night…