[ WP ] The root password for the universe is discovered .

I grew up here. I had a mother. We lived in an old farm on the outskirts of a small trade city. She would, on rare occations, get visitors. She traded goods in the city every once in a while. We did n't need much. Food. Water. This is the only world I knew. Nothing seemed out of place to me. 
 
 There were heroes and adventurers. They traveled the world, scoured dungeons for treasure, raised armies and went to war against monsters and men. I admired them, but that work seemed dangerous. They seemed fearless. They were not averse to loss, and strangely every one of them seemed to have resolve to act and if necessary sacrifice their life. When there are so many heroes, and you look up to them, you ca n't help but think death must be temporary and fleeting. It must not mean anything to them. 
 
 My mother warned me that the real world was dangerous. She told me not to risk myself for false prizes. We had enough for ourselves, and some day I would have to take care of this farm. I knew she was right, but I could n't hold back my wanderlust. I wanted to see the world. I wanted to take part in these hunts. I did n't want to be a merchant or a laborer. I did n't want to perform services or till the soil. I wanted to be a hero. 
 
 When I was getting a bit older, my mother left. I do n't know what happened to her. She told me the night before that she was going to go away for a while and she would be back when she could. It sounded like something had come up, and she wanted to take all the responsibility for it onto her own shoulders. I tried to hold her back, but she was strong. She was stronger than I had ever realized. She wrapped her arms around me one last time and told me that she had to go. I cried. She held up her hand and told me to rest now, and I fell asleep. When I awoke I was alone. 
 
 For years I waited. I worked the land and tried to trade for my survival. I also took it upon myself to explore the nearby wilderness. I found some of the smaller less traveled dungeons that had long been left behind. I explored and stole my way through caverns and swamps. I had gotten quite good at scouting, both finding and not being found. It was on one such expedition that I stumbled upon a group of iron-clad adventurers on the outskirt of the old Hollusk camps. 
 
 They had a fiery haired leader. A woman of some status. She bore a crest, a member of some well-known and battle-hardened guild. She was an angel and a champion of righteousness in all its forms. Her group had apparently come to the swamp to hunt down lesser basilisks, creatures that I knew of, and had hunted in the past for pelts, skins, and organs to trade. The creatures had long been uncommon and rare, but in the past few months they had become quite frequent nuisances to the livestock I kept. When I was comfortable enough I approached them calmly thinking it would be safe. 
 
 The leader and her men captured me. They seemed confused. They asked strange questions that I would only much later understand. They interrogated me. They asked me if I was a bot? An enpeesee? An ay-ei? Some kind of script? A Gee Emm? I knew nothing of the terms. They asked if I was with a guild. That I knew I was n't. I told them I was a farmer. `` A gold farmer?'' I assured them that I knew nothing of farming gold, and if I did, I would be a very rich man. 
 
 They did n't see me as a threat, and in time they untied me. They revealed that they were seeking resources to challenge a great wyrm that lived in the deep swamp. They needed protection against its petrification breath and the acid in its claws. The woman was the groups `` tank'' and their healer was a priest of some dark god. Their archers and mages would provide the needed dee-pee-ess to slay this dragon, if only they could acquire the basic resources to protect themselves. 
 
 I told them that I had seen much of what they were looking for in my time. I had a great stock of them in my farm, and I could probably trade them the necessary goods if they like. They asked my price. I told them that I would like to see them slay this dragon. They laughed. They thought me a liability, but if what I said was true, and I was willing to risk my life just to see a fight, they would certainly oblige me in exchange for what I had. 
 
 We set off for my dwelling, and while they were very suspicious of the dwelling, even calling it a cursed place, I laughed. I showed them what I had. A store room full of the exact things they had been looking for. My mother had long gathered these reagents and supplies, and we sold very little, as the market would pay you a good months wage for a trifling share of what we had. The adventurers were in awe. One among them was a smith, and another an enchanter, and another still an alchemist. In short order they turned my goods into finely honed products. Works of mastercraft equipment and powerful elixers. 
 
 The woman told me that their craftsman made me a set of armor and weapons befitting my use of a bow. This was amazing to me, I had not realized that what I had was used in such endeavors, but I was thankful none-the-less. It was interesting, and when this was said and done these would fetch an awful high price at the market, even if I tried to short-sell it. 
 
 On the day of the hunt we traveled far into the swamps and I watched passively as they made short work of the dragonspawn guardians on the exterior. The air was rife with an acrid sulfur smell. They were careful but quick. They wished to surprise the beast. The cavern it dwelled in was massive, as large as a small city. Deep within they found the beast... but it was not as it had seemed. 
 
 They went to battle, fire and ice cascading into the enormous monsters hide. It howled in pain and trampled heroes below its feet. I felt a petrifying fear as I watched it rend these brave souls to pieces. I was terrified and sad, but they did n't seem to waver even in the slightest as their men fell. The fiery-haired paladin called out, `` The witch is almost felled! Bring her down now!'' 
 
 With chains and hooks they surrounded her and pinned her massive head to the ground, then her forearms, then her wings, and last her tail. The beast whimpered and looked into my eyes cowering at the back of the room. I felt pity for her too, as I had for the army of soldiers that had fallen. She whimpered out something draconic, though I did not understand the words in tongue, they crept into my mind and soaked up my thoughts. 
 
 The paladin stood on the nape of the creatures kneck and raised her greatsword one last time, sundering the head from the body. The creature's form cried one last struggling breath and passed on. 
 
 Why had I wished to see this myself? What is it that drew me here. 
 
 It was then that I knew the word that had been spoken to me. It was a phrase of sorts for one's destroyer. In other languages it might be construed to mean a son or daughter. The felled creature had been sharing with me something... something cold and warm at the same time. What was she? What was I? I thought back to the interrogation the adventurer's gave me some time before. 
 
 I peered into the back of my mind in a way I had not done in a long time. Something was sleeping there. Something different. I looked... and saw a small blinking line in that place. 
 
 I pondered the word that massive beast had just shared with me. Something important was there, and the word appeared character by character in unfamiliar symbols as the flashing line moved in front of it. I thought solidly of the word, and the image in my minds eye flashed a thousand thousand characters in quick succession. 
 
 The woman screamed a call to arms looking in my direction. `` The beast! It's here!'' But I did not give them time to react. In a pulse of my flaming breath I incinerated their unprotected exteriors. With a flash of my tail I impaled the woman and her fiery red hair through her specially crafted breastplate. I looked own at my form and saw that I had grown large, far too large for even this cavern. I could barely flex without shattering the rock above. I remembered now what I was. Who I was. I had been damaged, and I had to be healed. My mother had been entrusted with my care and had protected me for a time. She moved us to lands far from the weapons that could harm me, and she had limited the number of resources that could be sourced nearby to harm her own hide, but they had still hunted her. And I had helped. But now I was back, in all my glory, as strong as ever. 
 
 In this world, I was a god. This was my world, the one I created, and I would have my revenge.
