A man in a black cloak stands in the town square and has been there for as long as anyone can remember. He never moves, and if you speak to him he says only one phrase: “If you want answers it will cost you everything you have.”

“Everyone’s got secrets and everyone’s got something that they would rather not tell but don’t dare lie about. I generally find that encouraging people to talk about what you don’t want to know about them is a good way to keep them quiet,” her father had said. “But there’s one thing I don’t understand, no matter how much time I take to think about it.”<br><br>Nia looked up from the metal plate in her hands. The dinner that was on the plate was quickly growing cold as the two of them sat in the small single room hut they called home that overlooked the town below. She had been training with her father for ten years now and had yet to find something that he didn’t know the answer to.<br><br>“What’s that?” she asked, placing the plate down on the ground. <br><br>“There’s a man in town who you have yet to talk to,” he replied, nodding over his shoulder. “If you want answers it will cost you everything you have, that’s all he’ll say.”<br><br><br>“What kind of man has nothing more to say than that?” Nia asked, rubbing the soft wool that protected her forearms and shins. ‘Armour doesn’t protect the body, it protects the mind and soul too. A person unarmoured is weak, a person too armoured can’t move. The balance must be achieved to grow strong.’<br><br>She had been taught that for as long as she could remember, she was still figuring out the second part but she could see the truth in the first. <br><br>She stood up and made her way to the door. She walked out onto the grass just outside the hut and looked down. It was day time, especially at this height you could see everyone in the town and good distance out around it. The man in black however, was impossible to miss. <br><br>He stood in the centre of the town, in the middle of the crossroads at a four-point intersection of the only good roads that connected the town to the outside world. Was he here when she was born? She didn’t think so, at least, she couldn’t remember him from that young. But she couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t been there. <br><br>His attire never changed, the same black cloak hanging off him. It was fully buttoned up and the hood covered his face. Very few people walked down the main road, and most of those who did would walk down a side alley to avoid him. The farmers and traders and merchants just left their things on the ground and scurried off in the opposite direction. <br><br>Could she figure out what the answer was that he was protecting? Why was it so valuable? Why didn’t he want anyone to know? All questions that she wanted the answer to, but they were also questions that she was afraid to know the answer to. She wanted an answer, but not that badly. She had too many other things, too many things that she couldn’t lose. <br><br>She went back inside and sat down next to her father and began to eat her dinner. <br><br>She had thought about it for several hours every day for almost a year now. Almost a year since her father had mentioned him to her. But everyday she came to the same answer. <br><br>She didn’t have everything she had to give.<br><br>Almost an hour later she stood up, finished with her dinner. She placed the plate on the small fire that was burning in the corner of the hut and watched it melt away into nothing more than a puddle of molten metal. There was a small clunking noise as the metal fell to the ground and she knew that the remains of her dinner had gone. <br><br>She walked back out and this time her father followed. She looked at him and he nodded. “No Armour, if you arm yourself too heavily you can’t move,” he said.<br><br>She walked down the hill and onto the road. It was almost dark, just the last light of the sun remaining and only half of the torches in town lit. She knew that she was taking a huge risk, but she had come to a realization. She didn’t have everything to give because if she did, she’d be giving away her life. It was that simple. <br><br>She walked down the main road, the paved stones clicking under her feet. The man stood at the crossroads, unmoving as she approached. <br><br>“If you want answers it will cost you everything you have,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper but it was as if it was screamed into her ear. She had expected this. She paused for a moment, just a moment and then nodded. <br><br>“Just one question, I want to know what you mean by everything,” she said.<br><br>“I mean your life, nothing less,” he replied.<br><br>She smiled as widely as she could and reached to her waist and drew the sword that hung there. She had practiced the move for months and could do it faster than the eye could see.<br><br>She raised the sword and in one swift motion she slid the blade through her stomach and into her chest cavity. She felt her heart stop beating as the blade wedged itself between two of the arteries that left it. <br><br>The man in black stepped back, a jolt in his entire motion, it was the first time she had ever seen him move and she felt a thrill of pleasure run through her body as the pain began to block out her vision. <br><br>She slid to the ground and placed her hand on her chest. That’s where the heart was. She was already feeling cold, especially in her chest area. She had been told it would feel like this if she killed herself. <br><br>The last thing that she remembered was the man in black walking over to her and kneeling down. She couldn’t see his face in the darkness of the hood, but she knew that he was looking at her.<br><br>“When you have nothing more to give, you have nothing more to lose. And when you have nothing more to lose is when you can grow the strongest,” she heard him say, his voice fading away as her vision went black.