Legend has it that every hundred years, a young boy will be chosen from one of The Villages to journey across The Forgotten Lands and enter The Forbidden Cave to face The Big Bad Evil Monster that lurks within. As directed by The Prophecy, this boy, who will be known as The Chosen One, will have black eyes, be a doormat in real life, will occasionally get philosophical, and will carry the mark of The Order (a big zero), on his forehead. 729Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmMfCYb8CPP

Thus, it came to be that John Doe found himself at the edge of The Great Divide, staring at the cliff on the other side. With him was The Wise Old Man, who was destined to accompany him on this long and perilous journey.

"How will we cross this deep chasm that lies before us?", wondered The Chosen One aloud. 

"Faith, my boy.", replied The Wise Old Man, "Sometimes you need to take a leap of faith."

"How wise you are!", exclaimed The Chosen One in wonder. "I now know what I have to do."

Saying thus, he took a deep breath and jumped over the edge. He did not fall down, but floated gracefully over to the other side. Once he had flown around in circles a few times to master this new found skill, he carried The Wise Old Man and their supplies over to the other side. And they continued forward.

Needless to say, the rest of their journey was filled with similar incidents of wonder and adventure. Finally, after a month, they arrived at the mouth of The Forbidden Cave.

As The Chosen One prepared to go in, The Wise Old Man cautioned, "It is dark in there. We should light a torch before going in."

"No need.", replied The Chosen One. "I can see clearly in the dark."

"Overconfidence is a bad thing, my child. Only one who accepts his limitations can overcome all obstacles."

"You stay here.", replied The Chosen One, ignoring his advice. "I will go inside and soon return after defeating The Big Bad Evil Monster."

And with that, The Chosen One proceeded into the darkness in front of him. Occasionally, he would report his progress, so that The Wise Old Man was aware what was going on.

"There is another small cave here.", came his voice from within, echoing as it bounced off the walls. "It is pitch black in here, my powers seem to be useless."

"Light a torch, so that you can see your way around.", yelled The Wise Old Man into the opening of the cave.

"No need.", came the reply. "My acute sense of hearing will guide me."

A few minutes passed. Then The Chosen One's voice floated out of the darkness again.

"I am a little inside this tunnel now. Everything is quiet, but I can see a small glow coming from the floor."

"I am now near the glow. It seems that there is another tunnel. What the... Nooooo!"

And as his voice trailed off, never to be heard from again, another, more sinister, made itself heard.

"Speak mortal, where are you from?"

"I am from The Franchise, sire", replied The Wise Old Man reverently, for he was speaking to The Big Bad Evil Monster himself.

"Your sacrificial offerings are getting dumber and dumber. The last one had at least managed to avoid The Void of Silence."

"We are at a loss to understand it as well, sire. They are all descendants of the same lineage that once killed your father and almost killed you."

"These sequels are useless to me. You need to send me a better one next time, or I will see to it that The Franchise is destroyed."

"Very well sire. We will try to revive the lineage by changing the creation, selection and training of our offerings."

"Yes, you need a reboot, if you want to save yourself. I hope the next one will be a real challenge to me."

"I understand, sire."

"That will be all, then.", said The Big Bad Evil Monster. "Be gone, now."

And so The Wise Old Man begins the long journey homeward. He has a difficult task ahead of him. The fate of The Franchise rests on his shoulders.

To Be Continued (but should it be?)...