The battle has been won. The evil vanquished. Our hero sits alone beside aroaring fire. He washes the blood from his blade and sweat from his brow. There should be elation burning in his chest as bright as the sun. Instead he simply feels tired.
Years of toil and strife that would had seemed time and time again pointless. Quests chasing after this or that and each one brought new faces in and out of his life. Far too many died. Far too many of his friends had died. They never mentioned the painstaking grief or the guilt in the hero’s tales. They only mention glory, honor, and chivalry. No one knows of the scars that will be written upon their flesh and heart.
Our hero’s eyes drift down to his hands. Each bearing it’s own battle marks. Every one of his wounds told of the reality of a ‘hero’s’ life. Then there are the hidden scars beneath skin, flesh, and bone. The scars written into his essence, the ones that truly will never fade. Faces of his friends falling for his sake. Faces of his supposed foes who he had always told himself were evil. That vision has faded as the years have passed. In the eyes of himself, every man thinks he is a hero. Is he no better than the wickedness that threatened his home and loved ones? Did he not bring on the massacre of hundreds of men?

Off in the distance he can hear the song of his soldiers. Their voices rise to the sky filled with magnificent joy. Finally their war has ended and home is waiting. Our hero turns his face over his shoulder and sees the men dancing in the firelight, drinking themselves into a stupor. If only he could join in their merriment and drunkenness. Alas, his heart is too weary to sing the songs and tell the tales, that’s what they’ll want after all, they’ll want to know his tale. All will seek to know the tale of the conquering general. They call him the Lionheart, a name perhaps suiting for his younger self.

“That’s all they’ll hear about,” he whispers as he finally sets aside his blade. “They’ll hear of valiant acts and heroic conquest. Everyone will know of the Lionheart, but, they shall never heart of the Tiredheart.”