I couldn’t tell whether I was male or female. My hair was short, barely past my ears, shorn at the sides with most at the top messily skewed from the amount of hair-ruffling and moving I’d been doing no doubt. A silver color that matched my eyebrows and eyes, dark-brown skin, light cuts along my jaw and my arms, and my clothes. The same khaki and brown tunic and pants tucked into worn boots, with white bandages wrapped around my wrists. I touched my face, pressing my fingers against my skin and pulling at my ears and my nose.

It hurt of course and I knocked it off after Nubi gave me a look that said all of ‘what are you even doing’? But I was fascinated. It was like this body was something I’d never seen before.

“Do you really think we can stay in this village like this?” I asked, looking at myself as I poked the side of my nose then checked my teeth.

Nubi floated above my head, resting in my hair. “Your destiny is to meet the other three heroes and save our world, we can’t stay in Sinaba forever.”

I knew they were right but it didn’t feel right just abandoning Grandma Fu. None of this felt right even if I was trying my best to accept it.

“But we don’t know where we’re going and we do need some kind of help,” I said. “I guess this could be considered a 「 SIDE QUEST 」.”

Looking up at Nubi, I realized for the first time that Nubi didn’t look human at all. Most faeries that I remembered from some of the things I’d read were human-like with wings. Nubi looked like they were made of a flame. Their legs and arms were disconnected from their body, the core of their being glowing a soft white while the further out it went they were a silvery shade. They had two eyes which looked more like two wide pupiless circles and when their mouth moved, the inside was silver and white as well, no teeth but also no tongue or anything. The color in their body moved like water, sinking into one color and rising with another then back, and the “flame” that made up their being was constantly moving but they never seemed to burn out. Just constantly be.

“What’s wrong, Air?” Nubi asked, shuffling closer and pressing one of their “hands” against my forehead.

It was cool to the touch and I sighed, shaking my head a little as to not throw them off.

“Nothing, just… thinking about how far we have to go. And how little we know.”

Nubi floated down beside me and smiled. “Don’t worry, Air. Remember, you’ve got me!”

I nodded and tapped the top of their head. “Yeah, thanks Nubi.”

“You should probably check your 「 NOTIFICATIONS 」 too, there’s been a lot of them since you were talking to Grandma Fu.”

I looked up and noticed a blinking cursor settled somewhere over my head. How didn’t I see that before? The number 9+ sitting in the middle of the red circle and I grimaced. Oh no, there was some catching up to do.