“And the hero used his enchanted sword to drive away the shadows from the land, The End.”

A little girl was snuggled in her bed with her mother by her side, reading her the Hero’s Tale. After the book had ended, the girl looked up at her mother. 

“Mama, what’s a hero?”

“Well sweetie, a hero is someone that saves people.” 

“Mr. hero… doesn’t have a name. Who is it?”

The mother looked at her intelligent girl with surprise, but still smiled. Then a loud bang went off above them and resounded against the stone walls. The girl’s mother suddenly got up and went to the door, quickly saying to the girl that she would be back. The mother’s footsteps could be heard going up the wooden stairs because of the old wooden building, and a moment later, the girl heard muffled voices arguing back and forth. She couldn’t tell what words they were, but from the sound, she guessed that both of them were angry and frustrated: she didn’t like that. She covered her ears between the pillow and her bed and pretended not to hear anything: That is what her papa said to do, anyways, when the “adults” were having a very important conversation. Yelling at each other seemed important enough. 

Honestly, she knew what “adults” meant as much as she knew what a “hero” was. All she knew was that they were important people, and that she would be one someday. 

After a little while, her mother came back downstairs, the distinct creaks signaling the girl. The girl turned to her mother with a sad look in her eyes, and her mother immediately understood and embraced the girl. 

“Honeyyy, it's ok. Mama was just making sure that the loud sounds don’t come again.” 

The girl seemed a bit relieved, and her mother tried to change the topic.

“What were you asking before? Something about a hero right?”

The girl forgot all about her worries and trained her thoughts onto her question. 

“Yeah! Who is it?” 

“Well, a hero is…… isn’t someone you need to know.”

The girl formed a confused face, and her mother kept trying to come up with something believable. 

“It’s, well… It’s anyone you believe in to save people no matter what.” 

“Ohhhhhh..” 

**********************************************************************************

The girl wanted to find a way, she wanted to find a hero. The next day, she spent her time in Bontis, which her mother said was a small town in Calcia. She had told her mother that she was going to play with her friends, on the other side of town, and snuck inside. 

Once she wandered around a bit, she sat on a bench she found, swung her legs playfully, and took out a book to use as a cover to watch people. She saw a person feeding a ba-ba shog; another guy was moving a big pipe through the town; and a third person was trying to sell what looked like circles on a string. After the thirteenth person, the girl got bored and started to read the book, though she couldn’t understand all the big words in it. Instead, she just stared off into space, thinking about how she could find a hero. 

*****************************************************

Just then, a big man walked up to her. 

“What are you doing here little miss?” 

The girl started to panic: There was a stranger that she didn’t know, who was asking her about why she was in a place she shouldn’t be. 

“Charis, I’m back!” 

A stern voice rang out, and the lady with red hair, the one who lived upstairs, jogged over to the two. 

“Thanks for waiting sweetie! We should go home now.” 

The lady shot the man a glare, easily picked up Charis, and turned to go. Once the both of them got far enough away, she let Charis down and bent down to child’s level. 

“Now, tell me, what were you doing alone in the middle of town? It could be dangerous. Lots of people come and go from here.” 

Charis looked down at the ground and pondered whether or not to tell the truth. It was embarrassing to admit, but she mustered out the courage. 

“Auntie Mali, I was trying to find a hero!”

The lady almost laughed at the absurd answer, but saw that the girl had a sincere look on her face. It was a look that the lady recognized and empathized with. Her heart immediately melted and she became open to the girl. 

“Yes, you might find one here, but why don’t we go back home where it’s safer. I might have something that might help.” 

The girl was proud that her transparency paid off, and curious at what the “something might be”. They walked back to the house, excitement filling the girl, until finally, it bubbled over. 

“What’s it?” 

The lady gave a knowing smile to the girl. 

“You’ll know when you go up there and see.” 

The girl kept her mouth shut, not wanting to bother the lady more and risk losing the knowledge to satiate her curiosity. They got back home after an agonizing walk and it was finally time for the big reveal. They walked up the creaking stairs and the lady opened the door to the attic, revealing a cozy and clean little living space. The lady then went over to the bed and brought out a box labeled “Safe” and brought out a brass colored object. It looked like two tubes stuck together on a smaller tube with gears at the top and bottom. The lady showed it to the girl and held it up to her eyes. 

“You use it like this.” 

She pulled the tubes apart to match the distance between her eyes and stared through the contraption. 

“They’re called binoculars.” 

She gave it to the girl and the girl tried using it, but she just saw a few blurry objects. 

“I can’t see” 

“Try turning the gears until you can see clearer.” 

The lady took the girl’s hands, guided them to the gear, and turned them for her. Almost immediately, the objects around the room grew clear and much closer. 

“See? Cool right? This way, you can find a hero, even from your room!” 

The girl was excited and wanted to rush to the window in her room. 

“Thank you Auntie Mali!!”

The excited little girl rushed down the stairs, and the lady sighed with content.

***********************************************

“Look, it has been 8 months since you moved in here, I’m sure that you understand this already, but no explosions, it’s dangerous!” 

The Innkeeper, who is also the girl’s mother, was seething with annoyance at Auntie Mali. 

“I know it doesn’t happen frequently, and I would like to keep you around. You’re such a big help with repairs around the place and you help out with Charis from time to time, but please, no more tests like these.” 

“Ok, ok, this will be the last one, I promise.” 

“Good.” 

The innkeeper left to tend to the customers wanting to book a room in the lobby downstairs while the girl crept around the corner. She had spent the entirety of the night, looking out of the window with amazement in her eyes. She didn’t know how late it was when she went to sleep, but the girl was awoken by the sound of yelling and decided to check it out.

“Auntie Mali…” 

The lady looked at the girl and gave her a bright smile.

“It’s fine, I just finished what I was working on today. It’s perfect now!” 

The girl’s eyes widened and she became curious all over again. If Auntie Mali had something like the binoculars, what else did she have? 

They went upstairs and Auntie Mali got out a pair of gauntlets. They had blue plating on the exterior, several wires, and a circle of sorts near the wrist, which was all connected by its leather glove as its base. Though the base was two fingers less of a glove: it could only fit onto three fingers, leaving the thumb and the pinkie open. 

“I call it EmberHeart.” 

“Woahh…. What does it do?” 

Auntie Mali forgot that she was talking to a girl and started excitedly talking about EmberHeart. 

“It burns whatever you want it to burn, so it’s an intelligent tool. I built it using techtalium as the fuel, and using its capability as a magic battery and charger it-” 

Mali looked at the girl’s confused face and stopped explaining the fine details of her invention and decided to show her. She picked up a scrap piece of paper between her thumb, index, and middle finger, then snapped. Purple flames erupted and quickly consumed the paper until nothing was left. 

“See, it’s safe. It doesn’t burn me and it doesn’t release smoke.” 

The girl was speechless. She didn’t understand half of it, but she knew that glove didn’t produce a dangerous fire to her or Auntie Mali. 

**********************************************

Knock, knock, knock* 

The door to the inn suddenly swung open, revealing a squad of armored guards forced their way in and went to the innkeeper. 

“We are the imperial guards of the Calcian king, Arax. On his order, we have been searching for your highness, Amalia. You might know her since she has distinct red hair.” 

The innkeeper thought of the situation as weird. 

‘Why would the imperial guards be looking for the future calcian queen?’

However, she did not want to get involved with the imperial guards so she let them search the place, hoping Amalia would take care of herself. The guards slowly moved upstairs and drew their weapons. Once they got up to the attic, they saw a little girl sitting on the bed, facing the wall. The window was open and a note was left on the wall. 

‘Boo’