“Wake up, Kaylen. We’ve got to get going.”

Kaylen moaned and rolled over, nearly falling off of Riven’s uncomfortably firm divan. Riven had found her in front of her apartment the day before, curled up and crying. She didn’t know what was going on, all she knew was that her friend was in need, so she had offered Kaylen her bed, but Kaylen had insisted on the divan instead. Kaylen’s aching back regretted that choice now.

“What could possibly be so important?” she asked, eyes still tightly shut.

“Andra needs us at the castle. According to the messenger she’s, uh, in command of the army now. And engaged to the princess. And we’re her team of advisors.”

Kaylen’s eyes snapped open. “We didn’t get cursed by a fairy again, did we?”

Riven shook her head. “No, this is actually happening. In this universe.”

Kaylen’s curiosity managed to outweigh her despair and she sat up slowly. “How?”

“No idea. But we’re expected right away.”

Kaylen looked down at her clothes. She was still wearing the red and white of the priestesses of Sanguis. “Can I borrow some of your clothes?”

“Yeah, if you want. They might be a bit small for you, though,” Riven said, giving her a concerned look.

That was another problem to be solved. What to wear. She added that to the mental list next to “where to live,” “how to make money,” and “what to tell my moms.” Almost all of her clothes marked her as a priestess. Plus they were all in her quarters in the temple. Where she would no longer be permitted. Along with all of her other stuff. “How to get my stuff” was added to the list.

Riven helped her select a blouse and skirt, both in black—it seemed that all of Riven’s clothes were black—and the two quickly made their way to the castle. The city was still cleaning up after the demon attack, and the pair passed a number of scorched remains and bloodstained cobblestones. Outside of the castle, they discovered Fiona loitering near the gates and joined her.

“How do we get in?” Fiona asked.

Riven looked over to the gate. “I don’t know. It’s open. Maybe we just walk in.”

“That or we have to check in with the guards,” Kaylen suggested.

In the end, they settled on walking in. The guards watched as they walked past, but made no move to stop them. Inside, the castle was a flurry of activity. Clerks and servants were dashing about, carrying messages and running errands, likely trying to prepare for the war. Just inside, the group discovered a desk with a busy-looking clerk shuffling papers.

“Ah, that makes it simple,” Riven said as she led the others to the desk. “Hello, we have an appointment with Andra von Ekko.”

The clerk paused in her work to eye them suspiciously. “You must be her experts.” The ways she said the last word suggested that she regarded them as anything but experts. “Stairs to your right. Fourth floor. Meeting room B.”

The group made their way up the stairs and found the appropriate room. Inside they found Andra, standing at the head of a long table, beaming proudly. She was no longer dressed in the black of a thief. Instead she wore soft pastels, though in a similar dapper style with plenty of lace and frills. The table had a box of donuts and a teapot and several cups sitting on it.

“You made it,” she said cheerfully.

“Yeah, we made it,” Riven replied. “What the hell is going on?”

“I saved the princess,” Andra said simply.

“And now you’re engaged to her?” Fiona asked. “And in charge of the army?”

“Well, not officially yet. But I am working for the crown.” She gestured to the room around her. “I got a room with a chalk board and one of those tables with the map painted on it for planning strategies.”

She paused to frown at Kaylen. “Why are you dressed like that?”

Kaylen took a deep breath. It was time to say it out loud. “I’m not a priestess anymore.”

Andra’s eyes widened. “What? Why?”

“Yesterday, when I told you about being trans…”

“Seriously? Just like that and your power is gone?” Andra asked.

Kaylen nodded.

“Kaylen, I am so sorry,” said Riven. “I should have said something sooner.”

Andra waved her hand dismissively. “It doesn’t matter.”

The others were stunned.

“How can you say that?” asked Riven.

Andra shrugged. “You don’t need to be a priestess any more. You’re an advisor to the commander of the military. You don’t need divine powers for that.”

“But I can’t help people anymore,” Kaylen said.

“Sure you can. You can help people by helping me put a quick end to this war.”

“But I lost my connection to the goddess. It’s like losing my best friend.”

“Your best friend was a transphobe,” Andra stated firmly. “You’re better off without her. Now, have a seat and a donut and help me figure out what we’re going to do about this stupid tournament.”

Stolen story; please report.

Fiona cocked her head as she chose a chair. “Tournament?”

Andra rolled her eyes. “Yeah, the king is trying to find the four legendary heroes.”

Kaylen looked up from her chair. “Oh, so we’re assuming this is that war?”

Andra shrugged. “I guess we are. I’m going to be honest with you, I’m not happy about being stuck with this particular job. Prophecies are worthless. People only ever understand them after the events they’re supposedly warning about, and that could just be coincidence. What we need to be worrying about is throwing the ball.”

“Ball?” Fiona asked.

“Most prophecies are useless,” said Riven between sips of tea. “But the Edhru Prophecy is kind of an odd case. I actually wrote a report on it back when I was in school. It accurately predicted the Calamity, you know. No one believed the prophecy enough to try to stop it, of course, but afterwards people took it a lot more seriously. It was used to prevent a war between Starfal and Rampart. And to prevent the orc invasion. Although that gets a little messy.”

“But how does someone even see the future?” Andra objected. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

“There are a number of possible ways,” Kaylen said. She stood and walked over to the chalkboard, selecting a piece of chalk to write the options as she described them.

“I also studied the prophecy during my training. It’s really interesting. First, it could be that Edhru was a saint. Saints are essentially very powerful priestesses who can communicate back-and-forth with their gods. Whichever god she worshiped may have told her of the future. Or it’s possible that she was a mage who discovered how to use magic to view the future. She may even have been given a vision by a fairy or demon or even a vampire with a unique power, but if that’s the case, it raises the possibility of the prophecy being deliberately deceptive.”

“She could be a time traveler,” Riven added.

Kaylen added that to the list. “That’s a popular theory amongst mages. I’m not really sure why; even gods can’t travel through time, after all, but some people believe Edhru visited the future or even was from the future originally and traveled through time through unknown means. But the point is that there are a number of different ways the prophecy can be accurate.”

“Which leads us to a problem,” said Riven. “If this really is the war Edhru foretold, then I’m afraid I side with the demons.”

“Of course you do,” said Andra.

“Hey, I have a good reason for it this time. According to the prophecy, do you know what happens when the four heroes defeat the Demon King?”

Andra shook her head. “I never paid much attention to it, since I always thought it was nonsense.”

“All of demonkind is wiped out,” said Fiona quietly.

Riven pointed to Fiona “Exactly. If the four heroes fail, humanity is conquered and subjugated by the demons. If they succeed, humanity destroys every last demon. Neither is a great option, unless you’re me, but one is significantly worse than the other.”

“I see,” Andra said, thoughtfully. “In that case, we just need to make sure neither of those things happen.”

Kaylen furrowed her brow. “No, you don’t understand. Those are the only two possibilities presented by the prophecy. I know some parts of the prophecy are vague thanks to the fact that it’s been translated multiple times and the original has been lost, but every version agrees that those are the two possible outcomes from this war.”

Andra shrugged. “Then we’ll make a third outcome. The future doesn’t control me.”

Kaylen and Riven looked at each other. “I don’t think anyone’s ever tried that before,” said Riven. “I have to admit, I’m kind of into how brash it is.”

“I guess it’s worth a shot,” Kaylen said. “What do you think, Fiona?”

At this moment everyone noticed that Fiona was breathing very heavily. “Do you think there’s really a way?” she asked frantically. “Can we end the war without either side being destroyed or subjugated?”

“Yeah, of course,” said Andra. “You know me well enough that if I want something to happen, I make it happen.”

Fiona leapt from her chair to embrace Andra. “Oh, thank you, boss, thank you. This is a huge relief.”

Kaylen gave Fiona a curious look. “What’s going on, Fiona?”

Fiona released Andra who gasped for air. “Oh, uh, I sort of think I might be one of the four legendary heroes.”

“Oh, right, that makes sense,” said Kaylen.

Andra adjusted her blouse. “Why would you be one of the four heroes?”

“One of the four heroes is said to be a child born with no mother,” Fiona explained.

Andra rolled her eyes. “Well, that could mean anything. An adoptee, a Blessing kid, an alruane. There are tons of possibilities.”

“The child of a trans guy,” Riven added.

“Ancestors! Yes! The child of a trans guy!”

Kaylen shook her head. “Some translations of the prophecy describe that hero as a ‘new creature’ instead of a ‘child born of no mother.’ Most serious scholars agree that the original was trying to indicate that they were an entirely new creation made by a man, possibly an alchemist.”

“And Fiona is the first homunculus,” Andra said thoughtfully. “Meaning that if we’re assuming that the prophecy is real and that it’s talking about this war, Fiona’s almost certainly the ‘child born of no mother.’”

“She does have a heroic look about her,” Riven admitted. Fiona blushed.

“And she does wield an enchanted weapon,” Kaylen added.

Suddenly Andra gasped. “This is perfect. If this is true, then all we have to do to change fate is keep Fiona away from the Demon King and find a way to defeat him without her. Whether we find the other heroes or not, it doesn’t even matter.”

“I’m not sure if it’s that simple,” said Riven. “Feels like we’re jumping to a lot of conclusions. Besides, isn’t the king expecting you to find the four heroes?”

“We’ll just find four bodies to fill the slots like I did with all of you.”

Kaylen narrowed her eyes. “Excuse me?”

Andra ignored her and continued. “We’ll send them off to fight the Demon King and keep Fiona far away from him while we figure out how to end the war. So what all do we need to find? I know we need the ‘child born of no mother’ and this tournament champion.”

Kaylen turned to the chalkboard and began making another list. “Right. First is the ‘child born of no mother.’ Another of the heroes is said to be the champion of a great tournament. Of course, languages are tricky. It could be referring to a champion of sports or a military leader or even a king.”

“The third is said to be a saint,” Riven continued. “That one’s pretty straightforward. Pretty much every version of the prophecy uses their respective language’s word for ‘saint’, so there’s not much question there. Of course, there hasn’t been a saint since before the Calamity, so I don’t know how you’re going to find someone to fill that role. And the last one is said to be a ‘being from another world.’ No one can really agree on what that means.”

Andra stared at the chalkboard. “Couldn’t it just be a foreigner or something?

Kaylen shook her head. “It’s true that ‘world’ could have been mistranslated from another language’s word for ‘country,’ but just being a foreigner isn’t all that special. Why would Edhru list that as the defining characteristic the fourth hero?”

Andra shrugged. “Maybe the fourth hero isn’t all that special. Either way, it doesn’t matter as long as we can convince the king that our interpretation is correct. And he’s an idiot.”

“So you’re just going to throw together some ramshackle tournament to find the champion, and then find whatever random orphan and foreigner you can pick up?” Kaylen asked. “What about the saint?”

“I wouldn’t say ramshackle, but essentially, yes. For the saint we’ll just find a really impressive priest or something.”

“And in the meantime we’ll figure out a way to stop the war without too many people dying, right, boss?” Fiona asked.

Andra nodded. “Exactly.”

Riven sighed. “I hate that you’ve convinced me that we can save the world.”