“Child,” a soothing voice called out to me.

It was such a warm voice… I always felt like being embraced by my mother whenever I heard her. It made me feel like there was nothing I couldn’t face; nothing I couldn’t do. It was because of that feeling that I allowed myself to drift away… It was the feeling that I needed, and that feeling was what allowed me to forget about all the painful things that happened.

And yet… even despite that, I still found pain and death; still found myself insufficient for those that I cared about; for those that needed me, because… I always failed. At every turn, despite giving it everything I had, despite doing what I thought was right, in the end, failure was all that remained.

Not even in the warm embrace of the past could I find a place where there wasn’t any pain.

So I allowed myself to drift in the darkness instead.

But for some reason, my mind was pulled back deeper somewhere else. It was like a painful reminder that there was no escape. If I tried going away from those painful memories, then a fresh painful one would cause me to recoil back and away from it, back into somewhere else where I could ignore it.

“Althea!” shouted yet again that familiar deep voice. He’d been calling out to me for a while now, but I just couldn’t bring myself to go to it. I needed more time; I needed to get away from everything, I needed to find the place where I always recovered my strength and pulled myself back up.

Right now, there was only one place.

“No… Althea…” the deep voice called out… his voice fading slightly… “Are you sure you want to do this…? Look around you.”

* * *

“Child,” the soothing voice called to me once more, but I was still shocked about what happened to Celeste. “You cannot stay here… We need you…”

I turned on my bed, away from the sunlight that threatened to enter. It had been a few days already since Celeste died at the hands of those skeletons. I stayed with her body for a while, blaming myself for not being strong enough, and hating those horrible skeletons for doing that to someone with so many dreams until my tears dried up and the woman calling to me told me that I had to stand up.

There was no way I could leave Celeste like that in the middle of the forest, so with what little strength I had, I picked her up and walked with her sagging body in my arms until I reached the village. The people from the town were at first scared of what happened, and I was questioned by the elder about it. I told them everything that led to this and they went to make sure that it was true.

After a few hours, they came back with a few bone remains and confirmed that we had indeed faced the group of skeletons. I was let go by then, but I didn’t want to leave Celeste behind so soon, and I would’ve stayed with her for as long as I could if it wasn’t because her mother appeared and wailed over her body. The guilt from seeing that caused me to leave and go back home to my own mother.

Mom knew right away that something happened just with a glance, and I wasn’t one to lie to her, so I just told her everything. At first she was mad, but after I broke down in tears, she calmed down and put the scolding for later—not that I needed it, since I knew what I had done wrong and that we shouldn’t have tried to fight those skeletons alone.

Ever since then, I'd been alone in my room most of the time, and today, as usual, I heard a couple of taps of someone stepping by my window. I turned my head to look down and there I saw Cinnamon, as punctual as every day, looking down from her spot at me and about to jump down to peck me awake. But I didn’t need to be pecked awake, so with a sigh, I pulled myself up from the bed, and placed my back against the wall as the chicken jumped on top of the bed and walked closer to me.

She looked at me for a moment, did a couple of turns around my legs, and then simply sat over my lap. She liked to do that sometimes, to just sit on my legs, stomach, chest, or sometimes even my head, and then just groom her feathers for a few minutes.

“Bok,” she softly let out when I placed my hand on her back.

She looked at it for a moment, but quickly ignored it as she continued to pass her beak over her feathers, turning her head from one side to the other to make sure that no spot was left unchecked.

“You’ve been chosen, child,” the woman's voice called out to me once more. “As our Hero, you must stand up, you must fight; for Us, for the world, and for those who have fallen.”

I shook my head while keeping my eyes on Cinnamon’s orange feathers. “I’m nothing of the sort. I couldn’t save Celeste, and I couldn’t stand up and fight… I’m not good enough for this.”

“Your friend was a brave fighter, someone that did what was right for everyone else, regardless of how much it cost her. Her soul is with Us right now, and there’s nothing more that someone like her would want than for you to continue doing what was right… just like her.” she said, and I looked up to the ceiling.

“What are you talking about…?” I asked, since despite not knowing exactly who was talking to me, I was convinced that it was just some powerful mage getting in contact with me.

“Ah… I suppose I haven’t introduced myself… I didn’t think anyone in this world would be ignorant about me and Us,” she said, but I just tilted my head to the side in confusion and waited for her to continue. “I am Altheras, Goddess of Light and Healing of the Holy Gods.”

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In that moment, I felt the blood of my face drain and my head spin as I widened my eyes. It was true that nobody would be ignorant of Her and the Holy Gods! But I never expected to be contacted by Them directly!

“Bok!” Cinnamon surprisedly let out when I moved to bow my head down, causing her to fall to the side.

“I-I’m so sorry for the way I’ve acted! I-I-I had no idea that—”

A chuckle escaped from the Goddess, and I stopped myself from talking. “It’s okay, child. I understand why you could have felt that way. Lift up your head now.”

I slowly did as She asked, and looked out of the window and to the skies, where They were supposed to be. “Is there a reason for why you’re talking to me…?”

“Yes. We strive to clear this world from darkness and evil; from all that could threaten the good people that were created from Our bosom; to give eternal bliss to you: Our children,” She said with a commanding tone, and I couldn’t help but swallow as she continued. “However, we cannot lay foot in the world Ourselves. As such, we require the help of those with pure hearts to do Our will. I have seen the purity of your heart, and I’ve chosen you for such a task.”

“B-but,” I argued back, stopping myself momentarily as I thought of a way to say what I wanted to say to a Goddess. “I’m not… I’m not sure if I can do what you ask… My friend, she died because I wasn’t strong enough or fast enough…”

“She died to the forces of evil. You were simply not prepared to face them, but with Our powers, you shall go above and beyond that,” She said, after which I felt that same warm feeling fill my body from the time I fought with the skeletons. “Take Our powers—My powers—and go out, make sure that in Our world, no more people have to suffer to darkness and evil.”

* * *

I allowed myself to be convinced by the Goddess… I could feel Her power flowing through my body, and if what She said was true; if by doing what She asks of me, I can stop something like what happened to Celeste from happening again, then I was willing to give it a shot.

There was no way for me to do it alone, however, so I would have to do what Celeste wanted to do and go find a way to become a Holy Knight. They were the best mages and warriors when it came to handling the magic from the Gods, so I’d have to go to the nearest town with a church and try to convince them that I was chosen by the Holy Gods…

I didn’t know how I was going to do that, since I couldn’t just say that I could talk to Her, but I was assured that when the time came, there wouldn’t be a doubt about me.

I’d have to trust Her.

There was just one thing that I had to deal with first… and that was to talk to my mom about this. I’d have to convince her to let me go do this, or to convince her to come with me so she wouldn’t be alone.

I walked with short and slow steps outside of my room and to where my mom was likely to be, probably resting in the living room by drinking something or reading one of her books.

She was indeed sitting by the table, her back to me and something in her hands. I walked closer with my eyes downcast until I was a few steps behind her.

“Mom…” I said with a low tone of voice. She wouldn’t react, so I called out to her once more. “Mom, there’s something I have to tell… you…”

As I was talking, from her side, a light brown piece of paper fell to the ground. It was unusual for her to drop things, especially things she was reading, so I went down to pick it up. It seemed like one of the few letters that my dad and brother send had arrived. Some time had passed since the last one, and we were getting worried.

Though, as I glanced through it, my hands froze on the piece of paper, and no matter how many times I read it, trying to see if perhaps I read wrong, the answer remained the same. I involuntarily brought a hand to my mouth, and I could see my hand shaking. It was then that a loud sob came out of my mom, and I couldn’t stop tears from forming by the edges of my eyes.

The letter was from a friend of dad and my brother, who wrote with shaky handwriting that they were both dead. They had stayed behind to save as many people as they could when a surprise assault by demons fell on their base. The person that wrote this managed to survive thanks to them, but there were no survivors after a sudden pillar of fire destroyed the whole place. The person that wrote this knew about us, and the least he could do was to let us know what happened. He would’ve done so personally, but the front required as many abled soldiers as they could get, especially after what happened, so this is all we got…

“Mom…” I repeated with a shaking voice, and my mom finally broke down into wails. “Mom…!”

I couldn’t hold myself either, and like her, I broke down, falling on top of my mom as I embraced her from behind. She grabbed onto my arm, and lowered her head, but after a moment, she stood up and completely embraced me.

They were gone too… That—those demons! Those monsters from another land had taken them from me too! Just like those skeletons did Celeste! And I—And I… I was too late this time as well. If only I wasn’t so weak, I could’ve gone there with them! There might have been a chance to save them both, or—or to at least make sure that it wasn’t both of them!

This couldn’t go on. I couldn’t just stay here and cry about it. I had to go out there and make sure none of these things happened again. I had to destroy all of those monsters, demons, and evil beings that were taking all the people I care about away from me. I had to become stronger. With the Gods’ powers, I was going to go out there and make sure that none of this happened ever again. I was going to bring peace to everyone.

I was going to destroy my enemies.

* * *

A few days later, I was moving out of my home. I managed to talk to my mom about what happened to me and the Goddess. She didn’t believe me at first, but after I showed her the golden power that glowed in my hand, she widened her eyes and completely believed it. I wondered if she wanted to come with me to start anew in a new place, but she simply shook her head and told me that she was going to stay in our home. She said that it was the one place where my dad and older brother would want to return to, and there would have to be someone to welcome them back; even if it was just their soul.

Cinnamon somehow appeared to know I was leaving, as she was following me around until the edge of our small piece of land. I looked at her with glassy eyes. She didn’t know where I was going, and was never going to know, but I decided to pick her up, and give her a final hug as goodbye. She boked a couple of times, before I set her back down, after which she looked at me for a moment, and then sat down by the edge of the grass of our home and watched me.

I cleared the tears with a smile and then looked up to my mom, who like Cinnamon, was standing by the edge.

“Please… I don’t want to hear that the same thing happened to you…” she said with a sad look.

“I’ll make sure that it doesn’t. I’ll make sure that none of that happens ever again because of those demons,” I replied with a serious look, trying to push down the sadness of leaving.

“And I’ll make sure to pray to the Gods as much as I can. If they’re watching over you, then I’m sure you’ll succeed.”

“I will,” I said and after looking at my mom for a moment longer, I gave her one final hug. “I’m leaving now.”

She nodded and refused to add anything else. I gave one look at Cinnamon, and then, turned to leave, walking down the road with a backpack of a few necessities, the axe, and something to write on, while giving glances back at my waving mom.

From here on out, I wasn’t going to be weak or late.

I was going to make sure of that.