Simon sat Sera down roughly on the chair he dragged from the desk where he kept up with records. He took her head in his hands.

“Are you alright?” he asked worriedly. He felt her legs, he looked over her hands, and arms.

Sera was shaking like a leaf, but her body bore no signs of damage.

He looked her in the eye and asked again. “Sera! Are you alright?”

“Daddy…” She managed, her voice quaking. “Daddy, I…I think…They said I kil-.”

“Don’t worry about him. Are. You. All. Right?”

“He...He’s dead?” tears filled her blue eyes. “Daddy, I…I didn’t mean to-.”

“I said forget about that! Honey, Answer me! Please!”

Sera began sobbing. Her hands gripped the seat of the chair. Her voice cracked. “I don’t know what happened. Daddy…what’s happening to me?”

Simon wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close. “I’m so sorry.” He said, holding back tears of his own as he cradled her head against him. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t there.”

Behind him, they heard the door open. Sera’s father spun around in a fury as two figures entered the room. “Who in the hell do you think you are? This room is off limits to patrons! Didn’t you read the sign?”

Their almond-shaped eyes gave them away immediately, the Asunese rangers that Sera had served at the beginning of the night. The man stepped forward while his companion stepped back closer to the wall, eyeing Sera with a look of curiosity.

“We’re sorry for the intrusion,” He said in perfect common. “My name is Cabrin, and this is Akane.” he motioned to the woman behind him as he spoke. “We…I witnessed what happened outside with the girl, just now.”

Simon’s stern expression remained. “My daughter is none of your concern. Please leave. Now.”

The woman called Akane vocally expressed her surprise upon hearing that Sera was Simon’s daughter, as did the man called Cabrin. It was clear that they both thought the girl to just be in his employ.

“With all due respect,” Cabrin pressed. “Your… daughter may well be everyone’s concern.”

“And how do you gather that?” Simon asked, his voice low and intimidating.

Sera sat, quietly shaking. She had never seen her father so angry, but the foreign intruder stood cool and composed. He showed no fear, nor did his companion, the one called Akane.

“I am sure you know the legend.” Cabrin said. His voice was low. “Since the fall of Heaven, only one has been said to possess magic.”

Everyone in the room jumped when Simon laughed aloud. “I don’t believe what I’m hearing.” He said.

“Neither do I.” The voice was that of the woman, Akane. Unlike her companion, her accent was thick and broken. “I thought you did not believe in such things.”

“I’m beginning to, now.” Cabrin replied. “What she did out there. That was magic, I’m certain of it.”

“Magic is a myth.” Simon said, flatly.

“I saw it, myself. I saw it with my own eyes.” Cabrin challenged. “Everyone in that room saw it.”

“I didn’t.” Akane said with a level of pep that seemed oddly out of place, given the situation. All eyes went to her. She pouted. “Honestly, you people are so tall. I couldn’t see anything!”

The room was quiet for a moment.

Cabrin looked to Sera, who hadn’t said a word since the intrusion.

“What is your name?” he asked her, finally breaking the silence.

“Sera.” She whispered.

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“Sera,” Cabrin said, bowing in an Asunese manner. “Please forgive me, but I know what I saw. It's indisputable. You are Celeste, returned.”

“That is a childrens’ story.” Simon whispered. “Even if that old myth was true. Celeste died a millenia ago.”

“She said she would return.”

“In the story, they put her in a tomb.” Simon began. “Even if the Tomb of Celeste actually exists, it’s irrelevant. Sera didn't come from some mythical tomb. She didn’t come from a sacred star. I raised her, her mother and I both raised her. She grew up here.”

“Look,” Cabrin told him. “I don’t have all the answers. Moments ago, I would have told you the same thing. I would have said that the Legend of Celeste was just that. A legend.”

Cabrin cast his gaze back to Sera. “That state of mind ended when I watched your daughter fling a man through the air with a flash of light.”

A flash of light? She thought. Her eyes had been squeezed shut when it happened, she wouldn’t have seen it.

“Only one person could possibly exist who is able to command such powers. She is… She has to be. There is no other explanation.”

“This is crazy.” Sera finally spoke up. “You are crazy. This is insane. Daddy, tell him. Tell him he’s wrong.”

Akane was staring hard at Simon. His strong imposing presence was gone. His shoulders were slumped and tears began to well up in his eyes.

“He is hiding something.” She said, accusingly.

Simon turned away, only to meet his daughter’s gaze.

“Daddy, it isn’t true…” She held a desperate trusting look of hope in her eyes. “It can’t be. Right?”

“I’m sorry, Sweetheart.” He drew a shaken breath. Held it, and then let it out, composing himself for the truth he was about to lay before her. “Your mother and I should have told you a long time ago.”

“Daddy…told me what? Sera was beginning to shake again. “Daddy, what does this have to do with Mom?”

“You see…” He began, blinking tears from his eyes. He knelt down in front of her. Even on the floor, they still sat eye to eye. “Your mother was very ill.”

“I know that.” Sera didn’t need the reminder; she was very aware of the pain her mother endured all her life. “That's why she died.” She whispered.

“Not just that. It’s also why…” Simon rubbed his hands down his face. His cheeks were wet. “The illness your mother had... She couldn’t… have children.”

Sera just stared at him. She couldn’t comprehend what the man had just told her. “But…I…”

“We should leave.” Akane said, judging the situation to be too intimate for mere strangers to witness.

“No.” Simon said. “You need to hear this.” The large man stood up and took a deep breath as he composed himself. “It was a little over seventeen years ago. An expedition of Reclaimers came through our town.”

Reclaimers were men and women from the College of Antiquity, an academic organization based out of the fabled city of Bastion. They were dedicated to the discovery, education, and re-integration of all things related to life before the fall. Reclaimers regularly set out on expeditions to find and excavate what was known as heavenfall, ancient ruins of fallen Heaven. Many elements of legend were often disputed, but just as the existence of Chimera was proven by sight, so too was the existence of Heaven. All over Soror, their ruins dotted the landscape.

“There is heavenfall just south of Revera in the crater of the shattered mountain.” Simon continued. “That was their destination. A month later their leader, a man named Damien came with a baby they had found alone in the ruins.”

He turned to once again meet his daughter’s gaze.

“It was you.” He said to her, “When he was sure that you didn’t somehow belong to anyone from town, he asked to leave you in someone’s care. He said that until then, he had been caring for you, but Chimera were showing an interest in their presence in the ruins and it was becoming unsafe for you there. Your mother and I wanted a child of our own, so we volunteered for the task until such a day as he could return. After that, he planned to take you with him to Bastion, but neither Damien, nor anyone else of his party ever returned.

So you see,” Simon turned his attention to Cabrin, now. “My Sera couldn’t possibly be this mythical Celeste. It’s a foolish notion.”

“How can you say that?” Cabrin asked in disbelief. “You adopted her? She came from the ruins? Doesn't that seem a bit odd to you?”

“That’s all it is!” Simon roared. “It’s odd, a coincidence! Nothing more!”

“This Damien was going to bring her to Bastion!” Cabrin shouted back. “Why do you think that is?”

“They were obviously going to raise her to be one of them. If not a reclaimer, then a cartographer, or a librarian, or some other such idiotic fanatic.”

“They found her in the ruins.” Cabrin pressed. “The remains of Heaven itself! The significance of this couldn’t be more obvious!”

Sera stood suddenly, her face held no emotion. This was all just too much.

“Honey, I’m sorry. Don’t listen to this lunatic.” Simon reached to embrace the troubled girl, but she moved past him and marched up the stairs to her room, closing the door behind her. Downstairs, muffled voices could be heard followed by footsteps and the slamming of a door. Whatever happened after Sera left, she didn’t care, she couldn’t care. She had been completely drained; physically, mentally, emotionally. Her entire world, everything she thought she knew had been unraveled in one whirlwind of a night.

She collapsed onto her bed. After a while, her body began bobbing rhythmically as she cried into her sheets.