The Village's Secret

Inside a cosy little building with a fireplace and furniture, and no snow to freeze to death in, the two girls wrap up their story session.
I was so busy trying to parse all the information, I didn't have time to think about anything else, but now that it's over, I see they had fun reading them to me.

"It's been forever since I heard The Forge God!"
"Right? Mom used to read it to me all the time when I was a kid."
"I always dreamt of having a diamond horsie to ride!"
"Yeah? I wanted the blade of beginnings."
"Ahaha, of course you'd want that, Arya."
"What's wrong with that? It sounds cool, right?"

I find myself being dragged into the duo's happy conversation.

"I mean, it does sound cool, but... the diamond horse is probably more expensive."
"Hmm... I hadn't thought about it like that."
"Hmph, you two aren't romantic at all!"

I'm starting to notice that, when she's comfortable, Sera isn't actually all that shy. These two might be more similar than I'd assumed.
That aside, those stories were... well, they were mythology, all right. The two older ones feel pretty familiar to what I know from Earth mythology; they're equally simple and cryptic. Maybe they'd be too boring if you wrote them like a formal account; that's what happened with historical wars - they got a lot more interesting when people started dramatising their reports.
But that last story, 'He Left Behind For Us', sounds more like plain old fiction. That's real history? Recent history, too...
Was he like me? Did he just want to go home?
...
He managed it, in the end, yeah? If so, then I should be able to do the same.
"Hey", I begin to voice my thoughts. May as well, if the crowd's here. "Before this guy, was there anyone else from Earth?"
The two girls glance at me, then at each other, and with a slight exhale, Arya shrugs.

"If there were any, no one ever talked about it."
"And they'd talk about that to someone, wouldn't they? Like you did, Ven."

If that's the case... If this had never happened until this guy from the story showed up, then why, in just 50 years, has this happened twice?
Isn't that like opening a match with Thirteen Orphans? Like getting pocket aces back-to-back? Sure, those things do occur, but... it's suspicious.
While I'm trapped in thought, Sera has started to gather her things.
"I'm going to take these back to my mother's house, okay?" She smiled to the two of us.
"Oh, okay." I'm caught a bit off guard. I must've really been lost in my own head. How much time has even passed while we've been in here?

"Arya, Ven, see you around."

Oh-! Maybe I should've offered to carry the books for her. Oh well, she's already gone.
Once again, I'm left with only Arya beside me. Unlike last time, however, she's not a nervous wreck. Actually, she looks like she's plotting something... I think she'd be bad at poker.

"Hey, that cube you've got. That's the one from the story, right?"
"Which story?"
"All He Left Behind! He had that sky-shattering cube thingy!"
"I... I don't think it can shatter skies. The most it does is burn you when you hold it."
"Yeah? Gimme, let me try."
"Whoa, wait-!"

Arya snags the strange object and, after a brief moment of excitement, quickly loses interest.
"It's like, just a box." She sulks and prods it a bit. "An unopenable box."
Seriously, this girl! "Are you okay holding that?"
"Yup, it's not hot at all." She throws it over to me. "Catch!"
"Whoa, what are you-" For some dumb reason, I still reach out to catch it. " ...huh, you're right."
It's as cold as... well, room-temperature metal, I guess.
It definitely does something, right? It got unimaginably hot before, but now it's not. For it to get that hot, it must need a source of energy, right? Or does it create energy from nothing?
I still don't really know what this thing is, but I'm glad I kept ahold of it, even if I had to freeze in a storm for it. I'm sure it'll be important later down the line. Maybe not tomorrow, but in a year or two, surely.
Is this how investors feel when their stocks go down in value?

"So hey, you're the only guy in a village of girls." Arya grins smugly. "How does it feel?"
I think I'd just depress her if I told her how I relate to the people missing their family, so...
"Haha, I've got a girlfriend at home, you know?" I laugh it off. That's always a good way to handle things.
"Oh, you do?" She leans in with interest. "What's she like?"
Ever so naturally, a smile forms on my face. I can't help it.

"Perfect. She's perfect."
"How so?"
"Well, when I first asked her out, I mixed my words up and sounded like an idiot."
"Pfft, haha. I can see it!"
"She turned her back to me and, after a brief pause, shouted 'take 2, action!'"
"Hmm? What's that?"
"Oh right, you guys don't have movies... Uh, well, what I mean is..."

I think about how to explain things, but quickly give up.
"She pretended not to hear me and gave me a second try to get it right." Yeah, that's the gist of it.

"Then... She probably wanted you to ask her out."
"Yeah. It took me a few years to realise, but she had me in the palm of her hand the entire time."

It's true. She had liked me long before I took notice of her. She worked hard to make me notice her, and even after we started dating, I didn't learn the truth until one of her friends drunkenly let it slip.

The next question soon came. "What does she look like?"
"Oh, I wish I could show you..." I imagine her face. Her long, dark hair. Her sharp eyes. Her cheery cheeks.
"Wow, she looks mature." Arya quietly mutters.
"Right?" Everyone always says she looks older than she is, and I look younger than-" A sudden heat in my hand snaps me out of my reminiscence. "Ouch, why-!? This stupid cube!"
Dropping the weird device in an instant, I look at my hand, then gesture to Arya to prove that the cube really does get ridiculously hot sometimes. Instead, I'm taken aback by an unexpected sight.
Arya is crying.
"Hey, what's wrong? Are you okay? Did I say something dumb?" Before I can question what I did wrong this time, Arya shakes her head.

"You... need to get back home, don't you?"
"...yeah? I told you that before."

"You have a job to start at..." Arya wipes her tears. "A sister to protect."

"Did I mention all that?"
"I saw it..."

...huh?
I look back down at the floor. There, shining a pure white light that travels no distance, a metal cube sits.
"It's real... You're real!" Suddenly, Arya stands up and grabs me by the wrist. "You're not a spy!"
"Come on, didn't we already agree on that?" I sigh.
"No no, you're not a spy! We need to tell the village elder! We need to tell the princess!" She's practically jumping with excitement.
"Whoa-!" With unexpected force, I'm pulled out of my seat. "What do you mean, 'princess'!?"

"You can save us!"