The Hero Who Saved My Yesterday

Birds fluttered on a quiet, gentle, and peaceful morning as the lingering traces of winter began to fade. A delicate leaf drifted onto a river, coaxing faint ripples across its surface, while drops of morning dew cascaded from the canopy above. It was the tail end of winter—the season when trees finally bloomed, washing away the dreary gloom. I walked on—Liebe, a young elf who had barely graced her four hundred and ninetieth year.

I had shed some of my heavier garments, bidding farewell to the frost. Over my white linen shirt, I wore a light brown leather jacket, and wrapped around my neck was a long scarf the color of pale spring grass. With every soft, refreshing breeze, it fluttered behind me like a spring bud awakening amidst the enchanting nature of Wunderwald.

Truthfully, I was profoundly bored and weary. My nearly half a millennium of life weighed heavily upon my heart. Though I remained in the prime of my youth, this body felt burdensome; the years blurred into one another, and my life raced forward without meaning. Everything appeared gray to my pale blue eyes—eyes that mirrored the clear winter sky—save for one thing.

Those stories my late human mother, Leben, used to tell me in my childhood.

I had grown up completely enamored with Der Held, the figure who always stood at the center of these enchanting tales. The most important among them was the story of that strange miracle... when the glacier opposite Frieden, the hometown of the valiant Der Held, split apart. Along with the avalanche, crimson shards rained down, devastating everything in their path and forever altering the geography of the land. I paused for a moment, my eyes catching a beautiful, vibrant butterfly glowing before me. Its sheer beauty brought the rest of the story back to my mind—the moment Der Held sacrificed himself to save the people of Frieden from that very catastrophe. Leben would weep every time she recounted it, the sorrow evident in her eyes whenever she recalled the face of Der Held, a face whose exact description had never left my memory.

I finally arrived near a massive, ancient tree to seek its shade. No one truly knows the age of Die Heldenliebe, but I suspect it spans many centuries. It stood exactly where I needed it to be: right by Die Landenge. Our records at the venerable Weltarchiv confirm that the catastrophe occurred exactly five hundred years ago on this very spot, and that a legendary figure, Der Held, defended the people of Frieden, offering his life for theirs that night. The legend passed down by storytellers claims that exactly half a millennium after the disaster, the waters of Die Landenge would turn into a mirror reflecting the past, all thanks to the magical energy of the crimson shards resting at its bottom. But there was a condition: a single person must stand alone before it on the very first day of spring, right after winter breathed its last. That is why I was entrusted with the mission of investigating this legend today—to uncover whether this miracle was truth or merely myth.

I sat opposite Die Landenge. Its crystal-clear waters reflected my pale complexion and my pristine, pale blue eyes. I set down my tools: my inks, the journal written in Leben's own handwriting that documented all her beautiful stories, and the Atlas of Anomalies. The waters of Die Landenge were perfectly still and pure, reflecting the sky's azure brilliance—a sight so elegant it brought peace to the heart and soul. I leaned down to wash my face, hoping to scrub away the exhaustion of my long journey.

But the moment my fingers brushed against the biting cold of the water and I dipped my face into the freezing depths of Die Landenge, the miracle unfolded right before my eyes.

The serene waters rippled. I had expected my own reflection to gaze back at me. My pale features, my pale blue eyes, my silver hair?

No... that wasn't me.

The face of a human man appeared. A gentle, quiet face that radiated a profound sense of tranquility. Blue eyes that matched my own, pitch-black hair, an innocent expression, a body clad in simple white knight's attire, and a sheathed sword resting at his waist. I knew those details. I had heard and read them a thousand times over, committing them to memory until I could picture them perfectly. It was him, manifested right before me... Der Held, in the flesh, looking back from the reflection of the lake.

Instinctively, I recoiled backward, startled and afraid. For a fleeting second, I thought it was nothing more than a daydream, but then a heavy thud echoed through the air. I knew that sound instantly—it was the sword resting at his hip.

Standing up to look back into the lake, I watched as the sword struck the ground on his side, scattering dirt through the air. He had fallen back in a panic, but he scrambled right back to the edge of the water, staring intently into it.

I gazed down at him from the edge of Die Landenge, and he looked up at me from its depths. His wide blue eyes blinked in utter disbelief. It was truly him. My mind hadn't deceived me; of that, I was absolutely certain. He possessed the exact features my imagination had painted over the years while listening to the gentle cadence of Leben's voice.

Nothing but a surface of freezing water separated us... that, and five hundred years of time.

He stood there, staring up at me for a whole minute without either of us uttering a single word. Slowly, his initial fear and astonishment melted into a smile. It was, without a doubt, a genuinely warm and beautiful smile.

"I... I don't know if it's proper for me to say this, but... you know? You are incredibly beautiful."

He stumbled over his words at first, looking entirely flushed and shy, but he had clearly gathered his courage just to say that to me.

Normally, I wouldn't care for such empty flattery. I had heard those exact words countless times before from all sorts of people. But hearing them come from *him*... it sent a strange, inexplicable warmth blooming in my chest.

I smiled shyly, desperately wanting to quiet the whirlwind of questions racing through my mind. "What... what is your name?"

"Der Held," he answered with a bright smile, placing a hand over his chest. He immediately followed up with his own question. "And what is your name?"

I pressed a hand against my mouth, a soft smile breaking through my lingering shyness. "Liebe... my name is Liebe."

"Liebe... You really are Liebe."

My expression shifted instantly. My eyes went wide as I felt a burning flush creep across my face, prompting him to let out a soft, gentle laugh.

Then, out of nowhere, he tried to plunge his face deep into his side of the lake. I couldn't hear anything but the muffled gurgling of water as he tried to speak through it. A moment later, he broke away from the surface, coughing and sputtering violently to clear the water from his nose and mouth.

Once he finally caught his breath, he shouted with pure, unbridled enthusiasm, "I was asking if you're the mermaid I always hear about from the storytellers in Frieden!"

Seeing him completely unbothered by his own clumsiness—in fact, looking thoroughly delighted just to see me smile—I burst into a fit of deep, genuine laughter.

"No, I am an elf. Well, a half-elf, half-human, to be precise. I work as a researcher and archivist for the Weltarchiv, documenting the strange and unusual phenomena that occur across Wunderwald."

"The Weltarchiv... I've heard of it. Wasn't that institute established just recently?"

Hearing his words, a wave of realization washed over me. *He's right,* I thought to myself. *Our historical records explicitly state that the institute was founded in tandem with the great catastrophe five hundred years ago. This leaves absolutely no room for doubt. This is the legendary Der Held himself... and I am looking directly into the past!*

I carried on with a playful, prideful tone, watching as he dramatically threw his hands over his head and yelled:

"Liebe! If you're an elf, that means during your long years of wandering, you must have heard tales of the handsome, valiant, and utterly supreme knight, Der Held!"

I laughed out loud at his ridiculous antics. "Of course. Your reputation precedes you by a long shot."

"Really?!" Der Held shouted, practically beaming with joy.

But just as quickly as it had appeared, the smile vanished from my face.

"I am four hundred and ninety years old. To a mortal human like you, that probably sounds like an eternity. But to me, it brings nothing but a crushing weight and an absolute, hollow emptiness. Every single year blurs into the next, and it makes me completely lose sight of the value of time."

I squatted down by the water's edge, my expression darkening as my voice dropped to a quiet whisper. A bitter coldness began to seep into my words.

"Thousands of people, dreams, and places... I watch them fade, die, and change with my own two eyes. Witnessing all of it has stripped away the meaning of life. I've forgotten what it feels like to truly live in the present day."

I didn't truly understand why I was baring my soul to him like this. Perhaps it was because a part of me still viewed him as the mythical savior from Leben's bedtime stories, rather than a living, breathing man standing right before me and listening. Or perhaps I had simply grown attached to him through the centuries of his legend. I couldn't say for sure. But in that quiet moment by the water, I opened my heart to him completely.

He looked at me, his lips pressed into a thin line and his gaze intense. He seemed deeply empathetic toward me, but he quickly shifted his tone, brandishing his sword as he shouted:

"Four hundred and ninety years? You're still young, then! Since you're going to live for such a long time, I'll make sure to say wonderful things today so you'll remember me for the next five hundred years!"

I closed my eyes, a soft smile gracing my features, and replied, "And what is the valiant Der Held doing slacking off? It doesn't look like you're doing anything important here."

Der Held looked at me in surprise and began to stammer, "Well... actually... I'm on a day off..."

My tone shifted to one of sheer amusement. "A day off? Do heroic deeds have holidays or what?"

"Yes, yes," he muttered, flustered. "I'm actually just idling around near the mountain."

He fell silent for a moment, then began running a hand through his pitch-black hair, declaring with mock arrogance, "Even the greatest heroes need rest to gather their strength... I like to spend some time alone by the river near the mountain."

Der Held sat cross-legged and added, "To be honest... I forgot my food in Frieden today... so I'm starving."

I placed a hand over my mouth, giggling softly. "You are so silly..."

I then started wrapping a sandwich I had prepared for myself. Whispering a few magical incantations, a barrier resembling plastic wrap materialized around the food. Der Held watched me in absolute awe, his mouth hanging wide open.

"This should work." Holding the sandwich, I brought my hand close to the surface of Die Landenge on his side and dropped it in. The resulting ripples temporarily distorted his face, but on the other side... the sandwich appeared to Der Held, and he caught it.

As soon as the waves settled and vanished, our faces appeared to one another once more. I saw him holding the sandwich in his hands; he hadn't unwrapped it at all, waiting until he was sure he had caught my eye. Truthfully, that simple gesture brought an immense warmth to my heart.

"Amazing! What they say about elves is true—they're all masters of advanced magic!"

"This is just an amateur spell, you idiot," I huffed, my cheeks puffing out indignantly at his exaggerated reaction.

But he didn't mind at all and eagerly began eating the sandwich I had made. After the very first bite, he shouted at the top of his lungs: "This is absolutely incredible!! It's like a piece of heaven... You're incredibly skilled, Liebe!"

We both laughed at his overdramatic shouting.

I chatted with him until half the day had passed, doing nothing but talking. I forgot about myself, my mission, everything. Der Held was pulling me into his world, telling me about his long adventures, the mythical monsters he had defeated, and the people he had saved. In return, I told him about all the wondrous places I had visited and all the bizarre things I had seen and documented. Despite the length of our conversation, his eyes never strayed from me, no matter the topic.

Deep down, I knew it was the exact same gaze I held for him. I recognized the nature of my own look, but internally, I tried to deny it. It turned out that the valiant hero whose name I had spent my entire life hearing, the one I clung to as my only remaining memory of Leben, was in truth just a sweet, sensitive boy. I could read his eyes, too—he was captivated by my long ears, my snow-white face, and the pale blue of my eyes.

Once midday rolled around, Der Held stood up from his spot and shouted loudly, "I'm getting restless! We've been sitting here all day, and my legs are aching." He placed a hand near the water and added, "Can't I just fall in and appear on your side?"

I retorted with a slightly sarcastic, teasing tone, "Didn't you try submerging your face in the water this morning? It doesn't work. That only works for small objects."

He lowered his head in disappointment, but quickly snapped it back up and yelled:

"Then... your valiant hero will take you on a tour of our village!"

"And how will you manage that?"

Der Held bolted, running until he completely disappeared from my sight. Yet, I could still hear his voice calling out from the distance:

"Follow the river path... try walking, Liebe! The river cuts right through Frieden!"

I was startled, but I quickly scrambled to pack my belongings into my leather bag and ran along the riverbank on my side, desperately trying to keep pace with him. As Der Held walked, his reflection tracked perfectly across my side of the river. For me, this sight only amplified both my awe and my profound heartache.

I was awed by the staggering contrast between the geography of our two eras—the land I inhabited five hundred years in the future, and the world he walked in now. On his side, the terrain was rugged and mountainous, gradually sloping down into flat plains where the vibrant signs of human civilization were unmistakable. On my side, the earth was entirely flat, an endless expanse of quiet green.

And I felt heartbreak because, despite being close enough to look upon one another, we were infinitely far apart. We weren't separated by physical distance—we were standing in the exact same geographic space—but the unyielding barrier of time stood fiercely between us. I could see that very same bittersweet realization reflected in his eyes and his gentle, fleeting smile.

We finally reached his village, and I was suddenly hit by the sheer pulse of life that I had always felt detached from, even when living among my own kind. There were wooden houses topped with smoking chimneys, bustling bakeries, and men and women bartering in the markets. And the children... those sweet children ran after Der Held, gleefully mimicking the swings of his wooden sword while he waved back at them with a broad, bright grin. But whenever I lifted my eyes away from the water, I saw nothing in my own time but barren green plains, with Die Heldenliebe standing completely solitary in the center. Those people were currently bursting with life, yet to the historical records of our atlas, they were already nothing but dust.

"Look, Liebe! That's Mrs. Martha's bakery, and over there is my training ground!" He pointed eagerly, brimming with the excitement of a young child showing off his favorite toy. I could only nod and smile, desperately swallowing down a bitter lump in my throat.

I silently watched him play with the children and share laughs with the residents of Frieden. He was truly cherished by everyone. Suddenly, the golden rays of the sun began to dip toward the horizon. The twilight glow bled across the surface of Die Landenge, turning the water into an orange that rapidly deepened into a sharp crimson.

Der Held abruptly stopped walking, slapping his forehead with his palm as if a catastrophic thought had just struck him.

"Oh my god! Talking to you made me completely forget my most important task today!" he said in a rushed, panicked tone, quickly adjusting his sword's scabbard.

I questioned him with amusement, a faint smile still lingering on my lips. "What task? Is there a terrifying monster you absolutely have to slay before dinner?"

He let out a soft, frantic laugh and shook his head. "No, something way more important than that! I promised a girl in the village named Lieben that I would plant a tree with her today, and we're going to tend to it until it grows into a massive, ancient tree just like she wishes. We have to start tonight, right before the Crimson Moon Festival begins!"

In an instant, the color drained from the world before my eyes. My vision went entirely white, and a sudden rush of blood hammered against my temples. In that horrific moment, it felt as if all the freezing water of Die Landenge had been violently poured into my veins.

*Lieben? The Crimson Moon Festival? Tonight?*

I froze completely, stopping dead in my tracks. My sudden stillness left Der Held deeply alarmed. "Liebe... are you okay? Did something happen?" he asked, his voice laced with fear.

I bolted, frantically tearing open my bags. I pulled out Leben's journal, the records from the Atlas of Anomalies, and the Weltarchiv texts I had brought along. Every single document pointed to one absolute, unyielding historical truth: the great catastrophe had struck on the exact eve of the Crimson Moon Festival.

I screamed at the top of my lungs, hot tears flooding my eyes. "Der Held... we need to get away from the crowds right now! Hurry!"

Der Held looked utterly shocked, but seeing the sheer panic in my expression, he had no choice but to follow my command.

I stood by a secluded stretch of the river far away from the village, and he arrived a moment later, panting heavily and barely catching his breath. "What's wrong with you? What happened?"

I began to weep openly, my voice trembling with terror. "Believe me... please, you have to believe what I'm about to tell you. It's going to sound completely insane, but—" I choked, a thick tightness tearing at my throat as tears blinded my sight. "A catastrophe is coming tonight, Der Held! The glacier... it's going to split wide open! Shards as red as hellfire will rain down and completely swallow Frieden! Everyone you were just laughing with... they will all die if they don't run right now!"

His eyes widened in sheer disbelief. "Liebe, that's impossible. The mountain has stood firm for centuries. There isn't a single sign of a collapse."

"I am standing in the future!" I shrieked, slamming my hands furiously against the water's surface, entirely numb to its bone-chilling cold. "I am literally reading it right now in the Atlas of Anomalies! It happens today! Please, you have to believe me, Der Held!"

I thought he would panic, run, or do whatever it took to flee with his life and the lives of the villagers. Instead, a faint smile graced his face—a calm, subtle quarter-smile. He drew his sword from its scabbard and spoke in that cheerful tone my ears had already grown fond of, even though we had only met this morning.

"So, you're telling me you're from the future, and a catastrophe is about to hit Frieden? Is that it?" He hoisted his sword high. "Then, if your records say anything about the source of this danger, tell me."

My tears vanished, replaced by sheer bewilderment. I understood what he was aiming for. Our records at the Weltarchiv did indeed contain a theory regarding the root cause of the disaster.

"There is a magical crystal deep within the heart of the glacier. It's suspected that its cracking is what triggered the cataclysm."

"Then we'll go there and try our luck."

Der Held dashed toward the glacier, while I ran along the riverbank on my side, fighting to keep up with his pace. By the time he reached the mountain, I had sprinted back to Die Landenge.

Der Held stood deep inside the frozen caverns of the glacier. Right before him lay a massive, pulsing red crystal, radiating an intense surge of mana as if it were on the absolute brink of exploding.

"Liebe, what happens if I shatter it?"

"I don't know... the records never mentioned that."

He raised his sword, coating the blade in a brilliant aura of mana. "Then we won't know until we try it ourselves!"

Der Held struck the crystal with all his might, but the blade didn't leave so much as a scratch. He tried again and again, swinging relentlessly until I screamed out to him:

"Wait! Let me help you!"

I raised my hands, channeling a dense stream of mana into the lake. My energy crossed over, successfully reaching him. Together, we poured everything we had into it. He struck repeatedly until his strength began to fail, and I would instantly replenish his reserves with my own mana. But it was completely futile, and our time was rapidly bleeding away. Der Held was utterly spent, gasping for breath. He had been striking the crystal with his full power for a solid half-hour, yet it remained completely unblemished.

Der Held stopped, turning his gaze back to me, his eyes burning with absolute determination. "Liebe, shattering it is impossible. I'll die here, and everyone else will die too if I waste any more time."

He bolted at his absolute maximum speed toward Frieden, and I ran right alongside him, keeping pace within my own timeline. By the time he arrived, the sky had violently split open. Red shards began raining down like blazing meteors across the outskirts of the village. The spectacle was majestic and terrifying, yet breathtakingly beautiful. But despite their mesmerizing glow, those crimson meteors brought nothing but death to this peaceful village.

The villagers were thrown into a panic. Fortunately, because it was the day of the festival, everyone was already outside, gathered in the central plaza. It made warning them incredibly easy, saving him from having to search every individual house. Der Held roared at the top of his lungs:

"Listen to me, everyone! There is absolutely no time to gather your belongings! Flee with nothing but the clothes on your backs toward Wunderwald! Leave everything behind and run along the river path! I won't let a single shard touch you!"

The crowd heeded his warning, instantly fleeing toward Wunderwald. But amidst the chaos, he screamed out with all his might:

"Lieben! Come here, quickly!"

A young girl ran toward him. Her features struck a deeply familiar chord within me. In fact... she looked exactly like me.

When she reached him, he dropped to his knees, bringing himself down to her eye level.

"I promised you, Lieben, that we would plant this sapling so it could grow into an ancient tree. No matter what happens to us, I am going to plant it."

Tears began to stream down the little girl's face. She wasn't alone; I was sharing her exact heartache. Der Held pressed his hands into the dirt, digging into the earth with his bare fingers before nesting the roots of the sapling safely into the hollow.

"I know for a fact that it will grow into a massive, ancient tree. Five hundred years from now, people will find comfort beneath its shade."

My own tears spilled over as I watched the scene unfold. I turned my head slightly, gazing at the massive form of Die Heldenliebe towering behind Die Landenge.

Der Held wrapped his arms around the sobbing girl, holding her tightly. "How old are you, Lieben?"

"Eight years old," she whimpered.

He replied in a warm, deeply tender, fatherly tone. "You're a strong girl, Lieben... I know you'll grow up well. And one day, you'll give birth to an incredibly beautiful girl... a girl with long ears just like an elf, and pale blue eyes just like your beautiful ones. When that day comes, I leave it to you as my final wish: tell her my story, so that I may live on in her memory forever."

"No... no," I cried out internally, my eyes swollen from endless weeping. A choked sob caught in my throat as I whispered, "How did you know? How could you possibly know? How could you know that, Der Held?"

Der Held knew exactly who Lieben was. I had never told him, yet he knew.

Der Held stood up, casting one final look at the young girl, his trademark smile never fading from his face.

"You know, Lieben... you look just like a woman I know very well."

"A woman?" Lieben asked, blinking in confusion. "Who is she?"

He let out a soft laugh. "A woman my heart fell for at first sight."

Those words made my heart thud violently against my ribs. I felt my legs tremble beneath me, and I collapsed onto the ground before Die Landenge, my eyes turning into a ceaseless waterfall. "Der Held... please don't leave me."

Lieben ran back toward her parents, who were waiting for her at the entrance of Frieden. Der Held beamed a brilliant, wide smile, calling out to me with his usual, unbridled enthusiasm: "Liebe, I beg you! Give me every last drop of your mana right now!"

I barely managed to push myself up onto my feet, forcing my trembling body to hold together. I raised my hands toward him, channeling every bit of mana I had stored over my four hundred and ninety years of life.

The moment my power reached him, he struck his sword into the ground with all his might. A massive, radiant blue circle erupted from the blade, forming a colossal protective barrier that enveloped the entire perimeter of Frieden—and stretched far beyond it, reaching the very edge of the Wunderwald.

Seeing this giant protective wall materialize, the villagers immediately turned and fled for safety.

He stood there with his eyes closed, a peaceful smile on his face and his hands resting on the hilt of his sword. Meanwhile, I was a broken, exhausted mess on the other side, desperately feeding him my mana while screaming, "Der Held... please, run! Der Held!"

"Tell me, Liebe... if I survive this, doesn't that mean you might never be born?" he asked, his eyes remaining gently closed. He continued, "If I let go of this barrier, Lieben won't make it out alive. And if she dies, you will never exist. How could I ever let you die just to save myself?"

I completely lost the ability to speak. I couldn't formulate a single word. In that agonizing moment, all that managed to choke past the heavy lump in my throat was a desperate cry: "Der Held..."

"I told you before," he said softly, "since you're going to live for such a long time, I'll make sure to say wonderful things today so you'll remember me for the next five hundred years."

My remaining strength collapsed completely. I desperately plunged one hand into the freezing water while the other continued to feed him what little mana I had left. I tried so hard to touch him—to feel his hair, his body, his clothes, or anything that could pull him across into my world. I wanted so desperately to save him, but it was utterly useless. The water refused to let my hand pass through.

Der Held stood frozen in time, his eyes closed and his hands resting on his sword, smiling gently for minutes that stretched into long, agonizing centuries. He stood directly over the tiny sapling he had just planted.

As my mana began to dwindle, the blue barrier grew smaller and weaker. My voice cracked and went hoarse from begging him to run, but it was no use... until, finally, my mana cut off completely. With it, Der Held's face vanished from the surface forever, leaving nothing but my own reflection staring back at me from the lake.

I lost my mind in that instant, screaming into the empty air, "Der Held... NOOOOO! Der Held... don't go!" My voice was completely shattered, and I wept bitterly before Die Landenge. "I'm so sorry, Der Held..."

I didn't sleep a wink that night. I wept until the break of dawn, mourning for Der Held.

As the first light of dawn broke across the sky, the second day of spring arrived. I looked down at Die Landenge, but it only reflected my own solitary face. Wiping away my tears with my pale green scarf, I realized I no longer saw that bored, weary girl who had lost her appreciation for life. I no longer resented the immense weight of my years.

Four hundred and ninety years I had lived. I had traveled the world from north to south, documenting thousands of strange and wondrous anomalies, until I foolishly believed I knew everything and had seen it all. I had thought my days had become an endless, repetitive blur, each one identical to the last.

So how did a single human boy manage to overwhelm me with such a tidal wave of emotions in the span of one single night? I felt joy, sorrow, relief, safety, warmth, and a profound sense of loss. Every human emotion imaginable swirled inside me in a single night, all thanks to that valiant hero—or rather, that sweet, gentle boy.

Without even realizing it, that naive idiot had taught me that life isn't measured by the number of centuries that pass over our bodies, but by the profound depth of the moments we experience with our hearts. I finally understood what it meant to truly live for today, to breathe in the present moment, and to stop letting the years race by aimlessly.

I squatted down beneath the massive tree and pulled over my leather bag. I took out my quill, my inks, and the Atlas of Anomalies. But this time, I wasn't writing as a cold, detached researcher merely documenting a magical phenomenon for the Weltarchiv. I wrote with my entire soul, recording every single tiny detail of the day we shared. I wrote about his shy fluster when he called me beautiful, the heavy thud of his sword hitting the dirt, the hilarious sight of him sputtering after plunging his face into the water, the taste of the sandwich he had eagerly devoured, and his majestic, awe-inspiring courage as he smiled in the face of death just to buy a tomorrow for me. I didn't leave out a single detail, pouring them all onto the pages so that time would never dare erase his face from my memory.

As the ink dried, I closed the journal and pressed it tightly against my chest. I stood up and approached the massive, wide trunk of the ancient tree. I placed my palm flat against its rough bark... it felt incredibly warm. It was as if the heat from Der Held's hands and the maternal tenderness of my mother, Leben, as they buried its roots into the dirt last night, was still pulsing directly through its wooden veins.

"From this day on, you will never be just an anonymous, nameless tree in the atlas," I whispered to it, a smile breaking through the fresh tears in my eyes. "Your name is Die Heldenliebe—the ancient tree that sprouted from a tiny seed to completely change my life."

I turned one last time to look back at Die Landenge and the towering tree. I smiled as a gentle breeze caressed my cheeks, and then I walked away toward the horizon with confident, energetic steps... completely ready to embrace every tomorrow. And I will make absolutely sure to remember his wonderful words for the next five hundred years.