Love and Confidence

Fire spewed all across the village. The dragons flew overhead razing the land with their powerful flames. Houses burned down to ash as smoke withered through the air.

The sky was an ashen gray as the fire continued to spur on. The ground a rugged mess tore apart at the seems as it burned.

The searing heat was too much for Mira to bear. Her scorched arms and legs crawled across the flaming ground.

The villagers. Were the other villagers safe?

That was the only thing that crossed her mind as she continued to crawl, her fingers clawing at the ground.

She kept pushing herself forward. But there was no one in sight.

Were they all gone? No…no that couldn’t be the case. Tears welled up in her eyes.

The dragons roared as they flew through the sky. They were relentless. Fire continued to pour of their mouths without reserve.

The impact of one of the fire blasts knocked Mira off her feet and clear across the ground. She rolled and tumbled until she hit a jagged rock. Her blood splattered onto the rock as she coughed.

That was when she saw it.

Dozens of corpses littered in front of her. The baker in town. The knights who always guarded them. The town mayor. Her neighborhood friends. And her mother and father…

They were all dead. Reduced to nothing but scorched corpses.

“No,” Mira uttered in a weak, cracking voice. “No…Mom. Dad…” She forced herself to her feet as her legs wobbled.

Tears streamed down her cheeks as her lips quivered. “No way…You can’t be dead.”

She held onto her mouth, biting back the urge to vomit. Their faces were burned beyond recognition. An atrocious sight.

She wanted to scream, but all that came out was a hoarse meek little squeal. Holding her hand over her throat, Mira walked forward. Her feet felt like lead as she dragged them across the ground.

Her village was completely destroyed. There was nothing left of it. Not even the people remained. That thought struck her heart with grief.

As she watched the dragons fly away, she wondered were they were going to next. Were they going to do this to another village? To someone else’s home?

She couldn’t let that happen.

She ran as fast as she could through panted breaths. She knew it was no use, but she kept running anyway. Then, she tripped, her face meeting with the dirt.

“Ow…” Mira rubbed her head.

Beneath her eyes, there was a spellbook. That same spellbook that always on display at the magic shop. It had managed to survive the attack still in one piece.

Mira stared at the book with her teary eyes. Her dad had always praised the owner of that book. The First Hero of Talria who saved their world from a crisis.

Even though her village was destroyed, she wished form the bottom of her heart to stop this dragon attack. Even if her village could never go back to the way it was, she desperately wished for the rest of the world to be okay.

Then, the spellbook flipped open. A golden light shone from within the pages. Mira’s eyes widened in awe as a figure stood inside a ray of that same golden light right in front of her.

The man had wavy black hair, steely blue eyes, and a charming smile to boot. He had kind features and a toned muscular body. He was wearing a black tank top and navy blue athletic shorts that showed off his muscles.

Looking at his hands in confusion, the man then met Mira’s gaze. “Hey kid, do you know where I am?”

“You’re in Galus Village,” Mira said, her voice still choked up. “Are you here to save us?”

“Save you? I don’t even know what Galus Village is.” He looked around at the burned down village and then at Mira still crying her eyes out and sniffling. Keeping his eyes off of Mira, he ran his hand across the back of his neck. “But I guess I can try to help out.”

“The name’s Raidos.” He lifted her off the ground and she wiped her face with her arms.

“I’m Mira Luin.”

Mira and Raidos made their way towards the capital city of the kingdom after that and told the current king about everything that had happened. In that time, the dragons had destroyed even more towns.

“I see,” the king said. “So, you were summoned here correct, Raidos?”

Raidos nodded. “Yes Sir.”

Stroking his beard, the king noticed the spellbook in Mira’s hands. “Ah, I see. That’s why.”

“Excuse me Sir? What are you talking about?”

“Raidos, you were summoned here from another world. This is Talria.”

Raidos’ jaw dropped. “What?!”

The king pointed to Mira’s spellbook. “That spellbook belonged to someone else who was summoned here. I guess that makes you the Hero of the Second Crisis of Talria.”

Raidos waved his hands around frantically. “No. I’m no hero! I’m just an ordinary guy!”

As he sat back in his throne, picking up a glass of his wine, the king chuckled. “You have no cause for concern. All other worlders are given abilities that help them to be heroes. You’ll be fine.”

“Please,” Mira said with pleading eyes. “Please help us, Raidos.”

***

“And he did.” Mira gripped the hem of her dress. “He defeated every last one of the dragons on his own.

“Wow,” Yusato said. “Impressive.”

“After that, we will together for months. I learned how to use magic and helped him out on quests.” Mira watched the fan spinning around on the ceiling. “He didn’t have any magic. So I thought that as the best way for me to help him.” Mira took a deep breath.

“Mira…?”

“Then, one day he told me to stop using magic.” Mira lifted up her dress to show Yusato her upper left thigh. A single black spot resided on it. “Because of this.”

Yusato gasped as he realized what he was looking at. “You were undergoing a Sirhix transformation?”

Mira nodded, pulling her dress back down. “I refused because I still wanted to fight with him. A little while after that, he had a mage freeze me solid and hid me away. That was a thousand years ago. Once the spell finally wore off, I went to take the spellbook back, but I couldn’t find Raidos anymore.”

“Um, Mira? It was a thousand years ago, right? Don’t you think it might be too late to go looking for him now?”

Mira shook her head. “I could still sense his presence. He’s here somewhere in Talria. I know it.”

Yusato took his hands of the bed and placed them on his lap. He didn’t even realize how much he had been straining his arms listening to Mira’s story. “I see. Thanks for telling me all that, Mira.”

Mira’s knee brushed against Yusato’s and he felt a light shiver. “Now it’s your turn. If you want to.”

“My story isn’t that interesting,” Yusato said, hanging his head down.

Mira shyly peeked at him through her bangs. “It’s been hurting you, right? I think it would help to get it off your chest.”

Maybe she was right about that. He had been holding this in for so long that it was starting to him up inside. Letting someone else know about his burden might actually be a good choice here.

“Well, it’s still nothing special. But I’ll tell you.”

Mira nodded along and listened intently to Yusato’s every word.

“I was summoned to this world as well. With three other people who I used to call my best friends. Tomoki, Azumi, and Mahina. We all grew up together and at first I was happy that we’d get to spend more time together in this world.”

The fan suddenly sounded louder in his ears as he went on. “But Tomoki started acting really weird. I wanted to do something to help get him in a better mood, so we took on this quest. And then on the first floor, he used me as a decoy to get the dragon’s treasure. Him and the other two left me behind.”

Yusato clenched on the sheets, wrinkling them up as he bit his lip. “Azumi even looked me in the eye and turned away from me. They all betrayed me. That’s why…I can’t truly trust you or Azalea. Leo and Saria too. It’s just hard for me to be that vulnerable again.”

“I understand.” Mira leaned her head against Yusato’s shoulder. “Thanks for telling me.” She ran her fingers across Yusato’s arm and tingle up his spine.

“Mira…”

Putting his hand on top hers, Yusato stared into her eyes. Her gorgeous pink eyes. His cheeks flushed as he watched her puckering lips. His lips did the same as he leaned forward.

Yusato’s heart pounded in his chest. His breath heightened as he became acutely aware of it.

They got closer and closer, only a few centimeters away from each other.