Four

I was still standing in front of the mirror staring at my reflection when the door to the room opened. Instead of the woman from before, an old man was standing there. I quickly recognized him from my dream (Not-dream?) as his bald head and long white beard were pretty distinct. He still wore the silky blue cape, though the clothes underneath the cloak were different.

Behind him, beyond the door, I saw a group of armored men standing outside in the hallway. I didn’t get a very long look at them because the old man quickly shut the door as soon as he entered.

“Greetings, Hero,” he said, giving me a slight bow as he introduced himself. “I am Ghaldor Skybreaker, Chief of Magic for the Kingdom of Duncan. On behalf of His Majesty, King Alcor Duncan III, I welcome you to the world of Casaad.”

Wow, he was tall. Either that or I was really short. I was half-listening to what he was saying, too busy in my head comparing our relative sizes. Dang, he was like two heads taller than I was!

Focus, dammit! He probably said something important.

What did he say? Hero? Magic? World? All of those sound ominous, and very, very familiar.

“I hope you are well?” He asked.

I nodded.

“Good, good,” Ghaldor nodded as well. “You gave us quite the scare when we summoned you and you just fell over like that. The King and Queen were beside themselves with worry. Thankfully, the news of your awakening will have reached them soon. You’ve been asleep for three days, you see.”

My eyes widened at his words. I’ve been asleep for three days?

“Now, I’m sure you’re confused and have many, many questions you wish to ask of me, as all new Heroes do.” The old man walked over to the chair beside the bed and sat his heavy frame down upon it. He then motioned with his hand towards the bed, obviously telling me to sit.

I complied, planting my behind on top of the mattress. I made sure to sit up straight and fold my hands down on my lap. I read somewhere that having a good posture was a great way to make a good first impression.

“Well then, let us begin. First, let me begin by asking your name.”

I opened my mouth to answer, but then closed it quickly. I was a girl now. My real name wouldn’t work, since I was no longer male. I searched my memories for a female name, quickly settling on my mother’s.

“Amelia,” I said, speaking out loud for the first time in my life. I had expected my voice to sound hoarse or garbled, as I had never spoken before. But the name came out clear and concise, as if I had been speaking my whole life.

“Ah. Mee. Lee. Ah.” Ghaldor spoke slowly as if testing each syllable. He then nodded to himself, before turning his attention back to me and smiling. “That is a good name. A strong name! A great name for a Hero!”

“Thank you,” I said simply, not trusting myself to say more. Saying that I was nervous was an understatement. This was my first real conversation. I had never talked with anyone without the tedious process of using the text-to-speech software on my laptop. I didn’t want to mess this up.

“Well then, let us go through the basics of your situation.” The old man leaned back in his chair and began stroking his beard. “A long time ago, there was a mighty empire called Altrech. This great nation of men, scholars, and warriors stood against the tide of the Unholy, creatures of pure evil and darkness. These Unholy and their leaders, the Dark Lords, would stop at nothing to destroy all the kingdoms of man. Only the empire held them at bay.

“Unfortunately, after centuries of conflict, the imperial forces were pushed back. Town after town, city after city, were ravaged by the Unholy horde. It was only until the enemy were at the walls of the capital that hope finally arrived.

“The gods from on high gifted Altrech with five blessed chalices. Each chalice was capable of calling forth a warrior from another world. These warriors had immense power, capable of special abilities that defy the laws of both man or god. They became known as Heroes, and together all five of them turned the tide. The Unholy were turned back, one of their Dark Lords vanquished. Peace reigned for a century until the Unholy returned and more Heroes were summoned to destroy them.

“Ages passed, the empire fell, yet the need for Heroes always remained. A cycle began. Heroes would be summoned, they would stand as sentinels of mankind for a time, and when they eventually fell, another Hero would be summoned to take their place.”

Ghaldor finished his tale and noticed my shocked face. He took a long, steady breath before sighing sadly. “Yes. ‘Tis indeed a dark tale, one that falls heavy upon the heart.”

That wasn’t the reason I was shocked, though. That entire story that he just told me had the exact same beats that an isekai would! Isekai was a Japanese genre of books, anime, and video games that had the main character being teleported to another world (usually one with a fantasy setting) whereupon they became heroes that needed to save that world from some type of evil or another. I had watched a few of them on my laptop, even read a few books online. I was never a fan of the genre though since most of the stories were just too similar to one another.

“Do you have any questions?” The old man asked after a moment of silence.

I quickly shut away any thoughts about isekai to the back of my mind. I didn’t bring it up, I couldn’t. I didn’t want to offend the old man by revealing that his sacred tradition was a trope-ridden, cliche genre of fiction in my world.

Instead, I asked an inane question. “W-will I have to fight these Unholy guys?”

The wizard laughed out loud. “Oh no, you don’t have to worry about that part of the legend. The last Dark Lord was felled some nine centuries back. The Unholy are no longer united, instead clashing with one another for supremacy. They are nothing more than a nuisance now, with groups of them every so often coming down from the Forbidden Land to raid villages up in the north.” He gave me another smile, this one more gentle than the previous ones. “These days, the role of the Hero is mostly ceremonial. They each stand proudly as the symbol of the nation that summoned them. You’ll mostly be asked to attend state affairs, visit the provinces to keep any uppity dukes in line, appear at public events, and keep up the morale of our brave soldiers.”

Well, that didn’t sound too bad. I could do that, I think. “So I won’t have to fight?”

Ghaldor shrugged. “Well, I suppose the king might ask you to defeat the occasional bandit or brigand. He may even have you act as a bodyguard for him and the other members of the royal household whenever they need to travel to foreign soil.”

I must have looked worried since the old man quickly tried to reassure me.

“Fret not, my dear. Such duties are but a mere trifle for a Hero! With the powers given to you by the gods, you will triumph over any adversary!”

“Powers?” I asked, a little tremble of excitement shaking my body. “I have superpowers?”

“Of course! The gods would not just let you appear upon a new world empty-handed and without the tools to do your duty!”

That’s so cool! “What powers do I have?”

Ghaldor looked pleased with my question. “Heroes have two sets of abilities, as far as we have been able to ascertain. One is the Hero’s main power, which is unique for every Hero summoned. This could be the ability to shoot lightning from your fingertips. Or you could have within you the strength of a thousand men!”

“Wow,” I said, suitably impressed.

“Now your own power may take time to manifest. This time could take as little as an hour, or it could take years!” Ghaldor chuckled. “One of the Heroes currently summoned still has not discovered what his power is, despite having been summoned over two years ago!”

Yikes. I feel sorry for that guy. It must be awful not knowing what your powers were after so long.

“The second set of abilities are your common powers. These are abilities that all summoned Heroes possess. In fact, you are using one such power now.”

I blinked. Was I? I didn’t notice myself doing anything.

The wizard looked amused. “Yes. How do you think we’ve been communicating all this time? Heroes have an ability called Translate, which enables a Hero to understand any spoken language that he hears.”

Well, I guess that makes sense. I didn’t even think to question how Ghaldor was able to speak English even though this is a completely different world.

The old man continued. “Another common power is Ageless. All Heroes summoned to this world do not grow older. Barring any accidents, you could probably live for a thousand years!”

My eyes widened at that. This body was great! Not only was I able to walk around and talk and breathe, but I was functionally immortal, too! Well, according to Ghaldor I could still die if I were killed, so I should watch out for that.

“Your final ability is Dreamless. This ability allows you to heal from injuries while sleeping. This isn’t an instant heal, mind you. The longer you sleep, the more you recover.”

That was another good power. Hopefully, I won’t need to use it very much.

Ghaldor scratched his beard, eyebrows furrowed. “I believe that is all that I had to tell you. If I think of anything else, I’ll be sure to find you. Now, any more questions?”

I shook my head. I couldn’t think of anything else right now.

“Good, good.” He groaned a bit as he slowly stood up from the chair. “Ah. Well, I’m off to talk to the Head Physician, to make sure you are ready to leave. The King and Queen still need to meet you, after all. Some Healers should be along with some appropriate clothing for you to wear.” The old man moved towards the door. “Now if you’ll excuse me.”

“W-wait!” I called out. “Mr. Skybreaker!”

“Hmm?” Ghaldor stopped walking, turning to face me with a raised eyebrow.

“Um,” I gulped. I started to wring my hands nervously. I took a few deep breaths, trying to steel my nerves. This was the man who brought me here, who changed my life for the better. I wanted to thank him, but I couldn’t find the words to do so. I was so new to talking, and I’ve never expressed my feelings before. How could I start now?

“Is there something wrong, child?” The old wizard asked, looking a bit worried.

“I… I…” I took a deep breath, desperately trying to find the words. I closed my eyes and dipped myself forwards into a deep bow from the waist like I’ve seen them do in various anime. “Th-thank you! I wanted to thank you, from the very bottom of my heart.” I spoke out quickly, afraid that if I stopped even for a moment that I may never have the guts to do so again. “What you did for me… it, I, there aren’t the words to describe how much I appreciate it!” I was unable to help myself as the tears slowly dripped from my eyes and fell off my cheeks. “You can’t know just how much you’ve helped me. I was… this was… You saved me! You saved me from a fate worse than death. You took me from Hell and gave me a new life to live!”

I was bawling now as I continued to speak. I knew I was half-babbling, but I didn’t care. I told him about my life before, how I was stuck in bed in a ruined body, unable to move, to breathe, to speak. I told him of the pain I suffered, of the loneliness. I told him of my family, of not being wanted.

Frankly, I would be surprised if he understood even half the words I said. I was blubbering through most of it. I stopped my ranting when I suddenly felt his hand softly pat me on top of the head.

“There, there,” Ghaldor said in a soothing tone. “It’s alright now. You are safe. You are far away from that place, as far away as you could possibly be.”

I raised my head and looked up at his face. There was a kind smile beneath his flowing white beard.

“Worry not, and hold your head up high.” The wizard pulled me up from my bowed position, straightening me up with a hand on my shoulder. “You are a Hero now. Heroes do not cry.”

I wiped away the tears still clinging to my cheeks with my sleeve. I blushed, realizing that I probably just made a complete fool of myself. So much for first impressions.

“Sorry,” I told him.

He shook his head. “No need for apologies. You have led a sad life, and I am happy that I was able to make it better.”

I smiled, glad to know he wasn’t mad or disgusted with me. He really was very nice.

“Also,” Ghaldor looked down at me, his hand once more rising up to give me a pat on the head. “You are welcome.”

My smile grew wider.