Orion opened his eyes in furry, realizing he came back to himself.


    "Orion! Orion! Please wake up! I''m sorry!"


    "I''m awa-"


    *Slap*


    Orion felt a tingling sensation in his left cheek.


    ''She slapped me before I could speak.''


    "I was awake before you slapped me, Amelia."


    While touching his painful cheek, he sighed.


    "I- I''m sorry! I didn''t know what to do. What has caused you to pass out like this?"


    "I''ll explain later, what''s more important is getting you out of here."


    "We need to get out of the orphanage without being hurt. It''s not an easy task, isn''t it?"


    Amelia was shocked. She never realized how important she was to Orion. She had never expected him to care for her in such a way.


    ''I can feel my magic slowly flow in my body, but it might take time before I can use it.''


    ''Yet, this burning feeling in my right leg is coming back. I felt that before my mind got sucked into... whatever that place was.''


    He looked at Amelia, and then at the burning room they were in.


    "Amelia, I have a question."


    ''My leg is burning, and we need to hurriedly get out of this room. Still, I want to ask her now.''


    Waiting for her agreement, he thought.


    "Is there something you haven''t told me yet?"


    Orion took her left hand, before they both looked at the mark. Surprised, Amelia forcefully pulled back her hand the moment she realized her gloves had vanished, revealing her secret.


    "You don''t have to hide it. I already know what it is. Do you feel something when you look at it? Anything."


    She closed her eyes, and answered truthfully.


    "This might sound weird, but when I close my eyes, I can see a lock."


    "Can you imagine unlocking it? Could you do that?"


    Amelia imagined herself unlocking the lock. Upon inserting the key into the lock, the mark radiated a bright glow, and Orion began to feel his leg heat even more intensely.


    ''This is getting unbearable. There was no information about the ''Key'' causing such burning feelings. Nothing about the previous Hero suffering from that effect was written in the books.''


    *Click*


    "Left leg, Lock Number one opened. First Gear is now available."


    A loud noise and a monotone woman''s voice reverberated in both Orion and Amelia''s mind. They locked eyes for a few seconds.


    *Crack*


    The sounds of breaking wood beams suddenly caught their attention. Orion, moved by his instinct, took Amelia in his arms, and hurriedly pushed on his burning leg.


    "The First Gear has been successfully assimilated."


    The voice gave strength to Orion, right before the room collapsed on them. With a leap forward, both vanished from the room, as the ceiling crashed down.


    His steps became quicker. While having an awful time readjusting his steps to avoid crashing anywhere, he barely managed by using ''Calm Analysis''.


    Trudging through the water still flowing downstairs, he looked at the wall next to him, and opted for a different approach.


    Orion stepped on the wall, before his feet began running on the wall of the upper floor. Avoiding the mess of electrified water and broken building parts all around, he made his way to the other side of the building, which suffered less from the flames.


    He jumped over the part the lighting arrow pierced before, before jumping down to the floor below.


    The splashing noise of Orion sliding in the water. Amelia''s disbelieved expression could be seen in the droplets of water that were sent into the air.


    This entire thing happened in only three seconds after Orion began to run.


    He was hurting, each step was heavier than the previous one. He couldn''t feel his leg any longer, and as he slid on the floor, thought he would lose it at some point.


    The pain was excruciating, but the deal was to save Amelia, not himself. He only had a few meters left to exit the building.


    He glanced toward the front doors.


    ''Last push! I have to, I gave my word!''


    Amelia looked at an exhausted Orion, who was breathing with great difficulty.


    "I''m going to vomit... You''re going too fast."


    Amelia''s eyes couldn''t follow the scenery, making her sick in the process. Still, she did her best to contain it by closing her eyes.


    "Don''t worry, we''re almost outside. Wait a second, it''s almost over."


    "..."


    Orion thrust himself forward with a powerful leap forward, and crashed his back on the front doors to open them.


    He flew out of the building and landed on his back on the grass outside, where all the villagers were waiting for his return.


    "I got... Amelia back... Keith. She shouldn''t... have any injuries, but... please look at her... anyway."


    "Orion, what about you? Your nose is bleeding! You should be the one to be examined!"


    Amelia didn''t want to move away from Orion. He might have saved her life, and even if she was truly grateful for that, his state was way more concerning than hers.


    "I''m... fine... I think I need... some rest..."


    Orion''s consciousness began to fade away, leaving everything in the hands of Keith and the villagers.


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    ...


    Amelia looked at Orion, who had fallen unconscious in the grass. His clothes were burnt, he had a cut on his leg, a bleeding nose, a sickened face, and a few bruises.


    She couldn''t help but feel awful. Everything that happened around was caused by losing control of her magic.


    "Sir, I''m sorry. This was my all fault."


    "I can guess what happened. I''ll need the full explanation of what transpired inside from Orion later, but for now, please take care of him."


    "You won''t punish me?"


    "Why would I? You will have to explain everything to the villagers later, and apologize to Orion, but what happened isn''t necessarily your fault. Circumstances cause situations like these, you are as much a victim as anyone else."


    Amelia looked down, and tears began to form in her eyes.


    "Thank you, sir. I''ll apologize to everyone later."


    The building started to collapse, which made everyone move away from it.


    Keith and Amelia picked up Orion carefully, and with the help of the villagers, brought him to a safe place where he could heal from his injuries.


    ~


    Orion opened his eyes slowly. He didn''t recognize the ceiling he was looking at, but he knew it was still in Auro just by looking at how it was built.


    He sat on the bed, and looked around him.


    ''How much time have I been out? My body feels sluggish, like I''ve missed a few days of hunting.''


    *Click*


    The door of the cabin creaked, revealing a beautiful girl with pearl like eyes entering with a large bag in one hand.


    ''Her eyes are gorgeous. I can''t believe she managed to hide them so well until now.''


    She shut the door, walked to the table, placed the bag on it, and glanced toward the bed where Orion was supposed to sleep.


    "I suppose today, too, you''re not going to... wake up?"


    "Hi, Amelia."


    Orion expressed a soft smile and waved at her.


    Amelia placed both her hands on her mouth, tried to move towards him, but bumped her foot into a chair, almost falling down.


    "Watch out!"


    Orion sprung out of bed and caught her.


    "Clumsy as always, I see... What''s that face?"


    He felt strange, something was wrong with this interaction. His worries were valid, looking at how Amelia appeared relieved.


    ''I did fall asleep for quite some time, judging by how I feel. I''m betting she''ll say something along these lines.''


    "It''s been two weeks, do you know how worried I was?! Not only me, everyone is worried about you! And the first thing you say is ''Hi, Amelia.''?"


    ''Bingo.''


    "And why did you catch me? You''re still in rehabilitation, for all that I know!"


    "What? You were expecting me to ignore you, perhaps? I might not look like this, but I do care about you, you know? Who''d let their friend get hurt in front of them? It might lead to a good laugh, though."


    "You jerk! What the hell, give me back my worries!"


    They both looked at each other, and began to laugh.


    "I''m glad you''re back, I thought you wouldn''t wake up because of me. I also wanted to apologize for the orphanage accident."


    "Don''t worry, I gained more things than you''d expect from that fire. I''ll have to talk to you later about some important stuff anyway. But for now, I need to talk to Keith, and tell everyone I''m alright now."


    "Before you go outside, maybe you''d like to eat something? It''s been two weeks, and you haven''t eaten a single thing until now."


    "You''re right, I honestly forgot about that. You brought something with you, I believe?"


    "Yes, just simple cooked rice and a few slices of ham. I prepared these, thinking you''d need energy if you were to ever awaken."


    Orion took his time eating the meal without living a single thing on the plate.


    "It''s been a while since we''ve eaten together like this."


    A look of nostalgia showed on Amelia''s face.


    "I''m sorry, I''ve only been focusing on hunting recently. I felt like I needed to be of use to this community, but maybe I''ve been overthinking. I hope you won''t hold it against me."


    "Being another human in a village full of beastmen can be stressful, so I do understand what you''re coming at. I was scared they would one day throw us away."


    "I''m pretty sure they wouldn''t go that far."


    They exchanged a few pleasantries, until Orion felt like moving out. He needed to talk about significant stuff to Keith right now.


    "I''m going Amelia. I''ll come looking for you later."


    "Don''t overexert yourself, since you just woke up."


    He opened the door to the cabin, waved at her, and closed the door behind him.


    ...


    ''So, where is Keith? Perhaps I should look at where the orphanage was before burning down.''


    He stretched his weary body while walking toward the south part of Auro.


    After walking for a few minutes, he stumbled upon a shocking scene. Where the orphanage stood before, many builders were working on the wooden skeleton of a new children''s home.


    Keith was looking at this from afar, leaving the builders to their craft. He saw something in the corners of his eye, before glancing at Orion.


    Orion walked to him, and started by greeting him.


    "Hello, Sir, it''s been a while."


    "Indeed, it has been a while. How is your body? No remaining injuries?"


    "I do feel tired, but other than that, I''m in good shape."


    "This is good news. As you might have seen, we''re rebuilding the orphanage, which is another good news."


    "But you being back is definitely better, all the villagers wished to see you back."


    Orion realized once again how precious this village was to him.


    "I apologize for pressing you with questions when you have only just woken up, but would you mind telling me about what happened inside the orphanage two weeks ago?"


    "Are you planning to blame Amelia? If so, I can assure you she wasn''t at fault."


    "Do not worry, I''ve already spoken to her about this. She was a victim of circumstances to begin with."


    Orion nodded.


    "I believe her magic manifested only now because of all the elements she can deploy. I had time to observe some things after you crashed through the doors."


    "The doors were showing traces of earthen projectiles, water was flowing from the front doors, and the building was on fire. A tri-magi is rare nowadays."


    "I''ll correct you on that, mister. She''s a penta-magi."


    Keith''s jaws dropped, and his monocle fell on the ground.


    "You''re not joking around, right? You''re serious? She can use all five elements, even lighting and wind?"


    His composure came back as he picked up his monocle. He dusted it, and wore it on his eye again.


    "I''m sure, she used all five of them on me. If I wasn''t a skilled hunter, I definitely wouldn''t have made it out alive..."


    Orion looked at Keith with a faint smile.


    "What is it? Why are you smiling?"


    "Your monocle is on the wrong eye."


    Seemingly not cured of his shock, Keith put the monocle on the right eye in a swift motion and coughed, embarrassed.


    Right after, Orion surprised him even more.


    "I have more news, which might be unpleasant for you. In a few years, I''ll have to leave this village. Before I do, though, I''ll have to train Amelia. I need her with me."


    "What do you mean by leaving? Did we do something that led you to move out?"


    Keith looked saddened. He considered both Orion and Amelia like family, as he saw them grow up until today.


    "It is not like that. During the fire, I obtained knowledge about something."


    "Something I have to do. Amelia is the key to helping me complete it."


    ''Literally speaking.''


    "I see, you won''t give me details about that goal, right?"


    "I can only say that I will strive to make the factions lives a lot easier than it is nowadays. I''m not blind enough to not see the new families being sent somewhere we don''t know."


    "It''s quite difficult to accept, but children do grow up fast. I can''t believe the babies we received so many years ago would work towards improving the lives of others. You have my thanks."


    Showing his determination with a nod, Orion turned around.


    "I still have to talk to Amelia about this, but we won''t leave before she is ready. I do have to work on a few things since I''m also able to use magic. I need a lot more practice."


    "I can''t believe you. Can you stop with the sudden revelations now? My heart won''t be able to settle down."


    Keith was sweating profusely. He would rather not ask, but he still had to.


    "And what elements can you use? Everything, like Amelia?"


    "No, I don''t think anyone understands what I can use. I heard my two elements have been lost to time, and only one person ever possessed even them."


    "You possess lost elements? This is intriguing. I should send a letter to sir Dylan about all of this. If he has some knowledge about it, it might be worth it."


    ''I can''t go speaking about everything, I''ll choose carefully what I should disclose. Mom, dad, and Amelia are a secret no one should know.''


    "By the way, we''ve found the bodies of the beasts you hunted that day. There was one different from usual, so I took the liberty of looking at it."


    "Oh, this was something I wanted you to look at, so thank you for doing that. Did you find something unusual about it?"


    Keith frowned while recalling what he observed.


    "From the body, there was a strange organ inside it. A strange black stone that seemed to pulsate a dark energy. When we took it out of the body, it crumbled into dust, so we couldn''t get any samples from it."


    "I see. That stone might have been the source of the irregularity. It might even force an evolution or mutation to a species. We need to be careful about those beasts, they are terribly dangerous."


    "I''ll speak to the villagers about that. Nothing bad in being extra careful. Thank you for hunting it down."


    Walking away, Orion moved toward the builders.


    "Well then, I''ll be going now, I need to show I''m doing well to everyone."


    "Do take care of your health. If you need anything, feel free to talk to me."


    "Thank you, Sir. I''ll see you later."


    Orion walked to all the villagers he could find, showing that he had recovered.


    After doing his round, he came back to the little cabin he woke up in, and saw Amelia waiting for him inside.


    ''I guess I have to tell her everything. She needs to know if I want to get her help.''


    Orion sighed, opened the door, and after some small talk, one of their most memorable nights began.


    Amelia''s purpose was born that night.