‘Magic huh….’

It had already became afternoon by the time Hiro made got back to where he left the horse. Surprisingly enough, the grey horse was doing fine, there were plenty of grass to graze on and a wide open field to run around in. After calling for the horse and saddling up, Hiro was casually making his way back towards the village to inform the village chief.

‘It’s really odd, although Tenga said I should be able to use magic now, I don’t feel any different. Is it possible that Tenga tricked me? … No way, he seemed desperate but I know he isn’t the kind to resort to deception.’

Hiro was enjoying his stroll back to the village, it was during moments like this that he had time to think. He didn’t have to watch out for wild animal attacks or concentrate on looking for food.

‘That’s right! I’m supposed to be back in the village already! Father is going to go bald worrying about me… Oh well, let him heh. That’ll teach him for still thinking I’m a little boy. Soon enough I’ll have to go down to the Capital and leave father by himself anyways, so he might as well get used to it. Which brings me to another point, I wonder if I’ll be able to recognize Lena when I see her or if she can recognize me. Wait….How do I even find her?! What?! How did I not think of that before?! Stupid! Stupid!’

Absorbed in his current dilemma, Hiro did not notice the figure walking with a bag strapped over his shoulder in the distance. Hiro was still preoccupied when the figure was a few meters in front of his horse. Clad in a dark green mottled cloak, the figure stopped directly in front of the horse, preventing the horse from continuing.

‘Huh?!’

Hiro finally noticed that the figure was blocking his path. Getting off his horse and walking up to the figure, Hiro began dreading what was to come. Walking up to Hiro, the figure raised a fist, clenched as if holding something in its hand. The arm behind the fist showed evidence of extreme training, this was not merely an inexperienced person.

“YOU IDIOT!”

*WHACK!*

“Ow!”

“Do you know how much I worried about you?! Have you any idea how much suffering you would have caused me if you died?!” After whacking the top of Hiro’s head in a fatherly manner, Albert pulled down his hood, revealing his handsome face. Pulling him in for a tight hug, “I only have you left, please don’t leave me too.”

‘…’

“Aw, c’mon old man. You know better than anyone that if anyone was to survive by themselves it would be me. You taught me everything I know, it would be damn embarrassing if I were to die from a mere 3 days of camping out.”

Seeming to cheer up, Albert looked Hiro straight in the eye in a serious manner, “And did I teach you to use that sort of language?”

“I’m sorry fa-“

“It would be a damn fucking embarrassment to my name, Gahahaha!” Smacking Hiro’s back, Albert and Hiro were walking back towards the village which was in the horizon.

“C’mon old man, even your son thinks you are coarse. Please use some discretion when speaking.”

“Ah~ No big deal, I mean I’m talking to a man now aren’t I? Hehe.”

“Hah~” Grinning widely, “Yea you are.”

They both continued to walk casually back to the village, while Hiro began to recount his adventure the past few days. It was a very lighthearted conversation between father and son and they both enjoyed every last bit of it. That was until Hiro arrived to his third day on his rite of passage.

“So after giving it some thought, I decided to look around a bit at the rumored cursed mist.”

“You really are an idiot aren’t you, how many times have the villagers and myself included told you kids not to go near the mist?”

“Lay off the parenting father! I’m already a man now aren’t I?” Hiro felt embarrassed about being treated like a child once more.

“Hahaha… Hiro, to me you’ll always be my little boy, no matter how old you become.”

“… Well anyways, I decided to go take a look at the mist that everyone was talking about.”

“And? Was it just like how we described it? Did it look like something might pop out, grab you, and drag you in?” Oblivious to the startled tone that Hiro was begin to let out, Albert began joking about the mist.

“Yea… The mist was terrifying…” Hiro began to shake violently, now that he had time to reflect upon the past day, “Something…jumped out…”

Albert was greatly startled, the joking and lighthearted atmosphere earlier had disappeared and in its place was a eerie silence. Albert’s relaxed face hardened, “What do you mean something jumped out?”

“I’m not sure… I think it was a Doppler…It had no face and-“

“Just one look will cause you to lock up in fear right?”

“Huh?... How did you know?”

By this point, Albert had already backed a few meters away. He was glaring right where Hiro was crouching and shivering. If a master fighter was watching Albert, he would find that Albert was poised and ready to attack at the slightest hint of aggression.

“You do know what Dopplers are known for right?” Albert growled out those few words while reaching into his cloak for something.

“Huh? What do you mean?... Father I’m scared, why are you doing that?” Hiro had realized that something was wrong, his father, who was usually very doting, was giving off killing intent.

“Enough ‘Hiro’ I’m not sure if you really are my son, but there’s one way to find out.”

Pulling his hand back out from under his cloak, he had taken out a cross. The cross which was a symbol of Sienna, the Goddess of Health, Beauty, and Peace. With the cross in his hand, Albert began muttering something under his breath, “I call upon the powers of the divine Sienna, reveal the true form of this creature before me, ilumëo!”

A soft white glow emanated from Hiro and then faded away, leaving a confused Hiro and an even more perplexed Albert. What should’ve happened if Hiro was really the Doppler in disguise was the spell would’ve forced the Doppler out of its current form and back into its original form.

“How can this be?... Are you really Hiro?”

“If you think I’m the Doppler your wrong father. I got away from it… although barely.”

At those words, Albert relaxed a little although he still had his guard up. Pulling Hiro to his feet, “So… How did you get away? Although I trust in your physical abilities, I doubt that you could get away from a Doppler.”

Still visibly shaken by what had just transpired, Hiro began going into detail about the Doppler encounter.

“At first I thought it was a man. He sounded like he was in need of help badly, so I hesitated. But right after my hesitation, I remembered the warnings that all the elders would tell us about the mist. How the mist will swallow you up and leave behind no trace. Then I remembered about Brian, remember him father?”

“Ah yes, he was that shy kid that hardly talks, didn’t he disappear a while back? If I remember correctly, the village searched around for him for a few days with no success.”

“Yea… Although you don’t know this father, but sometimes we would talk with each other. Since we were both usually by ourselves, it made sense that there was someone who would talk to you from time to time. Well the voice that I heard in the mist was very similar to Brians….”

“Hah~… Alright, I’ll tell Bertha about what happened to her son…”

“Please don’t… I mean, it’s finally been 2 years since he disappeared and she’s finally come to terms that he ran away to live in one of the larger towns. I don’t want to bring back those hard times for her.”

“I guess you’re right… Enough about this sad topic. So how did you escape?”

“Well first I ran as hard as I could, but that wasn’t going to work. Out of curiosity, I turned around to take a good look at what was chasing me, which was a very bad decision. At the sight of the Doppler, my legs froze up and it seemed as if my mind became clouded with fear. My whole life flashed through my mind as I got up and stared straight at the monster. By this point I had already given up and would have just stood there as the monster tore me to pieces, if it wasn’t for Tenga.”

“Huh? What is ‘Tenga’?”

“It’s not what but who. It was with his help that I barely escaped death and to this point I’m still not sure what he did. The only thing I cared about back there in the woods was that I was alive and safe.”

“I have to thank this ‘Tenga’ person that helped you. Is he still around? I would like to offer him my sincerest gratitude for saving you Hiro.”

‘I probably shouldn’t tell father about Tenga’s situation. It’ll only cause him to worry more if he hears that Tenga was trapped in the mist when I found him.’

“Tenga was just passing by on an errand, so he already left by now.”

“Is that so? Was he also the one that caused that huge beam of light from inside the forest?”

‘!!!’

“Err…y-yea. I’m not all too sure about how he helped me, but I’m sure it had something to do with that light.”

“He must be quite powerful, it’s not easy to distort the laws of nature like that.”

“Hah? What do you mean?!”

“Well since you weren’t in the village so you didn’t know, but at the time of the bright beam everything acted as if it’s day time. All the animals started behaving strangely and old man Zedd came ran through the village yelling about some goddess descending from the heavens and we all know, Zedd is crippled.”

“R-r-really?....”

‘I must remember not to piss off Tenga… If I still want to live…’

They finally reached the village, it was a small dainty little town with stone and wooden houses built close together. In the center of the village was a drinking well, it seemed that the underground reservoir was vast and endless. During times of drought, the well kept the villagers hydrated, because of the proximity to the forest, there was an endless supply of food.

“I’ll go back to the house first, there’s some stuff I need to get ready.”

“What do you mean?”

“You don’t remember boy? The biannual caravan! You were so excited about your rite of passage that you’ve forgotten that the caravan is going to stop by soon!”

“That’s right! That’s just perfect father! I’ll ride with the caravan when they make their way back down to the capital!”

“Wait, who said that you can go to the capital?”

“I’m not a little boy no more father! I could take care of myself!”

“Like how you took care of yourself in the forest? We’ll talk about this later, go inform the chief that you’ve passed your rite of passage.”

Without so much as another backwards glance, Albert marched off into their home near the outskirts of the village. Being left behind staring angrily at his father’s back, Hiro then began making his way to the chief’s house. He passed by children playing in the streets and housewives hanging clothes to dry. Off in the distance the men were coming home from working in the fields.

*Knock Knock Knock*

“Chief Garth, are you in there? It’s me Hiro.”

From the other side of the door, a growl answered back, “Come in.”

Entering the house, Hiro saw a large man with a bed of grey hair sitting at a table. The large man had heavily callused hands and scars on his arms that showed of the mistakes of his youth. Although the man was large he looked tired, very tired, as if the whole world was on his shoulders.

“Ugh… Have a seat Hiro.” Motion for the chair across from him, the man poured a mug for Hiro too, “I’m glad to see you made it back Ok. Did anything strange happen while you were there?”

“No Chief, not much happened while I was there. Just the occasional walk to check on my traps.”

Suspicion began to dawn on the face of the man, “So you didn’t happen to see some strange light from inside the forest?”

‘Something is not right…’

“No, I did see it. It’s just that it was very far off and you know how everyone says the mist is cursed, so I never got close to the mist at all.”

“Hmph! Sure you didn’t, so our little ‘Adventurer’ didn’t go check out the source of the strange phenomenon? That’s a first!” Garth downed the rest of the ale in his mug and poured another.

“I’m not sure what you are implying Chief, but I did as tradition states. If I have acted out of line then I humbly apologize. Now if you would excuse me, I must be on my way home.” Hiro had sensed that Garth wasn’t in the best of moods. With as much tact as he could muster in that situation, Hiro tried to end the report and return home.

“Stay for a while longer Hiro.” Garth had stopped and put down his mug, “I apologize for that harsh thing I just said. You see, it’s just this accursed place. First Brian disappears, then Mitchell’s caravan is late, and now this strange phenomenon. I swear this place is cursed!” Garth had begun clutching at the hair on his head, he looked way older than he used to before Hiro had left.

“What do you mean, the caravan is late?”

“Ugh~ What is there to explain? The caravan should be here since a week ago; Mitchell has always been a punctual merchant. This is an omen I tell ya! Something really bad is going to happen, I just know it!”

“Hah~ I’ll be going then Chief.” Hiro had grown tired of the man’s ranting, so without another word, he left the delirious man to his ravings.

---

“But why father! I’m a man now aren’t I?!”

“It’s still too soon and let’s not forget you almost died back in the forest, remember?”

“Like I said I’m sorry! I promise I won’t do something as dangerous as that!” By this point Hiro was practically begging his father to let him go to the capital.

“Hah~ How many times do I have to say this, until I’m sure you can handle yourself, I will not let you out of my sight. Now go to sleep, we have a long day ahead of us tomorrow; who knows when the caravan will arrive, so we have to start preparing the furs for trading.