Elise opened her eyes and stared at the face of someone she did not know. The woman had long blonde hair and wore something on her head that looked like a crown. But it wasn’t a crown. In all the books she had read crowns were made of gold. Crowns had been a piece of art adorned with jewels of all kinds and all colours. The crown the woman wore was simple and made of a material that shimmered in the sunlight.

“Is everything alright?” she heard the woman asking.

Elise felt the wood of the bench underneath her back and wanted to get up, yet her body did not listen.

The woman looked at her, her face full of pity and folded her hands before saying something in a foreign language. It was not a foreign language, she was speaking the holy language. Elise had struggled to learn it, but she had fully understood the woman's words it. She did not know why but the woman had said “True Restoration”.

Her crown and eyes started to glow. She touched Elise’s stomach and the young girl saw how the mana entered her body. Elise felt how air entered her lungs and how her heart started pumping blood through her body. Her dizziness vanished and after another attempt, she managed to get up. Elise looked at the woman and noticed that the woman’s eyes stopped glowing. The white light was gone, and she stared into her green eyes.

“Elise,” the woman said, “I am terribly sorry.”

Elise wondered why the woman knew her name. Who was she? Had she read her mind with her eyes? A hero in a story had been able to do that… was she a hero?

The woman bowed, “My guard accidentally injured you because he protected others from a thief.”

A thief? The small town was peaceful and Heidi often claimed that one could leave their door wide open. Not that she did that. Granny was smart. Still, Elise understood the meaning behind her words. Thieves were few and far in between, criminals rarely ventured into a small town whose people had close to no wealth.

“He is terribly sorry,” the blonde woman said and helped Elise get up, “And he wants to make up for the pain he has caused you.”

Elise then noticed the guard she spoke about. He looked young, maybe fourteen or so years, she never had been good at properly gauging someone’s age. The boy appeared to be quite downcast and ashamed.

“I don’t feel any pain,” Elise said and the young man’s mood slightly improved.

He bowed before taking a small pouch out. It was adorned with a golden cross, a symbol that looked like a window without frames. Elise had seen this symbol once in a book.

It had been the symbol of a hero who had brought people to their land and had walked over the sea to slay an evil dragon. He had been the very first hero, at least according to the book. But she knew that this made no sense. If he was the first hero, how had humanity survived all the monsters? Was this young man perhaps also hero? No. That was not the case. She knew that. But someone connected to the hero couldn’t be a bad person. She smiled and looked at the young boy.

“Don’t make such a pitiful face,” the blonde woman said to the young boy, “Nothing happened and her injury was by no means grave.”

“I understand,” the boy said, “Mikael told me the same.”

Who was Mikael? There were no other people near them. Was she missing something? Even with Sight she saw nothing.

“Young lady. I don’t know where to start. I was… careless and forgot that the thief was not the only one that could be injured by my spell. I can only blame myself. But I ask you to accept my apology. Please accept this,” the boy said, stuttering most of his words.

He gently put the pouch into her hands, but Elise did not care about the pouch. Her mind was elsewhere. Magic had hit her? No wonder why it had hurt that much. Who were these people? And they could use magic?

“Are you two heroes?” she thus asked.

The blonde woman smiled and said, “No. I am just a Seer, and he is a Herald. Please accept our apology. We are no heroes. We are simply here to tell others what Fate has planned.”

She bowed, and the young boy also did so. Elise had not understood a single word the woman had said. Heidi had told her that a Seer was someone who helped people to find their first node. But Heidi had not told her what a Herald was.

“It did not really hurt,” Elise said, “But I accept your apology.”

Granny probably would have told her to not accept the pouch, but those two were almost heroes. It was not bad to accept their apology… even if it was weird to gift something when apologizing to someone.

The door to her home opened, the old iron angles shrieking. Heidi stepped outside, an apple in her hand. She noticed the two people in front of Elise and almost dropped the red treasure of sweetness.

Elise was rather happy that the apple did not fall. The street was too dirty, and she would not eat the apple if it fell on it. Little… germs were everywhere. She was not sure what the name was, but she was not a healer like Heidi.

Heidi’s eyes widened in surprise. She quickly bowed and respectfully said, “Healer Heidi pays her respect to the Seer and the Herald.”

Elise could not understand why Heidi bowed. Were the Seer and Herald that important?

“No, no,” the blonde woman said and her eyes once again glowed with white light, “There is no need for that.”

“Then so it may be,” Heidi said and looked at the pouch, “Elise, can you explain to me what happened?”

The blonde woman answered instead, “A vile criminal threatened one of the villagers and my friend decided to interfere. Yet he failed to take into consideration that he could injure others that were nearby. I made him pay for his mistake… and restored the health of the young child.”

“I understand,” Heidi said, “I need to thank you.”

“There is no need do to so. We only did what Fate told us to do. No fate was changed today and no fate will change,” the woman said and her eyes once again glowed with white light.

She looked at Elise and Elise felt as if a handful of thin needles were digging into her skin. But the feeling vanished quickly. The Seer urged the boy to come closer and whispered something. He eagerly nodded before taking a small glass vial out of his bag and handing it to the blonde woman.

“But please, give this to her mother,” the Seer said, “Tell her that she should visit me tomorrow. It has been revealed to me that we need to talk.”

“I understand,” Heidi slowly said and nodded, “Then…”

“I would love to answer your question, healer,” the Seer interrupted, “But we are in a hurry. Fate does not wait.”

The Seer was long gone before Heidi finally looked at Elise and whispered, “I believe that we two need to talk.”

---

Two figures that did not fit into a small town walked through the old cobblestone streets and were talking to each other in hushed whispers. One was tall, had blonde hair and wore a white coat. The other one was a young boy. He was clad in white chainmail and armed with a beautiful morningstar that seemed to radiate the sunlight.

“Siegfried,” the woman said, “What spell did you use to stop… no… incapacitate the thief?”

He sighed, “I’ve had planned to use a spell of my node but it was hard to control and Mikael intervened. Because of him, it turned into one of my stronger spells, stone catapult.”

The young woman furrowed her brows, “Tell Mikael that he should not interfere with the mortal world unless necessary.”

She halted, “But the girl is odd. It heavily injured the thief. It almost ripped his hand off. Yet the girl remained entirely unfazed?”

“She was knocked out,” the boy replied with a loud sigh, “I cannot forgive myself.”

“Yet she was not knocked because of you,” the Seer said, “I don’t know how you did it but you helped her to… find her nodes earlier.”

The boy stopped walking, “Nodes? She has more than one at the same time?”

“Yes,” the Seer replied, “I’ve never seen anything like that before. She was gifted with two nodes… no matter how hard I think about it, it makes no sense. That could mean that her soul is extremely strong...”

She shook her head before she continued rambling.

“Loretta,” the boy interrupted her, “Shouldn’t we talk about the fact that I almost killed an innocent person instead of talking about said person being out of the ordinary?”

The Seer remained silent and he continued speaking.

“While stone catapult is not a strong spell, it is powerful enough to incapacitate an adult. So, how was it possible that a small girl who is no mage survived it without any injuries… there weren’t any, were they?”

Loretta shook her head, “She had a broken rib and ruptured lung. But I expected her injury to be worse. If you had hit the thief in the same manner, he would have died.”

The young boy exhaled loudly and exclaimed, “Then, how in the True God’s name is it possible that this happened? Was she wearing something that nullified magic? But she did not look that rich. Or was it a blessing of the healer?”

Loretta shook her head, “There wasn’t anything like that. She had no accessories or relics, and she was also not under the protection of a divine spell. But I felt something surrounding her… yet after she lost consciousness the mana surrounding her vanished.”

“Support spell Sanctuary? No, that is impossible. Protection maybe?” the boy asked, “Is the healer perhaps that powerful?”

“No,” Loretta once again shook her head, “I know her from long ago. She is a good midwife but a mediocre healer and as far from a cleric or priest as a healer could be. She probably knows no higher supportive spell.”

“Then was it someone else?” the boy loudly wondered, “Her husband, perhaps?”

“I also know him, and he is… I’ve seen his fate once, and he walks a warriors path. He can use magic but no magic that protects others.”

“How is it possible that someone as powerful as him is the husband of a midwife living at the edge of the Empire?” the boy asked.

Loretta smiled and said, “Love works in mysterious ways. I’ve worked with him once, and he… is a nice and caring man. Perhaps because of that? They were a match made by Fate herself.”

“Then what about her father or mother?” the boy asked, “Are they perhaps powerful mages?”

She halted and sighed, “When I looked at the girl’s fate I only saw a few threads. I believe that her father has died… and her mother… she is unable to wield magic and may die. Her fate is… complicated.”

The boy frowned, “Then her race? She is a monia. Aren’t they … like... super powerful mages? I’ve only heard the tales of them fighting by themselves against entire armies of demons and demonic beasts, and they survived. Most angels would like to bond with them but... as you know... that's impossible.”

The Seer shook her head, “Yes, the devil's blood is strong, but they are as mortal as most of mankind. The Ängels are the only exception, but I’ve only seen them once. Monias are peaceful and kind. Their kids are almost as weak as the children of us humans.”

“I have no idea what protected her,” she added after managing to evade the horse cart standing in her way.

The boy sighed, “Then…”

“Siegfried… we have a task to accomplish. We need to help people to see their fate. We cannot change what has happened. You don’t need to waste your energy on small and trivial matters,” the Seer sternly interrupted, “And now be quiet. We don’t want others to listen to us. Making our voices soundless isn’t necessarily something I am very good at.”