Treya Verdan Aura von Bunadala
When had she first set her heart on becoming a hero? At first, it was nothing more than a fascination. However, as time passed and reality came into focus, it coalesced into a concrete goal.
Aura stared at the cover of the Black Chronicle. Her father had bought it for her when she was young, and it had accompanied her ever since, like an old, familiar friend. Not a day passed when she didn’t read it.
“Aura?” asked a young girl’s lispy voice. “What are you doing?”
Aura looked up from where she was sitting in the shade of the tree. “Reading a book.”
“A picture book?” The girl’s eyes sparkled. She leaned over, gazing at the Black Chronicle with anticipation.
Aura cocked her head and thought. How was she going to explain this? “No. A strategy book.”
“A stra-te-gy book? What’s that?”
“It’s like a textbook. For winning wars.”
“Wow... Does that mean you’re going to be important again?”
Aura’s expression grew conflicted. Her humiliation during the battle with the Faerzen Resistance had stopped her career dead. She had been stripped of command of the Knights of the Royal Black, and her former subordinates had deserted her. Even the men who had once looked after the orphanage in the capital were gone; its security was now managed by Hiro’s Crow Legion.
She didn’t regret changing camps from the western to the eastern nobles. If differing allegiances had led her to face Hiro and Liz on the field, it would have been too painful to bear. From that torment, at least, she had been spared. Still, she prayed for her former subordinates’ safety, and she worried constantly whether they had lost standing or even gotten hurt without her leadership. Third Prince Brutahl had earned her gratitude as well. As ruthlessly pragmatic as he could be, he had seen her off pleasantly where he could have made her life very difficult. Indeed, he had done a great deal to ease her passage. She owed him more than she could ever repay.
“Aura?” The girl leaned close and peered into her eyes.
Aura laid a hand on the girl’s head. “I haven’t given up yet.”
Children like this were orphaned all over the world, every day. Aura wasn’t presumptuous enough to believe she could end war entirely, but she aspired to reduce the number of victims it claimed. That, she considered her role, as hypocritical as it might seem to some. Her career might have stalled for now, but if she could prove herself, she could once more return to a position where she could make a difference. The more powerful the empire grew, the greater the disincentive it would present, and in time, conflict would die out.
“I’ll be more important than ever.”
She would keep on fighting for a world where orphans like this girl could live in peace.
“Okay.” The girl looked down. “But you won’t get hurt, right?”
“I can’t say for sure.”
That wasn’t a promise Aura could make lightly. She had chosen a life on the battlefield, where monsters lurked and demons stalked. The tide could turn against her at any moment. She could not give her word as she might have liked. However, she had no intention of rolling over and dying. During the Faerzen conflict, she had sworn that she would endure any disgrace to survive. She would pursue her dream, even if it meant swallowing her pride.
“Where’s Hiro?”
Aura smiled ruefully. “I’ll bring him another day.”
“Tell him to bring loads of candy!”
“I will.” Aura tousled the girl’s hair and looked up at the sky.
I wonder what he’s really after.
As ever, the sun shone brilliantly in the clear, blue firmament, indifferent to the lives below as it bathed the land in light.
“Now that I think about it...”
Just when, she wondered, had he become what she was striving toward?
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