When I lost consciousness, my body lay helpless in the middle of an empty field, beneath a starless sky that hung heavy above me. Then, emerging from the fading light of dusk, came a girl my age—her name was Carla. With a gentleness I didn't expect, she lifted me from the ground and carried me back to where I lived, as if I weighed nothing at all—or perhaps, she had long grown used to carrying the pain of others.
As the bruises and wounds across my body opened, she tended to each one. Her fingers wrapped me in bandages and silent compassion, as though every strip of cloth was a whispered prayer.
Slowly, I awoke. My eyes fluttered open, and the first thing I saw was her—Carla—sitting beside me, eyes filled with determination, holding a promise yet to be spoken.
"Come with me… to a place," she said softly but firmly. "A place where the answers you seek are waiting."
I didn't speak. I simply nodded, gently. Without another word, she led me to a realm she believed held all the truths I'd been longing for—The Hidden Realm, the world of the Elves.
We were welcomed by a majestic figure who seemed to shine with the light of stars. Their queen—Queen Victoria. Wise, mysterious, and older than time itself. Her gaze met mine, and in those ancient eyes, I saw a knowledge far beyond human reach.
She didn't just offer me answers—she opened a path. A path to discover who I truly was, and why fate had chosen me.
I sat on a bed of soft grass, under a canopy of glowing trees whose light breathed with every sway of the leaves. Before me stood Queen Victoria—elegant and untouched by mortality. Her gaze pierced through the barriers of my soul.
"Fate has chosen you, Hiro," she said, her voice as gentle as the wind, yet powerful enough to shake me to my core.
I listened in silence. There was something in her voice that made time pause. I wanted to speak, but my tongue froze. Perhaps I wasn't ready to accept the truth. Or perhaps... I was afraid of it.
"To understand your legacy," she continued, "you must first know where it all began."
She raised her hand, and from the still air, tiny lights appeared—like celestial fireflies—spinning and shaping ancient symbols. They danced in the air, living stars bound by magic.
"It all began at the dawn of time," she whispered. "When the great explosion—the Big Bang—birthed the universe. From chaos, balance emerged. And from the matter that never became stars or planets… came the birth of eighteen elements. Pure forces that now flow through the souls of the chosen."
I swallowed hard. Carla leaned forward, curiosity in her voice. "Eighteen...?"
"Seven of them were separated and fell to Earth. They merged with the world we know. Earth—an element now rooted in your being—strong, unshakable. Fire, wild and fierce… the one who fought you earlier bears its flame."
"Wait… you know about that?!" I asked, startled, trying to hide my embarrassment.
Queen Victoria smiled softly. "Of course. I know everything that's happened to you… since the moment I touched your soul."
"Then…" Carla said, eyes wide, "what about the others? What comes next?!"