Artemesia Family/Mahalo

Transient Mirage

A penitent man looked into the mirror. They said he was a hero, but he did not look like one. He placed a hand on the metal surface, and he saw the blood that ran from the hands that brought death without thought. He had broken the contract. That was why, he understood, at last. He broke the contract so his life too he had agreed to forfeit. But it would not have to end this way. Not for all of them.

He wondered in thought, a pensive reflection, cast away by the myriad facets. There was a time long ago when he had been the youth whose ideals of heroism were fresh and alive. The contract was for honor, not the contract for life. And what if he chose a different path? Such would not be out of the question, for one did not have to walk the single path to only an end in death. The hero gave pause and sighed a cloudy regret into the mirror.

It was his face, but he saw through the fog, to the face long ago, before the contract was broken. That was the one who in silence allowed the seed to grow, and in vanity read the White Book of Awakening. In the greater state of mind, his beliefs were mixed, and in the grip of the Sacred Mace of Blood, he took his dread role. But no! The hero tried to wipe away the blood, but it dripped forth from the very metal of the mirror. Never could that past be rewritten, but he smiled. For he understood.

He looked upon the face of the boy who shared his younger face. If not he who would change his fate, then another would cast the rock. The hero saw the sun beyond the peak, and he rejoiced, for soon he would walk freely again, in another shell. Soon he would see the rising sun again, through different eyes.

The pages were set; the map was placed. When the boy learned to read the passages of awakening, then he would resume at last the life lost now. The mirror hummed and the mist dripped in tears. But the hero understood that there would be no better chance to right his regrets.

And so the boy would rise, and walk, and speak, but he would not awaken. Not yet. Not until he broke the restricting bonds, and in the dream of waking, he would right the regrets his rueful self made. Then, and only then, would he learn to awaken.

Radiant Hero (A Study of the Effects of Intellectual Storylines Pertaining to Alternate Multiverses)

"The Radiant Hero?" The librarian looks at you annoyingly. "And which version would you like? Korstaan's Unabridged with Annotations, Barin's Comprehensive Abridged, the Original Ballad by Embar, the first through ninth revisions of the Legend of the Radiant Hero, the Tales of the Dawn, the Legend of the Champion of Radiance, or the hundreds of scholarly and some not-so-scholarly critiques and academic papers about the so-called 'Radiant hero'? Do you even have any idea which 'Radiant Hero' you are looking for?"

You give him a surprised look. "Yes," he answers to your look, "Some historians believe that the so-called 'Radiant Hero Mahalo' might not have been a single individual, but rather a semi-fictional conglomeration of several people or personae of people in various times of Arcaea's history. But," he sighed, "There is no proof that there was ever anyone besides Mahalo."

You ask another question.

"Uto Tirado?" The librarian scratches his head and looks deep in thought for a moment. "Ah, yes! I remember now. That is one of the names some historians have suggested as a possible persona that was later transformed in literature as the Radiant Hero. Some other candidates are Jared Artemesia, Lawrence Brewer, and there are people who say that the Radiant Hero might have also been the Phoenix King. But," he waves around his hands, "that is all wild speculation, and if you ask me, there's about as much truth in those as there is in the stories you read. Now what'll it be? Mind you, some of the books are heavy and you'll need a magnifying glass to read them. Of course," he chuckles and looks up from his desk, "You could just get the digital version. Seriously, who reads books these days?"

You make it known how surprised you are that a millennia-old text had been added to the International Digital Information Archive. The librarian smiles.

"Of course," he says, "The Radiant Hero and its related texts was one of the first ancient 'legends' to be uploaded to the IDDA, mainly because so much of it had been preserved through the ages. Admittedly though, there were many modifications, or so we believe, such that we can't even begin to describe which parts are true. But, I suppose you were here for a school project? I'd suggest that you read it for enjoyment then, and, for school too. Now, do you have your card?"

You hand him your library card, a small nanochip embedded in your multi-identification card that has an adapter for wireless data transfer. The librarian holds the part of your card that contains the nanochip under the data sender for a few seconds, then hands the card back to you.

"All digital texts related to the Radiant Hero have been uploaded to your card. They will self-delete in three weeks, and you may renew them up to two times for two weeks each."

You thank him and walk out of the library, where your parents are waiting to take you by gravity lift to a fancy restaurant to celebrate your admission to the top-rated university for historical studies among the Interplanetary Coalition.