Imagine if you will, a fantastic world, full of magic and wonder. This world has large, sprawling forests and lush field and plains that roll over the expanse of most of the land. Far north, there are rolling hills of snow, and nearer the middle where it’s warmest, there are bright, scorching deserts. Nature is abundant with everything from woodland creatures to the fantastic. Giants and orcs roam the countryside in nomadic tribes, fairies dance in the deep woods, and men live in harmony with the likes of elves and dwarves.

It is a colourful and vibrant world known as Gaia – a world that has in recent times had its vibrancy dimmed.

Gaia isn’t without its dangers, and one such danger caused an event the people have come to know as The Fall. In this event, magic was put on a staggering display as men moved one of Gaia’s three moons. The strain from this drained the land of most of its mana, the force that gives all things life. Magic was all but gone, and the world that lived using it every day was forced to live without it. Many claimed this spelled doom, but others revealed their tenacity.

Out of this event, science and technology was rapidly produced to bandage the wound left from The Fall. New kingdoms rose for the sole purpose of advancement in these new fields, while others clung to the old ways and sought to restore them. The free use of magic spells was heavily barred from the public in order to preserve what was left of Gaia’s mana… and it seemed that all living things would come to accept their new lives in time.

The foremost innovator of new sciences and technologies was a Kingdom known as Ironhart. This is where our story takes place. Take your mind to Forge, Ironhart’s capital city. A sprawling metropolis nestled deep within the mountains – a veritable stone jungle. Factory smoke billows into the sky each day, but even that does not rise above the city quite so much as the spire jutting defiantly into the heavens known as the Central Fortress, atop which the palace stood.

Delving deeper into the city, one would find it separated into distinct districts. The Marketplace District was by far the busiest, and clearly centralized closest to the Central Fortress. Each day citizens and travelers alike would walk the streets and dip into the shops to spend their hard-earned gold. There would literally be hundreds, if not thousands.

Nearest the water was the Docks District… a grungy district with many warehouses and factories lining the city’s water access. Cargo ships were the most frequent visitors to this place, as well as sailors and dock workers.

Lastly there was the Residential District. The houses and buildings there take on a more traditional look than the metal warehouses of the Docks or the stone buildings in the Marketplace. Each house was common, made from wood and stone, and much more suited for the purpose of living. There were thousands of homes and plenty of streets and back roads to connect them to one another.

In one of the many houses, a man stepped out from his shower. He took a little time to run his towel over his hair to dry it, and when he pulled the cloth away from him, he could see his face in the mirror. His red hair was wildly standing tall atop his head, though he could barely make heads or tails of it until he found his glasses by the sink. He put them on and gussied himself up with a brush, all while gazing into his reflection curiously. There was a white streak of hair he had, completed from root to tip, and he wasn’t quite sure how he got it…

He shook his head and reached for the simple clothes he had left out for himself… a mismatched dress shirt and work pants. He didn’t have time to contemplate his old age, as he had work to get to.

“Honestly, I get home for the night and they call me back in,” He grumbled to himself as he stepped out of his washroom and made his way down the hall, “I might as well just live on the base.”

He buttoned up his shirt as he moved, but he stopped part-way through his home at his daughter’s room, giving a knock before opening the door. “Amelia? I’m coming in.”

It was always like entering a whole other world every time he stepped into that room… which was strange, because the man’s daughter was much like him. Her room was completely disorganized, with so much junk lining the floors and stacked onto her desk that it was a wonder one could see the floor at all. But it wasn’t toys and dolls like most other eight year old girls would have; Amelia’s room was lined with tools and components for building, as well as a multitude of texts that mostly belonged to her father.  These texts were on the finer points of mechanical engineering and sciences… and the young girl had her nose buried in one such book that very moment.

She sat atop a small stack of three books, which rested on the chair she had set up for her desk. It was almost funny to her father to see her like she was… he could only see her legs hanging down from her perch, and the top of her head peeking out from behind the book she held. She had short, lovely red hair she got from her father – the hair that always had a part sticking up right on top - but what he couldn’t see was the eyes she got from her mother…

“Amelia?” He repeated, making the girl look up over the top of her book. There were those eyes, like lovely emeralds.

“What?” She’d respond.

The man was distracted for just a second as he looked over Amelia’s collection of books, spying many that he’d thought he lost. “… I have to go back to work for a little while. Seems there was a little bit of an accident when testing the shell plating of the new light personnel carriers… You know the ones we’ve been working on?”

“You changed the regular thick steel plating to a new alloy metal,” Young Amelia said, kicking her feet a little, “It’s supposed to be lighter but still be able to take at least a single high explosive tank shell.”

“Right,” The man chuckled, still surprised his little girl was… well, so damn smart, “But that means I have to leave. Are you going to be all right?”

Amelia nodded and looked back to her book. “Mhm.”

The man sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “Alright. If you’re hungry, just raid the pantry,” He’d say before turning and disappearing again into the hallway. Amelia would listen, hearing the front door open and close.

Then it was just quiet.

Amelia hated the quiet. She hated knowing that she was alone and no one else was going to be there until her Dad got back.

She closed her book and looked around her room. Junk everywhere and she knew it. For a fleeting moment she thought she might clean it up, but… well that simply served to remind her that no one ever told her to. Not anymore.

She walked barefoot out into the hall, just the sound of her footsteps to listen to. There was only a single lantern lit around the living room, the rest of the house darkened as it bathed in the orange glow of sundown. There were just as many unorganized stacks of paper and useless junk laying around the rest of her house too… her and her Dad seemed to be messy people.

She made her way to a very much abandoned corner of her house, tucked in next to the stairs that lead to the attic. It was oddly clean compared to the rest of her home… no one had touched it even in the slightest for two whole years… well, not noticeably anyways. There were pictures hanging on the wall there, and a decent, wooden piano waiting to be played. No one ever played it though, no one knew how. Amelia only knew one person who could have ever made beautiful music come from that instrument.

It was that person Amelia commonly thought of whenever her Dad was away. She’d climb up onto the long empty seat of the piano, and sit herself in front of the keys, alone there with no one to see her. She’d open up the latch and reveal the white and black keys, and just look at them for the longest time in silence, trying to remember the lovely songs that woman might play. It’d be some time before she mustered up the courage to try playing it herself.

It was disappointing. Amelia could have explained to someone the physics that might keep a bird afloat in the air and how they compare to that of an airship, but when it came to an art such as music, she didn’t know up from down. There was a difference between playing music and striking notes, and it was easily heard when Amelia played… she was definitely just striking notes in some of the worst combinations imaginable. But she had to try.

It was that piano that made her remember what it was like to sit with her mother while she played music. It helped her remember how wonderful she thought her mother was. But the good thoughts lead the bad… it also reminded her that her mother wasn’t coming back.

Amelia’s bad playing got frustrating quickly. She had little patience for it, and she wanted to be as good as her mother was right away. In two years, she hadn’t gotten any better. Eventually Amelia just hit the keys with her hands, trying to make as much God-awful noise as she possibly could. The tantrum lasted only a short while before she let herself fall onto the keys, arms folded atop them, her landing making one last painful sound before she let her head drop to rest.

Then it was quiet again.

Maybe it was just a way of acting out, but Amelia couldn’t have explained it even if she wanted to. Her young mind couldn’t fathom what she was feeling, unable to make any of the needed connections. All she knew was that it wasn’t the first time she’d ever abused that poor piano, and it wouldn’t be the last. Being alone in that house just made her feel so angry, and the routine wasn’t getting any different. She’d feel tightness in her chest, her nose get all stuffy, and her eyes get all teary… she was due for a good cry.

“You’re bad at that.”

Amelia was startled by the sudden voice she heard, and she sat up with a jolt. The latch on the keys fell shut loudly, startling her again, making her jump and hit her knee off the underside of the wooden piano. She ignored the pain though as she whipped around to see where that voice had come from. Was she hearing things now?

No, it was obvious… there was a boy half way inside her house, climbing through the window.

“W-Wh--?! Who are you?! Get out!” Amelia shouted to the intruder.

She seemed to startle the boy, who fell into the window and landed in a heap on her sofa. As he struggled to get up-right, Amelia was able to get a better look at him. He had blue hair, short and maybe a little messy, and he seemed to wear an old-looking jacket. When he sat up, it seemed he was wearing black over-alls that had more than its fair share of mud and grass stains and some kind of kerchief. He also seemed to be holding what looked like a shoddy wooden sword.

The boy was about to say something, when his eyes widened. He ducked aside to dodge a wrench as the girl he’d stumbled in on had moved to grab the nearest thing to throw at him.

“W-Whoa, hey!” He shouted, only to have to spring off the couch as she threw a metal canteen next. “Wait a minute!”

He stumbled as more objects were thrown, but somehow the two kids had managed to find themselves on opposing ends of the living room’s short coffee table. The boy was poised to bolt in either direction if the girl decided to come at him, and Amelia was ready to jump the table itself if she had to just to give the boy a throttling.

“Get out of here you burglar!” She shouted, “M-My Dad has guns! I know how to use them!”

“I’m not a burglar, I’m a hero!” The boy shouted back, “You don’t shoot the good guys!”

Amelia took off to the left, and the boy ran to the right, both of them running around the table to end up on the other side back at square one.

“I thought something bad was happening because of the noise!” The boy explained, “I thought someone was killing a cat! I couldn’t just let a cat die – I’m a hero! Heroes save cats!”

“Ugh, you’re a house-breaker-intoer! You’re not a hero! Go, go! Go away!” Amelia shouted back, climbing up onto the table finally. The boy looked up at the girl, dressed in just some old shorts with suspenders, and a black t-shirt, looming over him. He didn’t react fast enough when she jumped off the table… but tripped on one of the messy piles of papers stacked on top on the take-off.

She flailed through the air and landed on the boy, taking him down to the floor with a rain of papers fluttering through the air.

“Unngh…” The boy groaned as he sat up, looking down at Amelia as she rested sprawled across his lap equally as stunned, “Oof… that took a lot out of me… you going to be okay?”

Amelia started to kick her feet and pound her fists on the ground in a bit of a tantrum, making the boy lean back. “Ugh! Who the heck are you?!” Amelia shouted, rolling onto her back and thrusting a fist up at the boy, who promptly scrambled back and to his feet.

When Amelia stood, the boy struck a decidedly heroic, albeit silly pose. “I am the great Barrett Wingfoot! Bold and mighty hero!”

He waited. The girl simply crossed her arms, and didn’t look at all impressed. The two of them shared a silence for some time before Amelia finally spoke up.

“Barrett Wingfoot is the General of our military, and my Dad’s boss… so you’re not him!”

The boy… Barrett… looked stunned. “W-Wha?! I am too Barrett Wingfoot! I have an Ultima Blade and everything!” The boy held his sword up in the air, striking another pose, “With this, I can vanquish evil and save Ironhart!”

“You’re stupid!” Amelia shouted, turning Barrett’s expression into one of dismay, “And that’s just a crummy old stick!”

There was another silence as Barrett turned his attention away from her and looked around the house for a bit… but only a bit. His attention was back on the girl as he approached, looking her in the eye. He looked a little confused, which just served to confuse Amelia back. Barrett leaned in, rubbing his chin with his free hand as he studied Amelia closely.

“… Were you crying?” He’d finally ask.

Amelia’s expression was shocked for a moment, but then turned into pure and unbridled rage.

“ARRRG!”

The girl proceeded to run around her living room taking swings at the boy. Barrett seemed to dodge them completely by accident while trying to figure out what the girl was so upset about. He’d step around her and duck her swings as she chased him about, and did so for several minutes until she finally got tired. She slowed down, panting, soon moving to sit on her couch. This boy was too much of an idiot to be a burglar, she thought… How did he not even choke on his own tongue?

“W… What… do you… want?” Amelia finally asked as she panted.

The boy rubbed his chin again as he looked at her. “I, Barrett Wingfoot, am searching for heroes to join my cause! For adventure! And you’re pretty brave attacking the mighty Barrett Wingfoot like that, who could have easily defeated you in single combat!”

“Please go home…” Amelia sighed, slumping onto her sofa, “I hate you.”

Barrett gasped and looked abashed for a moment, before simply shaking his head and returning to his grin. “Nu-uh. I’m recruiting you!”

Amelia looked up in shock. “WHAT?”

Crossing his arms, Barrett raised his chin smugly and said, “You show great fighting skills. I want you to be an Ultima Knight! What’s your name?”

The girl gave him the flattest, most unimpressed look she could muster, but was too exhausted of him to really do much. She just answered, “Amelia Inglebert.”

“Welcome to the Ultima Knights, Amy Inglebert!” Barrett proclaimed, “Now, let us be off to adventure!”

Amelia sighed and slumped heavier. It felt like she was liquefying. “… No. And my name isn’t Amy.”

“No? Aww…” For once, Barrett looked defeated, “… Okay… Then I’ll go find the magic wish-granter myself.”

“Magic wish-granter…?” Amelia asked.

“Yeah!” Barrett paced around the living room explaining, “I think it was a lamp… no, it was a mirror! A magical mirror that grants anyone one wish! You read the stories about magic mirrors, right? Well it’s no story! It’s real and it’s here in Forge! It can get someone whatever they want… a bazillion gold, or… or broccoli to eat forever!”

“Or… someone to come back?” Amelia would ask, sitting up a little.

Barrett paused for a second and thought about it. “… Is someone missing? Well, yeah! This mirror can bring them back! And what kind of hero would I be if I didn’t help you find them? We can go get the mirror and bring them back together.”

“And you’re sure this is real…?” Amelia would ask.

Barrett held out his hand and made a V sign with his fingers. “If I’m lying, I’m dying!”

“… Okay.”

Amelia slipped off the couch and made her way to the front door, sliding her feet into a pair of slightly too large work boots. She tied them tight to her feet as Barrett jumped for joy. He ran for the front door and opened it while Amelia got ready, and let her leave the house before he did. He’d close the door behind them, and the two would start off into the paved streets of Forge.

In her mind, Amelia knew how weird it was to just go with some boy on an adventure, but as smart as she was, she was still a young girl. Part of her wanted so badly to believe him. If she could just look into a mirror and wish that her Mom would come back to her after two years of being gone, then it would make everything worth it. All she had to do was follow this boy…

The boy obviously wasn’t Barrett, but if that’s the stupid game he wanted to play, then she’d entertain the idea. He practically skipped through the streets in his excitement, and she followed behind him as calmly as she could manage. The sun was setting behind the mountains, bathing the city in a warm orange glow of spring, while splashing the sky with that sweet twilight of pink and violet. A single horse-drawn carriage passed the two by, probably taking a rich noble home, the horse’s hoof-falls somehow reminding Amelia how late it was getting. The city, normally bustling with activity, was getting sleepy now… and the soldiers would be out on patrol soon.

The streets of the Residential District were a confusing mess to most, but the large, main street ran all around Forge in one big circle. Walking that road lead them to a bridge that rested over a canal that split the city. That bridge lead to the Marketplace District, but before they could cross it, something quickly became amiss.

Amelia felt a sharp pain in the back of her head, like something was thrown at her.

“Ow!” Amelia squealed, reaching up to rub the back of her head with her hands.

Barrett whipped around to look at her, “Hark! Amy! What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know--?” She answered, turning to see what had happened, when another projectile flew past. It made her recoil and duck her head, trying to protect herself.

“Acorns!” Barrett shouted, “What villain uses acorns?! Are we beset by squirrels?!”

A group of three boys appeared to approach them from where they had left. The one in front, their leader, was a rough-looking boy who wore a cap on his head, backwards of course, and had a bandage across the bridge of his nose that covered his freckles. His shirt had no sleeves, and his shorts were worn low. The other two boys were fairly non-descript, one with violet bangs so long they hid his eyes, the other wearing a warm shirt with a hood up to hide his face.

“Hey Inglebutt!” The freckled boy said, “Where ya going?”

“Go away Sean,” Amelia responded, crossing her arms and stepping away from him.

“Hey, we just wanted to see how our favourite dork was doing, didn’t we boys?” Sean asked, looking back to his chuckling companions.

Barrett squinted a moment. “You are no squirrel,” He said simply.

“Duh. Who is this idiot?” Sean asked, turning back to Amelia, “Did you get yourself a boyfriend?”

“He’s not--!” Amelia began to protest, but Barrett cut her off.

“Ruffians! You face the mighty Barrett Wingfoot this day!” He proclaimed, “Hero of the lands, savior of the people!”

Amelia hid her face in her hands in embarrassment.

Sean looked at Barrett, being a little bit older than the blue-haired boy. “Hero? You don’t look like a hero. You look like a chump!”

Sean’s friends laughed.

“I didn’t know you liked to play pretend, Inglebutt!” Sean continued, back to berating Amelia, “I thought you were, like, too busy making out with books or something and being all smart and stuff. Don’t you like robots and not boys?”

“S-Shut up, my name’s not--!” Amelia tried to protest.

“And Barrett Dorkface! Why are you hanging out with Inglebutt? Everyone knows she’s a total loser… But look at you, you aren’t even from here, are you? Did you fall off the vegetable wagon?” Sean turned his attention to Barrett, his friends laughing, “You’re as smart as a potato, so I’m guessing so!”

“Be quiet! You’re being very… evil! I don’t like evil!” Barrett shouted.

Sean and his friends laughed, and Sean crossed his arms. “Listen punk, if I were you, I’d get away from Inglebutt. She’d bad news! Even her mommy ran off on her and her crazy Dad!”

Amelia gasped, raising her face from her hands. She was stricken by the comment, more than any acorn. “T-That’s not… She… didn’t… Shut up… Just shut up!”

Barrett looked to Amelia to see if what the boy said was true, but he saw her standing there, fists clenched and shaking… but she could just cry. Seeing her tears glitter in the sunset light as they fell from her cheeks, Barrett gasped.

Sean and his friends found it funny that they could make Amelia cry so easily. They were laughing it up… at least until Sean had his head pushed back, the tip of a wooden sword wedged up against his nose.

“That’s enough!” Barrett shouted, shoving Sean back a little, “You’ve gone too far talking to one of my Knights like that! Not only that, but you’ve made a girl cry… what kind of man do you think you are? I hope you realize this means I must raise my sword in her honour, and you stand no chance against an Ultima Knight.”

Sean was shocked for a moment, but stood tough. “What, you wanna fight? It’s three of us and you and Inglebutt!”

“And if you say you’re sorry, I won’t have to beat you,” Barrett grinned.

“Alright,” Sean grinned, readying a slingshot he had been carrying with him. He placed an acorn in the sling and pulled it back, “Get Mr. Hero, boys!”

Barrett looked back to Amelia with a grin, and Amelia could only stare at him in some sense of awe. “Don’t worry,” The boy said confidently, “I’ll teach them a lesson for you.”

He didn’t have time once he turned his attention to the boys; he didn’t even have time to wipe the smirk off his own face before a fist to the gut did it for him. Barrett gasped out and dropped his sword, his legs buckling as he had the wind knocked out of him… but the boys wouldn’t let him off that easy. Sean’s two friends held him up by the arms so Barrett could take an acorn in the forehead.

What Amelia got to watch wasn’t the heroic rescue she wished had been coming… it was an embarrassing beat-down. While Barrett was held by the arms, Sean punched and kicked him in the stomach and face. Barrett was helpless, gasping for breath, the lack of air making him little more than a punching bag.

This went on for some time before Amelia had enough. With her fists clenched and her teeth grit, she ran in.

“How’s that, Mr. Hero? Gonna save the day and run off with the pretty princess? Ha!” Sean shouted, “You couldn’t adventure your way out of a paper--!”

He was cut off by Amelia’s mad scream as she rushed him. He wasn’t ready to be tackled by the girl, and she took him right off of his feet and onto the ground, his slingshot flying out of his hand and his pouch of acorns scattering all over the street. Sean gasped as he looked up to see Amelia straddling him, fist raised and clenched.

“G-Get her offa--!”

She just started to feed him knuckle sandwiches… and it was all he could eat. With the collar of his shirt in one hand, she slammed her fist into his face time and again in a blind, teary rage. She didn’t register his movements… it didn’t matter anyways. He was probably trying to cover his face, but his hands couldn’t save him from the force of her punches. She carried stacks of text books around the military school and brought them all the way home… she was stronger than she looked.

“A-Amy!” Barrett shouted.

She was pried off of Sean just when she started to get blood on her knuckles. Sean’s friends threw her off, and Sean scrambled to his feet, trying to keep the blood from his nose from running all down his face.

“I’m telling!” He wailed.

“Do it!” Amelia shouted back, making a march towards him, “If you ever talk about my Mom again, nobody’s going to recognize your face!”

As she marched to them, they scrambled away, soon making a hasty retreat.

“I’ll kill you Inglebutt!” Sean shouted.

“You’re too dumb to kill me! Get lost before I hit you again!”

The boys ran off into the streets, and the eight year old Amelia was left with the aftermath of her adrenaline. She was panting, and as her anger wore off, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of panic rise in her chest. What if her Dad found out? She was going to be in such big trouble! She shivered a little… it felt cold all of a sudden. And Barrett… Barrett!

Amelia turned to see Barrett on his hands and knees. He grabbed his sword off the ground, his head hung low.

“I… I failed…” He sighed, “I couldn’t even stand up for a girl…”

“Are you okay…?” Amelia asked as she walked up to him and squat down to study him.

Barrett remained still for a moment, before looking up at her, a bright smile on his face. “Of course! Just like a villain to attack me before I was ready… if they didn’t cheap shot me, I would have taken them all on for you, for sure!”

Amelia sighed. “You really are stupid… Well… come on then.”

“Eh?” Barrett stood up and brushed himself off, “Come on?”

“We’re not going to find that mirror just standing here, stupid,” Amelia huffed, “So come on!”

Barrett blinked a few times and looked Amelia in the eye. The look of determination was two parts scary, one part inspiring. “You… really wanna? Well… well alright then!” Barrett grinned wide, “I shall lead the way!”

Barrett marched off with a renewed vigor, and Amelia was set to follow… though she took a moment to gather Sean’s things and take them with her. She didn’t think she needed them, but she’d steal them just so Sean couldn’t get them back. She knew how much he loved his slingshot.

Barrett walked to the side of the bridge and took the stairs next to them down into the canal. Under the bridge, they walked until they saw an entryway into Forge’s waterways. Water was running out of it and into the canal. Amelia looked nervous as they peered into the darkness.

“Come on, I’ll lead the way,” Barrett said, “Never fear. This time, I’ll protect you like a true hero.”

They entered the catacombs of the city, first beginning in a slight upward slope for the water to run through. There were walkways on either side of the tunnel, and the two had to run their fingers along the mossy walls to ensure they didn’t stray too far towards the edge. They could hardly see, but they walked regardless, a determined look in Barrett’s eye.

“I-I can’t swim…” Amelia said, “It’s… dark, and I… can we go back?”

“I won’t let you fall, here,” Barrett said, reaching back and taking Amelia’s hand, “Hold my hand. We’ll get through this! Legends say that the magic mirror is around here… I know just the place.”

“I…” Amelia looked from their held hands to Barrett’s face. Somehow the look in his eyes… well, she believed him. She gave a nod, and Barrett nodded back, carrying on into the sewers.

The drainage tunnel opened up into more frequently used tunnels, so much so that they had lamps. The light wasn’t fire, but power from Forge’s core, the massive stone that fueled every light that lined the streets at night. With sight returned, Barrett carried on with Amelia quickly, but carefully. He led her long ways, taking lefts and rights as if he knew exactly where he was headed. Occasionally they would pass a storm drain overhead that reminded them how late it was getting. The sun had set, and dusk was upon the city of Forge.

“Where are we going?” Amelia would ask.

“We’re almost there, I know it,” Barrett said, “I can feel it!”

A short ways forwards, and they would walk into another storm drain chamber. This one was designed to hold an excess of rainwater from the drain above… The floor below was grated, and beneath that, water that ran far too deep for the eye to see. The chamber was lit… and it seemed it was inhabited.

All sorts of shiny objects were piled in the chamber, from pieces of armor, to weapons and gold pieces. The treasure trove glimmered into the night light from above. The children couldn’t admire it for long however, because also in the chamber was the largest vermin they had ever seen! There was a rat as big as large dog and it had turned its sights to them.

“Eek! Ew!” Amelia squealed, clinging to Barrett’s arm, “Gross!”

“This is it! It has to be here!” Barrett said, holding out his sword, “All we need to do is defeat its guardian!”

“That’s not a guardian… that’s a RAT!” Amelia shouted.

“This time I’m ready for it!” Barrett said, “Don’t worry!”

The rat turned towards them and hissed violently in defense of its hoard. It barely gave them time as it rushed forwards deceptively fast for something so large. Barrett pushed Amelia aside and dove aside himself to avoid being lunged at, tumbling across the grate to his feet.

The rat, forced to choose someone to attack, went for Barrett. It lunged again, and he danced around it like he had done to Amelia earlier that day. He gave it a whack with his blunt wooden sword on his way by, making it shriek in pain. Barrett just grinned, and rushed in for another strike. The rat would have none of this though, and threw its weight around to slam its large tail into Barrett’s ribs, taking the boy down.

As the rat beset upon Barrett, Amelia watched. She was no hero, no adventurer… and sure as heck no fighter… But with Barrett down, she had to act! She quickly loaded an acorn into Sean’s slingshot and let it fly, clipping the rodent’s head with a fair accuracy. This distracted it just as it was set to bury its teeth into Barrett. Amelia fired off another as its attention was drawn to her… and then ran as it lunged her way.

“Ew, ew!” She screamed, “Barrett!! Help!”

It chased after her as she ran around the chamber, and Barrett worked his way to his feet. As Amelia passed him by, Barrett watched the giant rat barrel on past as well. In a split decision, he grabbed its tail as it passed… being yanked along as he held on tight.

“Whoo!” Barrett shouted, “Get along lil’ doggy!” Despite his lightheartedness, he pulled himself along the rodent’s tail until it finally stopped… then he leaped onto its back.  The rat began to do its damnedest to shake the boy off, flailing its body around and jumping, and Barrett just held on to a clump of fur with one hand as tightly as he could.

“Yeehaw! Just like a bucking horse!” He shouted with a laugh, whacking the poor rodent in the head with his wooden sword as it bucked and turned. It eventually threw him off, the boy flying through the air and landing on his back on the grated floor. He groaned and rolled onto his stomach, realizing he’d lost his sword again.

“Barrett!!” Amelia shouted, cornered by the rat… she was on the edge of the grated floor, the area there enough for her to fall into the waters below. The rat stalked her quickly, eying her up like… a cornered rat. “I-I can’t swim! Help! Please!” Amelia shouted, her ankles just on the lip of the grate.

“Amy… I’m coming!” He looked around quickly for his sword, but couldn’t find it… instead something caught his eye in the hoard. It was an odd device that looked like a bracer, and had some kind of gun on it. Without thinking twice, he snatched it up quick and slid his arm into it. The bracer was much too big for his arm, and it hung loosely, but he held it onto his forearm and ran in blindly.

“Hiiiyaaa!!” He shouted, the sound getting the rodent’s attention. He ran right up to it and held out his arm, activating the device. Gears whirred along the strange device, and an odd stone started to shine with a strange, red symbol… and in a shocking surprise, flame burst from the nozzle on the end.

The fire made the rat shriek again, and it immediately barreled off for the entrance. Barrett chased it, so when it made pause, he’d spew more flames at it again. Terrified, the beast ran off into the sewers to avoid the flames… a natural instinct, to be sure.

“That’s right! Run! Or I’ll be making rat kabobs out of you!” Barrett shouted.

“Ewww…” Amelia gagged, “That’s gross!”

Barrett turned to her and grinned, “Heheheh… you’d be surprised! Are you okay?”

Amelia took a few deep breaths and nodded. “Y… Yeah… Thank you.”

Barrett chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. “Aw, it was nothi--!” He was cut off as the device on his wrist spewed flames again by accident, the boy shouting and waving his arm around. “Oh, jeez!”

“Stop, stop!” Amelia shouted, grabbing onto his arm and stopping his flailing, “It’s a rune gyro… Looks like you found a wrist-mounted device that activates the fire rune etched in this stone… it’s like… a magic spell battery.”

“Then… I am now a great magician,” Barrett said in wonder as he looked to his wrist.

“No, stupid!” Amelia exclaimed, “Well, kind of… But it’s more science than magic. They’re not allowed to be used by most people… I wonder who threw it away?”

“Well, who cares? Look at all this stuff!” Barrett said, “Man, I leveled up in that fight, and now we get all kinds of loot! Quick, look for the mirror.”

“R-Right!” Amelia nodded.

The two of them began to rummage through the sparkly stuff… Amelia put as many gold pieces as she could into the pouch she took from Sean, as well as any small pieces of jewelry she could find… But for the longest time, there was no sign of any mirror… not until Barrett piped up.

“I found it!” He shouted, making Amelia run over. In his hands he held what looked like a normal hand mirror… it had a big crack in its glass too. It was dirty and broken for all intents and purposes.

“… Are you sure this is it?” Amelia asked, looking to the blue-haired boy inquisitively.

“Positive,” He answered, handing her the mirror, “Go ahead! Make a wish!”

Amelia took the mirror and looked into it, seeing just her marred reflecting in the cracked glass. Part of her was feeling dread, that the whole trip was for nothing, but the other part of her was filled with romantic ideas running wildly through her head. It could have ended like a story book, where she made a wish and her mother returned to her… She had to try!

She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

“Magic mirror… I wish… I wish my Mom was here… I wish she was back.”

Then it was quiet again.

Barrett stood there, waiting for something to happen. He looked around, but saw no signs of anyone that could have been Amelia’s Mom. His expression turned into concern. He looked back to Amelia as she stood there, and even though she hadn’t opened her eyes, she was shaking a bit. She knew nothing happened.

All the logic she normally held came rushing back to her, and she felt as stupid as stupid could be. She grit her teeth in refusal of the truth, and her eyes watered up again. “I wish! I wish! Stupid mirror!” She shouted, throwing the mirror onto the grated floor angrily enough to make Barrett jump.

“I just wish…” Amelia whined, before falling to her knees and beginning to sob once more.

Barrett got awful nervous, and he held out his hands to her, shaking them a bit. “H-Hey! Come on now, you can’t expect it to work right away! I heard that the legends of the magic mirror say it takes… a whole day for the wish to be granted! Maybe just two days… or maybe a week!”

Amelia looked up at him with such an angry expression. “Shut up you idiot! You dragged me here for nothing! NOTHING! This was stupid… you’re stupid! Everything is stupid! It’s not going to work, nothing’s going to work, I’m never going to find her ever… I… I just…”

She broke into tears at that, and Barrett frowned and hung his head. It pained him to see her cry.

“Hey, Amy…”

“My name isn’t AMY!” Amelia cut him off.

“A-Amelia… we can’t stay here… come on,” He’d say quietly, looking out towards a small tunnel that looked almost like a pipe. “… We can take that outside. Let’s go.”

It was a solemn crawl through the pipe. Barrett lead the way as she followed, the two squeezing through that wet, dirty pipe for what felt like minutes… But once they reached the end, they were outside the city. They were in something of a ditch that the excess water drained into, nothing but mountains and city wall to see. Barrett crawled out first and helped Amelia out, helping her to her feet before he looked around.

His eyes lit up as he saw something in the water. It was some kind of object, glowing green in the ditch. He ran off to collect it quickly, Amelia just watching him as he did. He knelt down and scooped up the fist-sized stone from the water. He had no idea what it was, but it was some crystal it seemed, shining with a brilliant green radiance. “Oh wow…”

He stood up and smiled, hiding the stone behind his back as he approached Amelia.

“Ultima Knight Amy, a gift…” He’d say, holding out the stone in both of his hands, “It can be your treasure.”

Amelia took the stone and stared at it in the same sense of wonder that Barrett had. Then she looked up to his face… his dumb, smiling face. He wore that big grin of his, and just seeing it reminded her of what she’d gotten her hopes up for… why she’d cried so many times that night alone. She looked angry at him.

He looked so happy, it was a shame all he got was a punch to the face for his efforts.

Amelia cleaned his clock, knocking him onto his rear end, sending him splashing into the water. He sat up looking shocked up at her. He didn’t understand just what had happened.

“I hate you! You jerk!” She shouted, taking the stone he had given her and storming off, “I’m going home! And if I ever see you again, I’ll get you arrested!”

“Amy, wait--!” Barrett shouted after her, even reaching up with his hand to reach for her… But she just kept walking. She was out of sight before too long, making the trek back home.

“… I’m really sorry…” Barrett sighed, standing up, “Some hero I am…”

He stood up and walked out of the ditch, brushing himself off as best he could as he made his way back towards the city gates. It was a sad walk back into the city, and straight towards the Marketplace District… But as he made his way towards it, he looked up to the sky and was actually able to see the stars… a rare sight with all of Forge’s factory smoke. It got him thinking…

Barrett Wingfoot would never give up, would he? So he messed something up… that didn’t mean he was down and out just then!

“Yeah…” He said to himself, “… Yeah! I’ll help her one day. I’ll help her find her Mom! Ha, just wait and see…”

The young man approached the Fire n’ Iron Inn, a popular in near the base of the Central Fortress. He moved around the side of the building and to a window left ajar leading into one of the rooms. With a bit of a struggle, he pulled himself up and into the room.

From within came voices.

“Young man, where have you been?!”

“I was just out for a bit.”

“Going on more adventures? How many times have we told you not to wander around the city on your own?”

“That’s it, no broccoli soup for you for a week!”

“Aw, Mom!”

“Not a single word, Galen Sheldrake. Clean yourself up and get to bed on the double!”

“Aw, man…”