Prologue: What is a hero?
"What is a human?" <?>
<... What?>
Suddenly a voice rang out; almost as if dragging her mind from the inky black into a pool of white except there was only white. Turning from left to right... No, rather, her body felt too numb and she couldn't even be sure if that is what she was doing. It felt like falling and yet floating at the same time. It felt like she was accelerating far faster than she could imagine yet completely still at the same time. It felt... Pretty weird.
So, since there wasn't much else to do...
"A shaved, bipedal ape?" <girls voice>
"Not what I wast getting at... What dost it mean to be humane?" <?>
The voice rang out sharply after the girls words exited her... Well she didn't really feel like she opened her mouth let alone spoke but it seemed like whatever she did got through to Mr or Mrs voice. It was hard to say which as it was like a beautiful young girl and handsome mature man were both speaking over one another. Usually you'd expect that to make it hard to understand but... Well - at this point - the girl thought she was beyond 'weird situation'
"Act in a way to proceed to civil discourse!" <girl Voice>
"*Sigh* What is a hero?" <?>
<Did a disembodied voice just sigh at me?>
The girl pondered, if she had lips she'd be making a grimace she thought. She didn't want to be looked down upon by a- a... Voice? She wasn't sure what to make of this situation was but she wasn't going to be treated like a nuisance... Although she may have been putting it on a wee bit.
"A type of subma-" <girls voice>
"Right, I think we art done here. I hath not even been paid to put up with this horror, so, let us just get on with it." <?>
"I'm sowy..." <girls voice>
She may have been a bit too mean to Mr/Mrs Voice and she knew when to admit she had played too hard - she was a good girl after all!
...
Do you think puppy dog eyes work when you have no eyes? Or face?
"Anyway, let us just move past this. I just beseech thee to simply behave, okay? I hath a lot to speak of." <?>
"O~kay~!" <girls Voice>
"Thou hath been selected as the successor to the {Class} of {Hero}! Thou will hold a power of growth only rivaled by the {Dragon}s and... Oh wait, thou art going to be born as a {High Dragon} so I suppose thy growth will truly be unrivaled, this is indeed promising!" <?>
"Thanks~!" <girls voice>
She had no idea why she was being complimented all of a sudden but she wasn't one to turn away praise! (Even unwarranted and undeserved... Maybe she wasn't the best for the job?)
"Well, back on track again, thou shalt be able to gain access to this power at the age of 7 - people down there should already be aware of the tales of heroes so the church and country should immediately seek you out to nurture thou, to an extent, if thou believe thou need so. Such is the decree we hath set forth onto them.” <?>“Cool, so I get free help, should make things easier… So~ what do you actually need me to do - kindly without making it too fancy and confusing?” <girls voice>“Thou will be in charge of protecting the world as a whole. While thou need not be involved with every minute conflict the world hast to offer - thee need to ensure an event that could completely change the landscape of the world for the worst is avoided. Anything from a demon king, genocide of an entire race to even {Jeeves The Rogue} attempting to live."
"I feel that last one may be a bit..." <girls voice>
"Fine, but just keep thy eye out. He is a danger to everyone around him! We shan't trust him!" <?>
"Okay... So do I have a spe-" <girls voice>
"Nope. Thee just need to live and do thy best to ensure all the races do the same - it is, however, advised thee get strong though." <?>
“Why do you speak like that?” <girls voice>“What dost thou mean?” <?>“You speak weirdly and I’m not even sure it’s consistently done...” <girls voice>“... So anyway, thou will be born into the world of {Imperda} to protect them from themselves!” <?><They just totally avoided my question…>Her eyes narrowed while glaring at the suspicious voice… Well, if she had them they would’ve! Regardless, all she could actually do was give up and sigh away her complaints and hope things moved along swiftly.
“So with that, thou may pick what thou hast as their own particular power. This is why thou hast retained thy modicum of intelligence. However, thou shall lose such after thou art reincarnated and will be regressed back to but a child if perhaps a tad quick witted.” <?>“Thank yo… Wait a minute! What do you mean by ‘thy modicum’!” <girls voice>And so, after a bit of angry shouting at her intelligence being insulted she chose what would lead her on her path to becoming a world renowned hero as the white began to fade back to black…At least they hoped that to be the case…
***
From the inky blackness came a warm sensation - nice and comfy. She just wanted to lie there, close her eyes and embrace this sublime warmth. It felt like lying fully submerged in a pool of hot water but without the annoying ‘needing to breath’ part…
Sometimes she could even swear she heard a warm, angelic voice softly speaking to her with a warm stroke on her sweet resting place. Reassuring her of the future… Reassuring and relaxing it was indeed... However, in this inky blackness that slowly developed into a rich red and with the brightening surroundings came pressure… Not figuratively, literally.
At first that pressure only felt more reassuring but then slowly it began to get more and more uncomfortable. However, it was nothing a bit of stretching the legs and arms couldn’t fix! But one day that warmth suddenly vanished. Like a balloon had popped she suddenly began to feel that pressure pushing on her.
She knew she was meant to be brave and shit but this hurt! As such she began to cry while that calming voice she had always relied on was also joining her in the act - getting more and more clear… And, painful to listen to.She sounded in pain yet was getting weaker and weaker as her breathing became more and more laboured. Soon a bright light shone as rough hands grabbed her little head and dragged her out of her home sweet home. She felt… Sticky and even with her eyes closed it felt like she was being flash-banged. Crying intensified!Feeling something coarse, cold and wet rub against her sensitive skin - why are these people so brutish! This continued until she felt no longer sticky she was soon moved once again. She still heard the pain in that angelic woman's voice as her breathing only got more troubled. The woman spoke but… Well she didn’t understand her.“I’m sorry little one…” <Angelic Woman>And, that warm voice felt so, so weak. So weak indeed. So much so that she couldn’t help but find the tears in her eyes warm her cheeks once more as her mouth opened wide to scream out. She wanted to hear more of that voice, she wanted to hear nothing but that voice… But that voice stopped there and she found herself carried out from the room with not even a coarse piece of cloth to her name.This is where one may think it started going wrong.And this, was the first memory afforded to Elizabeth.