Hiro had been staying in Torn's realm for awhile, but one day, he went to return, and found the whole arena, and town, everything was gone.  The God had fallen, and had disappeared.  There was great sadness in his heart, even though the God played tricks and such on him, he did everything in jest.  Torn was a good man, and it saddened him that he disappeared and lost his power.  He lost another home, another friend.  More than one friend, he was friends with the valkyries that had lived in Torn's realm.  Where would he go now?  He had few friends that were still around.  Lady Moliira was a friend, she said she would help him find his family.  Lady Angela, and Miss Sapphire, they were also still around.  Maybe it was time to visit the Rosenites.

Hiro had fought in the battles against the ice dragon and the orcs, where he met Lady Dalanesca.  From what he heard, she changed some time after his meeting her.  She went from a Goddess of Judgment to a Goddess of Death.  Now the whole land of Revaliir had been brought to the brink of destruction, because Lady Dalanesca had unleashed her powers upon the world, and in particular, she unleashed them in the direction of Life and Lady Angela, declaring war on her.  He was friends with both Lady Angela and her daughter Sapphire.  He was friends of the Rose Family.  When his thoughts touched upon them, he received a message from a courier.  It was from Lady Angela of Earth and Life.  In a nutshell, she sought his assistance, and asked him to come to the Sundering Gardens ASAP, danger approached her, and she needed his help to protect Miss Sapphire.  He knew about the War, though he hadn't fought in any battles, his loyalty was devoted to the Earth Mother.  Friends of the family, they were good people.  Lady Dalanesca had this darkness and sorrow about her.  He didn't seek to make enemies of her, but he couldn't support what Lady Dalanesca was doing to the world.  His father would probably agree with him, though knowing him, he would take the fight to the Goddess of Death, and try and fight her directly.  Or he would at least support Lady Angela in any way possible.  So that is what his son, Hiro, would do.  Support Angela in any way possible, whether it be a combat role, or a non-combat role.  If Lady Angela was in trouble, then that meant Miss Sapphire would be in danger.

He had to get to the Gardens as fast as possible.

The first thing he did after he had found out Torn was gone was purchase a war horse.  What good was a knight without a trusty steed?  Now he was going to get his money's worth out of this horse.  He rode through the day, hurrying as fast as the white horse could take him.  He couldn't go full speed the whole way of course, the horse wouldn't be able to take it.  But he made it to the Gardens' gates as the sun was starting to descend through the sky.  There were guards at the gate, Hiro slowed the horse down and came to a stop, dismounting.  He was dressed in a cloak covering his crimson armor.  His black and red hair was a little disheveled, from the wind blowing through it all day long.  He approached the guards, holding a letter in his hand.  He was somewhat out of breath from riding so long.

"My name is Hiro Kouen, I've been asked by Lady Angela to come here as quickly as I could.  It is a matter of grave importance.  Here is the letter I was delivered, as proof, it bears a seal of the Goddess of the Rosenites.  I know these are dark times, and we must all be on guard."

Angela had felt Hiro reach her realm. It was faint as she pulled herself from her bed, Drae had been insistent on her staying put to recover but Angela was on the move at a moment’s notice. She had recovered enough that walking was a possibility now. The guards let Hiro through without as much fuss as he had been making.

“You are as loud as your father when he was out on a mission.” She chuckled a bit as she made her way over to him. She looked so fragile with the black blotches all over her skin. “I’m sorry about Torn, Sapphire told me you were with him much before his fall. I’ll have you know that Keira and the twins are safe in Arri if you wondered about them.” She gave a smile. Extending her arm she took the boy by her side and walked with him.

“I don’t think I have much longer. Though Drae insists that I do nothing but rest and get my strength back. He’s rather hopeful that he can solve this whole thing before Dalanesca breaks out.” She gave him a sad look. “I was hoping that you could take Sapphire and get her away from this place. I’m not trying to find homes for my children but it's very much turning into that. I know that Drae cannot take care of everyone. Also, I feel that Sapphire would be happiest with you. That being said once Drae has found a place to live for all of the children she can return with him.”

She stopped a bit and looked down at him. “Can you take care of Sapphire for a while until Drae can find a home big enough?”

Luckily, the guards let him through with no fuss whatsoever.  Hiro released a deep breath and made his way past them.  He was sure they would have asked for his weapons or something, but when you're a Goddess, not much in terms of mortal weapons can kill you.  Right?  He saw Angela standing before him, looking weakened, with some weird black blotches across her skin.  She looked tired, and in pain.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know how on alert the guards would be.  I'd imagine they should be more alert though, you . . . look like you're in pain, Lady Angela, are you okay?"  She consoled him about Torn, and his family.  He felt a little better.  "I feel bad that Torn's not around, I liked him.  But I'm glad that Keira and the kids are okay."  She reached out toward him and brought him to her side.  She was sick, something was wrong with her.  She said she didn't think she had much longer.  "I heard something about Lady Dalanesca being . . . locked away?  I've never seen a fight between gods.  Father . . . was an Avatar at one point in that other world.  But I wasn't around to see him as an immortal.  But I imagine two Gods colliding could cause a lot of damage, damage to the world, damage to themselves.  So I guess that's something that happened to you?  I didn't think a God could really die.  Isn't that the point of being immortal?  You don't age, you don't die?  Or is that the difference between immortality and invincibility?"  She explained that Sapphire needed to be kept safe, that her husband, Drae, couldn't take care of everyone in her family all at once, despite him probably wanting to.

"I see, I'm not sure where to go, though, but I'll take care of her.  I haven't known home except at Lord Thorn's realm, not sure since coming here, at least.  I felt at home when I was with my parents, of course."  Hiro looked at Angela, he knew that it might be hard for a mother to trust her young daughter with a young man, but if Angela trusted him enough to take care of her, and Miss Sapphire was comfortable staying with him for the meantime, he was willing to take care of her and keep her safe.  "Yes, absolutely.  I'll take care of her, and make sure no one harms a hair on her head.  I swear."

Angela gave a smile and laughed. “I suppose while I have Dalanesca locked away that they are laxer. This is true.” She rubbed her arms and winced slightly but still she gave him a confident look. “I’ll be fine at least for the moment. A little pain did nothing but humble a person.” That much was for certain. She was stuck thinking about her own mortality. She wondered if this was the plan from the start or if this was an unwilling conclusion.

“Keira would be safe anyways. Even without Torn here she would still have her mother. My sister isn’t one to ever abandon her cub like that. I think Toya is more ecstatic that she gets to spend more time with Kite and Tempest.” Angela nodded to his next question. “I used my entirety to at least stall her for the time being. When those chains come down she is going to be right pissed off even more than she is now.”

She had never known Sabishii when he was an Avatar so she shrugged. “I’m not sure one way or another. But yes Gods do cause a lot of damage when fighting with one another. It’s why the Voice is very stern with us. I do believe that invincibility is something completely different my dear boy. Immortality has its perks but can you imagine if my children were killed? Would that not make me vulnerable? It wouldn’t kill me no but it would make me falter. Invincibility is something I don’t see anyone having. There is always something that can push you. Always something that can kill you. The way I like to think is that there are always bigger fish in the pond than you.”

Thinking about it Angela smiled a bit. “Take her to Parvpora. Show her the magic cities, I’m sure the libraries there would make her adore you very much for taking her. Home is wherever your heart is. If your heart is in adventuring then your heart is wherever your sword meets excitement. Sometimes you find a home in someone… like how Torn saw Keira. Sometimes your home is a place that is important. You decide what home is. I can’t do that for you.”

Leading Hiro into the temple she found the library. Sapphire was at the table reading a rather large alchemical book. “That is some large words for such a small woman.” Angela teased as Sapphire jumped a bit. She took deep breaths as she seen Hiro. “Hiro! What are you doing here? It is too dangerous. You shouldn’t be here,” the girl jumped up and ran over. “Why is he here?”

Angela gave her a soft smile. “I want you to pack your things and head out with Hiro. I just want you away from this place when it goes down. When Drae is settled I’ll make sure to have him send for you.” She rubbed the girl’s purple hair.

“I wanna be here with you!” Sapphire was real upset now as she buried herself in her mother’s chest. “I don’t want to leave you to die by yourself.”

“Sapphire, I’m hardly by myself.” Angela pet her hair and smiled down at her. “I would feel much better knowing my children are safe and out of harm’s way.”

Hiro had concerns about whether an enemy army or an assassin could break their way into to the compound, that is why he made sure to present himself with evidence that he was who he said he was, and not some kind of trickery.  "I know Dalanesca is trapped, but I'm just afraid of people acting on her behalf doing something tricky, trying to get retribution for what happened to her.  This whole situation is bad.  The Gods shouldn't be fighting each other, not like this.  It makes people mistrust the deities.  My father told me stories of how some people mistrusted some of the Gods of our old land.  Someone actually created a weapon that a mortal could wield to kill a God, and the thought of that is scary.  I don't want anything bad to happen to you, for your sake, the sake of the land, for Miss Sapphire, for your whole family," Hiro shuddered, not wanting to think of anything bad happening to any of his friends.

"I imagine so, and I bet she'll come right here, or where ever you will be.  Which I understand why someone needs to sneak out Sapphire as soon as possible.  If you don't know when those chains are coming down, then no one does.  It's important to move quickly.  I understand.  If it took that much out of a Goddess to just restrain her, I can't imagine what it'd take to actually stop her.  Mother told me a story of a time that a Water Goddess was freezing the world's oceans over, something like that.  All the other Gods rallied to stop her, they launched a combined assault on the Goddess's shrine.  Dad . . . he went to the Goddess's side, since they knew each other, and were friends at one point.  He tried to convince her to stop what she was doing, to try and get her to give up before the other Gods got to her, before more lives were lost.  He wasn't able to completely stop her, but I'd like to think he made a difference, just by being there and talking to her.  Maybe it was a similar situation to what's going on now.  But I guess Lady Dalanesca, is just beyond reason at this point.  I'm sorry.  I wish this hadn't devolved into violence."  Hiro sighed, and continued to listen to Lady Angela.

"What's stronger than a God?  A Super God?  An Elder God?"  Hiro thought back to something his father told him, stories of ancient dragons and mysterious elder creatures that Gods had to band together to defeat, alongside mortals.  What was the name of that kind of creature of unimaginable power?  "Titans?  Was that was he called them?  And that Godslayer thing that could kill Gods . . . and you mentioned something called the Voice?  Is that some kind of overseer of the Gods?  Something like the World Tree?  Is that a thing in this world?  A tree that gives rise to the Gods and they gain power from that tree?  At any rate, I'd like to think your love and life is stronger than Lady Dalanesca's seething anger and hate.  Life will prevail over Death.  I have confidence in that.  Maybe you have a trump card, I don't know.  But you can trust me to help you however I can, even if it's only keeping your daughter out of harm's way."

She suggested he take Sapphire to Parvpora, she would love the libraries there, and the magical cities.  She explained to him about what a home is, and no one could tell him where it was, it was up to him to find where home was.  "Thank you.  I'll take her there then, and keep her out of harm's way.  I'll find a home, whether in a person or a place.  Thanks, Lady Angela."

She lead Hiro into the temple's library, where Sapphire was, she seemed concerned for Hiro, that he shouldn't be there, since it was dangerous.  "Huh, and here I thought you'd be HAPPY I came here out of concern for you," he said in a huff, all in jest, of course.  He watched the two of them interact.  She did not want to leave her mother.  "Look, Sapphire.  I can handle myself just fine.  Remember the time I protected you from the plant monster and all the dangers of the rain forest?  Or winning Lord Torn's Warrior's Gauntlet?  I'm strong.  I'm no God, but there isn't much that can stop me that's mortal.  Angela won't be alone, she'll have her attendants and guards here.  But if something bad happens, your Mother can't protect herself if she has to worry about protecting you at the same time.  She asked me to take care of you for awhile.  Because she trusts me, and you trust me too, right?  Will you trust her judgment?  She can handle herself, or do you think your Goddess mother would trust you to the wrong person?  She's strong too.  Stronger than I ever will be.  I was told it's men's job to protect women and be strong for them, but women are even stronger than men in some ways, because they can be mothers and have to go through so much to have a family.  Your mother is basically Mother Nature, so she's stronger than any other woman on this planet.  She'll be fine here.  Please, you have to trust in her judgment, and you have to trust in me.  I'll keep you safe.  I promise.  I swear, nothing bad will happen to you as long as you're by my side."  He looked Sapphire in the eyes.  If something bad was going to happen, if Lady Dalanesca wanted to kill Lady Angela, he didn't want Sapphire to be there for it.  That was the last thing he wanted, to have Sapphire witness the death of her mother.

"Please, gather your things, and we'll go somewhere safe.  We'll try to have fun.  Your mother old me an area with so much magic and knowledge all around, with libraries and tomes full of knowledge on all sorts of things, like the arcane arts, or history, biology, fiction, or whatever you want to know or read about.  It'll be fun!" he said with a warm smile.

“The Voice is the Avatar of the World Tree. It is its eyes and ears. It is responsible for the gods. You may have met it you may have not. Its appearance is always changing and it does like to wander.” Angela informed him with a smile. “The only time you really know it's around is when it tells you.” 

Sapphire snapped her eyes to Hiro for a moment and there was a hint of a secret floating in those blue eyes. A deep dark secret that her mother absolutely couldn’t know about but she would tell Hiro if that meant she could stay. “I am happy you are here Hiro.” She finally returned his smile.

Feeling tired Angela bid them good night and Sapphire shut the door to the library and stared at Hiro. “We absolutely cannot leave.” She spoke in a hushed whisper. “I don’t think you understand.” She beckoned him to follow her. “It’s not that I don’t want to leave with you. I promised Drae I would help. My mother is probably going to die and we don’t want that to happen… so we’ve been working hard to find a solution. The answer to her troubles is in these books. I’ll leave with you but I don’t want to leave just yet. If there really is no hope that our solution would work… I’ll leave. I promise never to cause any more trouble but right now I need to be here. If this was your mother wouldn’t you want to save her too? She is a god.. they rarely need help but right now she needs us.”

Taking him to the back of the library she pulled down some books and opened them up. They were old. “This is what we’re planning on doing.” She didn’t tell him but the book read about a way to seal a soul in a gemstone. It would be the one thing they could do. “Drae says he doesn’t know what to do after that… we would need a body or a way to create a golem for her to live in. Will you help me find the answer?”

Angela explained to him who the Voice was, the Avatar of the World Tree.  "The World Tree as an Avatar?  I didn't know that.  Intriguing.  I suppose he, she, or it usually only comes out to speak to Deities though."  He did notice that she used a gender neutral pronoun when referring to the Voice.  He smiled at Sapphire, who was glad he came out to see her.  "Of course, my loyalties lie with Lady Angela, and you too Sapphire.  I met Lady Dalanesca once, but she seemed troubled, like her mind was somewhere else, or she was worried about something.  It was during the orcish and dragon invasion of that icy island.  Unfortunately, I got injured during the battle when the dragon strafed the battlefield with ice breath, but someone else saved me, dragging me to safety."  He didn't mention that he willingly threw himself toward the ice breath, and tried to shield both himself and the Goddess from the ice with a fire barrier.  Goddess presumably survived and was able to chase off the dragon with her divine power.

"We can't?  But why?"  Hiro was confused, Lady Angela excused herself and left the room.  He was asked by Lady Angela to take her daughter away from the shrine.  Could he defy her orders on Miss Sapphire's request?  She explained to him that Drae asked her to help Lady Angela survive the upcoming encounter with Lady Dalanesca.  If it was Hiro's mother, wouldn't he want to have her survive somehow in the same situation?  That made him think.  He would want to save his mother in case she was in danger.  "All right.  We'll stay.  But promise me if Lady Dalanesca starts approaching the shrine, when she breaks loose, we are out of here.  I don't want you or me to get caught in the literal crossfire.  Your mother would literally find a way haunt me to my grave if something happened to you and it was my fault.  I couldn't live with myself if I was responsible either for something happening to you."

He followed her toward the back of the library and she reached for some ancient tomes.  Hiro took a look at one of the books, it read about a way to seal a soul in some kind of magical gemstone.  They would need to find a way to get that soul into another body or golem for the soul to live on.  He looked thoughtful as he flipped through the book.  "Hmm, well, making another body, I don't think it would work, and taking another body over is right out.  A golem would be a terrible way to live on, but what about like . . . I don't know, a seed?  She's an Earth Goddess, a Goddess of Life, there should be a natural way to take that soul, and say, put it into seed or something like a seed?  And then plant that seed into the ground and let it grow so that she's reborn?  Phoenixes die and are reborn from their ashes anew, right?  We could take her soul in a gem, and use a seed or fruit as a vessel to plant and she could be reborn?  I don't know if it makes any sense, or is in anyway possible.  Just thought I would throw that out there.  I'll help you do the research for whatever plan we decide on, I'll help you find the answer, Sapphire," he said with a warm, reassuring smile.

Sapphire nodded to Hiro and smiled a little sad. “Well, Dalanesca is also Rohan’s godmother.” She didn’t know if she had to explain who Rohan was to him so she continued. “He’s my youngest brother. The one that my mother had with Drae. He’s almost a year now.” 

Sapphire and Hiro sat there and brainstormed. “Drae and I talked about using this metal she is vomiting.” She held out the metal and put it on the table for them to look at. “I mean the metal is her so it would be fitting to put her in it. We just need to get enough of it.” Her sapphire eyes looked up at Hiro and she frowned deeply. “I’m just scared Hiro. I don’t want to lose my mom yet… She is trying to do this whole sacrifice her self thing to give us a better future… It doesn’t feel right.”

She jumped onto him and hugged him tightly as he said that he would be with her. “Thank you Hiro for staying with me and listening. You are a good friend!” By all means she didn’t just think of Hiro as her friend but it was hard to say just where they were. It made her blush as she took a step back from him. 

Together they worked with Drae for a long time. That was until the day her mother finally did die. She put herself into Hiro’s chest so she didn’t have to watch. When the damage was done and the crystal shards landed everywhere. They were meant with Drae telling them that he thought their plan had worked. He didn’t say much else so he could protect Angela.

Sapphire was still teary eyed but she nodded and stuck with Hiro more than she ever had before. “Maybe we should just leave but if mother is coming back who will greet her?” If everyone left… she would have no one.

Hiro listened intently as Sapphire explained to him more of her family tree, which he needed because it was hard for him to keep straight all these family members and names.  She showed him the metal that Angela was vomiting up.  That came out of her mouth?  Her stomach?  "That sounds unpleasant.  For her, I mean.  We'll figure something out, I promise.  We'll find a way to save her.  I just wish my father was here to help, he knows Angela, and he's a really good with magic and metal and such, being a blacksmith.  But I can't rely on him forever.  We'll figure this out together, at any rate."

Sapphire literally glomped onto Hiro, surprising him.  After a moment, he placed his hands around her, comforting her.  She said she thought of him as a friend, or was there something she wasn't saying.  He did feel a blush coming to his cheeks.  "Any time, Sapphire.  You're very welcome."

Hiro helped Sapphire and Drae as they worked together.  But soon, Lady Angela was killed, by the hand of Lady Dalanesca, she dissipated into crystal shards, and Hiro would feel tears welling up in his eyes, but he watched the whole time, while poor Sapphire had to look the other way.  She stayed closer to him, and spent more time with him.   He felt more drawn to her than previously, since she was so close to him for so long.

"We should go, we can go to Wyllmochvar City, I'm sure there's something there that can take your mind off this.  Drae will be here for her, if . . . when this works.  I'll have him keep in contact with us, and let us know what happens.  Is that okay, Sapphire?"