text: Andira looked on at the house from the road as she, and her brothers, always had done. It was mostly out of curiosity. None of her friends knew who lived in the house, nor had they ever seen him, yet it was always in pristine condition, there was a constant fresh stream of wood, lights were always on at night, and the garden was always well maintained. “C’mon,” Andira said to her siblings, “whoever lives there isn’t coming out, let’s go home.” After years of waiting, Andira knew she shouldn’t be disappointed. After all, why is now any different to any day before now? She still was though. Maybe it was just bad luck that they never saw whoever lived there, after all they only had a few hours each day before their parents expected them to be home. Maybe if she had waited just a few more minutes they would have seen whoever it was. Or maybe whoever it was didn’t want to be seen and was waiting for her and her brothers to leave, and if she walked back the way she came she’d catch a glimpse of him. The possibilities raced in her head of why she’d never seen the owner of the house, though she felt as if every possibility was equally, well, possible. “Who do you think it is?” Her little brother Rind asked. “I think it’s a ghost! He protects the house from people who want to take his stuff!” Her other little brother, Siloa replied with his expected glee. They were still little, Andira knew that, but it was still irritating for Rind to ask. “You ask that every time we come out here, Rind.” She said, “You already know what I’m going to-” Andira said, trying to sound as bored as possible in the hopes that Rind would stop asking “‘-Just some nobody.’” Siloa interrupted “But, if you think that, why do you take us out when mum says we shouldn’t be pestering him.” Andira was taken aback for a moment, not sure how to respond. “Because...” she stopped, trying to think of a reason, “...because you two are always asking me to!” Both of her brothers stopped and looked at her in confusion. “But-” “Let’s just go home.” Andira sighed. For what felt like the first time in years, her brothers didn’t talk to her for the entire walk home, instead quietly whispering among themselves. This left Andira to think to herself for the remainder of the walk, though like whenever she thought to herself she never could come up with any good answers for her questions. When the trio got home, her brothers rushed to their room as they always did. Andira was instead greeted by her mother, preparing to give her the same lecture he’d always give her. “What are you doing out so late spying on someone?!” Her mother barked at her. “When you were as old as your brothers, it was okay for you to not understand why this was wrong. BUT NOW?!” “Yes, I know mum, I know.” Andira said “I don’t think you do.” Her father said, walking into the dining room. “Go check on the other two, I’ll give her the talk for once.” Hugging each other, her mother nodded and left the room down the hallway. “What are you doing going out and spying on Utari? You know you shouldn’t.” He sternly said “Yes dad I know I shouldn’t but-” “But what?” “I don’t know why I shouldn’t. You and mum just tell me that he’s bad news but you’ve never told me why we shouldn’t.” Her father paused for a moment, looking down, “Fine, I suppose you’re old enough to know who he is.” The energy Andira had lost on the walk home immediately came back to her. “Really?!” She joyfully said, nearly throwing herself onto a chair to listen. “Utari was... well, he was an emperor of Hiradil.” “What.” Andira’s jaw dropped. In all her life, all the theories she had crafted, she never expected him to be an emperor! Living in the same town as her! Thoughts raced through her mind and she felt an excitement not felt in a long time. Her father chuckled, “I knew you’d have that reaction.” “What- did he abdicate? Was he overthrown?” “It’s... complicated. He tried to conquer the world.” “WHAT!” Andira immediately felt the urge to leap out of her seat and go back to wait there until he came out, she urged herself to stay as still as she could. “Uh- uhm- how did- what happened to him?” “He lost.” “Well, duh, but why’s he here?” Her father again paused, “...nowhere else would let him stay.” he somberly said. “People wanted his head across most of the planet, we were one of the few places that forgave him. We gave him a house and he’s lived here ever since.” “How long ago was this?” “I was your age.” A long silence was followed. “Can I... Can I go see him?” “You really are just like me when I was your age.” her father laughed. “You’re going to go out either way aren’t you?” “...Yeah.” Andira smirked. “Fine. But on the condition you don’t bring your brothers. Go out in the morning before your work on the farm, you’ll probably see him around then.” The next few hours were a blur, immediately after she’d eaten, Andira was getting as much sleep as she could, hoping to wake up as early as possible to go out and find him. To nearly take over the world? What kind of man was he to be able to do that? Clearly he had to be strong, tall, he had to be covered in jewels, maybe he still even had his old crown. Hell, maybe he was fully clad in his shining golden armour. Or maybe it was dark. She’d never left her village let alone been to Hiradil, maybe Hiradil was a group of zombies and he was a lich king, and that’s why everyone wanted to kill him. She’d only seen a lich once and it nearly killed her, so maybe he wanted to kill everything. She made sure she woke up as early as possible. Making sure no-one in the house was asleep, she quietly crept out her house, then began sprinting across town to see him. Once she got there, she had a realisation. If he was hiding from her and her brothers, maybe she wouldn’t be able to see him if she was just waiting outside. Luckily for her, there were bushes around his garden, so she decided she’d hide in them. Once she got there, she leapt into one of the bushes and waited for him. She was expecting to wait all morning, however she could hear the back door opening after only what felt like a few minutes. She wasn’t sure if it’d actually been a few minutes, or if the excitement made it only feel like a few minutes. She could hear the back door of the house open, and so she moved back there. As quietly - and quickly - as possible. As she moved around the back, she could hear the sounds of someone chopping wood. It was a near thundering sound, and the images in her head of a great and powerful figure only grew. When she got to the backyard, she only grew confused. All she saw was a normal old man, struggling to pull an axe out of a tree stump. He looked up to see her, seeing her confused and shocked face. The old man simply took the wood he cut and went back inside.