The Legendary Chosen One/1

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Chapter 1 - Awakening
Ondel’s village was way out in the middle of nowhere. It didn’t have any famous landmarks or specialty goods; there was no reason for anyone to visit it at all. Little by little, more and more of the villagers had to move out, or at least commute to Heimdallr for work.
Ondel was a curious boy by nature, so when his father offered to take him to the capital one day, he jumped at the chance. He wanted to see what made this place so special. It wasn’t long before he found out.
Back home, nothing ever seemed to change from day to day, year to year. But the big city was full of all kinds of things he had never seen before.
‘I need to go to work, so stay here in this plaza and play until I’m done,’ his father told him.
‘Okay! Don’t forget to snag me a souvenir!’
Ondel looked around the plaza. There were plenty of other children there, but his eyes were drawn to three kids standing off to one side. They were striking dramatic poses and making strange, exaggerated movements. That didn’t look like any game he’d seen before.
‘Hi! What are you guys playing?’
‘We’re playing Legendary Heroes! We only learned it ourselves a while back.’
Ondel’s eyes lit up with excitement.
‘Whoa! That sounds so cool! How’d you find out about it?’
‘It’s a funny story… These weird kids showed up one day and taught everyone how to play. But none of us had ever seen them before, and they talked kinda weird, like they were from olden times or something.’
‘Awesome! I wish I could get cool ideas like that.’
‘We dunno how much of it is true, but whatever. Don’t think about it too much and just have fun with it.’
‘Sounds good. Can you teach me how to play, too?’
The game of Legendary heroes involved setting up a peculiar ritual with three branches to ‘infuse you with ancient power.’ When that was done, the first thing that popped into each hero’s head became their sacred mission. Before long, Ondel and the others had become fast friends, and soon enough, his father arrived to take him home.
The next day, Ondel went to tell his friends Monty and Keith about everything he’d seen in the capital, including the new game.
‘I dunno, it sounds kinda weird. Like, what do you even do?’
Keith was always trying to act grown up. Sometimes it took a lot to convince him to join in with his friends’ games. Monty, on the other hand, tended to be shy and timid. But he liked the sound of this.
‘If we don’t hafta fight bad guys or do anything scary, then maybe it won’t be so bad’.
‘Yeah, and we might even turn into legendary heroes for real!’
‘Pfft. Yeah, right. C’mon, let’s get this over with. You’ll probably get bored of after an hour or so.’
Ondel set up the ‘ritual’ just the way his new friends in the city had shown him. He gathered ten tree branches and stuck them into the ground in a roughly circular pattern. Then he, Monty, and Keith stepped into the circle, and chanted the magic spell: ‘We call upon the power of the ancient ones.’ Each friend then picked up one of the sticks and held it aloft like a sword.
‘So...the other sticks are our magic circle, right?’
‘Right! It’s filling us with ancient power, just like the heroes from the olden times!’
Ondel struck a dramatic pose, as if this moment was far too important to let pass without doing something special to mark it.
‘Quit it, you’re gonna—huh?’
Keith was cut off by a clatter as the seven sticks all fell down one after another, forming a strange symbol. They began to glow, getting brighter and brighter, and soon the three friends were engulfed in an ethereal light. Ondel looked up at the sky, and seemed to hear a solemn voice speaking directly into his mind.
‘Ye who have gathered here… I grant unto you the power to change your destiny.’
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JP=上巻【覚醒】 ここは人里離れた静かな山村。歴史ある建物がある訳でも名産品がある訳でもないため、村人はしばしば帝都へ降りて生計を立てています。ある日、好奇心旺盛な少年オンデルは父親と共に帝都へと向かいました。代わり映えのしない村とは違って、帝都は常に目新しいもので溢れています。「父さんはこれからお仕事をして来るから、オンデルはこの広場で遊んで待っていてくれよ」「分かった！父さんはお土産買って来ること忘れるなよ！」そうやっていつものように父親を見送ると、オンデルは広場で遊んでいる子どもを見渡しました。どの子も定番の遊びで楽しそうに盛り上がっている中、ふと見慣れない動きをしている３人組を見つけます。「よお！お前ら何やってるんだ？」オンデルが気さくに話しかけると、その３人組も明るく応じました。「ごっこ遊びだよ。伝説の選ばれし３人ごっこって言うんだ」「なんだよそれカッコイイじゃん！俺は始めて聞く名前だな。さては最近出来た遊びなのか？」オンデルは誰が見ても分るほど目を輝かせて、その話に食いつきます。「そう、ついこの間出来たんだよ。この遊びが生まれた話が不思議でさ。ある日突然この遊びを思いついたって子が、同時に、しかも沢山現れて、皆こう言うんだ。『これは伝説の選ばれし３人ごっこだ』ってね」３人組は本当に不思議だったよなと口々に当時のことを語りました。「へぇ、そういうのって憧れるなぁ！俺も突然何かに目覚めたり、思いついたりしたいもんだぜ」「どこまでが作り話か分かったもんじゃないさ。まずはさ、深いことを考えずに一緒に遊ぼうよ」「うん、そうだな！教えてくれ！」伝説の選ばれし３人ごっことは、木の枝を使って伝説の力を授かる儀式を行い伝説の選ばれし者となった後、一番最初にやりたいと感じた事が選ばれし者の使命になる、というものでした。こうして一緒に遊ぶ内にオンデルと少年達は友達となり、あっという間に夕方を迎えます。父親が迎えに来ると、彼は少年達との別れを惜しみながら村へと帰るのでした。 ◇ 翌日、オンデルは村に住む親友２人に声をかけました。もちろん、一緒に伝説の選ばれし３人ごっこをするためです。「伝説の選ばれし３人？漠然としてる遊びだな」やや冷めた態度で応じたのは、大人びた性格の少年キース。「悪者と戦うような怖い遊びでもないし、僕にも出来そう！」そう言う少年は、少し弱気な性格のモンテです。「そうだろ？もしかして、本当に俺達が選ばれし伝説の３人になっちゃったりしてな！」「なる訳ないだろう。仕方ない、こうなったら早く始めて、オンデルに飽きてもらうしかないな」こうしてオンデル達３人は、伝説の選ばれし３人ごっこを始めました。あらかじめ地面に１０本の枝を刺し、この枝を囲むように３人向かい合って立ちます。そして枝に手をかざしながら『今ここに、伝説よ甦れ』と呪文を唱えてから、それぞれ好きな枝を手に取りました。「……えっと、残った７本の枝が魔法陣になって、伝説の力を３人に授けてくれるんだよね？」木の枝を片手に、モンテがオンデルに向かって確認します。「そうだぞ。今俺達に伝説の力が宿っている最中だ！」オンデルは真剣な表情で７本の枝を見つめ、力が集まっているようなジェスチャーをしました。「下手な演技をするな、余計に嘘臭くなるだろうが……ん？」呆れたキースが苦言を呈した直後、３人が囲んでいる７本の枝が不自然にパタパタと倒れ始め、奇妙な紋様をかたどります。次第に紋様は白い光を帯びて、その光量を増していくと光の柱となりました。あっけにとられたオンデル達３人が光の柱を見上げると、空から威厳に満ちた声が聞こえてきます。『再び集いたる選ばれし者達よ。その手に、運命を変える伝説の力を授けよう――』</tabber>
Category:Trails of Cold Steel IV Books