"And stay out!"

The blacksmith made a one-handed pitch, throwing the slight young man out of his house so far that the boy rolled over twice before coming to a stop. A little white bird shot from behind him, twittering as it hovered over the young man's head.

Crossing heat-baked, scarred arms, the blacksmith scowled down at the boy in the dirt. "I've no use for lazy layabouts. Now I have to start over from scratch yet again! You've ruined my work for the last time, Ravio."

Struggling to his knees, Ravio lowered his head until it touched the ground. "Please, sir, I swear I'll work harder this time. My mother and father-"

"-Were the only reasons I didn't throw you out the first thousand times," the blacksmith shot back. "No, boy, you'll have to seek work elsewhere. Though I doubt anyone would hire you." He turned around and slammed the door so hard the windows shook.

With a sigh, the boy raised his head and sat back, lifting his hand for the little bird to sit upon. He gave the bird a sad little smile. "Well, Sheerow, where do we go from here?"

Despite being even further from the town than the blacksmith's house, Ravio's home stood proudly in good repair. His late parents had taken good care of it, for it was the only inheritance they could provide for their only child.

He had a good-luck charm, too, but since the moldy-smelling old bracelet never gave him any, he kept it in the box on the shelf where they had left it. It was an uncomfortable reminder that his family was supposed to be descended from the old heroes, catalogued away in histories so old they had become legends, back when Lorule was supposedly a place of peace and plenty.

Ravio took off his dirt- and ash-stained clothes and put on new ones, then flopped on the bed. His gaze wandered to the pictures on the walls. "I suppose I could sell a few things," he said absently. "Though I don't know who'd give even a blue rupee for something as frivolous as decorations." Sheerow tweeted in assent.

Preferring a nap, Ravio got up and pulled two of the pictures off the wall. "C'mon, let's see if we can get anything for these in town. My stomach's already rumbling."

Not even thirty minutes had passed before Ravio collapsed in exhaustion, after chasing the thieves that had taken both paintings from him. He slumped down on the pathway in defeat, then turned to see one of the thieves returning; a girl with pink hair.

"Come to gloat?" Ravio muttered, stroking the little bird on his hand and trying to hide his tear-streaked face.

"Nah, kid, I feel sorry for ya," the girl said with a laugh.

"Thanks, that makes me feel much better."

"No need to be sarcastic," said the girl. "Listen, this is a rough neighborhood, ya know? You shouldn't come here alone."

"I don't have anyone else."

"Then you could use some friends, yeah? Listen, I bet the Boss could find work even for a little runt like you. Sure, you'd be a swamper, at the bottom of the heap, but the Boss would make sure you don't starve to death." She put a hand on his shoulder.

Ravio turned away. "Sorry, but…no."

She huffed and placed her hands on his hips. "Huh, think you're better than us? You're just another kid without a rupee to his name."

He shook his head. "No, it's not that. I'm…just afraid, that's all."

"What, of the guards? Give me a break. The one assigned to our town is always in the bar, completely wasted. He couldn't even catch you, and that's saying something."

"That's not it. It's just…" Ravio sighed. "It's just that I'm a coward at heart, that's all."

"Look, kid, there's a million things out there that could get you. At least with us you'd have a place to sleep and something to eat." She sighed when Ravio shook his head again. "Well, if you change your mind, look us up. I'll put in a good word to the Boss for you. Just remember, stealing is the only way anybody can make a living, nowadays."

She gave him a little wave, then turned and left.

Ravio patted Sheerow and stood. "C'mon, maybe someone who's not a criminal will take pity on us."

The yelling in the square pulled him to its source. An old man stood on a battered box, shouting at passerby and a few people staring enraptured. At least he sounded like an old man; his face was obscured entirely by a bulge-eyed, snaggle-toothed monster mask.

"You there, boy!" He called out to Ravio, pointing one bony finger. "Don the mask! It is the only way to save yourself from the monsters that grow more numerous by the day! Become a monster, and the monsters will not harm you! The townspeople will fear you! The thieves will run from you!"

Interested, Ravio stepped into the little group and asked, "Can I really stop monsters from bothering me if I dress up to look like one? Can you really fool them with that?"

"Indeed!" The old man waved his walking stick, decorated with cucco feathers. "I have walked from here to the east of the castle, passing many monsters as I did. Spear-wielding bulldogs! Man-sized fanged clams! Even a bomb-throwing cyclops! All of them passed by, leaving me in peace."

"Don the mask!" the scraggly group of followers cried. "Don the mask! Don the mask!"

"Yeah, okay," Ravio said eagerly, getting a brainstorm. "I can make more than a mask, I can make a whole monster suit!"

He turned on his heel and ran back to his house, each wait behind a tree for a monster to pass taking even longer than usual. Once inside, he bustled about opening and emptying dusty boxes, searching for the remnants of his mother's enterprise.

"Now this is an unusual color!" he exclaimed, pulling out fabric of a violent pinkish-purple shade. "No wonder there's so much of it. What do you think, Sheerow?" The little bird twittered in reply.

"Let's see now," Ravio said as he traced a crude pattern onto the fabric. "We'll need some big, scary horns; huge, sharp teeth; and bulging eyes that could stop a brave man in his tracks."

He set to work, threading the needle and sewing together the fabric. He spent all day and all night putting the costume together, even stuffing the horns with the scraps to make them stand up.

Of course, there were some complications. "The mouth doesn't quite shut, does it?" he asked Sheerow as he pulled the finished product over his head. Ravio reached for a scarf lying on one of the pegs near the door. "I always was better at knitting than sewing anyway. Oh well, let's go see if this works!"

He peeked out the door and looked around. His house stood on a small plateau, and there was always some creature or other at the bottom that would look up and grin at him with shiny sharp teeth, as if waiting for him to hop into its mouth. Ravio squared his shoulders. "Gotta act the part, too," he said and strutted across the edge of his yard.

Sure enough, a pack of those clam-like creatures that looked like walking dentures were flocking at the bottom of the hill. They looked up at him, and stared – and stared some more.

"It works!" Ravio clapped his hands in triumph. "No more scurrying in the shadows! C'mon, Sheerow, let's go show the others!"

He marched back to town, passing a cyclops on the way. "Greetings, brother!" he called as he waved. The monster just stared at him.

Finally he reached the square with the mask-wearers. "Hello, everyone! Like my monster costume?"

They, too, stared for several long moments. Then they burst into laughter.

"You look like a rabbit!" said one.

"Please, Mr. Bunny, don't hurt me!" laughed another.

Startled, Ravio crossed his arms. He felt thankful that they couldn't see his reddening face beneath the mask and scarf. "I'll have you know I wasn't attacked by a single monster on the way here. Not one tried to attack!"

"That's because they can't figure out what the heck you are!" the first man howled.

"Maybe they felt too embarrassed for you to eat you!" said the other.

Ravio whipped around and stalked out of the square, amid gales of laughter. He was quite a long way out of the town when he realized where he was. Smiling at Sheerow, he said, "To heck with them. My suit allows me to travel all over Lorule! There's got to be a way a guy like me can use this to earn a living."

For the first hour or so he enjoyed the simple pleasure of going where he pleased without worrying about being eaten. Then, deciding he should have a destination of some kind, he began walking toward the tall castle off in the distance.

As they got closer, Ravio leaned on one of the fences near the castle. "That's where the Princess of Lorule lives," he said, his voice wistful. "We had ties to the royal family once, back when we were a family of heroes. I bet they wouldn't even let us mop the floors now."

Just as he finished speaking, a person with garish makeup, loud clothing, and ornately styled hair passed them, walking toward the castle. "Is that…a courtesan?" Ravio wondered aloud. "Hey, lady! Do you work at the castle?"

The person whirled round, and if looks could kill Ravio would have been dead on the ground. "'Hey?' 'Lady?' Watch your tongue, boy. I am the royal advisor." Without another word, he stomped off.

"What a jerk," Ravio muttered. "No wonder the country's in such a state, with a guy like that as an advisor. C'mon, Sheerow, looks like my family's not the only one that's gone to the dogs."

He wandered around for a while until he came to one of the old temples. "People used to pray to the gods here," he informed Sheerow. "Then, when the gods abandoned us, the old Heroes would explore them in search of the gifts the gods left behind."

Suddenly, he got another brainstorm and smiled at his feathered friend. "The old heroes had to fight monsters to get in there…but that's because they didn't have a fancy monster suit! I wonder if there are any old treasures left? That might keep us from starving, at least."

Ravio entered the crumbling temple. There were large pools of standing water, and here and there walls had fallen, producing piles of rubble. But he was surprised to see that there were several torches already burning, lighting the way.

"I wonder if someone's already been here?" he asked, disappointed. Now that he thought about it, he had heard about treasure hunters in the old temples. He had never even thought about venturing near them before.

The further he progressed through the temple, the more obvious it became that many people likely had the same idea, long before he had even been born. He found sprung traps, picked locks, and various bones scattered about the floor. He didn't stop long enough to determine if they were monster or human.

He turned a corner into another room, and his heart stopped. There, right in front of him, was a giant creature with fangs the length of his arm and claws that could disembowel him with the flick of a finger. It stood on legs the size of knobby tree trunks and its equally large arms held up what looked like a shovel, which it used to pick its teeth.

"Uh," Ravio said thickly, willing his mouth to work. "Hello, brother!"

"Uff." The creature said by way of greeting, squinting down at Ravio with tiny eyes as it rubbed the shovel against its fangs. "Yer a little un, aren't yer? Are yer even full grown?"

Ravio pulled himself to his full height, half to look taller, half to stop his knees from knocking. "I'll have you know I'm exactly three and three-quarters years old!"

The monster roared with laughter that shook the entire room. "Ahh, a wee baby, so cute. Eh, sorry baby, I'd have offered you a bit o' juicy flesh, but you came too late." It held up the shovel. "Humans are always comin' in here lookin' for magic things, 'cause they ain't got no powers of their own."

Ravio felt he might faint, looking at the blood-spattered shovel and imagining how its unlucky seeker must have met his fate. Just as he was about to fall over, his stomach growled. He hadn't eaten all day, after all.

"Ah, poor lil' baby, yer must be starved. Why aren't yer with yer pack mates? I ain't never seen one of yer kind around here before."

"I don't have any," Ravio said.

"That's a derned shame. Well, I can't leave yer to yerself. It's dangerous to go alone. Here, take this." He handed Ravio the shovel. "Humans are drawn to magic things. Rather than hunting them, this'll make them come to you!"

"Thank you sir," Ravio said weakly, still on the verge of passing out.

"Sir! Ah ha ha ha! Such a polite lil' baby you are. Good luck, little un!" The monster waved goodbye and Ravio was only too happy to leave.

He didn't stop until he got home. Once inside his house, he put down the shovel and took off the costume. "Well, that was an adventure, wasn't it?" he said to Sheerow, over and over.

Once his jangled nerves calmed down and he stopped shaking, he examined the shovel. It indeed had a magic aura about it, though upon taking it into the garden he couldn't determine that it did anything special. Still, it was well made, and it even had the crest of the Royal Family carved into the wooden part. It had to be worth something. He drew a bucket of water and cleaned it up, then donned his monster suit and walked back to the town and entered the bar, keeping the costume on but exposing his face.

He got a lot of stares when he walked in, and even more when he sat on a table with the shovel beside him. Some people pointed and laughed. Others came closer to satisfy their curiosity. "What's that?" one asked, pointing to the shovel.

Ravio patted it fondly. "Ah, this? Why, it's a magic artifact, handed down in my family for many generations."

"What's it do?"

"Do? Er, ah, it's a…dowsing rod, sort of. You follow where it points and use it to dig for treasure." Ravio waited for the inevitable laughter.

"Treasure, eh? So why aren't you out digging?"

"Well, I um, hurt my back. So I've no choice but to sell it," he replied, pulling a sad face.

"Oh? How much you want for it?"

Ravio rubbed his hands together. Ah, I'm so glad you asked. Now, this is both an antique and quite useful, so I can ask no less than…"

He stiffened as he felt the point of a spear at his back, and alcohol-tinged breath on his neck. "Yer unner arrest," slurred the owner of the spear. "Inna name of the royal family."

"B-but…" Ravio stammered. "I…"

"Now!" the guard barked. "I'll have you know…I'll have you know that I practice Drunken-Master Spear Style! Get up, 'fore I run you through!"

Ravio noticed the other patrons backing off, so he raised his hands in surrender and stood. The guard grabbed the shovel and led Ravio at a march, all the way to the castle.

The first thing Ravio noticed was that the castle wasn't in much better shape than the rest of the country. He could see bare walls that had once held tapestries, suits of armor missing arms or helmets, and here and there bits of broken crockery that nobody had bothered to clean up. The guard marched them all the way to the throne room, and Ravio's heard dropped as he saw the gaudy man from before standing with his back to them.

"Yer Highness, Princess Hilda of Lorule…I've brought a thief, I caught him purloinin' treasures belongin' to the Royal Family."

The gaudy man whirled round, and burst into cackling laughter. But Ravio didn't even notice him. Behind him stood a young woman in a fine silk dress, with deep violet hair. She held a staff with the royal herald at the top, and looked at him with deep ruby eyes that seemed to see right through him. Her gaze fell to the shovel in the guard's hand, and her eyes widened.

"Thank you, guard." She reached out her hand for the shovel.

"And what punishment does Her Highness wish for this little fool?" the gaudy man asked. "Beheading? Drawn and quartered? Or merely imprisoned in the dungeons for life?"

"Enough, Yuga," the princess snapped, as Ravio attempted to keep his violent trembling under control. "I will speak to the prisoner alone. You two are dismissed."

Yuga frowned." I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving your Highness in the reach of common brigands."

Hilda's eyes flashed, and Ravio could sense a crackle of magic about her. "I am more than capable than taking care of myself. You are dismissed!"

The other two left, Yuga grumbling the entire time. As the door slammed behind them, Ravio fell to his knees. "Please, Your Ladyship, Your Highness, please spare me, I lost my apprenticeship and all I could do was…"

He was cut short as Hilda grabbed his shoulders. "Where did you find this?!"

Stunned to see her face so close to his, he stammered out an answer. "One of…one of the temples to the east."

"You weren't hurt?"

"N-no, your Highness, but…"

"At last!" She turned away from him and hid her face in her hands. "At last…I prayed so long for a Hero! And now I have one!" She whirled back around and gripped his shoulders again, her eyes sparkling with joy. "What is your name, Hero? Would you go into other temples for me?"

"I…I…" Ravio's gaze fell to the floor. "I didn't do anything heroic, Your Highness. The suit I'm wearing…it stopped the other monsters from attacking me. Someone else had already gone into the temple and retrieved it…I merely took it after he…died…"

Hilda let go and stepped back, her eyes now filled with sadness and disbelief. "Then you…I…I'm sorry. I should not have presumed…"

"But…" Ravio scraped his courage together. "But, if you need me to go into another temple, I will, Your Highness. I admit it's not a very heroic way of doing things, but if Your Highness needs help…"

She gave him a puzzled little frown, which gradually warmed into a smile. "That's still more courage than most would show these days, citizen…?"

"Ravio. My name is Ravio."

"Citizen Ravio. Please stand." She grasped his hand as he did so. "Lorule is in terrible danger, greater than you could possibly know. I've been looking for someone who can go into the temples and retrieve the ancient treasures there. There must be something that the gods left behind that we can use to restore Lorule to its former glory." She gripped his hand and smiled. "Ravio, will you do this for me?"

He looked into her eyes, both joyful but also hiding a deeper sadness, so deep he couldn't tell where it ended. "I…of course I will." He said at last. "As you wish, Princess."