Born from Ashes

Bell Cranel couldn't help but feel confused by what he currently saw.

After he made his way through the Dungeon, the boy found himself in an area that was quite different compared to the rest of the floor. It was a wide circular room with a high ceiling rather than a hallway. The thing that took his attention the most, however, was a sword embedded in the middle of the room.

After looking around to make sure no monster was nearby, Bell cautiously approached the sword. From what he remembered, monsters leave behind magic stone and drop item after being killed. Both of them can be exchanged for valis, the currency used in Orario. That was how the profession of adventure could be profitable.

He never heard of a monster leaving behind a weapon. Then again, he was a rookie in this kind of profession. Bell decided to ask Eina about it when he came back.

The albino boy noticed that the sword was almost entirely charred, as if someone decided to throw it into the biggest and hottest fire they could think of and basically roasted the sword. He couldn't help but wonder if the sword would worth anything at all.

Well, considering the situation of his new Familia, there would be no harm giving it a try.

Bell grabbed the handle of the sword and was about to pull it when he suddenly had to release it. He fluttered his hands as he looked at the handle. There were now embers on it, which explained why his hands felt hot.

"I am pretty sure there isn't an ember when I touched it." The boy said to himself.

Before Bell could inspect the sword further, he heard the sound of footstep coming to his position and the voice of a bull. When he looked at where they came from, the adventurer saw a minotaur running towards him. It took him less than a second to make a decision.

He turned around and ran, leaving behind the sword. As he ran away with the minotaur hot on his tail, embers slowly and steadily began to spread on the blade of the sword.

Then, a bonfire appeared.

It was at night when Bell decided to come back to the Dungeon.

He couldn't explain what kind of feeling that was clouding his mind. Was it the anger of being mocked? Or was it a shame for being too prideful of his own achievement? It matters not in the end. All that he knew was, for him to be on the same level as Ais Wallenstein, the boy had to do anything and everything.

Which was why, after the event in the Benevolent Mistress Pub, Bell Cranel decided to dive towards the Dungeon…

"Eh?"

He suddenly lost his concentration when he realized that he had hit somebody on the way down and both of them were now falling from the stairs.

"Ouch!"

As soon as he hit the floor, Bell sat up and rubbed his head. Remembering the reason for the fall, he looked around and saw the person that collided with him; an adventurer wearing full, all-black armor. No, it was more correct to say that the armor was charred. The surface of the metal was black while the fabrics attached to it were in tatter due to a flame.

"Oh, gods! Are you alright?!" Bell exclaimed as he approached the fallen adventurer. "I am sorry about that."

When he came closer, the boy realized that the adventurer was shorter compared to his expectation. He thought that he was as tall as an adult, like his grandfather, but turned out to be only as tall as himself. There was a sword in its scabbard on the left side of the waist, suggesting that the adventurer was right-handed.

Despite shaking the body and slapping the helmet, Bell received no response. All of the anger and shame that he harbored disappear with only the intention of helping the adventurer remained. His desire to improve himself took a backseat as he carried the unconscious adventurer back home.

Inside a rundown church, the Goddess Hestia was currently preparing dinner for her and her first "child," Bell. It was nothing fancy; merely bread, water, and jagamarukun leftover that she took from work. But it should be enough for them.

She appreciated her handiwork before it was interrupted by the sound of someone kicking the door. From how loud it was though, the person likely kicked the door because both of their hands were occupied, making feet the only limbs free to knock the door. The goddess went towards the door and opened it.

"Bell, you've…returned?" Hestia's cheerfulness turned into confusion when she noticed that her child was carrying someone on her back. "Bell, who is that?"

"Ah, Goddess…" Bell went inside after Hestia allowed him with the armored adventurer on his back. "Can I borrow your bed for him?"

"Of course. Lay him down there."

Bell did as his goddess ordered him to. The latter checked the adventurer a little and – after making sure that he was not in danger – diverted her attention towards the boy.

"Bell, who is this and why do you bring him here?" She asked.

"Um, well…" The boy scratched his head before answering. "When I went towards the Dungeon, I didn't see clearly what – or rather who – was in front of me, resulting in both of us falling from the stairs."

"Then, feeling guilty about your fault, you decided to bring him here." Hestia finished the story as she sighed.

"T-That's right."

"Well, it's good to hear that you don't decide to get away from your responsibility." The goddess focused her attention towards the helmet. "I am pretty sure there's still a potion in the cupboard. Can you please bring it?"

"R-Right."

As Bell searched for the liquid, Hestia tried to take off the helmet of the adventurer. Being a close friend of Hephaestus, she knew a little bit about an armor, like how to take one off. The first thing that she decided to take off was the helmet so that the adventurer could breathe easier.

"Goddess, I manage to find it!" Said Bell as he went back with the potion. Noticing that his goddess didn't respond back, he tilted his head. "Goddess?"

"Bell, I think you're wrong about…him," Hestia said as she put the helmet on the floor.

Confused, he approached the bed and was surprised by what he saw. As it turned out, the adventurer was actually a "she." She has a short white hair, made sense as she was wearing a helmet, and both the hair and the face were covered in ashes. Due to that, Hestia grabbed a handkerchief and cleaned up her face.

"It's a miracle that she doesn't have a burn wound." She commented as she moved to the adventurer's hair.

"You think that he – I mean, she got burned, Goddess?" Bell asked as he put the potion on the table.

"Most likely. There are monsters that can breathe fire as one of their attacks." She put the handkerchief down, looking satisfied at how clean the adventurer's face and hair were. "Must be a high-quality armor to be able to protect its wearer despite being burned to the point of being charred."

Hestia made the adventurer sat up so that she could take off the rest of her armor. With Bell's help, they managed to take off the upper part of the armor in less than five minutes. When they took off the chain mail, Bell couldn't help but blush.

After all, the adventurer wore nothing underneath it except a sarashi to cover her breasts. Hestia raised an eyebrow upon noticing that the sarashi was also charred. She also noticed that her upper body was covered in ashes as well.

"OK, is it fashionable this day to wear charred clothes? Hopefully, this girl simply has a strange taste." She commented as she picked up her handkerchief again. "Bell, can you give her one of your shirts?"

"O-Of course!" He replied, feeling embarrassed that a girl would wear his shirt.

After cleaning her up and putting on the shirt, Hestia and Bell worked on the leggings. When they took off all of it, they found out that she didn't wear panties either but rather a long-charred cloth as well. It was also, almost without saying, that her legs were covered in ashes.

"Alright, it's official; she has a strange taste in clothing." The goddess commented as she cleaned up her legs.

After it was over, they lied her down again before covering her with the blanket. Bell noticed that his goddess stared at her intensely. Before he could ask for the reason, Hestia turned her head towards him.

"Bell, when you collided with her, was she on her way to the Dungeon or exiting it?" She suddenly asked.

"Eh?" He blinked due to the question before trying to remember the event earlier. "Well, I was descending the stairs when it happened… Oh, I got a glimpse of the front of her helmet! She was exiting the Dungeon!"

"Hmm…" Hestia put her hand on her chin before giving her child a revelation. "Bell, this girl…she's not an adventurer."

"W-What do you mean, goddess?" He scratched his head.

"When I look at her back, there's no sign that she has received a falna. Us gods could tell whether someone is blessed by looking at their back. Sure, we're unable to see the stats but we can recognize them from normal people."

"If she's not an adventurer, then what was she doing in the Dungeon?"

"Don't know why she decided to take such a suicidal action. Maybe there's a clue among her belonging?"

It was a good idea if not for the fact that she carried nothing except her armor and sword. Not wanting to end up in a dead end, Bell picked up the sword and slowly pulled it from the scabbard.

Before he could pull it further, the boy was suddenly smacked to the floor, the sword in his hand taken away. Bell immediately recover and took out his knife, ready to defend himself and his goddess from the attacker…

…until he realized that the attacker was the girl, now fully awake and had the sword unsheathed.

"Please, stop!" Hestia exclaimed, putting herself between her child and the girl. "I know you're afraid, waking up in a strange place. But you can trust us!"

She focused her sight on Hestia while making sure that Bell was not out of her peripheral vision. Slowly, she put her sword back into its scabbard. Even though the blade has been sheathed, the girl showed no sign that such action made her more vulnerable. In an act of good faith, Bell sheathed his knife as well.

"Good. Now, why don't all of us take a seat?" The goddess suggested.

It took a while for them to do so since there was hesitation in the air. Nevertheless, both parties took a seat, slowly but steadily breaking the ice.

As they sat down, Hestia noticed something else regarding the girl. Her eyes were red. The similarity of the color of her hair and eyes with her child caused the goddess to be curious. This caused her to look at Bell, then at the girl, then at him again, and so on.

"Is…Is there something wrong, goddess?" The boy couldn't help but ask at her strange behavior.

"Have both of you notice that the two of you could be mistaken as siblings?" She asked back.

Bell blinked several times upon hearing that before taking a closer look at the girl. Just as Hestia said, there were many similarities; the color of the eyes, the color of the hair, the cheekbones, the nose, one could be forgiven to make that kind of mistake.

"That's rather…strange, to be honest." He commented as he scratched his cheek a little.

"Bell, she's not your sister, right?" The goddess asked. "Or any relative of you?"

"No, I don't have a sister. One of the reasons I came to Orario is because I have no family left back in my village."

Hestia nodded in return. She turned her attention towards the girl, her curiosity longing to be satisfied.

"Can you tell me why are you in the Dungeon despite not being part of a Familia?"

The girl remained silent. Slowly, she moved her head to look at the goddess directly at the eyes. There was no emotion in her own. No other sign of it as well, as if showing one was something alien to her. Finally, she opened her mouth.

"I do not know."

"You…don't know?" Bell said in return.

"I woke up in the dark, yearning for nothing but to see the sun."

The girl was saying the truth. Hestia had a feeling that further questioning will simply result in more questions with no answer. As she pondered on what to do next, Bell decided to take his own initiative.

"What's your name?" He asked.

The girl merely looked at him. This caused the boy to blushed a little but he pushed on.

"I am Bell Cranel. This is my Goddess of my Familia, Hestia." The adventurer introduced themselves. "I-If you don't mind, I want to know your name as well."

She remained silent. He couldn't help but wonder if the girl had no idea regarding her name as well. However, that thought was soon proofed to be false as she opened her mouth.

"Soul…" The word was spoken under her breath.

"Sorry, I don't hear that."

The girl let out her breath and closed her eyes. When she opened them back, the answer was at the tip of her tongue.

"Cinder."

And the prologue is done.

If you have a question or suggestion, feel free to tell me.

Review, please!