It was autumn.
Everything was quiet. The green leaves had begun to change their colors, and birds chirped softly as always. Two siblings, Noa and Nile, were in the forest collecting sticks to sell in the market the next day.
"Ugh… finally got it," Nile said, wiping the sweat from his forehead.
He glanced at Noa's bundle of sticks and tried to lift it.
"It's too heavy…"
He took some sticks from her bundle and added them to his own.
"Hm… now it's fine."
He tried again.
"…Still heavy!"
After a while, Noa returned with even more sticks.
"More?" Nile rolled his eyes.
Noa calmly tied all the sticks together into one bundle.
"You won't be able to carry that. It's too heavy," Nile said.
Without a word, Noa lifted it.
Nile stared.
"You did that…?"
Noa looked at him for a moment, then turned and started walking.
"Hey, wait for me!"
Nile grabbed his bundle and hurried after her.
By evening, they returned home, exhausted. Their grandmother was waiting.
"Oh, you two are back," she said with a warm smile.
After that, they rested.
At night, under a dim sky, Noa and Nile went to the nearby forest with wooden swords. Their grandfather, Master Hiroshi, stood with them.
"Are you two ready?" Hiroshi asked.
They nodded.
(I'm going to get beaten again… Noa, please go easy on me, Nile thought.)
Suddenly, Noa vanished.
Nile looked around quickly.
"Where is she?"
A faint smile appeared on Hiroshi's lips.
Just as Nile was about to turn back—
Noa rushed in from behind at full speed.
Nile barely managed to dodge.
She disappeared again… then attacked.
Again, he struggled to avoid her.
The final strike came too fast.
Nile fell to the ground.
Noa's wooden sword stopped at his neck.
"That's fifty times…" Nile said, disappointed, resting his head on the ground.
Noa lowered her sword and walked away.
Nile stood up, brushing off the dust.
"Why can't I keep up with her…?" he muttered.
Hiroshi passed by him.
"You need to work harder."
Nile remained in the forest alone, thinking… trying to understand what he was missing.
After a while, he returned home.
Days passed.
One day, Hiroshi called both of them into his room.
He handed them swords.
Nile opened his and froze.
"Is this…?"
"A real sword," Hiroshi said seriously.
He walked to the window and looked up at the sky.
"Something is going wrong. And I have chosen both of you to fix it."
"When do we leave?" Nile asked.
"Tonight."
Later, Nile and Noa sat on the roof of their house.
"I never expected something like this," Nile said.
A small smirk formed on his lips.
"This world… is starting to feel interesting."
Noa stayed silent, looking down at the ground.