ZERO ONE: ONE HOPE!

Hariel sat frozen in place.

His breath still came in ragged gasps, his knee was in agony, and his brain was struggling to process the string of bizarre events that had just befallen him.

An authoritative, feminine voice had just introduced itself from within his Grandfather's pendant.

This has to be a hallucination, he thought wildly. It must be because I'm too hungry and exhausted. Or maybe I hit my head too hard when I fell.

With some hesitation, he dared to pick up the pendant with his trembling hand. He brought it close to his face, observing it intently as if seeing it for the first time.

The blue gemstone in its center shone with a soft, calming light.

"Y-you... my pendant..." he stammered, his voice still shaking. "You can actually talk?"

"Of course I can talk," the voice replied from within the pendant, its tone slightly firmer this time, almost like a teacher losing her patience. "What did you think that was earlier? The sound of the night wind that just so happens to be good at giving directions? Besides, I'm not 'just' a pendant, for your information."

"Then... what are you, exactly?" Hariel pressed. His suffocating fear was slowly being replaced by a massive wave of curiosity—the same curiosity that always pushed him to do reckless things.

"I already told you, my name is Luminaria Aravian. But that's too long to say every time. Just call me Lumi," the voice answered.

Along with that introduction, something even more magical happened.

The blue light inside the pendant swirled brighter, then seemed to gently flow out like liquid light. Right in front of Hariel's gaping face, the light gathered and formed a small, gracefully floating creature.

It was only the size of his palm.

Its form was like that of a fairy from a storybook, with long, silvery hair that shimmered like woven moonlight.

A pair of large, serene sapphire-blue eyes gazed at him, framed by elegant, pointed ears. She wore a simple, night-blue dress, adorned with embroidered silver spiral patterns that glowed faintly.

Her small, pale face looked at Hariel with a flat, unreadable expression.

"WAAAAH!"

Hariel jumped in shock—for the umpteenth time today!—and reflexively leaped backward until his back slammed hard against a tree trunk.

"WH-WHAT IS THIS CREATURE NOW?! DON'T TELL ME YOU'RE THE ACTUAL PENDANT-DWELLING DEMON?!"

The small creature named Lumi rolled her eyes with a very obvious motion. A look of pure exasperation was plain on her tiny face.

"Oh, for goodness sake, this boy is really..." she sighed softly, her voice now coming directly from her physical form, no longer from inside Hariel's mind.

"HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU, HUH?!" she snapped, her high-pitched voice sounding comical from such a tiny figure. "I am not a ghost, not a demon, not a guardian spirit, not a genie in a bottle, and not a monster from under the bed!"

She pointed to herself with her tiny, glowing finger. "I am Lumi! L-U-M-I! And I am... well, for now, let's just say I am your guide!"

"A... guide?" Hariel repeated, his brain still feeling like mush.

His Grandfather's pendant could talk, and now a super-chatty little fairy was floating in front of him. This was even weirder than the architecture in Inspiriaville.

"Yes, a guide," Lumi repeated, folding her tiny arms across her chest in an imperious pose. "My task, as far as I can recall from my long sleep, is to help you. To show you the right path, to give you important information..."

She glanced Hariel up and down.

"...and perhaps to keep you from danger, if you're not too careless and don't go running and screaming like you just did."

She let out an overly dramatic sigh. "Honestly, my memory is a bit fuzzy. I've been inside this pendant for... a very long time, it feels like thousands of years. I can only appear in this form if the pendant's owner—that's you, now—needs emergency assistance or is truly... well..."

Lumi glanced at Hariel's dirty, lost state. "...lost and on the verge of tears."

Hariel felt a little called out. "Hey! I was just a little confused about the direction, you know! And I was not on the verge of tears!"

"Oh, really?" Lumi sneered, one of her thin, silver eyebrows raised mockingly. "'A little confused' to the point of running like you were being chased by a vengeful spirit?"

"That... that was because of extreme shock!" Hariel defended, his face turning slightly red. "Who wouldn't be shocked if a voice suddenly came out of nowhere in the middle of a creepy forest like this?!"

Lumi let out a small laugh, her laughter as clear as the chiming of silver wind bells. "Alright, alright, I take back the part about crying. I admit, my appearance might have been a bit sudden."

Hariel breathed a sigh of relief. At least this strange creature didn't seem evil.

"Okay... good. So... you said you can help me? You know a lot of things?"

"Of course," Lumi replied, her tone once again more serious. "I store a great deal of information in here," she tapped the pendant still hanging on Hariel's neck with her tiny finger. "About this world, about its forgotten history... perhaps even about..."

Lumi paused for a moment, her blue eyes turning sharp and meaningful.

"...about ZERO ONE."

Hariel's eyes immediately widened with hope. The fatigue and the pain in his knee seemed to vanish instantly. "Really?! You know about ZERO ONE?!"

"A little," Lumi replied, returning to her mysterious, flat demeanor.

But before Hariel could bombard her with a thousand more questions, Lumi's expression suddenly changed.

Rumble...

Her tiny stomach let out a soft sound—very strange for a being of light.

"By the way," she said quickly, changing the subject, "the energy required to appear in this physical form is quite substantial. Do... do you happen to have anything to eat? I'm starving."

Hariel was silent for a moment, staring at the hungry little fairy, then burst out laughing. This time it was a laugh of relief mixed with amusement.

It turned out his mysterious, magical guide had the same priority as him: food!

"Okay, okay! As it happens, I have my favorite 'Hellfire Cracker'!" Hariel said, rummaging through his backpack and pulling out the last piece of spicy bread from Granny Ivana. "But be warned, this is incredibly spicy."

"Spicy?" Lumi's blue eyes actually sparkled with challenge. "Don't underestimate me!"

Hariel offered her the bread. Lumi accepted it happily and began to bite into it with gusto. Strangely, she didn't seem affected by the spice at all, and in fact, looked to be thoroughly enjoying it.

"So," Hariel said, after Lumi had finished the bread and let out a small, polite burp. "What now? You said earlier I should head 'west'?"

"West is indeed your long-term destination," Lumi mused. "But for now, the top priority is for you to get some proper rest and fill your stomach properly, before you pass out and I have to drag you."

Lumi pointed eastward. "According to my hazy memory, there's a village nearby in that direction. Its name... is Sizzleburg, if I'm not mistaken. Known as the Village of Master Chefs."

"Sizzleburg? The Village of Master Chefs?" Hariel's brow furrowed, then his signature wide grin immediately appeared. His stomach, as if understanding, rumbled again, this time louder and full of hope.

"That sounds... perfect! There must be a lot of delicious food there, right?"

Lumi chuckled again. "Most likely. Well, what are you waiting for?"

Hariel nodded enthusiastically. He got to his feet with some effort, brushing off his dirty pants. His confusion was still there, but his adventurous spirit was rekindled.

He wasn't alone anymore.

He had a guide! A weird, super-chatty little fairy guide, but a guide nonetheless!

"Okay, Lumi! Lead the way to that food paradise!" Hariel exclaimed, his fist punching the air.