The Fates

S T E R C O R E

Present Day

"Shit!"

"Language, Destiny!" Elder Tomst scolded. He always was a hardass.

"Does it help if I say it in another language? Mierda! Scheiβe! Ikaka!"

Faith laughed, "What was that last one, D?"

I shrugged. "I took up learning Xhosa, but I'm pretty limited to just curse words right now."

Hope rolled her eyes, but smirked, "Figures."

"Alright, ladies, this is Defense Spells, not Foreign Languages," Elder Floak berated from the sidelines, although she couldn't really hide the humorous gleam in her eyes. She clapped twice before going back into teacher-mode. "Destiny, cursing when you get hit won't do anything to stop the next attack. You need to focus on your next move. Again please, Elder Tomst."

Tomst got back in his stance. I just scoffed at his foul expression. Floak wouldn't let anything really bad happen, so I wasn't worried. That vine thing he just threw stung where it hit my side, though. Since it worked last time, I got ready for the dude to throw it again.

My assumption was right, apparently. This time I caught the long branch before it snapped at me like a wet towel, wrapping it around my wrist and pulling with a quick momentum enhancement. Elder Tomst, who really wasn't all that old, remained tethered to his vine of pain, flying towards me. Well, towards me and the protective ward that Faith put up just before Tomst could crash into me. The ward severed the vine just before Tomst bounced off the invisible wall, groaning from the impact.

Always the pacifist, Faith sent out a quick pain killer spell towards him before setting to work on reconstructing his broken nose. I dropped the now much shorter vine on the ground before turning to Floak for approval. She just sighed, shaking her head at my sister's instinct to intervene and my reckless spellwork. Technically, this was supposed to be Defensive Spells, but Faith is the only one of us three that has any control over fighting back.

Coming over next to me to watch Tomst's nose crack back into place, Hope sighed just like Floak. "What were you going to do if the ward hadn't appeared?"

"Step out of the way and let go so he hit the wall behind me," I offered, although I really hadn't thought that far ahead at the time.

"You didn't move fast enough for that and we both know it. You're just lucky Floak likes you," Hope criticized, mumbling "for whatever reason" under her breath as she turned away. I smirked down at a Tomst's bruised face staring up at me in silent response.

Elder Floak's voice interrupted our staring contest. "Alright, that's enough for today. Faith, nice work on the ward and the healing. Hope, good thinking earlier with conjuring the mud pit. Destiny, remember to actually defend yourself next time; this isn't supposed to be a team effort and you know it. We need to build all three of your skills in defense if you're ever going to be a successful trio."

"I think specialization is a good thing, Elder," I joked, throwing my arms around my sisters' shoulders. "Hope leads, Faith heals, and I go around... entertaining everyone."

"Find a better specialty than entertainment, Destiny, and I'll consider it. For now, please focus on the lesson at hand," Floak sighed. She did that a lot, sighing. I knew she thought I was hilarious, but it would be bad form if she actually laughed at me injuring another Elder.

It was true that I was the only one in the group without a real role. I mean, Hope was smart and level-headed. Faith was caring and loyal, although I thought that loyalty was to a fault. I wasn't really kind or brilliant or fair, although I was pretty witty. I liked to think of myself as the comic relief for the group, but Elder Ramos and pretty much the entire Council reminded me constantly that humor wasn't an asset when it comes to our team. The Fates are supposed to protect the entire witch community, not perform stand-up. Whatever.

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That evening, we lounged around the Great Room, which was really just a fancy living room, while we snacked and talked. Faith was reading in one of the fluffy armchairs while Hope and I sprawled out on the matching couches and tossed grapes into each other's mouths.

"Hey," Faith suddenly spoke up, catching my eyes. "Have you heard any more about Mystery Man?"

I went back to aiming at Hope. "Not since I told you about him five years ago. Why the interest now?"

"I found something."

Hope and I simultaneously scrambled to her chair to look over her shoulder before realizing her book was in Sanskrit. Neither of us had bothered learning it beyond its usefulness for Ancient Spells, and definitely couldn't read it. We looked at her expectantly, but she was focused on translating the page, so we sat down on the floor in front of her to listen to the story like school children.

"Okay so this book is South Asian folklore from the ninth century, but I think a lot of it is historical instead of fantasy. It's hard to tell with human authors, but listen to this:

"Villages have reported stories of a hunter. He stalks each community in search of his prey, but not any animal known to us. He is known as Astavyastataa—that means "chaos"—but he has never presented himself formally. Legend says he has visited before, just like now. He hunts for three young girls of the same age and family."

Faith looks up at us with a serious and stoic look before breaking her translation and speaking freely. "Does that sound like the man the Council was talking about?"

"I have no idea," I answered. "I mean, they didn't say much. They said that he was going around the world looking for us. Well, I assumed it was us. They never said our names, and they definitely didn't mention his name. Astav-whatever would have caught my attention."

"Astavyastataa," Faith and Hope corrected together.

"Yeah, like I said."

"It's gotta be him," Hope reasoned. "He's going around looking for three triplet girls and has been for centuries. That's not exactly a typical travel itinerary. Does it say if he found them? Or us, I guess?"

Faith shook her head. "Not in ninth century Nepal, but with the way the Elders seemed so worried, we have to assume he's found us before."

"How the hell has he lived so long? Or is he reincarnating like us?" I asked, as if they would have the answers.

"I don't know. If he's reincarnating, he must have teachers, right? Someone to pass down whatever mission he's on," Hope offered. "This is the first we've found of him in five years. We have to ask about him. Clearly, we're not going to learn anything substantial at this pace, and the Elders obviously know about him. We're almost of age and it's about time we take on our roles. We can't protect anyone if we're being kept in the dark about a clear threat."

"We can't just march into a Council meeting and ask who the psycho, potentially immortal stalker is," I argued. "I'm curious, too, don't get me wrong. But they don't know that I was in that meeting. They kept it from us on purpose and we should find out why before we reveal our hand. Something's going on and I'm not sure I trust Ramos to give us the truth."

Faith stood up, pulling Hope and me up with her. "To the Library, then. We need to look for any mention of Astavyastataa or Chaos or any other name this guy could go by. We don't have much to go off, since our time period and location are completely open, but we know the dude exists."

I set up a cloaking spell around each of us, having perfected it over the years of sneaking into Council meetings. We needed to research in peace and in secret.