Rise From the Ashes

Chapter Ten: A Shoulder to Lean on

(NARRATED BY TRAVIS GUILDER)

That night, I had another dream.

I was in a small library of sorts. A lone book with a blue cover sat on one of the shelves, so I pulled it out. The writing on the cover said, "Laetan Orculoa," or "The Great Prophecy" in silver lettering. After setting the book on the one wooden desk in the room with the one lit candle, I sat down in the only chair and promptly opened the book. The first page was blank, so I was about to turn to the next one, when silver letters started to appear.

They read: "The visions manifested in these pages through the blood of Lustria and Cosmos foretell the end of the ancient Curse. Do not interpret them lightly, for it may lead to your demise."

I pressed on to the next page, which was also blank. But then, sure enough, an image drew itself onto the paper. The scene's background was etched in blood-red ink, containing the pale-golden outline of a man rising from a coffin of sorts. Then, on the third page, there was a red castle. To the right of it was a charging army of black warriors led by a man in pale gold. On the left was a collection of red, blue, yellow, green, and purple men turned away from them, as if they were fleeing. The next page showed the lone image of a black wolf. After that, there was a blood-red fire engulfing a city and a forest in flames. A pale-golden man stood among the flames with his staff raised.

On the following page, there were red, blue, yellow, green, and purple men standing before a crowd of gray people. Among that crowd were five people drawn in illustrious gold. The next image depicted some kind of battle. On the right stood a bunch of soldiers, some engraved in blood-red and some in black. The army was led by a figure drawn in scarlet red. For some reason, he didn't look like he belonged with the other guys. As for the people on the left side, most of them were in gray. Even further to the left was a gray wall, upon which red, blue, yellow, green, and purple-colored men stood. Among them were the five figures in gold from before, who were now shining even brighter.

The next page was outlined by trees, all drawn in black. At the bottom were strange men engraved in light gray beside a clock tower of the same shade. Meanwhile, on the upper part of the page, there were dark gray skeletal figures beside a dark gray clock tower. In the center of it all was a lady in a dress, engraved in bright yellow. Above her head was the symbol of two silver curls of wind under a golden bolt of lightning which came from a silver cloud.

The subsequent page made me feel a little depressed for some reason. It showed a gray city burning in blood-red flames while red, blue, yellow, green, purple, and gold people watched from the top of a hill. Page number ten showed a dragon outlined in blood-red. Beside the dragon was a shining golden figure lying on the ground, while another shining golden figure was kneeling by its side. Six other figures battled six more overhead. Their outlines kept changing color and were hard to look at for some reason. The page after that was another depressing one. On the left side, which was all drawn in light gray ink, people celebrated under a crescent moon. But, on the right side, there were dark gray people mourning beneath the sun.

I flipped to the next page, which showed a majestic, red castle. Five golden figures stood before it, while two other golden figures were placed at the upper left and right corners. A bird of indefinite color flew above everything, shedding its light upon the five figures below. Like the twelve figures from before, its ink kept changing color and was hard to look at.

Finally, I turned to the next page, only to find that it was just blank. I must've waited a whole minute before realizing that nothing was ever going to appear. In other words, it was left blank for a reason.

Silver letters showed up on the page that followed, just like they had on the first one. However, the message this time was different. It read, "That is all for now, young hero. Rest well, for you have a long and grueling journey ahead of you."