A New Star in the Starry Sky

1. Already Exposed

"Ugh.." Cale rubbed his throbbing forehead, getting up from the ground. 'Where am I now?...' He asked himself, looking around.

He was at a bay between two cliffs. The sun had just rose and the sky was clear. It gave Cale a sensation of freedom, but he still held onto his doubts.

'Did God of Death do something again?' He wondered. 'Whatever. I need to find where I am currently.' Cale walked off the coast and entered the forest nearby.

Despite it being a forest, he felt weirdly safe being there.

Crunch!

'What's that?' He turned around, looking for where that sound came from. 'Is it a monster? I should avoid it.' Cale turned the other way and headed off.

"Hm? I thought I heard something."

"What do you mean?"

Faint and muffled voices sounded from afar.

"It's probably just another animal."

"Yeah, you're probably right."

The voices stopped, they had left.

Cale found himself next to a lake, and at the middle of it was a statue on top of a small piece of land.

'A statue?' Cale wondered. He wanted to discarded its existence but he felt a force pushing him forward. It was like a fresh breeze guiding him. Cale stepped forward, looking at his reflection from the lake water.

Then he thought, 'is it resonating with the power of the Sound of Wind...?'

The strong connection with the wind, perhaps that's what made him think of such nonsense. The air felt lighter, like it was calling to him.

'It wouldn't hurt to check it out...' Assist by the wind, he landed next to the statue. Cale looked up at it, 'is this supposed to be a person?'

The statue looked like a divine being. But it was dirty and damaged, with debris scattered below it, as if it had been abandoned.

Cale placed his hand on it, wanting to check the statue, when a gust of wind suddenly appeared and a blinding light came from the statue. "Ugh!" Cale covered his eyes with his arm, trying to minimize the damage.

It stopped after a bit.

Cale lowered his arms and slowly opened his eyes, 'what just happened? Huh?' He looked up at the statue, it had changed.

It was no longer dirty, and the statue had been repaired. But nothing else had changed.

'Is it just me...?' Cale thought, feeling a bit skeptical.

"Traveler! There's someone by the Statue of the Seven!"

Cale snapped out of his thoughts as he heard voices someone closer.

"Excuse me?"

There were two voices belonging to two individuals.

Cale fixed his composure, turning around to greet them.

They were taken aback as they saw Cale.

"Traveler!" The little floating girl whispered-yelled.

The two strangers turned around, backs facing Cale, exchanging words with each other in whispers.

'How rude.' Cale thought.

"Could it be?!"

"The red-headed beauty from that tale..."

"How can that be possible?! That's a tale from hundreds of years ago!"

"The description fits him perfectly... red-hair and an unparalleled beauty..."

'What are they talking about?' Cale wondered, hearing everything from the not-so-secretive duo.

"Act normal!"

The two turned back around.

"Sorry for our rudeness, let me reintroduce myself, I am Traveler and this is my companion, Paimon."

"Paimon greets you!" She waved her hands, greeting him.

"It's alright.. My name is Cale." He said in his usual expression, except, he was feeling a it uncomfortable.

"May I ask, what are you doing here?"

Cale replied, "I got lost."

"Lost..? Are you perhaps an adventurer?" Traveler asked.

"No. I just got lost."

"Huh?" Paimon suddenly said, getting their attention.

"What's wrong, Paimon?" Traveler asked.

"Doesn't his clothing look weird? Like the style of it. It doesn't look like it's from here..." Paimon started thinking hard.

"Now that you mention it..."

"Wait! Are you not from Teyvet?! Like Traveler?!" She came to an absurd conclusion.

Cale widened his eyes, not expecting that.