The Lost Orb [PFS #1, The Bearer]

30 "The Point of No Return"

THIRD PERSON
(Full English)

IF YOU WISH for the rain to never take part in your day, it will. If you wish for it to accompany your darkest night, it never will.

But it is not always the opposite of what you want. Things simply fall into uncertainties. There is no phenomenon that would despise the way you want things to be and abolish your desires into dust.

Fate doesn't play favorites.

But at certain times, it does happen.

In days of old, a spirit akin to a sage has woven many lives of mortals who are at the death's door into something new, something to anticipate, and to look forward. THEY do far-fetched duties to lengthen one's life.

They call it, their maestro.

But when she's most eager to understand what THEY wanted from her, it slowly drifts away. Leaving completely and putting everything in her hands. She was left alone with no companion to carve the path she never chose.

From that day, she's lost.

Whatever happens, happens.

If that's how things work for someone like her who has no hope of continuing on this serrated path, she will let it.

But tonight, the maestro graces her with THEIR presence.

She stared, and heard things from the depths of the sky. An indistinct voice that once gave her hope, only to have it taken away again by the same force before.

THEY are here in front of her again.

But never did she harbor any hatred for THEM.

The rain continued cascading from the night's cold embrace. Looking upon the dark blue sky, she closed her eyes to let her body soak from it. Her clothes, her skin, her soul.

It leaves an awe feeling.

Her fingers gently traced the path from her forehead down to the area over her chest where her heart lies, feeling the comforting existence of the water drowning her skin.

"Tell, maestro, who will be this greatest foe I have to face? Have I met it already?"

Does her guess fall on the rightful one? Does that man, a familiar presence she couldn't distinguish, have a role to play in her life?

The sky instead replied her an unsettling tremor from the thundering clouds.

". . . Must I hold your divinity bestowed to someone as incapable as me? Or does it play a major role in this compromised land?" She spoke in a hushed tone. "If not . . . I seek your permission to cut this tedious path."

A silence fell, it sang a lone remark. But soon, a loud sound disturbed her soaking body under the rain. The flashing sky, angered, shouted a howling sound. Then a sound, harshly whistling, travelled around her. It sped up through the air as she tracked it with a cautious side glance.

THEY refuse her decision, discards her sentiment into oblivion, knowing that her true enemy has yet to come.

Even in a humanoid form, her soul knows the presence of THEIR message and embeds it in her mind. Her eyes fell shut. "I see . . ."

After many attempts to seek answers, those days, months, and years she spent travelling to find her purpose. This very moment brought clarity to her mind. She can now understand it. The opponent she expected may not be the one she thought before.

The real adversary she must face is still on the way, approaching with a presence she has yet to recognize.

Atop the castle's turret of the renowned institution here in Zavied, she stood bravely below the storm brewing at the night sky. She silently fought the relentless rain with her undying pride alone, aware that she's a formidable figure blessed with divine gift.

"Then I must search for this one . . ." With a side grin, she glazed over the things on the clouds that no human would ever see.

"I was named Celeste by your decision, a name I must hold to conceal the one that once lived an ordinary life. Never did I ask any request from you, nor ask any power to repay this life you have taken. But for this one time, I seek your permission to have the sight of this certain enemy . . ."

However, she received nothing as a reply.

She never expected THEM to answer her plea.

Her steps became a signal for her departure. A peaceful departure with no fruit at all, not until something electrified her senses. As if someone is about to stab her with a weapon moving faster than a bolt of lightning.

She thought it succeeded, as she could feel drops from her chest. But her hallucinations shattered apart the moment she realized that it was not real.

She gasped for air and deliberately turned around to check it. It was like a serpent that is about to bite her and send her to an immediate death, like a venomous force waiting to go through her and rot her alive.

It's unimaginable, spine shivering to even think about that thing as it drew closer.

She hastily looked around to search for the malevolent spirit. She could still feel it cautiously crawling and plotting its next attack. But it was nothing more than her messed up imagination.

Instead of succumbing to fear, her lips curled up into a grin. Her mundane life felt like it was painted with this new hope.

The future she will surely look forward.

"So you heed my call." She uttered.

A mischievous laugh vibrated in the air. It was not hers. It was a laugh of a feminine voice, nothing familiar to her. She halted as she observed it, until it was gone. Another fleeting dream that had never existed at all.

"So this is . . . the power to see what's ahead of you. How utterly terrifying." She said in contrast to her words, a hint of amusement danced on her lips as she stepped forward.

The future events should be no mortal to be in possession. It's a sacred knowledge. Yet she let it corrupt her mind. To feel the soul stirring effect of it in this mortal's body.

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