Inner Discord

Chapter 2

My joy was so big I thought it hardly could become any bigger. My whole body was red from Arthur's blood. I laughed harder and harder, so hard that someone a little further had apparently noticed me. He looked like a handicapped old man and when he saw me, he started yelling: 'You there, why are you all red!?' 

I angered because my happiness was disturbed and told the old man to leave, or I would kill him too. But he only began grinning. 'Why are you grinning?!', I screamed. 'Did I say anything funny?' I had already picked up my knife in order to hurt the man when I remarked something strange about him. His eyes were red, his fingers blue, like they had died. As he grinned more and louder, his eyebrows began to grow hairier and rougher. Then he suddenly stopped grinning and took his walking stick. It had a huge knob on it, perfect to attack with. He came towards me with an incredible speed, and when I tried to stab him with the knife, he was already behind me. I wondered how such an old man could summon such a strength. Then I felt the stick poking between my ribs, and a tenth of a second later I lay on the ground with a pain like there was someone with stiletto heels stepping on my back. The old man grabbed my collar and held me up. 

When I saw he had no pupils, I finally understood. The man must be possessed by a Nous. I began feeling a strange new desire: I heavily wanted to save the man from the ghost. But I did not know how. So I did what seemed obvious and hit his head with the back of my knife. The old man first looked astonished, and then seemed to fall unconscious. I sincerely hoped that when he woke up, the Nous would be expelled. 

After a while he slowly started opening his eyes, but instead of behaving like an old man should behave, his eyes lighted a blinding white and he said the following:

'You are not destined to be here. 

You are not an Anthropos, nor one of the other races. 

You are special. 

On the thirteenth of March 1500 A.W. you will either fulfill your fate or fail attempting to.

Search for the pentagram and restore that what was once yours.'

After that, his eyes became normal and his fingers returned to a common color. He thanked me for saving him, said he would not disturb me any longer (although he did not approve with my actions) and continued his way.

The only thing that bothered me now was what he had mentioned. That is normally something of the kind only Saphoi say, and it would be strange to encounter one here. Furthermore, I heard they are extremely greedy and ask you a lot of Arguria for their predictions. If he was a Saphos he would not have given me a prediction just because I saved him (that shows just how greedy they are). That day was the thirteenth of February 1500 After the War (A.W.). So if it turned out to be true, I would fulfill my 'fate' in exactly four weeks.

I concluded it was just raving of his and continued to the lake. Either way I was happy for having been able to save that old man. I thought it was pretty odd I felt a desire to kill him before, when it gives such a great feeling rescuing someone.  Then I thought back at my killing the Aischustos and meant I would maybe have been happier saving him. But why did I feel all that joy, then? And I must certainly not forget to mention it was my first time in life being a killer or savior. I was a bit scared of myself for doing both.

The thought had not yet left my mind when I arrived at the lake. Why could I not have acted like normal Anthropoi do in situations like that one? My reaction was far from normal. But, when I saw the beautiful water of the perfect circular lake I was distracted, and when I saw the stars I forgot everything and began to stare at them. In a messed-up world like this is stargazing a real relief. It is just that they are thousands upon thousands of twinkling lights in the sky, unable to come down, except if they die and fall. Some nights you can see a rain of falling stars. It was a night like that now. I thought about making a wish, but I did not know what to wish. 

One of the falling stars came really near. I heard a splash and realized it had fallen in the lake, exactly in the middle of it. I thought it was quite strange and wanted to go take a closer look when the sky suddenly became darker and it started to rain. The rain was heavy, a wind like I had never seen before almost blew me down. Then lightning struck the place where the star had fallen and a ring of fire encircled the lake. A pentagram was drawn inside of it. The water splashed really high and I got wet. Suddenly the wind became even more powerful and it blew me towards the lake, a wave came out of the lake, with very much power, and it looked like it wanted to pull me in. Together with the wind, I almost fell in, but I succeeded in grabbing a plant on the shore. Slowly it began to rip off and ultimately, I fell. As the water transported me to the middle, right where the lightning had struck, I felt it trying to make me drown. When I passed the fire I felt surprisingly nothing. When I finally had reached the place where all water came from, concentric circles began to slide from me to the edge of the lake. due to the white water I was kept afloat. I tried to swim to the shore, but the water was too strong.

The plants on the shore began to grow at an enormous speed and formed a half sphere around the lake, with a hole in the middle. I started to fear for my life, as I thought this had to be the doing of some Kratistos, who are capable of magic, when I heard a weird singing. I did not understand what was being sung, but it was beautiful, and I calmed down completely. The next thing I knew a lightning struck again, and I fell unconscious.

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I want to tell everyone who reads this that from now on, I'll post at least one chapter every week. It will be released at the latest on Friday. It could be that more are published throughout the week. Thanks for reading my story!