*MADE IT TO THE FINALS OF ONC's SHORT LIST*
One makes, one nurtures and one extinguishes - thus, a balance is maintained on Tellus.
But what happens when the scales topple?
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With Ati's admission of her dream, Ryker stumbled back, bewildered.
"What might be the connection between the dreams and his tattoo? Isn't that the Wheel of Fortune?" Arkah guessed correctly making Ryker nod.
"Alright guys, I think we can ponder over it later." Clearing his throat he looked towards his left where the ashes had started to tremble in place, "it's time we headed back."
That got the three of them running back to the white place with windows. Just after that, another quake hit the area, and the room started to tilt and shift. They held on to the window sills firmly and let go only when the door which was previously on the ceiling, came to stop right opposite to them. They began to stride towards it after landing softly on the floor when a figure walked out the door, clad in a tuxedo. Ati gasped while it didn't take Arkah and Ryker even a second to recognize him as her father.
He smiled at his daughter, taking her hand in his. Then, in a fatherly gesture, he patted her head. Before dissipating into thin air, he met Ryker's eyes and gave him a determined nod as though conveying a message indicating it to be a secret between the two.
Ati took a staggering breath, squaring her shoulders, she looked at the men accompanying her and gave a smile. Ryker didn't know whether Arkah noticed or not, but her lips were quivering with the effort to fake the bravery she was portraying as of then.
"Guess we have our way paved out for us, thanks to daddy dearest," she tried joking. For her benefit, Ryker chuckled slightly, drawing a grin from Ati that made him weak in his knees.
Together, as one, the three of them traversed down a door before being blinded by a light so white, the room's color paled in comparison.
When Arkah and Ryker opened their eyes, they were back in the store. Mary was looking at them in awe. Ati, however, had not made it back yet. Ryker worriedly squeezed her hand, as though that would will her back to the present.
Perhaps, it was the pressure of his hand or the working of Ati's mind, she opened her eyes in the next moment, gasping and looking around, confirming that she was actually back.
"I would ask what transpired, and why Mr. Angevin doesn't have a shirt on, but I have a feeling that you would not want to share it with me."
Mary was right, none of them wanted to reveal what had occurred until they had, themselves, worked some sense out of it.
Being the polite one, Arkah extended his gratitude to the lady, saying that he'll pay her back in kind whenever he got the chance to. However, Mary's respond rendered him speechless.
"Thing is, being able to have proven to be of service to you, oh cultivator, there's nothing more I desire of you. I do hope," she took in the three of them, "that whatever quest you're on, you fulfill it soon enough for everyone's merit."
