A Perfect World

Chapter 19

Ja’aktae!” I shout, dropping the crystal from between my palms, and listening to it clatter against the ground. I pick it up hurriedly, my palms burning red from the heat of the stone. I set it on the table and wait for my palms to hurt a little bit less. A flash of white and gold out of the corner of my eye snaps my attention towards it, but there’s nothing there, at least, not anymore. I swore there was something a second ago, but it had gone.

“What are you looking at?” Chamberlynn asks, tapping my shoulder.

“What? Oh, nothing. I thought I saw something.” I respond before the room turns dark, and a sad voice from behind me whispers, “Why won’t you just listen.” I spin around to see two boys, a white-haired, gold-eyed one, and one with silvery hair, a black mark around a white eye, and a white mark around a black eye, both looking at me sadly, but differently. Lewis, the one I recognized, looked at me like a wounded animal hoping for help, and the other, I assume Syven, looks at me like he’s afraid to let me near him, but wants someone to help him. Something pokes my thigh sharply, and I pull a crystal out, turning it over in my fingers for a second before I look up, and see that their eyes have both changed. Lewis's eyes are black, betrayed and hopeless, and Syven’s are empty and defeated, devoid of any color or hope. I step towards them, debating who to go to first.

“Syven, Lewis,” I say sadly, unable to come up with anything else to say to either of them.

“Aydin,” Lewis says, “You are Aydin, right?” He asks, suddenly unsure.

“Yeah, I am,” I reply curiously.

“Good. Just hear me out,” he says, his mannerisms so different than Syven’s that it throws me off for a second, “I know you’re looking for Destiny, but you can’t meet them. You’re supposed to die before you can help us, and we have to suffer for another…” He trails off, and Syven picks up for him, “234 years, then some guy tries to kill me, resulting in both of our long and painful deaths.”

“That just doesn’t sound appealing to us, so we’re gonna mess with Destiny. the Fates don’t pose a threat for now, and they probably won’t, but Destiny does.”

“Long story short, stay away from Destiny. They don’t even have The Souls. Haiwa does, but as of now we don’t have the first clue where she is.” Syven explains.

“As much as I trust you two, I have questions. First, how do you know all of this? And how are we communicating?”

“I told you she wouldn’t trust us,” Syven says, casting a glance at Lewis from the corner of his eye.

“You didn’t say anything.” Lewis retaliates.

“I didn’t say that I didn’t trust you, I just want a few answers before potentially putting all of my faith into two kids I haven’t even really met.”

“Let me explain,” Syven says, resting his arms on a table that had suddenly appeared, sitting next to Lewis. The area had changed into a plain, unextraordinary, room with no windows or doors, a thick, black, plush carpet covering the floor.

“As the god of balance, hence The Balance of Haiwa being my mark, I have similar abilities to the Fates, but I’m also a lot more powerful than they are, so I can mess with people’s minds and get information when I need to.” He looks at me for a second, then adds hurriedly, “I didn’t torture anyone if you’re wondering, I just used a bit of manipulation to figure out what Destiny wants, that’s all.”

“To answer your second question, you’re asleep. This is kind of a dream, but more of a different place in time and space where we can take as long as we need, and it’s clearer and easier to control than a dream.” Lewis explains, “It’s a sort of spell. I don’t really know how it works.”