Fate Arcana

Chapter 5

"Did you bring the necklace?" Barbara asked.

We're now here at the balcony talking as to what we have agreed upon, I took out the necklace and handed it to her.
"What is happening Barbara?" I asked.
"It's time for you to know the story, Sebastian" she said as she placed the necklace in my neck. My head suddenly started to hurt and everything went blurry bit by bit the castle balcony disappeared.

---

The man was in perfect form, you could see it from the way he held his bow and arrow as he shoots his prey-a goose flying from the sky, eyes glimmering from anticipation as he landed a bullseye on his prey, with that it fell onto the nearby forest.

"I'll go get it for you Prince Baltazar." Said a man wearing an armor looking very dignified, he had brown locks and emerald green eyes.
"No need Victor, I will go get it myself." Baltazar said.
"But my prince, it is my duty as your personal body guard to assist you even with this kind of matter." Victor said.
"Oh shush Victor you're too diligent, enough with calling me prince and will you relax we're friends since childhood so act normal." Baltazar said as he pats his friend's back, and with that Victor started to relax.
"Phew! Ever since I got assigned as your personal body guard, I thought I have to act formal because you are the crowned prince of the Spade Kingdom, but since you say I could relax, alright then! Go get your prey yourself. Shoo!" Victor said playfully, Baltazar didn't take any offense as he knew his friend was just kidding.
"Woah there, you relax way too quickly Victor." Baltazar remarked and with that they both laughed.
"But seriously Baltazar, you can count on me, I don't want to neglect my job just because we're childhood friends." Victor said seriously.
"I know mister Righteous, anyway I want to do this so wait for me here and take care of our stuff, I'll go get the goose." Baltazar said as he started to walk away.
"Alrighty then Prince, don't take too long or the king will kill me if something happens to you."

The forest wasn't that dangerous since it was still part of the castle grounds, however it was huge and wild animals could still be lurking around. After Baltazar found the goose he hunted he decided to scan the place before returning, then he found a river nearby and rested there for a bit, but he didn't notice that somebody else was there first and upon noticing the presence of the other person he was quickly captivated by her beauty. She was carrying a vase filled with water from the river, her clothing was unusual suggesting that she didn't belong to the Spade kingdom, her clothes were quite revealing as it was colorful and flowy but it hugged the right places in her body. A gypsy, he thought.

The girl was so frigthened to be seen by him that she dropped her vase to run away, but she was quickly stopped by Baltazar. "Wait!" He exclaimed as he stopped her by holding her wrist firmly "Please don't go." He said. Seeing the earnest look in his face the girl eased a little so Baltazar let go of her hand.
"This place is restricted, what are you doing here?" Baltazar said.
"I did not know this was a private area, we were just resting but we will leave soon. I am sorry for intruding." She said not looking at him in the eye.
"No it's fine, but it's dangerous here, wild animals could be lurking around." Baltazar said as he picked up the vase and handed it to the woman. "I am Baltazar, and you are?"
"My name's Erin." She said
"I believe you are not from this Kingdom, why are you here Erin?" He asked, at first Erin seemed to doubt the man but then she decided to just come out and say it.
"I am a traveler and I was chased out of my kingdom for reasons I cannot disclose to a stranger." Baltazar laughed at this statement which confused Erin at his weird reaction.
"Stranger you say? Then I'd like to get to know you Erin."

---

The two of them would often meet by the river, Baltazar shared his stories and bit by bit Erin began to warm up to him. Until one day they were chatting by the river as usual when a wild animal suddenly appeared. It was a wild boar on a rampage, its eyes were bloodshot red and its tusks were ready to attack at any given moment. "Stand back Erin, I'll take care of this." Baltazar said as he draw his sword.

He was able to kill the boar however he was gravely injured and suffered from huge amount of blood loss, suddenly he felt warm and his body stared to glow as Erin held his hand, all the pain and wounds in his body slowly disappeared. "I want to tell you something Baltazar," Erin began. "But please promise me to keep this a secret." Baltazar still shock from what just happened silently nodded. "I trust you." Erina said, it sounded more of a plea than a statement and with this Baltazar came into his senses and said. "You can trust me." And thus gaining Erin's trust so she began to tell her story.

"As I've told you before I am a traveler, I came from the Diamond kingdom but I wasn't exactly chased out, I tried to escape. The Diamond kingdom is known as the sorcery capital from all the four lands, however as we've known sorcery is only limited to creating potions and casting spells, so the people began experimenting to expand their knowledge of sorcery, they used the orphans as guineapigs until finally they were able to create the perfect the test subject." Erin paused for a bit and exhaled deeply.

"That perfect test subject was me."