"Mystical creatures have returned to our land. They are a sign of good fortune, that the G.o.ds have finally decided to spare us the decades of suffering we've endured," an old lady was telling the young ones. I was sitting in the back of the file, listening intently, when Sylens joined me. 

"They don't know what's waiting for them," he said in an undertone. 

"Do we?" I retorted. I looked at the children whose eyes twinkled as they listened to the village elder. "How is cutting their lives short fair? So much potential wasted for a delusional ghost..." 

Sylens didn't seem to understand my meaning. He frowned at me then turned away, looking beyond the village gates. "We're going to look for that bird's location. We want to know where to look when the time comes." 

"Who's we?" I asked. 

"Heda, Friede, you, and me of course," Sylens replied with a wide grin. "We're champions. We're supposed to work together, didn't you know?" 

I turned away from the young handsome man and looked for Heda. She was the one who called the shots around here. She knew more than this simple minded man anyway. I found her sitting near the bonfire, reading people's palms. There was a long line waiting, so I took my place in the back and waited.

Sylens joined me shortly afterwards. "Has n.o.body told you we have to work together?" he asked, whispering. 

"I don't do 'together'," I dryly replied. I could hear people whispering thanks to the red haired lady. They'd bow and quickly retreat afterwards. Her energy readings spiked every time she inspected their palms. 

"You're a fool, Heda said so from the beginning," Sylens hissed. He turned on his heels and left toward the village gates. 

When I finally reached the front of the line, Heda was reading a young woman's palm. "Do you see this line? It means you're about to be blessed with child. And this one here, it shows you'll have a long, prosperous life." 

The woman thanked her with a tight hug and hurried to her cave, her cheeks fl.u.s.tered and her smile reaching her ears. When Heda caught sight of me, her smile widened. "Would you like me to read your palm?" she asked. 

"Only if you promise to tell the truth," I said, smiling back at her.

She dismissed the other people waiting in line. "I've grown weary. I promise to read your palms tomorrow. We still have another feast coming." The boar was so big the village elders decided to extend the feast until they'd finished it. 

She turned to me then. Her lips parted into a lazy smile. Her face lit up, and against the bonfire light, she looked like a fairy queen staring down at one of her subjects. "The truth hurts oftentimes," she said in her honeyed voice.

"What's the worst that could happen?" I asked. I looked around me, made sure n.o.body was listening then turned toward her. "We're about to witness the end of times for this place." 

"It could have been us, waiting for a savior to pluck us out of our misery," Heda replied. Her green eyes fixated me, naked grief apparent on her freckled face. "There's so much mystery surrounding you, Myles. Where are you from?" 

"That is not a question I could easily answer. Perhaps you can find out by reading my palm," I replied then extended my right hand toward her. 

She chuckled. "I don't need to read your palm to know you're bad news, for us and for everyone around here." 

"Is that because I'm looking for a mad scientist?" I asked. 

Heda looked around her, thoughtful. When she spoke, it was in a low voice. "Everywhere I look, I see people's futures. They come to me like threads, intertwined but leading to the same end. They are all doomed. They just don't know about it yet." She turned to me then, her eyes were as cold as steel. It reminded me of my grandfather, albeit a poor imitation of the old man. "As for you, all I come up with is a blank sheet. Your fate isn't sealed." 

She looked troubled. Despite her cheesy smiles and her attempts to look confident, I could read through her eyes. She was frightened, perhaps for the first time in a long while. I repressed a smile. I wouldn't cause her offense, not really, not while she was the only one who could help me.

"I bet it feels like staring at a mirror for you. You don't like looking at your reflection much, do you?" I said. 

Heda's face contorted into a heavy frown. She leaned in toward me and whispered. "Why are you looking for Rimbaldi? He's not welcome, not here, not anywhere in Arkadia. You're as strong as a champion, but I can't sense any of the Primordial magic inside you. What's your secret?" 

"I'm willing to help you win your fights," I said after a long sigh. "You like being in control, but you must forget about that as far as I'm concerned." 

"What do you want from the mad scientist?" she asked with narrowed eyes. 

"I don't know," I truthfully replied. Noticing her heavy frown, I went on. "I was told he had some artifact that could help us win the war, a cauldron of some sorts." 

Heda's big green eyes widened. She immediately averted her gaze then cursed under her breath. "This place holds too many secrets. It's like my powers are fading in here..." she hissed. 

"The G.o.ds will test you even more during the wars. You have to make peace with not knowing everything," I said in a comforting tone. I leaned in toward the angry girl and smiled. "Look at me. I came here to help destroy this place. Yet they call me the harbinger of good news." I t.i.ttered. "If only they knew what was in stock for them." 

"How come you know of my powers but I don't know anything about you?" she asked. 

"If I told you who I was, would you finally help me?" 

She shrugged. "It depends on what you'll say." 

I sighed heavily. "My name is Myles Stalwart, grandson of the mad wizard. I landed here because I was trying to run away from him. I'd been lost for quite some time until I found a way to the caves of this village." 

Heda's eyes widened. Her jaw dropped and she immediately began looking around her, terrified that somebody could have overheard us. "The mad wizard will soon send his champions to Milogac. The portal will open for them, as it did for us, and they'll find themselves here. Did you use the same one?" 

I shook my head. "I took a portal, just not the one in that cursed island.��� I looked at the sky above. The Blond Moon was a waxing gibbous. "It will s.h.i.+ne over our head for the last time next week. Raiya will have begun her ritual by then." 

Heda began laughing; a nervous laughter that was close to hysteria. "You know more about the coming events than I do," she said after a while. 

"You can read through the threads of fate that Lady Destos weaves. Even if you had completely a.s.similated your Fragment, you would still have difficulty reading through all of them," I replied. 

"I am the only one capable of reading them. Yet you come here and start lecturing me about my own powers. Just who the h.e.l.l are you?" she retorted. 

I was about to answer when I saw her wince then reach for her ear, as though something invisible had stung it. She hurriedly scratched her head then looked at me, horror stricken. "I just saw a witch reciting an incantation. She aims to summon the Eternal Moon."

"And so it begins..." I said. I stood then extended my hand toward Fate's champion. "We need that mad scientist if we are to stand a chance against her. These people won't live for long. We'd better get moving." 

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