Chapter 107 - The Dark Prophecy

  In the days I spent with Sisika, she taught me a little about how mana worked in the special eyes. She spent most of her time meditating with her eyes closed. I slept in the only avaible bed, but I tried to vince her to rest as well. However, Sisika insisted that the process she erf would fail if she slept. She had to stay awake to finish passing the special eyes to me.

  When I asked why she was givihese special eyes, she replied that everything would make sense when the right time came. There was something in her gaze and in the way she behaved that made me feel a deep trust in her. It was as if I instinctively trusted her and sensed a feeling of prote and care she had for me, even though I couldn’t quite expin it.

  Sisika wouldn’t let me help with the food or ing the pce. She was always ed about how I was feeling and made sure the food was ready. She scolded me if I did at the right time or if I didn’t sleep well.

  My exercises sisted of activating mana by positioning my palm close to a cup. It rocess simir to what I did when I was youo determine if I would bee a mage, but the differenow was that I had to direct the mana from my eyes to my hand. First, she taught me to meditate with my eyes closed, to rex my vision and calm the mana in my eyes. I had to keep my hands poi the cup while trying to transfer mana to it.

  “You’re doing it wrong,” she said, interrupting my effort.

  I opened my eyes and saw her watg me. I had probably been in the same position for hours.

  “You’ve been watg me this whole time?” I asked, surprised.

  “Yes,” she replied, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

  I held ba internal ugh. I found that while Sisika could be very clever in some areas, she cked a lot of social tact.

  “What was it like growing up in this ?” I asked, getting out of the meditation position.

  Sisika turned her fad looked at the stove, the walls, the ceiling, and finally the floor. She pced her hand on the ground and sighed.

  “It wasn’t easy…” she replied in a low tone.

  Sisika looked at me and said, “e o’s go for a walk,” pulling me by the hand and quickly liftio my feet.

  “You have zero social tact…” I teased her, following her outside.

  We walked to a nearby tree. Sisika called me over, and I approached to see what she was showihe tree had several markings.

  “I made these marks to track my growth. Every birthday, I would carve a new mark of my height,” she expined.

  I followed the markings and was surprised to see they exceeded her curre.

  “This seems a bit off, it’s getting way too tall,” I ented, the marks up to the top of the tree.

  Sisika started walking again, and I followed her.

  “This pce is a little ways from a vilge. I lived here alohis is where I was born, and this is where I will die. It’s a choice I made,” she said, looking toward the forest.

  Those words carried a weight that touched me. I had said something simir when I returo the city of Cyl and decided to end my own cycle of existence.

  “You’re dying?” I asked, realizing the gravity of her words. “Why? You seem fio me.”

  “I have more time than my body shows. Unfortunately, I did something dangerous and paid the price. I’ve been stretg my life beyond what’s possible, but now I ’t anymore,” she said, then stopped and looked me in the eyes.

  “Nathan, some things are going to happen to me over the few days. I know I gave you the option to leave… but when that starts happening to me… I don’t want you to leave me alone. you promise me you’ll stay with me?”

  “What’s going to happen to you?” I asked, ed.

  She sighed.

  “I’ll be taken away… bit by bit,” she replied, starting to walk back toward the .

  ***

  It was getting dark, and the weather was stormy. The wooden shook with the wind, and the thunder outside made loud booms. The door kept opening occasionally from the force of the wind. Sisika had t the small table to block it and stop it from swinging open.

  “Sorry about this,” she said.

  A few drops were falling from the ceiling.

  “It’s fine,” I replied.

  I sat on the floor and tinued meditating with my hand on the cup. There was a fire burning, illuminating the room.

  “The night will be cold. Do you wao warm you up?” she asked.

  “Don’t worry. The b will be enough,” I said.

  I tried meditating again, but I couldn’t focus.

  “You’re really not going to sleep?”

  “No. I ’t sleep or the procedure will fail. I’m trying to do it in a way that won’t be too painful, so it’s delicate,” she replied.

  I went baeditating with my eyes closed, trying to focus on what I had learned.

  “I don’t like stormy nights,” she ented.

  “her do I…” I said, looking at the ceiling and fog on the sound of the rain.

  “They say it’s good for farmers, but… the truth is, for those of us who had no o wasn’t a good experience,” she tinued. “They’re lonely, cold, and sad nights…”

  I remembered myself as Icarus. Before meeting Helen, I would try to shelter near buildings to stay covered and protected. But worse than the rain was the lonely night it brought with it.

  “I was a great warrior,” she told me. “When you have nothing to lose and a lot of hatred for the world, war seemed like salvation to me.”

  She got up and sat o me.

  “I had nothing to hold on to. There was o worry about losing anything because I had nothing. The battlefield had bey hunting ground, but even then, I still felt empty. You uand this very well because you lived through the same thing.”

  Sisika looked at me as if she were seeing something distant.

  “I don’t want that to happen to you again. Know that I’ll do everything I to prevent it. That’s why I o give you some advice.”

  The rain gave a brief pause, then came back stronger.

  “During your journey, you will face situations that will force you to front your old self. When that moment es, you’ll have to make a choice.”

  “A choice?”

  “You’ll have to decide whether to act as the old Icarus or as Nathan Evenhart. Remember, not everyone who wields a sword otlefield wants to be there. The real enemy is the one giving the orders, not the one carrying them out. A difficult choice will e to you in the form of two people. Their fate will be in your hands, and you will have to decide whether to pce a bde at their throats. When that moment es, you’ll have to make your choice: will you be the avenger or the savior?”

  She leaned closer to my fad touched my forehead as she ran her fihrough my hair.

  “Not every great adversary is a true enemy. Sometimes, like you, that person was shaped by a story that forced them to bee what they are. You will o uand this, Nathan. Circumstances are more signifit than outes; remember that well. When a great barrier falls, the bell of the end will toll. The woman of fabric will emerge to deliver her message of war. A girl will e seeking vengeance, but even she will have to make a crucial decision. When the flicts reach their peak, five heads will appear. When those heads turn toward you, it will be the moment you realize how small you are in the face of this impending disaster. On that day, there will be the vengeful girl, the maniputive serpent, the religious man, and the young general. Each will have their role to py.”

  She paused for a moment.

  “As far as I dream of the future, everything culminates in darkness. However, from that darkness, a light emerges. What it truly means still eludes me; it’s the most I could interpret. What I assure you is that, unfortunately, dark days are ing. Yet, just like in stormy nights, only thunder limpses of light.”

  Sisika stopped speaking as she gazed at something distant.

  “It’s done, Nathan. I’ve passed the Celestial Eyes to you.”