Chapter 107 - The Dark Prophecy
In the days I spent with Sisika, she taught a little about how mana worked in the special eyes. She spent most of her ti ditating with her eyes closed. I slept in the only available bed, but I tried to convince her to rest as well. However, Sisika insisted that the process she was performing would fail if she slept. She had to stay awake to finish passing the special eyes to .
When I asked why she was giving these special eyes, she replied that everything would make sense when the right ti ca. There was sothing in her gaze and in the way she behaved that made feel a deep trust in her. It was as if I instinctively trusted her and sensed a feeling of protection and care she had for , even though I couldn’t quite explain it.
Sisika wouldn’t let help with the food or cleaning the place. She was always concerned about how I was feeling and made sure the food was ready. She scolded if I didn’t eat at the right ti or if I didn’t sleep well.
My exercises consisted of activating mana by positioning my palm close to a cup. It was a process similar to what I did when I was younger to determine if I would beco a mage, but the difference now was that I had to direct the mana from my eyes to my hand. First, she taught to ditate with my eyes closed, to relax my vision and calm the mana in my eyes. I had to keep my hands pointed at 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 watching . I had probably been in the sa position for hours.
“You’ve been watching this whole ti?” I asked, surprised.
“Yes,” she replied, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
I held back an internal laugh. I found that while Sisika could be very clever in so areas, she lacked a lot of social tact.
“What was it like growing up in this cabin?” I asked, getting out of the ditation position.
Sisika turned her face and looked at the stove, the walls, the ceiling, and finally the floor. She placed her hand on the ground and sighed.
“It wasn’t easy…” she replied in a low tone.
Sisika looked at and said, “Co on, let’s go for a walk,” pulling by the hand and quickly lifting to my feet.
“You have zero social tact…” I teased her, following her outside.
We walked to a nearby tree. Sisika called over, and I approached to see what she was showing . The tree had several markings.
“I made these marks to track my growth. Every birthday, I would carve a new mark of my height,” she explained.
I followed the markings and was surprised to see they exceeded her current height.
“This seems a bit off, it’s getting way too tall,” I comnted, observing the marks up to the top of the tree.
Sisika started walking again, and I followed her.
“This place is a little ways from a village. I lived here alone. This 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 . I had said sothing similar when I returned to the city of Cylla and decided to end my own cycle of existence.
“You’re dying?” I asked, realizing the gravity of her words. “Why? You seem fine to .”
“I have more ti than my body shows. Unfortunately, I did sothing dangerous and paid the price. I’ve been stretching my life beyond what’s possible, but now I can’t anymore,” she said, then stopped and looked in the eyes.
“Nathan, so things are going to happen to over the next few days. I know I gave you the option to leave… but when that starts happening to … I don’t want you to leave alone. Can you promise you’ll stay with ?”
“What’s going to happen to you?” I asked, concerned.
She sighed.
“I’ll be taken away… bit by bit,” she replied, starting to walk back toward the cabin.
***
It was getting dark, and the weather was stormy. The wooden cabin shook with the wind, and the thunder outside made loud booms. The cabin door kept opening occasionally from the force of the wind. Sisika had to drag 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 continued ditating with my hand on the cup. There was a fire burning, illuminating the room.
“The night will be cold. Do you want to warm you up?” she asked.
“Don’t worry. The blanket will be enough,” I said.
I tried ditating again, but I couldn’t focus.
“You’re really not going to sleep?”
“No. I can’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 back to ditating with my eyes closed, trying to focus on what I had learned.
“I don’t like stormy nights,” she comnted.
“Neither do I…” I said, looking at the ceiling and focusing on the sound of the rain.
“They say it’s good for farrs, but… the truth is, for those of us who had no one, it wasn’t a good experience,” she continued. “They’re lonely, cold, and sad nights…”
I rembered myself as Icarus. Before eting 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 . “When you have nothing to lose and a lot of hatred for the world, war seed like salvation to .”
She got up and sat next to .
“I had nothing to hold on to. There was no need to worry about losing anything because I had nothing. The battlefield had beco my hunting ground, but even then, I still felt empty. You understand this very well because you lived through the sa thing.”
Sisika looked at as if she were seeing sothing distant.
“I don’t want that to happen to you again. Know that I’ll do everything I can to prevent it. That’s why I need to give you so advice.”
The rain gave a brief pause, then ca back stronger.
“During your journey, you will face situations that will force you to confront your old self. When that mont cos, 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. Rember, not everyone who wields a sword on the battlefield wants to be there. The real enemy is the one giving the orders, not the one carrying them out. A difficult choice will co to you in the form of two people. Their fate will be in your hands, and you will have to decide whether to place a blade at their throats. When that mont cos, you’ll have to make your choice: will you be the avenger or the savior?”
She leaned closer to my face and touched my forehead as she ran her fingers through my hair.
“Not every great adversary is a true enemy. Sotis, like you, that person was shaped by a story that forced them to beco what they are. You will need to understand this, Nathan. Circumstances are more significant than outcos; rember that well. When a great barrier falls, the bell of the end will toll. The woman of fabric will erge to deliver her ssage of war. A girl will co seeking vengeance, but even she will have to make a crucial decision. When the conflicts reach their peak, five heads will appear. When those heads turn toward you, it will be the mont you realize how small you are in the face of this impending disaster. On that day, there will be the vengeful girl, the manipulative serpent, the religious man, and the young general. Each will have their role to play.”
She paused for a mont.
“As far as I can dream of the future, everything culminates in darkness. However, from that darkness, a light erges. What it truly ans still eludes ; it’s the most I could interpret. What I can assure you is that, unfortunately, dark days are coming. Yet, just like in stormy nights, only thunder can offer glimpses of light.”
Sisika stopped speaking as she gazed at sothing distant.
“It’s done, Nathan. I’ve passed the Celestial Eyes to you.”
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