Franck approaches and takes a closer look at the unconscious girl, Elsie with her eyes still fixed on her utters softly to herself 'She's beautiful.' She stares a little while longer before shifting her attention back to Franck hoping for a response to her question.
'I mean she got hit in the head by the looks of it and she was couped up in here the whole time, what if she was controlling them? She poses another question to Franck.
'Maybe it's just a coincidence, an elaborate scam I don't know.' Franck responds with uncertainty.
'I hate coincidences.' Robert utters as he climbs up into the eye to get a good look at the supposed foreseer.
'They make me uneasy, now can we go? I'm not trying to hang around till these things wake up and smash us into another timeline alright?'
'They can do that?!' enquires Elsie as her eyes glistene with intrigue.
'No. No he's just being paranoid, nobody is getting smashed into anything. Look Robert I know you're a bit skeptical about this but we have to get some answers. The forest nymph told us we'd find our first clue here and I'm not leaving until we've got it, doing so would be setting sail into unknown waters with no map or the slightest hint of a possible destination.'
'You're just being metaphoric because I was metaphoric Eldwin! You know there's no danger, we could find our way with ease! you have plenty of guardian pals you can contact to help us.'
'The rest of the guardians are compromised! I can't even track their locations, the inter dimensional barriers caused by the convergence have made the regions of Ertha invisible to our gaze Robert. If I could still see, I wouldn't be here.'
The two continue to argue for a few more minutes with Elsie a meer spectator, she then halts them abruptly 'Stop! she's waking up' the girl struggles to open her eyes but eventually awakes and looks around with a mystified expression even more so when she sees the strangers around her.
Her eyes noticeabley filled with red begin to dissolve the colour and unveil beautiful green eyes - almost like a possessed man regaining sanity after an excorcsim. The wound on her head also begins to heal as she returns to her normal state much to the astonishment of the three by standers who watch in awe.
'What happened? How did I get back? Asks the freshly awoken girl.
Elsie responds with assurance seeking to offer a shoulder of comfort to help her recollect her thoughts and state of mind.
'We got chased down by two large units made of mountain, once Robert here struck this one in the head they both ceased their pursuit of us. Then we found you in here with a wound on your head.'
The girl listens attentively, she then has a little feel on her head and takes a look around. A look of disappointment precedes, the mood shift is evident, she bears the look of someone who knows they've been defeated. She shakes her head a bit then looks back to Elsie and utters.
'They were in my head, somehow they got in and they tricked me, I was supposed to see them coming but I didn't - well in a way, I did, I saw you, all of you but they mimicked your appearance, they took my most prized artifact and they put me under a spell. Like a hologram, they used me as a diversion to keep you occupied while they escaped and made headway, they're probably at their next rendezvouz point as we speak and I have no idea where it could be!'
She then cups her face in disappointment and begins to break down, Robert visibly disturbed interjects 'Argh! sentiment.' then he leaves.
Elsie crouches down and comforts the young girl, but also intrigued by what she just said she poses a question.
'You said you saw us? Before we came here? How?'
'Nymph Sheyla told me she'd be sending a girl and a guardian to collect the prisoner and a sacred scroll to set out on a dangerous journey, I saw the whole thing unfold in my head as a vision, up until one point that is. The prisoner left his watch tower to get his daily view of the mainland, he came back inside and my vision was obstructed. A few minutes later he joined me in the temple for a meditation session, I found it weird because he usually prefers to do that on his own but before I could act his hands were on my head and I was beeped out of my own brain - someone else was steering and I was only a passenger, my mind taken from me but my consciousness still intact, I felt like I was paralysed and floating in mid air at the same time, my own powers being used against me.'
'So you really are the foreseer.' Elsie follows up.
'Indeed I am, but I have failed my duty today for what is a foreseer who can't anticipate oncoming danger and protect the area she was charged with overseeing? My title will be stripped from me and I will be exiled from the mainland, Nymph Sheyla will not forgive me for such an atrocity - I've placed the entire region in harm's way with my lapse.'
'Don't be so hard on yourself, it wasn't your fault. This clumsy cat beside me made the first mistake of not being able to detect the danger in the first place, in essence, he's the one who should be blamed.' Elsie soothenly speaks to the foreseer then jokes a bit to try and lift her mood.
'Oh shut up!' shouts Franck.
The foreseer cracks a half smile, acknowledging the attempt to cheer her up. 'My name is Antenela, I'm sorry to burden you so much when we've barely been acquainted.'
'That's okay Antenela, I'm Elsie and this is Franck. We'll make sure you don't get exiled from your home, we will help you rectify your mistake.'
Antenela maintains the half smile but then it wears off as she stares into an empty space, clearly the issue is weighing heavy on her mind. Elsie notices and utters another sentence seeking to divert her attention. 'On a separate note, I really like your hair - I've never seen any girl pull off a short look as well as this.'
Antenela busts a wide smile and accepts the complement, the bright look on her face gives it away that she doesn't receive too many. 'Thank you! my mother was fuming when I decided to shave my head, my reluctance to grow it back forced her to come to terms with my decision, but she never looked at me the same. I could tell she was ashamed of me, part of the reason why she put me out here was so she didn't have to see my revolting appearance again.'
Franck realising that there has been a narrative shift in Antenela and Elsie's conversation decides to leave, he exits the rock creature's eye and drops down to its hand from there he spots Robert on the ground, cutting a lonesome figure, sitting by a tree smoking trees, farely relaxed with headsets in his ears, one foot gently tapping on the floor and his head in motion.
Franck slides down, using his claws to prevent him from falling, he then gets down and approaches Robert.
'It's so nice to see you've retained your socializing skills Robert.' Franck utters sarcastically, Robert has a glance at him then looks away and continues to vibe to his music.
'You know you're meant for much more than this right? You don't belong here, you should be in a science lab cracking the law of space time or something.' Franck utters to Robert, seeking to motivate him.
Robert still straightfaced and facing the opposite direction responds to Franck
'That's why I'm here right? To exercise my intellectual capacity? to solve burdensome abstractions foreign to mankind, and to transcend farther than the current reality's physical constraints?'
'Look Robert, what you want you know is impossible, no man can have that much power other than the creator himself, you'd vaporise yourself if not the entire world.'
'We're all gods Eldwin, everyone of us is god. I AM GOD, so long as I register that thought in my subconscious then I will transcend beyond my current mortal state, this physical form weak and restrictive limits my capabilities, but the power my universe has instilled in me is apparent and one day you will witness it first hand Eldwin, the whole world will.'
'See that's exactly why everyone thinks you're crazy Robert, you think you're above us all. You're a brilliant astrophysicist and a great scientist overall, your work in that field alone could take you further than you know - why do you choose to dwell on fantasies firmly constructed in your mind?'
'My mind is the greatest tool I have, why should I not listen to my brain instruct me that it is indeed the greatest organ in existence when it is capable of so much? My work has only taken me as far as the known knows of this universe but just because I'm brave enough to venture towards the unknown unknowns you want to put me down? You and your little cult need a reality check.'
'Me and my 'cult' have kept this planet's reality safely intact for over 5000 years.'
'Well maybe you shouldn't have, let the chaos unfold, let them see the truth, they should know the world they truly live in should they not?'
Meanwhile Antenela and Elsie continue to hit it off, deep in to a bonding session now sitting on the top of the head of the rock creature.
'So your mom is the forest nymph? and her powers are engrained in the forest, allowing her to morph organic matter from a ray of light she produces from her body?
'From her mind.' Antenela corrects 'My mom is a spirit, she was exiled by the inhabitants of the mainland into the toxic depths of a dying forest. Our people dubbed her as a witch because of a pendant she possessed from her actual homeland, the spirit world. It gave her enchantment abilities beyond anyone's imagination, she could heal people and do all sorts of things but she sought to use it to connect the spirit world with Ertha. I was only a child by then, the heavy pollution of the forest killed her and nearly killed me , her body decomposed and was absorbed into the forest curing it and saving my life, she was then reborn as the forest spirit. The forest serving as a projection of the beauty of her homeworld and also as her body.'
Antenela then continues to elaborate about her background story.
'As I grew older we didn't agree on much, so she made time irrelevant in this region I felt like I was robbed of a life so I shaved my head knowing it was a great symbol of the mainland but also because I wanted to, my hair wasn't going to grow any longer anyway so meh. That's when she made me move out of the forest and decided it was time I took on a greater responsibility, I was made foreseer of the mountains because of the gifts I had, once I'd become fully mindful I gained control of my subconscious and harnessed the power of my thoughts. This enables me to project abstract matter into reality, core memories or vivid thoughts, I can bring most of them into existence.'