A group of 6 once 7 stood around an empty mound of dirt. A small wooden cross construct had been implanted right in the middle.
The group stood in a perfect circle in simultaneously perfect silence.
The sky was a dimmed grey and the clouds had parted only above the abandoned village.
A clocktower rang out.
Dong.
Dian sighed.
"That's enough. Any longer would just be meaningless."
Everyone relieved before stepping back.
It had been an excruciating 20 minutes of standing and silence.
Lucius dared not smile whilst Dian was feeling aggressive instead he kept a stoic grimace.
"We'll set sail straight across the corruption plane soon. We'll meet here swiftly after grabbing the last of our supplies and making sure that we haven't left anything important behind."
Everyone slowly sprinkled some wild daisy petals over the grave solemnly before heading out.
Lucius was about to head out as well to grab his sword when Dian tapped his shoulder peskily.
"You forgot to take part in the petal partings."
Lucius felt a lump form in his throat. Recently Dian hadn't been rude but rather increasingly bossy and slippery.
Lucius raised his eyebrows timidly.
"I'm sure that no more need be done."
Dian's eyebrows struck down. His voice raised with anger.
"You aren't acknowledging his death?"
Julius and the twins were still at the scene, Lucius had to be cautious of his words.
Lucius shrugged in complacency.
"It's the exact opposite. Whilst you are still mourning and being shrewd, I on the other hand?"
"I acknowledged his death long ago."
As Lucius walked off calmly feeling that the invisible straining chains that Dian had locked him in began to slip off Dian shouted emotionally, his voice becoming that of a snark.
"Some leader you are..."
"Couldn't even fix the first division in the group. Had to get a revenant to do it for you."
"And now one of us is dead in order for you to have installed yourself as the leader. You don't even have a grip on the group. What's it gonna take for you to become a good leader? 2 more deaths?"
"Fuck this shit man."
Dian walked off whilst looking up to the sky moodily.
Lucius merely acknowledged his words.
"We'll reach the stars one day. No matter how much space lies between us."
Julius looked at him strangely.
Lucius merely shook his head.
"I'll be getting my sword now."
And so he walked off.
The twins soon left after whilst murmuring to each other in solace.
Julius had taken his spear with him so he had nothing to do other than wait.
The second he had woken up he had attempted to use his newly attained skills only to be incredibly disappointed.
Force was just some sort of levitation that could lift and carry small objects through the air. Shockwave could barely knock over a pot unless Julius wasted huge heaps of mana.
Nevertheless, it was better than having absolutely nothing to spend mana on.
Julius attempted to levitate his spear.
"Ugh."
He groaned as he felt his mana depleting far too fast for the results being produced.
"Guh."
The spear levitated a tiny amount before hitting the floor with a clang.
{Mana {460/500}
Julius contemplated.
"It must be something about the spear that makes it harder to levitate. Maybe the materials?"
"Talking to yourself isn't a very good habit you know."
Julius froze. He looked back in caution weaving his spear close to his chest.
"Who the hell-?"
One of the twins for the first time ever was alone.
"Oh."
Julius sighed.
"Why are you here?"
The twin shrugged innocently.
"There's something you should know. Ail gave me permission to tell you."
Julius raised his eyebrows. He hadn't spoken to the twins once since they had arrived. He had never really developed social skills even in his now 2 lives.
"And what is it I should know?"
The twin stroked her chin smugly.
"Hmm... I don't know if you want to believe me but..."
"One of us is going to die."
Julius scoffed lightly.
"Thanks. Like I didn't know that was a possibility."
The twin pouted.
"I didn't finish."
Julius backed out.
"My bad."
She cleared her throat swiftly.
"One of us is going to die. And 5 of us are going to be right."
Julius repeated the words to himself.
"...One of us is going to die and 5 of us are going to be right..."
He looked up in annoyance at his poor problem-solving.
"That all?"
The twin met his eyes eerily close for a second before backing off and nodding slowly.
"Mhm."
She then began walking off cheerily.
Julius watched as she walked to the other end in puzzlement.
He shouted just so that he could at least half-rely on the information he had been given.
"How can I trust you?"
He looked over with concerned eyes.
She looked back for a split second before thinking on the spot.
"You can either believe in those words now or under a gravestone."
"It doesn't really matter to us."
Julius furrowed his eyebrows.
"How am I even meant to know which twin you are?"
She smiled slyly.
"I'll know."
And then she vanished around a corner.
Julius blinked twice.
"Weird."
He murmured the words to himself once again.
"One of us will die and 5 will be right?"
He pondered before sighing swiftly.
"Still nothing."
Within the confines of a derelict basement.
Alexander counted their materials.
"4 wine bottles, aged finely. And a jug of water that'll be a pain to carry."
Dian sighed.
"It'll do."
Dian continued scavenging for anything that could work out.
Alexander broke the fresh silence with a rather personal question.
"Do you want to get rid of Lucius as a leader?"
Dian laughed darkly.
"I don't want to do anything. There's a reason I killed myself the first time. But here I thought that I would get a second chance. You know, a spark of luck for the rest of the journey. But I guess I was being too dreamy. Because all I got stuck with was-."
"Well, I didn't get stuck with anything really."
Alexander blinked in confusion.
"What do you mean-."
Dian sat down on an old wooden crate in sadness.
"I don't have a talent, Alexander. Not even the worst one is below me."
Alexander tried to speak but Dian's emotions overruled him.
"I just don't get it, man. I did everything in the trial. I jailed the mad wizard. I saved the kids. I even saved an Orphan. Yet I got nothing in return."
"At the end of the day, I'm just a catalyst of bad shit. I'll say all the problems out loud but I won't solve a single one."
"Really? What was I thinking?"
Alexander shook due to the coldness of the basement.
"Sorry."
Dian exasperated painfully.
"It's not your fault. Or anyone's. It's just mine at this point."
Dian stood up slowly.
"To answer your question once more. I don't want to usurp Lucius as the leader or remove him. He's doing a far better job than I or probably the rest of us could even fathom. I just want to find the life that I needed. Even if it costs me down the line."
Alexander tousled his hair calmly.
"Damn that's like... deep."
His mouth shook as held back laughs.
Dian looked at him with annoying eyes.
"Let me have a good emotional moment for once in my life."
He stood up and chased Alexander out of the basement, Alexander giggled as he sprinted far faster than Dian.
"Stop running you blonde femboy."
His eyes followed Alexander and became sharp like those of an eagle.
Alexander cackled as he outsped Dian.
"Shoulda put those 2 points in agility!"
Dian let out a wry grin as he chased Alexander with his arms flailing about. Mutters flowed out of his mouth.
"Maybe this second chance isn't so bad after all."
Alexander turned around and began jogging backward.
"Cat got your tongue?"
Dian smirked once more.
"Shut up."
"Shut up."
"Yes, sister."
Two twins were standing over a stone table in a green-lit shed.
"You told him the prediction we got from the skill right?"
"Yes, sister."
"Good. This way everything should be able to go exactly the way we want."
"That one will die. That one will thrive. That one will fail and fall and trip and slumber but finally rise whilst we will slip through the crevices of failure like an unseen Phoenix. The last one will ride generous tides but will never dip their toes far into the water."
"When do you plan to go back to normal sister?"
"Shut up. I still have to make one last prediction since we will not meet the fates that we have stolen for many years most likely."
"Yes, sister."
"Urgh."
Strained groans wept out of one of the twins who almost fell straight through the table. Her eyes were white-washed as her spine fixed itself mechanically.
"The -."
The vision seemed to have gotten intercepted.
The more timid sister found herself submerged in a world of black as she looked into her sister's once white now entirely void eyes.
A camouflaged figure walked forwards, Ail could only smell one thing. Putrid elderly wine. Its taste was so strong and sour that Ail felt like dying just to escape it.
And a man draped in silk, far too tall for Ail put a hand around her head, it could crush her head into a paper ball without much effort.
"Hello, Ail."
A voice came from the black realm that had gathered around her. Her sister had vanished and she was all alone.
Ail cowered in fear.
"I have a task for you."
Yeah, that's right. Another cliffhanger. And I'm not gonna answer this one either until way later.