"Back so Soon?" a voice echoed in Steamy's mind.
Searching around her soul, looking for the voice that called out to her, "Who– Who is this?" She asked, but followed by a long range of whispers and gasps, no one spoke. "Can you please tell me what's going on?" She asked again, and for the second time, only whispers and laughs came out to mock her. Yet after a long awaited silence 'One' finally spoke, "How could you do this to us?" It asked… Followed by a change in scenery, it went from pitch darkness to a room filled with disgusting stares, and lights shimmering above the questioner, "Steamy…" Though this is inside of her soul, Steamy soon realized she couldn't see, but she knew everyone gazed upon her, watching her every move, her every thought.
'Who is talking, why can't I see, this is in my soul right, where is everything, why am I being questioned? Why was grandma with me instead of Ms. Yaovilda? Is this–"
"SIlence!!" One spoke, "Your impotent thoughts are blinding you from the task at hand…"
"What do you mean task?" She asked, swaying around to find the 'voice who spoke.'
"You must remember Steamy,"
"What do you mean remember?" she questioned
"You must– !We can not fight for you any longer! Steamy, Please remember us–!"
Suddenly, a strong gust of wind threw Steamy out of position. She was now on a mountain looking down at a beautifully lit city. It had a similar feel to the Saenatheas garden, but something seemed off about this scene. It seemed… trapped..?
"Ah, Hello there Master Steamy,"
Turning around, she saw what seemed to be a distinguished old man, he was a well dressed servant with a very defined monocle.
"What is this place?" Steamy asked,
"You know very well what this place is, Master Steamy," The man said. Followed by his hand held out, he asked, "Can you walk?"
I stood up. Holding his arm, he held me up and we began walking down the mountain.
"S̶t̷e̶a̷m̵y̴~̵" a voice from afar cried out, "Y̸o̶u̶ ̵m̵u̵s̷t̵.̷.̴.̷ ̷S̴t̶e̸a̵m̷y̷!̴ ̶I̴t̴s̷ ̴N̷o̴t̸ ̴S̸a̵f̵-̴!̵"
"Ah, do please ignore them," the man said, "They are but a minor insect for 'Master Fate.'
Master fate?
"As you already know, everyone here has their own little 'home.' Master Fate is just one of the many more who can build and protect his world, allowing others that are not strong enough to seek refugee."
"Then what about those insects?" I asked him.
"Those Insects…" He paused, I could feel an ominous aura coming from his body, "Those insects are those who want to harm Master Fate and this 'Very peaceful place.' If I were you, I would try and help Master Fate as much as I can."
"But how can I–"
"We're here" He said,
'Looking up, I saw a city filled with different races and monsters alike. With houses made of sand and statues made of gold, it looked like something you'd see out of a desert movie.'
"It- it's beautiful"
"Indeed it is…" the man said, "Come now, we must hurry before your time is up."
Walking past the city, we 'fled' into a palace filled with undescribable things. Gold, silver, metals, you name it, 'everything you could imagine was here.'
We stopped,
There they were. Sitting on a throne, in a throne room filled with endless piles of gold the man himself,
"Master Fate..."
.
.
.
"Ah, It is you– the true master of this world. Milord Steamy.." He said after a long pause, "well what are you waiting for? An Invitation? Come, come we have much to talk about."
Looking at the servant, he nodded in an unexpected manner and picked me off my feet. "Um.."
"Excuse my rudeness Master Steamy, but I rather you not have a hard time walking up these.. Elongated stairs." The servant said, sitting right next to Master Fate I sat down behind the throne. There, I saw a table full of papers and looking outside a window, a beautiful circular window that shined down the city, but there, I saw an unavoidable darkness swirling over the horizon of the city.
"Oh ho ho. So you saw it."
I wanted to question what this darkness was, but he beat me to it.
"This darkness you see–"
He paused, taking out a letter that a servant handed him he said, "It is better for me to show it to you rather than to explain it."
"Come with me. And you'll see what really lurks at the bottom of your soul." He said while holding out his hand.
Standing up I grasped it,
"Don't let go." he said, and before I knew it the place where we were standing soon became covered in an awe en mystical lamp. We were shot out of the castle and were sent flying in the air.
*Whoosh!*
We stopped just beyond the borders of the city, where the darkness resides.
"Master Fate"
"Call me Mr. Fate, Master Steamy."
"Then Mr. Fate, what is all this darkness? Where is it from and why is it here?"
.
.
.
After a long pause he sighed, "How do I put this," *Sigh* "In simple terms you could say that this is the product of your father."
"My Father?"
"Let me finish. Steamy– Because of your father, you hold an impossible power that shook the world itself. 'The battle of Abilities and Magic still rages on today, fighting over who takes what and what gives to whom.' You– Steamy, hold 3 great powers of the world. And this darkness is the result of their control over who owns you..." A sudden gust of wind entered my ears so I only heard the last part of what Mr. Fate said.
"What do you mean 3 great powers?" I asked him.
Mr. Fate turned away, looking down at the endless vastness of void he started to speak, "These powers, are of the natural forces of 'The Universe' Magic, Abilities, and the forgotten one Nen,
All will be told in due time Steamy."
"Could you explain more?" leaning on the table I knocked over some papers, they were caught by the wind but flew fixedly into the palms of my hands. Sorting them up I read an endless list of battle reports. 'Report: No. 211293, Lord Saenathea and her army was reported lost in action' "Report: No. 122242. 2-35, was severely injured during the battle of Knosh. There, it was reported that she single handedly stopped a force of 2 thousand Nen empower spirits from advancing to the city of– Allowing– To be saved–""Report: No. 368264, Eyeball– Gone Missing– Search Party Granted" "Report: No. 500000, The 5th Great Artifact has joined the battle." Reading these reports only left me with more questions. Why hasn't anybody told me about this? Is there really a whole nother world inside me? Is this the reason why the others are so mad at me? Am I the bad pers–
"You probably have a lot of questions right now Steamy,"
"You think? While I've been my life, completely oblivious of this whole war situation that is raging on. You only decided to tell me now?"
"It's not like that Steamy." He continues, "This war has been going on for over a millennium. It's just now…" He paused, turning his back to me he continued, " It's just now, this war has been moved into your whole body."
"Are you saying,"
He continues, "I'm sorry Steamy. For the misfortune your father brought upon you."
"But how?" I asked, "This doesn't even make sense. A whole war? Moved inside of my body? What science can explain this? How is this even possible?"
"In a fantasy world of Magic, anything is possible… That is the truth, Steamy." and when you have multiple Beings such as Magic, or Ability, pulling the strings something like this is child's play… "I'm sorry Steamy. The reason why your body is in need of constant repair is because of this war. The goal of these great powers have changed, instead of just spreading their power across the galaxies as originally intended. They found a way to completely turn the heavens upside-down."
"By what means does that mean?" I asked, putting down the endless pile of battle reports.
And picking them back up Fate says, "With a human body, they found that the impossible becomes possible. Instead of just giving their powers to humans as intended, once they were forced into your body, and found 'The Key to Unlimited Presence,' or in other words… a human vessel. The fight for your soul began."
"What does my vessel have to do with this?" I asked,
With a hesitant answer, he put down the files and spoke, "The vessel is a special creation..." He stuttered, "All life in this world has a spirit. but only very few have vessels. Your knowledge of what I am about to say will cloud your mind, So be aware."
"Vessels hold "The Answers," Wither it be the answer to eternal life, or the equation to endless power. The vessel could answer that all."
"And do you want to know why?" He asked,
"Why?" I responded.
"It is because the vessel holds a fragment of God." Thunder struck as he finished his last word.
The wind that flowed through the air was shaken throughout this statement. This realization of knowledge hit harder than seeing a tragedy. The hard reality of now knowing something, burdens you with a rejection to forget it. I wish I could have just stayed pure, and lived my life knowing not what I had to retain.
"This is why we spirits envy you humans..." Fate spoke, "Though we are born stronger, better, faster, and smarter than you humans, what we can do is limited to what we can think! Only because we don't have a Vessel!" He yelled and punched the ground, he was on the verge of crying but he held them back and covered his eyes.
"If only I had a spirit, this war, this DUMB STUPID WAR! Would be over" he cried.
I didn't know what to do, seeing a grown man crying is like seeing the death of a phoenix, it was supposed to be impossible.
He wiped his tears, "With a vessel," he said, "the powers could destroy the world, and not just this world, the other worlds, and the worlds after them could be destroyed too. Steamy, you don't understand what a blessing is to have a vessel. maybe someday you will but,"
*Beep, Beep* *Beep, Beep*
"Ah, look at the time." He said pulling getting up from the ground, "You must go back Steamy, before it's too late to save them."
To save them?
Pointing His finger at the ground, Mr. Fate summoned a portal to show what was happening to the world around me. All hell had broken loose as Grandma and the prince Mildred raced their way back to the castle. With only one person there to defend the camp we left behind, it was a race between time of what would happen 1st… Will me and the camp get destroyed by the Captain of Saga? Or will Grandma and them be able to stop this madness from commencing? Jumping in, I prayed that fate had my back so nobody would get hurt.
"I'll see you soon, Mr. Fate!" I yelled
With a smile on his face he signaled a goodbye, and so I jumped in.
'Only in due time will you commence in these worlds: Steamy. But please… for the sake of our words, and for everyone here, Please…'
End of Chapter 8