"Tell me, Noah, what do you know about our society?" Mark spoke softly, the radiance of dusk reflecting in his eyes, shimmering like gems.
"Our society?" The child replied, looking up from the cup of tea held by his leather-clad hands. Mark nodded. "I'm unschooled, sir, I don't know anything..." Noah's eyes locked on the coffin of ice resting on the burned ground, hesitance dangling like an aura around him. In his mind, thoughts raced by at blazing speeds, trying to understand who the being before him was and his relation to the encased old man.
"The guy behind me must be the one who sent word to you about meeting here?" Mark scoffed, shooting a quick glance over his shoulder on Prometheus' lifeless body.
"Yes, sir." Noah said.
"How did he do it?" Mark continued.
"A cloaked man took a hold of me on the streets of the town I live in, told me to follow the stars in Mystwood Forest and gave me a package before sending me off." Noah responded rapidly, taking a quick breath before speaking again, "the package being this." He pointed at the dagger, cloths and the closed pouch.
"He intended to test if you were the one, even to the point of sacrificing innocent children." Mark's face showed no change in emotions, only a slight flash of pain crossing his black eyes.
"I'm sorry, but what do you mean with sacrificing innocent children?" Noah asked, a veil of shadows passing over Mark's face, the last beam of sunlight now gone.
"You are special, Noah, very special. And Prometheus here," he pointed behind him, "is an important guy, so important that he knew of your birth and the phenomenon that came with it." Mark paused, his brain working to figure out the best choice of words. "Though the old man knew of your existence, he had no way of knowing which child was you, hence why he set up this little trial." Mark scanned for Noah's reaction, looking into those deep blue eyes, the irises glimmering like stars.
"Why me?" The timid voice of the child before him striking a string in Mark's heart, forgotten memories resurfacing in his mind. Pushing them down, a soft smile replacing the frown on his face, he locked gazes with Noah.
"There exists a Prophecy foretelling a great change. Though we don't have the full Prophecy, we know that the one to bring change is a child born under the path of stars and you, Noah, were born under that path," Mark's voice drifted through the air.
Noah did not understand. He who had lived a life that despite the shortness of it had contained many difficulties, trials and hardships. Why was he chosen? Why not someone else? And what did Prometheus want with him? What did this new guy want with him?
'Will he kill me?' Noah thought to himself, his knuckles going white from how hard he gripped the now empty and cold teacup. Across him, Mark sat in silence, waiting for Noah to speak, a friendly smile plastered on his face.
Looking past him, Noah once again took in the destruction of the glen, the charred grass and the violently breaking sky, the frozen ground and the snakes of darkness hiding in the trees' shadows. In the middle of it all, the giant boulder of ice stood, a coffin encasing Prometheus just beneath.
'Is it him that wanted to kill me?' Noah pondered, a flash of distress painting his deep blue eyes.
"What is your name?" He finally pushed forward. The voice trembling slightly.
"Mark." The man before him answered.
"Only Mark?" A smile nudged the corner of Noah's lips. 'Is he one of us?' He thought hopefully.
"Yes, only Mark." A big smile bloomed across Mark's face at the sign of Noah calming down, hope filling his own mind too. "I was born poor, like you. No surname and no family to speak off," Mark began telling, "I had to survive on breadcrumbs and dirty water until I turned nine and got my Prophecy handed to me." Noah's face lit up at Mark's story.
"What was your Prophecy?" He asked happily, the distress from before gone as if a passing breeze had catched it.
"I have two Prophecies, actually," Mark answered, "one that is fulfilled and one I'm following right now."
"Why would you have two?" Confusion claiming the entirety of Noah's small face.
"I got one when I was nine, as every child did," Mark explained, "one of Prometheus' seven Apostles handed it to me," he breathed in, "I think it went something along the lines of [Seek out the statue of loneliness, respect thy god and devote yourself to the path of guidance]."
Noah's eyes widened with every word, a new world being explained right in front of him. Although he of course knew of the Prophecies, he had never had anyone to explain it to him. His parents had abandoned him as an infant on the doorstep of an inn, the innkeeper by no means interested in educating him. And the Schools of Blessings, Noah could not enter those, only the spoiled rich kids had enough funds for that. Therefore he had to survive on his own, much like Mark, eavesdropping on conversations, picturing together his own view of the world.
You might wonder then. How come he was sufficiently proficient in using a knife to the point of severing an animals head with one clean movement? Noah did not know himself. At the moment of danger, he had just acted on instinct.
"Did you get a Blessing?" Noah asked in return. The eyes of an amazed child locked on Mark's face, greedily digesting every piece of magical things he said.
"I did, yes. With the first Prophecy came an Element Blessing in space, angled towards the specific branch called Telekinesis." Mark could not refrain himself from laughing loudly when seeing the astonishment on Noah's face. He too had once been like that. But those memories were not good, so he pushed them down, drowned them.
Noah's astonished looks turned into confusion again, his small head tilting to the right as he zoned out. "What is an Element Blessing? Isn't all Blessings the same?" He asked.
"All Blessings are the same in the sense that they give the devotee powers. This is true as long as you view them all as the same. Different Blessings are more or less powerful, leading to the creation of a tier list. It goes like this;
Absolute Authority gives the user full control over an element.
Partial Authority gives the user full control over a specific branch of an element.
Elemental Blessing gives the user the means to use powers, but they still have to indulge in studying in order to comprehend their gift and empower it.
Mediocre Blessings are as they sound, mediocre, not good but not bad.
Trivial Blessings are the worst, as an example; the power to make a plant grow slightly quicker would be slotted here."
Mark paused, a sigh escaping his pale lips. Although he had traveled far and wide, had passed stars and nebulae alike, he had never been able to get a tan, his skin staying white as winter snow. In contrast, his eyes remained a dense black, like two black holes. Together they made up for quite the alien-like appearance. Even so, Noah did not seem uncomfortable at all, smiling widely at his telling, eyes beaming with admiration.
'He sure has had it tough,' Mark thought.
"Then what about the second Prophecy?"
"That one I got when I found the statue of the Zero Pointed Star," Mark said passionately, a respectful light sparkling in the corner of his eyes. "Out on a barren and desolate planet, suspended in space, nothing around for several light-years, it stood. It was a small planet, barely 1000 kilometers in diameter. On one of the poles stood a single, lonely statue, a perfect circle etched on its intricately designed armor."
During Mark's words, Noah leaned forward... and forward, to the point of almost falling out of the chair, his childish energy taking over. His passion for stories being boundless.
"When I got to the statue, I kneeled. I sighed a breath of relief, and then touched the statue. Immediately a voice entered my head, its calm and ancient words sending a chill down my spine: [The Child of Untold Prophecies is approaching the age of ripeness, seek him out, assist and guide him along his path and be the father figure he never had.]." Mark looked at the stars reflecting in Noah's eyes, the sky above them dark.
In his zoning, Noah slipped out of the chair, hitting the cold and damp ground which caused a yelp to breach the silence. As he quickly rose to his feet, a hand padding his now wet bum, he looked down at the howling Mark who he himself had rolled out of his chair and was on the ground laughing.
Grasping his cloak and pulling it closer around him, Noah sat down and put his legs on the chair. Resting his head on his knees, he watched as Mark continued to roll, the biting cold of the ground not bothering him at all. The cape swirled around him, the darkness in it melting into the shadows, oblivious of its master's shenanigans.
"It wasn't that funny," Noah snorted, his eyes shooting daggers at Mark. Noah just now realised the height of the rolling figure before him. He was tall, really tall. The rolling stopped with Mark rising to a seated position; the cape lodged between him and the ground. Noticing Noah's murderous gaze, Mark could not help but start laughing again, hands clasped over his stomach.
Slowly coming to a stop, he stood up, brushing invisible patches of dirt off his coat. "Phew, that was hilarious," Mark spoke, totally ignorant of Noah's previous remark. "Now, you have just recently turned nine, right?" The question spoken as he bent down to pick up the forgotten kettle and cups, flicking his wrist and causing them to disappear.
"Yes." Noah answered, still shooting daggers at Mark.
"Have you had any uncomfortable sensations in the lower parts of your abdomen? No, wait. You haven't had your Blessing handed to you, the Internal Energy Core shouldn't have formed yet." Mark spoke into the sky, eyes locked on the distant stars, a longing expression painting his pale, delicate face.
"Am I going to get a Blessing?" Noah inquired, a happy face and hopeful eyes lingering in the shadows of his hood; pulled over the head for extra warmth.
"Not any sort of Blessing either, a very very powerful one." Mark answered softly, Noah's expressions reminding him of gone times, where hope still was a thing.
"When can I get it? I'm starting to feel cold." A shudder and a small hand pulling the cloak even tighter.
Mark rose to his feet, a hand stretched out towards Noah, white particle shimmering between his hands. Before him, ice condensed into a ball, before expanding outwards, the chilly air going with it. "Is that better?" He asked.
"Yes," Noah said, hands rubbing his green-clad legs.
"And about the Blessing," Mark turned around, both arms stretched out this time, deep blue particles wowing themselves together in the air, creating a portal right in front of them. With a large whooshing sound the gateway manifested, energy leaking onto the ground, fizzing like boiling water. "Let us go get yourselves a Blessing," he said, bowing ironically with an arm pointing towards the bent space.
Noah rose from his chair, hands clasped into fists locked at the sides of his torso. With nervous steps he got closer to the portal, the aura around it making the hair on his body rise; goosebumps covering his hidden skin.
Mark closed up beside him, one hand resting on the child's shoulder, the weight a reassurance.
With no further words, the two humans stepped into the warped space, darkness filling their minds.