[With Virtues, come Costs, with possession comes accountability.
Those who have been blessed with things others were not, are expected to do what others can not.
Your Totem is to pass judgement, and to do wrong is a crime itself.
But your position makes you immune to consequences of your Totem, so let your loved ones suffer in your place.]
Ivan had realised he had made a mistake in Ikky's judgement, alas, not only he would have to pay for his misdeeds.
———
The intense life and death battle Ikky and the sky-man had fought had left them oblivious to most of the world around them.
Ikky stared with an inquisitive expression at the sky, the sky-man mirroring his actions as he sat meters away, with Astrid sitting between the two of them.
"What the realm?" Ikky cursed, drops of food escaping his mouth as he ate.
Astrid too looked up at the wide grey crevice right in the middle of the pitch black sky.
"That crack is from the haven border protecting this region from external evil spirits." She explained.
"Haven't you explained that before?" Ikky spoke again.
"Well, stop asking." Astrid replied.
A Haven, being a safe zone, was still part of the realm of Augury after all. And this red forest region was connected to another region— and that region, to another. So the only thing really making a Haven a safe zone after the evil spirits within it has been cleared, is this 'Haven border' Astrid was talking about. It was a dome of natural energy encasing the Haven, and protecting it from other regions.
"Can you tell me the cracking is a good sign though?" Ikky asked rhetorically, already expecting it not to be.
"How many braincells do you have left hanging in there?" Ivan sighed at Ikky's stupid voice.
Ikky was worried something really bad had happened when his wraith had stabbed the sky-man in the head. But it was probably just the effects of the night mist, since Ivan looked fine now.
"Oh don't be salty. As soon as I can, I'll find some other unfortunate Prophet to dump you with."
Ikky rubbed his chin in thought.
"Then again, I'd feel much better looking down at you ranked beneath me, you quack saint. HAA!."
The sky-man clenched the leaf plate in his hand while Ikky cackled annoyingly in response.
After a couple more seconds of Ikky's taunting, he thought out loud, "In any case, that crack shouldn't concern us if we make it out of this place in time."
Astrid nodded before adding. "Easier said than done."
The soonest they could get out of this haven was seven days. And that was only if they were part of at least, a four-man group. Their numbers were one less than required.
Yes, Ikky had chosen to admit the sky-man into his team.
It was honestly a dangerous and questionable choice. However, the sky-man seemed fascinating. There wasn't really any logical reasoning behind Ikky's choice other than interest. The same also applied to Astrid.
And unfortunately, Ivan was stuck with these two until someone else comes along to beat Ikky up and decide his fate. But he had just lost all his rights in this haven.
"That crack does concern us." The sky-man suddenly said, opposing Ikky's words.
"Ah, I remember. You actually want to save people underneath all that stuffy blood lust you permeate." Ikky laughed. "A good saint if ever I've seen one. But listen, I don't think you know what you're getting into."
The sky-man stared blankly as he tried to read into Ikky's next words. Astrid also turned to look at him as he continued,
"Shorty says the barrier is cracking, see? So spirits from other regions will flood into this place when it shatters. And to enforce this fact." He pointed to the sky.
"I might not know a lot about the omen, but it's common knowledge that no matter the realm or world it is, the night and day cycle is a must, yet the sky here is always black! Did you perhaps ignore that fact, thinking it's natural?"
The sky-man's eyes were the same, however in his mind, he begun to fix the puzzle pieces that Ikky had dropped clearly in front of him.
There were certain facts and laws that even hell had to abide by. One of them is the day and night cycle. The Realm of Augury is basically a universe on its own. And that universe had stars, planets down to regions like the red forest.
Habitable planets must rotate around a sun. Ivan knew that too. However, because of the status of this haven as an exam ground for beginner prophets, most people did not bother thinking too much into it, blinded by the thought that the people leading the prophets of the Lokahs, Aequus, would make the exams as safe as possible.
The night cycle of the planet this haven was on could might have been long enough to surpass a month's worth of Svarga's time. But if the sky was really just black like night, why was the barrier cracking?
"Because, none of that darkness is atmosphere. Whatever is up there, or how many they are, they're alive. And as soon as that barrier shatters, the creatures pressing on top of it, falls down."
Ikky picked up the pot and slurped some of the leftover soup, like he hadn't just declared an impending doom.
"You knew that too, didn't you shorty? It's like how you somehow always know the time..."
'...And why I got a curse the second I fell into this godforsaken haven.'
Astrid's first sentence to Ikky when they first met was, 'Good morning.' But why did she give that greeting when the sky above their heads was a ceiling of unending darkness, while Mahar was past noon by the time Ikky had jumped into the portal? And she kept on giving this incessant and disturbing greeting every time she wanted to start a conversation.
Was she perhaps a clairvoyant who could predict outcomes like when the sky would eventually fall, or were her thin eyes just that good to see what time of the day it was? Ikky didn't know for sure. But, if she did have the powers of foresight and prediction like a psychic, he would have been the one tied up in a tree.
And as for the curse he'd gotten when he had fallen from the sky, it was most likely due to the immense presence of whatever was sleeping in the atmosphere.
Ikky turned to the suspected 'clairvoyant' as he asked with a squint, "What else do you know, shorty? How many more days do we have left, until the sky falls down on 'our ignorant' heads."