Akira dragged herself through the snow. She was a small speck in the mighty ocean of whiteness. There was no sign of life in sight, not for the last nine days.
She had crossed the last inhabited village almost two weeks ago. People who had no idea who she was had been kind enough to share food and shelter with her.
She had nothing now—no food, water, and almost no strength left.
Akira was an Oracle who had lived for over 500 years, waiting for the fateful day she would be able to carry out her role in the prophecy.
That day was fast approaching.
An Oracle was a blessed and cursed being. Human by birth but unable to die until their vision was fulfilled, they aged slowly and saw the deaths of their near and dear ones.
Blessed with prophetic vision, they could foretell any calamity that would strike mankind or life in general.
Akira had saved thousands of lives through the centuries. And that goodness, accumulated as good karma, extended her life's positive energy.
She looked up. The sky was gray and heavy-laden with snow. A snowstorm was possibly brewing elsewhere. She only hoped she would find the gate before it came her way.
She sprinkled the last handful of stardust and muttered an incantation under her breath. The stardust sparkled and moved in a direction that would guide her to the hidden gate.
For centuries, that bag of stardust had been passed on from one Oracle to another, with the message: "You'll know when the time comes. Use it only then."
Recently, for the last one year, she had been having the same recurring dream: a blood moon, slaughtered bodies, and the stone of death. The dream always ended with eyes—red, filled with hatred.
Every single time she saw fiery red eyes, she had woken up, shaking badly.
Those eyes didn't seem to see her. But they were those of an Asura, a demon, thirsting for blood.
As the days passed, the dream got worse. Children, women—nobody was spared. The corpses lay in the wake of the madman. She realized she was seeing through the eyes of the madman. She could almost smell the stench of blood.
She heard the words, "I will not rest till I find him."
This time, she felt her health rapidly deteriorating. It was as if her life was being sucked out of her body for every kill done by that madman. He would not stop until he had killed all life forms on all three planes.
Over the last few days, her vision had been blurring. She had started living in the future; nothing of the present could be seen. And that future was a battlefield of bloodshed and mutilated corpses.
What she saw were not just the bodies of humans but those of creatures from all three worlds. The Asura, the madman, had found the doorway that connected the three worlds—three different realms.
She wanted to get out of this nightmare. It was then that she heard the song of the stardust.
It was a gentle hum from the pouch of the Ancients that she could hear. It vibrated ever so slightly when she touched the stardust pouch.When she tied it around her waist, the visions vanished.
It was then that she realized it was time for her to invoke the Gate to Heaven.