"Who are you?" Silver asked, shielding the trolley from the gaze of the woman who approached the two of them.
But, the lady only replied, "What do you mean? I only mean to ask you one thing: What are you?"
Silver looked at Ariadne, and then back to the mysterious lady, and then pointed at himself.
"Me?"
"Who else, dummy!" Ariadne half-whispered. "She's looking at you!"
"Hm." She murmured, as she unhurriedly strode past the two of them, leaving her back facing them. "…Between the two of you, you are the only one who bears a mark of divinity. A "promise", that you may become an Archon. So, undoubtedly, I would be talking to you."
Upon saying those words, she closed her eyes, unsheathed her blade and placed her blade near her head, before she stabbed through Silver. Yet, his body remained unaffected, and he was instead transported to another realm. The "future", and in a dark place where he was alone. A dark forest.
"What the… did she just stab through me?" Silver murmured. "It was fast enough to the point where I couldn't react even if I knew it was coming… also, she said something about Archons… could she perhaps be someone important?"
"…And… where am I? …I was just strolling down the sidewalk with Ariadne, so… could this be an illusion?"
"…There's no telling just yet. Let me just investigate, first and foremost."
Silver began to saunter through the woodlands that had suddenly appeared before and all around him, the twigs and leaves crunching under his steps. Biting, frigid winds blew through the nightmarishly twisted trees, making odd whistling sounds which closely resembled the piercing screams of agony. This forest was unfamiliar to him.
"…I have to say, walking through a forest is quite scary…" Silver mumbled, his words quiet against the rustling of branches and leaves.
But suddenly, as he wondered where to go, a glimmering trail of light appeared before him. Even though he was unsure and wary of where it would lead him, he ultimately had no choice but to follow it.
However, a horrifying thought soon crept into Silver's mind, and he soon doubted that he could find his way back through the trees of the forest. Yet, what he was truly wary of though, was the strange sounds that came from the woodlands, that almost sounded like the moans and cries of spirits.
Silver's breath halted, as he noticed the glimmering trail fading slightly, "It seems the glimmering trail's about to end… but it hasn't led me back yet…"
Instead, where he ended up after following the glimmering trail was different to what he expected. An extravagant, open arena, with stone-slate floor tiles that covered a vast distance, and eight pillars, the size of ten adult males stacked on top of each other, that were carved out of marble and surrounded this unnaturally-placed colosseum.
"…This place… an arena?" He said as he wandered on the stone slates. "This looks so out of place…"
However, his words were cut-off, off as the branches of trees rustled eerily, and a haunting presence surrounded him.
"…Intriguing… it seems you shall enter a Land's Aberration…" The mysterious lady said, as he left the forests and entered the arena. "…With the power of divination, it seems your future, which I have scryed, is not simple. Regardless, let me first introduce myself, before I say more."
She said the words, "I am Stella, a high-ranking templar knight of a God's Temple, who has arrived directly from the Holy Capital, Eromstrei. I have come on official duties to destroy the churches of the Dragonblood Baptists, and, perhaps weed out the evils in the nearby towns on the way."
"Little did I know, I would encounter a young lad who has been sworn a promise by the Gods. Someone who may even become an Archon, so, allow me to make you indebted to me."
With those words, she made the same motion she did earlier, placing her sword, which Silver could notice was a long, two-handed sabre resembling a katana in design, near her head. And then, she swung her blade, shattering this illusion realm, and the Manifestation that had nearly attached itself to Silver's mind.
Everything vanished, and Silver could only hear a female voice uttering a few clearheaded words. "It seems you have been recently affected by some things that remain unknown to me. Even with the power of mysticism, I was only able to see the places that you would visit in both the far and near future…"
"You are a mystery… so, it makes sense as to why the Gods are watching you."
"I hope you become an Archon soon since that is when we shall meet again."
Silver blinked, and he found himself back to reality. He turned around, and the lady seemed to stroll away as if their encounter never happened. A beauty like her wielded the unfathomable knowledge of the blade…
"Wow…" Silver gasped before a fist collided with the top of his head.
"What's got you staring like that at her?! Don't get distracted, we're almost home!"
Ariadne pushed the trolley packed with food items and apparel forward, and Silver shook his head, just before staring back at her for one last time.
He wondered, was it just him, or was he slowly starting to get involved in affairs that were far more enormously significant than the things he should truly be getting involved in, like, for example, earning enough money to survive, first and foremost?
"…It is quite obvious that this is by the will of the Gods. …I don't believe that there is anything I can quite do about it now."
"…But, to think a Manifestation had almost attached itself to me without me knowing… how terrifying…"
***
Meanwhile, in a place far away, there was silence. Silence that surrounded an old kingdom of ruins, laid to waste long ago.
In a sombre chamber of secrets that lie deep within the primaeval Castle of Blood, a petite, gentle maiden with soft skin and dressed in white robes, with delightful hair as dark as the infrequent blue moon and beauty unsurpassed, enchanted the hearts of man and cleansed their hearts of sin with her mere gaze.
The eyeless redeemer. The one who loves all. The lady who touched the moon. The Lady of Salvation, and the "loveless" of a long-lost dynasty.
Many knights and warriors sat and slept around her in a daze, while she lay on her bed, hazy, thoughtless and dreamless.
However, after a moment passed, her clasped hands opened, to reveal the fact that she held a lonely flower in her hands. One that had never blossomed, and had never even tried to.
"…"
"…Sorry..." She said, in an emotionless, yet self-deprecating tone. "Sorry, for all your burdens. Belonging to your heart, which is loveless."
"The bitterness of reality has long since caught up. Yet, you still have the yearning to withstand its cold…"
"An empty shell you are, looking for a purpose, a salvation, that does not exist. Yet, you want to burn brightly, like the stars in the sky."
"To possibly do that, cast away your past, and gaze towards the stars. Cull your hatred, your enemies, and transcend the boundaries of love and salvation to reach them…"
"But, if you can't even do that, then slowly fade away, alongside the bygone world."