Fated

"Ervian, I—" Adelle began to say, but Ervian quickly hushed her with a gesture to be quiet.

"There's an abandoned horse carriage up ahead. Let me quickly check our surroundings," Ervian whispered to her.

He narrowed the range of his Sensus vision to half a mile, concentrating his Vis usage to have a more precise and vivid image in his mind.

His Sensus scanned the surrounding area. The intensity allowed him to see what was beneath the bushes and atop of trees.

He could see footprints in the dirt leading away from the carriage. He gestured to Adelle to stay put and keep their guard up in case the attacker was still in the vicinity.

"Abandoned carriage? Was it the one that passed us by from Rumabel?" Adelle followed with the same tone as him.

"Yes, it was."

Ervian shared his discovery with Adelle. "There's a body inside the carriage and the other pair of horses is also dead."

"There aren't any suspicious people around. Let's have a check," Ervian continued, his voice firm as he began to run towards the abandoned carriage.

Adelle nodded in agreement, her heart sinking as she thought of the people who had lost their lives in the attack. It hit particularly close to home for her, as the carriage occupants were from the same town she had called home for some time.

'Seems like my personal question needs to be set aside for a moment.'

Ervian also noticed that the tracks of the caravan that had left from the outpost left signs of stopping. But they had nowhere to be seen inside the radius of his Sensus.

He felt a tinge of something inside him as he jumped into the carriage. Something felt important, but he couldn't help to wonder how a mere person from Rumabel could hold such significance.

"Uhh, poor lady. May her soul rest in peace," Adelle spoke with a pitiful look at the blood-puddled limp body on the carriage floor.

"Do you know her?" Ervian asked, still could not shake off what he had felt.

"Rumabel is still a big town. How am I supposed to know everyone?"

"Errh, you could just say no to that."

Out of the blue, a blinding flash shone on both Ervian and Adelle. They instinctively shielded their eyes with their hands, but the brightness seemed to penetrate through their eyelids. After a few moments, the light dissipated, leaving them momentarily disoriented.

"W-where are we?"

Ervian was just as puzzled as Adelle, but after checking his surroundings, he realized he had experienced this before.

"T-this ... this is a Vision! B-but how can this be?!"

Adelle was about to ask what a Vision was. However, she suddenly froze as he saw Ervian's face.

The boy's stunning, gem-like eyes opened wide, revealing their yellow ember color. Perfectly complementing his olive-colored complexion, along with dark-brown hair.

"W-what?" Ervian asked, noticing Adelle's gaze fixed on him.

"Uh, um. Nothing, it's just, I've never seen your eyes before." Her cheeks decorated with a faint blush.

"Oh, right. I could see colors beside blue now." He flexed his fingers in front of him and then glanced at Adelle.

He had been seeing Adelle only from his Sensus, but now with his own eyes, he couldn't help but notice how she bore a striking resemblance to Lika, who also had silvery hair. However, Adelle's hair was shorter and had a bluish hazy tint to it.

Ervian quickly averted his gaze to the environment, realizing that there were more pressing matters at hand.

The site they were now in was not an abandoned carriage in a lush forest.

"This place ...." Ervian moved toward a higher platform near him.

As far as the eye could see, there was nothing but a barren wasteland of rocks and mountains.

The landscape was vast and unforgiving, with no vegetation to be found anywhere.

The rocks themselves were a dull, lifeless color, with deep cracks and crevices that varied in size from small fissures to massive, mountain-sized gaps.

Adelle followed beside him, continuing his phrase. "Nethereal."

Despite the complete lack of plant life, the night sky was alive with countless stars and galaxies, twinkling and shimmering above like a cosmic tapestry woven with the light of a million suns.

The stillness of the air in the desolate landscape was undoubtedly eerie, as the place had truly never been touched by the caress of the wind.

"Greetings. I was waiting for this fateful meeting, but truly I did not expect an extra company."

An abrupt voice belonging to an old lady caused Adelle and Ervian to quickly turn their faces at the same time in shcok.

Their eyes widened as they saw the old lady who had died in the horse carriage fully come to life with a gentle smile.

However, such a feat was possible as this was a Vision, and Ervian knew that well. "Who are you exactly? How can you be in this Vision?"

"Vision ... right, it is. You must be the bearer of the Elementalist system. And as for you, girl, I can tell that you are a student of the famed Grandmagus Lefazio. Am I correct?" clarified the old lady.

Adelle nodded, still in shock at the sudden appearance of the old lady.

"Of course, where are my manners? I'm Claire, an Auspex. I've been waiting for this moment, child."

"No way ...." Ervian eyes were in disbelief.

"Yes. It's a shame that we have to meet like this. I never thought that we would be just a door away from in our first encounter," Claire snickered as she moved closer towards them.

"But, you've died."

"I'm. It's just a little spark of my power left. But I'm sure it was the Crystals that were empowering it."

"What's an Auspex?" Adelle's voice coming in.

Claire let out a small giggle. "Seems like you still left your companion in the dark."

Ervian slightly sighed. "I'll catch up with you later, Adelle. So, Mrs. Claire, can you tell me more about what this Vision is all about?"

Claire's wrinkled eyes turned towards the dark sky above, her hands reaching out as one of them made a sweeping gesture. Suddenly, the stars and any celestial objects began to move, leaving bright trailing strings behind them.

"I'll show you right away, as we don't have much time here."