21: The Vision of Fire - part 1

{Everything was burning and it was hard to breathe. There was smoke everywhere and it was hard to sense. There was red everywhere so it was hard to see. It looked vaguely like a shop Maria had seen in picture books. Maybe it was a village shop?

Maria opened her eyes and was faced with a vision filled with fire.

She was trapped in a place that was about to burn up and take her with it as well. The temperature was unnatural and so were the green fumes. The fire would not stop till it had consumed everything inside.

“Don’t cry. It’s just the heat tonight that is so bad. It will pass soon” the voice sounded old and labored. It was unsure of itself but held just enough convenience power to trust her words.

Maria turned her head around and felt pain in her back. She looked over her and found herself trapped beneath a burning beam.

One of the wooden ones had collapsed right on top of her but the pain was dull to her senses. She still felt it but not to the capacity as she should have been feeling them.

But her sense of magic was all gone. Try as she might, Maria was unable to condense even a single drop of water. Nor would the wind respond to her.

Maaria finally decided to look toward the direction she had heard the voice come from and her eyes landed on a familiar pair.

“I-It’s not the heat but a f-fire. The e-exit collapsed as w-well. S-sis is nowhere to be found as well. Are we going to die? I don’t want to die here” Shou cried as he tried to move but the heat had forced his small body to become dehydrated.

He looked to be in a worse condition than his mother which was bad. The mother already looked as if she would collapse at any second.

“I’m glad your sister went with the group. It saved her the trouble of bearing this heat. Don’t cry Shou, it will pass pretty soon” the elder lady soothed and the roof finally collapsed on the pair.

Maria could do nothing as it did. It burned and it burned her alive as well}

And then her eyes opened into the real world and right into a pair of familiar green ones. Howl was looking at her directly in the eyes and gave a started yelp as Maria shot forward in the bed.

“Give a girl a warning before you do something like that. Were you having a vision? What was it about?” Howl asked in rapid succession.

The other female was trying to pretend as if she was not interested but her eager tone betrayed her interest.

Maria felt equal parts of amusement and pity go through her as she looked at the female in front of her.

Maria was not sure how far ahead in the future her vision had been but it did detail out an incredible loss for the female in front of her.

There was a chance for Maria to change that future but she was also hesitant. Did she want to change the future knowing that it could lead to something worse? Every work of fiction she had read suggested not to play with the future.

But still, the alternative was a deal family for Howl and that was not something she wanted for her.

“I did see something you should know about. But we should secure the perimeters first before I tell you about it” Maria suggested and Howl just shrugged.

“Mother is out and took Shou with her to get food from the nearby village. It’s as secure as it’s going to be” Howl sounded confident so Maria decided to trust her.

If Nao trusted Howl enough to leave Maria with he then Maria could trust her as well.

So she told Howl the details of the future. It was horrible to remember but she still did. All for the sake of the kind old lady and the tiny kid who had been burdened with them.

The more Maria spoke, the blanker Howl’s expressions became. By the time Maria finished, Howl resembled a doll more than a human with her blank expression.

“- so I think you should stay back here with them. I and Nao can handle the next part of this journey ourselves” Maria finished and waited for Howl to respond.

“I’ll still join you as is my duty. To be truthful, the original owner of this body is dead and I have no attachment to these people. I don’t care if they die” Howl explained with a blank face.

Her voice sounded really convincing and even Maria found it hard not to believe her.

But Maria had seen Howl interact with her younger brother, hold her mother gently in her arms and so much more. Those moments did not seem fake to her, nor did the bond those three shared.

Howl was just trying to fool herself if she thought that Maria could not see the obvious.

Maria wanted to push more about this topic but Howl looked like she would not hear anymore of it.

Then there was a light knock on the door and Howl opened it without hesitation. Nao entered from the other side and took in the tense air of the room.

“Did something happen? What about our plan to leave tomorrow? Is there a change?” Nao asked as she stabilized herself. Her arm had a shallow cut that had stopped bleeding but nothing else looked hurt.

“Nothing is wrong here. The plan remains unchanged and we shall leave tomorrow morning” Howl sadi with a finalized voice.

Maria felt the feeling of wrong sharply as she took in the fighting pair. She knew she was missing something crucial but she was not able to put her finger on it.

That burning hut, it had looked nothing like this house, did it? And did the clothes not look familiar as well?

Maria felt like she was being thrown off by something but she was not sure what it was.

‘System, can you replay the vision for me?’ it was a long shot but maybe the vision had been recorded by the system as a log. Many games did keep such scenes.

[Confirmative. Playing scene #1-3. The first act will be over once the node is obtained]

Maria felt the room around her change into the familiar vision of fire but Maria decided to pay attention to her surroundings.

The hut was not the house she had been but a vendor’s hut. The lady and the kid were stuck inside and they were alone. However, the clothes they were wearing were familiar.

They were the same clothes they had been wearing today and Maria suddenly had an epiphany.

“Howl, we need to head to the village. The fire will happen today” Maria cried out and waited.

For a second it looked as if Howl did not hear her but then the blond ran past her and Maria followed after her with her max speed.

Nao just followed with a confused expression on her face the whole time.