Ch 74:- Prophetic Vision

In a beautiful field of reeds, the sun gently set, casting a golden hue upon a lone girl. Her short, black hair danced in the evening breeze, contrasting elegantly against her porcelain-white skin. Her most striking feature was a pair of large almond-shaped crimson eyes, holding a mesmerizing allure that seemed to draw you into her soul. As she stood there, her lips - soft and inviting - parted ever so slightly, as if in awe of the breathtaking sight before her. Her eyes widened in awe as she looked around, taking in a deep breath. For some reason, this place felt good, wonderful, and relaxing. But then all of it was gone as she set eyes upon a young kid standing a few feet away from her, draped in white attire. The pristine fabric draped gracefully around her, reflecting the innocence and purity that emanated from her very being. Like a vision of serenity, she seemed to embody the essence of youth and hope.

Suddenly, the girl looked at Cia, opening her mouth and closing it before turning around and breaking into a run, darting through the field. Instinctively, Cia followed, not wanting to lose sight of her. They finally reached a hollow dead tree, and the girl turned and looked at Cia before entering a hole in the tree trunk, vanishing into the darkness. Hesitant and unsure of what lay ahead, Cia hesitantly put her arm forward and reached into the darkness of the hole. Seeing nothing happening, she sighed in relief, but as she was about to take her arm out, she felt a jerk and was dragged into the darkness.

Cia fell from a height into a water body, sinking as memories started playing all around her, starting from her childhood. She heard the sound of her childish laughter as she played with her family, but the happy family scene was soon torn away from her as they participated in the war and didn't return. Their names adorned the hall of fame, a graveyard dedicated to all those who lost their lives. Cia now saw an image of her 6-year-old self crying before her parents' graves. She became homeless and familyless, with nothing to call her own. The imagery changed rapidly, showing her stealing food, sleeping on the streets, and then finally being caught and beaten up by a bunch of ability users before being rescued by a member of Pure. They took her to their base, nursed her, trained her, and she eventually became an unranked agent, unable to explore the outside world freely.

One day, she was asked to join the military base and tasked with keeping an eye on Layla, to keep her safe. It was an opportunity to experience a semblance of a normal life. But everything changed when she encountered Rayne. The imagery from the day she became a blood slave, or blood familiar as he preferred to call it, played in her mind. She became a slave to him, forced to oblige him no matter what. But as she spent time with him, she came to like him more like a teacher, a mentor, a master. Soon, she sank to the bottom and broke through the surface of the viscous watery fluid as she fell down, feeling the cold wind brushing against her. She opened her eyes and saw herself falling through what appeared to be a giant eye, with some fluid still sticking to her body. She fell, fell, and continued falling; it felt like hours, the sense of time disorienting before she finally hit the ground with a thud, feeling a phantom pain spread throughout her body.

She stood up slowly, groaning, looking around to see a barren place devoid of any life, with the ground grey as if made of ashened bone dust. The leafless trees with patterns that looked like screaming faces etched upon the bark emitted a putrid and burnt smell. Amidst this darkness, she caught the smell of something sweet and soothing, and her eyes fell upon a white rabbit with kaleidoscope-like eyes. As soon as their eyes met, it started running and jumping, and she followed, but suddenly, a chill ran down her spine, prompting her to look behind. The only thing that she could describe is that she saw a 'cataclysm.' Her mind was hurting, writhing from merely glancing at it. It destroyed and disintegrated everything in its path, the space twisting and warping around it. Fear gripped her heart as she ran even faster than before, doubling her efforts until she reached a lonesome golden-grey castle standing tall and elegant amongst this nightmare.

The rabbit entered through the wide, open, large door, and Cia followed, sliding through the door before it shut behind her. She felt a tremor run through the whole castle, violently shaking it, but it eventually stopped. Cia closed her eyes, fearing the worst, but when she opened them, she found herself in a dimly lit space with a candle illuminating the area.

"What is happening? Where am I, and why is this happening to me?" she asked to no one in particular, confused and scared before she started sobbing, the memories of all the harsh things she had gone through in her life flooding back.

Suddenly, she saw the same rabbit looking at her curiously. She wiped her eyes and looked at it, and the rabbit did the same before sprinting off once again. Determined to find answers, she stood up and took a torch from the wall.

"Torch? How can this be possible? I swear I saw a candle earlier. What the hell is even happening?" Cia exclaimed, confused as she once again started following the rabbit through the hallways, but soon lost sight of it. She wandered around before feeling something move in the next hallway. She moved carefully before peeking and saw a huge door partially opened, with ethereal white light seeping into the hallway. She pushed open the door with all her strength, and then she saw it - a beautiful, boundless space. But what caught her eyes was the lady standing at the balcony, draped in white clothes. It was her mother, and tears started rolling down Cia's eyes.

"It took you quite long to come here, dear," the lady said, turning around to fully face her daughter, with a bright smile on her face. Cia immediately darted forward and hugged her mother, burying her face and weeping while her mother soothed her, hugging her back and humming a tune.

"It's alright, dear. I am here. No need to cry anymore," her mother comforted.

"Sob...hicc... this can't... be real. Please... say this... is real," Cia said, struggling to form coherent words.

Cia sobbed and talked to her, telling her mother about all the things that she went through and her life, before it was finally, the time.

"I am sorry, for everything that you had to go through, but you need to wake up, Cia," her mother said sadly.

"No, please! I want to stay a little bit longer. I want to spend time with you," Cia pleaded, but her mother looked saddened. All of a sudden, the ground beneath her feet disappeared, and she fell. Her hand extended as if trying to reach and grab her mother's hand, but alas, she couldn't. The last thing Cia heard her mother say was, "Open your eyes and witness the truth."

A kaleidoscope lightning bolt fell on her, and she screamed, her body giving out as she lost consciousness. Her mind was bombarded with images, memories, and visions - creation of the universe, her childhood, time at school, the festival, and everything that followed, including her death at the hands of someone named Cindy.

Cia woke up screaming, gasping, and panting, scanning her surroundings. She was back in her familiar hotel room at Military Base One. She knew whatever she saw was no normal dream. She closed her eyes and went over everything she saw until the very end before sitting up abruptly, confusion evident on her face.

"What was that and why was Rayne not in the last vision? Heck, it seemed like Quinn didn't even have a brother. Everything felt different. I can't understand anything," Cia said before scratching her head in frustration. She decided to have a hot aromatic herbal body soak in the tub to ease herself and maybe help her think more clearly.

As she stood up and made her way to the bathroom, she noticed how blurry everything was. "Now, this only solidifies the point that it was a prophetic vision." Cia wondered out loud as she set up the lukewarm bathwater and added herbal pills to release a sweet aroma. She slowly stripped her clothes and winced at the pain in her back, but when looking at the mirror, there was not a small speck of any injury. She sat in the bathtub, relaxing as she slid, lying in it before closing her eyes and, circulating her Qi to accelerate the healing process, and soothe her mind.

Meanwhile, in a different part of the hotel room, Rayne could be seen sitting in a lotus position in deep meditation. Suddenly he opened his eyes, burning bright red, with it soon subsiding. "What did Cia do now?" Rayne said with a heavy sigh. He was still trying to connect his Qi with the mana that was around him. Mana was one such element that is omnipresent, so trying to connect with it was not a bad idea. It had helped him understand how the mana sometimes reacts, like detecting emotions or predicting attacks before they happen. Although the technique is still not perfect, he was making progress with his mana research.

To the left of his bed, on top of the drawer, was a little pamphlet. It contained the schedule of events for the day and what was being shown where. There was around an hour left before the first set of events started, and Rayne was wondering which one he should go to or if he should stay in his hotel room and use this time to train his Qi control further.

After looking through the long list, nothing caught his eye other than the archery and a game called 'Block&Block'. "Should I go or should I not? I could always watch from my room, or if needed, I could just turn invisible and have a closer look," Rayne pondered. He decided to go, feeling a strange sense of foreboding.

He exited his room and started walking towards Quinn's room before spotting the trio coming his way. "So where to go? Have you guys decided yet?" Rayne said.

"Yeah, we were discussing it, and I was thinking maybe we could try this one," Quinn said, pointing to the 'Block&Block' event. "Only if you're okay with it."

"Yeah," Rayne said.

When the four of them left the hotel, the outside area was vastly different from before. It was a nice sunny day, and the sky was clear and blue with hardly any clouds. It was the perfect day to have an event like this on.

On the top platform, it was filled with both students and members of the public, unlike yesterday. Nearly all the stalls were busy, and people looked to be having a good time playing games and eating food. The platform was quite large and wide, allowing plenty of space for the vast amounts of people to move around.

As they walked around, Vorden commented, "A big event that attracts people from all over."

The group decided to watch the "block, block" event. The stadium was bustling like a city center on a sale day, with people gathered around the screens that were stationed along the circular path. They were now turned on and displaying the starter events for the day.

Rayne found himself captivated by a pillar-carving competition. One of the students, Aria, was meticulously carving a lifelike western dragon, while another was creating a wooden statue of an anime character in an office dress, with impressive details that even included the character's nipples.

"Hmm, that's some impressive work," Rayne remarked, but his attention was quickly diverted when he heard a soft voice whispering beside his ear.

"Selene?" Rayne said, surprised.

"Yup," Selene said. "Do you know how lonely I was when you stopped talking to me after leaving the shop?" She said, putting a hand on her chest in a playful manner.

"You know that I was busy training, and it's not like we're close," Rayne replied, slightly flustered.

Suddenly, Selene playfully punched him in the guts, making him curl in pain. "Holy shit, how strong she is," Rayne thought, looking at the notification.

[-10 HP]

[HP: 80/90]

Seeing him in pain, Selene immediately started apologizing. They spent the next few hours catching up and discussing various topics with him coming to know that the statue was of some anime character Rias (Personally I don't like DxD and I would also recommend you to not see it). Rayne shared with Selene an idea he had about energy like Qi or Chakra, and she proposed some fabulous ideas and concepts merely thinking it was all about fictional thing.

The event ended, and Rayne invited Selene to watch the archery event with him. They spent the rest of the time before the event exploring the city together, visiting a shopping mall, a cafe, and finally booking a private room to watch a movie. Three hours passed by without them realizing, and before they knew it, the archery event had already started, and they were running late. They hurried their way to the stadium, but Rayne was amazed to see that Selene was able to keep up with his full speed effortlessly, as if she was jogging and could go even faster.

Finally, they reached the stadium just in time to see Layla's match. Rayne quickly messaged Quinn about their location before using his recently learned subtle Qi skill, the [Mind trick], to create space for both of them to sit. As they settled in, Rayne introduced Selene to Vorden, Quinn, Logan, Fex, and Sam. He couldn't help but notice the all-knowing smiles on Fex and Vorden's faces, but he decided to ignore it for the moment. He turned his attention to the screen, eagerly awaiting Layla's performance in the archery competition.