A New Destiny

I realized that my tone was too harsh as everyone looked at me with unsure expectations.

“I mean, you can’t transcend to another realm before we at least get some food, and fix my arm.”

Tiaria looked at me and gave several unimpressed blinks. Halbert seemed to be morphing from angry to trying to hold back a laugh. I could feel the pressure leave the room as I quickly remedied my mistake.

“Right, on that note.” Tiaria looked towards one of the priests near Halbert, “Would you mind healing his arm? I would take him to the healing station but I’d rather not have to deal with the paperwork, besides he was wounded trying to help me.”

Halbert looked towards me.

“I see, thank you for helping the apprentice out, even she can get overwhelmed.”

“Well, I think she would have been fine without me.” I gave Halbert a big smile. It was absolutely true, but I said it in a way which made me sound humble.

The man near Halbert moved towards me. His robe was slightly different in both color and make to Halbert’s robe. While Halbert had on a robe of purple, the man approaching me had a more drab brown robe on. It also seemed to be made of much rougher materials.

“My name is Brokel, I am a listening-man here at the Tabernacle. I hope you don’t mind if I move your sleeve up so I can look at your wound.”

I shook my head and Brokel reached out and moved the sleeve of my robe up, revealing the wrapping underneath. Brokel then carefully unwrapped the bandage to slowly reveal the area of my arm where the wolf had bitten down.

“Pretty well wrapped if I do say so myself.” Tiaria chimed in with a smug look on her face.

Brokel had stopped moving and seemed to be staring at my arm with a puzzled look on his face. Surely my wound wasn’t that bad, I thought to myself. Brokel looked up towards me.

“I apologize, but I don’t see a wound on you anywhere, are you sure this is where it was?”

I gave him a confused look before grabbing my sleeve and looking at the area where my wound should have been. I clearly remembered the wolf biting there; the pain and the sound of the attack. Yet, there with my own eyes, I could see that my skin was completely unbroken, and while the wrapping was stained with dark blood, my arm was completely blemish free, white as snow. Halbert was now also looking at where my wound should have been.

“Are you sure this is where you were wounded?” Halbert asked.

“I’m quite sure.” Tiaria answered back.

“Did you heal him?” Halbert looked towards Tiaria.

“No, no of course not, I wouldn’t violate that kind of taboo.” Tiaria answered with sincerity.

“I suppose you have no idea either, what with your memories being astray?” Halbert asked, looking towards me.

I thought for a moment before answering.

“No, I didn’t do anything.”

“Well.” Halbert began, “there are some people with extraordinary healing abilities, perhaps he is one of them.” Halbert seemed to be speaking to everyone in the room except me.

“That makes sense to me. To be honest one of the primary reasons I first thought he might have been a demon was because he was in such a dangerous area yet completely unscathed.” Tiaria chimed in.

“True enough. I think for now we should get him rested, fed, and help him try to remember who he is and what he was doing out there.” Halbert said.

I couldn't have agreed more with that suggestion, I was extremely hungry, and a bit curious about who I was.

“I agree, so, what should we do now?” I asked. I was unfortunately still quite confused at my circumstances and really didn’t know what to do next.

“Let’s go to the Inn and grab some food and then get a place for you to stay.” Tiaria took a step and then stopped before turning back towards me.

“Actually, before we leave.” Tiaria looked towards Halbert, “Do you mind if we test him?”

Halbert seemed to give a controlled grin before nodding.

“Good!” Tiaria looked at me with sparkling eyes. “Follow me, Yu!”

Tiaria took off for the door with an incredibly fast paced walk. I gave a quick wave to the men in the room and then turned to follow Tiaria. By the time I had stepped through the door Tiaria was quite far ahead of me.

“Can you not be such a fast walker for a few seconds?” I desperately yelled as I trailed after her.

In what, at Tiaria’s pace, felt like only a few steps we stopped in front of another door, this one much less ornate than the last.

Tiaria pushed the door open and grabbed me by the sleeve to pull me through with her.

Inside the room I noticed a girl leaning against a desk reading a small blue book. The blue book matched the blue dress that she had on. I also noticed something quite peculiar about her head, were those some kind of animal ears? The girl looked up from her book with a blank face, switching between looking at me and then to Tiaria. When her eyes landed on Tiaria she seemed to have a moment of embarrassment as her eyes opened wide.

“A-ah, Lord Apprentice!” The girl seemed like she was biting her tongue on every word. “What may I do for you today!?” The girl seemed to accidentally say that last word too loud and gave a quick bow.

“No need to be so formal Mira, I’m just here to have this person’s magic flow examined.” Tiaria motioned towards me.

“Ah, hello, my name is Yusai.” I gave a quick wave at Mira.

“It’s very nice to meet you.” Mira was very good at being polite.

“Please step over here, we will take a few different measurements to determine your magical aptitude.” Mira motioned for me to step over to her desk.

Mira held a smile while trying to discreetly stash her book away under the desk. She then pulled a wooden box out from the same shelf and set it down on the desk.

“Mr. Yusai, I am going to read your magic aptitude, type, and capacity using these special fortune cards.” Mira gave me a smile and opened the wooden box.

“Can you put your hands out in front of you please?” Mira looked at me with great expectations in her eyes.

I did as she directed. Mira immediately sprung out her hands and grabbed mine while staring into my eyes.

“Uh, Miss Mira, I really appreciate it but I don’t see you like that.” I stuttered and blushed slightly.

“...” Mira stared at me blankly before letting go of my hands.

“Let’s begin, please place your hands on the table in front of you.” Mira motioned down towards the table.

I placed my hands on the table obediently. I could feel Tiaria glaring at me from behind.

“I am going to lay out nine cards, three in each row. The bottom row will represent your elemental aptitude, the middle your magic type, and the top your capacity.” Mira picked up the deck of cards, closed her eyes, then shuffled through them. She then placed the deck to her right side and put her hand on top of it. I could see the smallest hint of a purple tint coming from her hand. Mira then began drawing cards and one at a time, starting at the bottom, created three rows of three cards each. After she was done placing the cards she looked up at me, she had a strangely serious yet seductive look to her.

“First, we shall start with your aptitude.” Mira looked down at the bottom row of cards and slowly moved her hand over them. I could see as she came to a stop over one card her hand again began to glow a very faint purple. Mira flipped the card over and revealed a black shade holding two scythes.

“Darkness.” Mira closed her eyes. “To have an aptitude for darkness is not natural for humans, it only occurs after a great corruption to one’s character. I believe your loss of memories may constitute this change.” Mira not only looked strangely seductive but also spoke in a seductive manner. I found myself interested in why this change was occurring.

"Mira." Tiaria butted in with an annoyed voice.

"Yes Lord Apprentice?" Mira said, looking up at Tiaria with innocent eyes.

"Stop using your charm ability on Yu." Tiaria commanded with an annoyed voice.

"Hehe sorry." Mira did a cute pose.

“Anyway, Next, we shall test your aptitude.” Mira moved her hand up to the middle row. Mira again moved her hand over the cards until her hand began to faintly glow. She moved her hand down and flipped the card over.

“Hand.” The card showed a hand with all fingers stretched out. “The hand signifies the specialization in using one’s own body. This is typical for one who does not have any formal weapons training, or one whose body is more powerful than any weapon.”

Mira moved her hand up to the top most row of cards.

“Last, we shall test your magical capacity.”

Mira, for a third time, waved her hands over the cards before coming to a stop over one. This time the light that glowed had a strange appearance to it, a rainbow. Mira seemed to wince, almost in pain. She reached down and flipped the card. Mira paused before speaking.

“Blank.” Mira looked up at me, her seductive spell vaporized. “The gods refuse to answer. It is incredibly rare to receive a blank card.”

“Wait what does that mean?” Tiaria butted in.

“It means he is chosen, chosen to be the hero or the villain.”

Both Tiaria and Mira looked towards me with an expression that I could not understand.