After all their time spent traversing Kosira, the three artifacts had finally come into their possession. Now that the main obstacle of the prophecy no longer posed an issue, it wasn’t long before their journey ended.
As per the prophecy, in pure ironic fashion, everything was going to end where it started. Nikolay and Raine needed to travel back to Marque — the port that they had first stepped foot in Kosira. It felt like an eternity since then, so different that it almost seemed like another lifetime.
Since they’d already started heading back west, it was only a matter of a few days before they could reunite with the crowded, grey streets of Marque. The proximity of their destination helped ease the constant time pressure lurking behind them, and so when they saw an opportunity to relax…
“Oh, this is new. Is this like a pop-up market? Looks fun,” Raine looked over at the temporary stalls in the distance.
Nikolay adjusted Raine’s arms around his waist, before returning his own hands to Rascal’s reins. “Don’t gape for too long. If you fall off the saddle, I can’t promise that Rascal won’t bolt away and leave you in the dirt by yourself.”
Raine huffed and pushed his face into the other’s shoulder. “So rude. Anyway, we should go check it out. I’m not passing up in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity like this. Once we leave here, we’re never coming back”
“Alright. If you insist.”
Rascal brought them to the mouth of the several stalls with Nikolay’s guidance, and they dismounted swiftly after.
Now that Raine had a closer look at the area, it looked less like a market, and more like some sort of festival. Not like the one in that phony ‘Chosen One’ worshipping town — he’d had enough of being called a consort for several lifetimes. Displayed on the stalls weren’t fresh produce and fish, but unique games and toy prizes. Colourful, bright banners hung from poles, along with unlit string lights. The food stalls hadn’t opened yet, presumably waiting for the festival to begin.
Raine approached the closest person setting up their stall. “Hello! We were just passing by. Is this a local festival, and is it open to travellers?”
They paused their work to look up at Raine. “Yes, it’s a festival, and it’s open to everyone. The first opening day is tonight. Most of the visitors are staying in the town’s inn nearby. You can ask if there’s still vacancy.”
The stall owner pointed over to a cluster of buildings to illustrate their point, then went back to unpacking their things.
Noting that they were clearly too busy to entertain any further conversation, Raine and Nikolay decided to leave, in the best interest of everyone involved.
Rascal took them to the inn as directed by the worker. Inside, it looked much grander than they’d expected of a small inn in the middle of nowhere. A large chandelier hung from the high ceiling, and every surface looked clean enough to eat from. Raine couldn’t help but gape at the facilities, given that the last time they’d encountered something this luxurious was in Veritas.
Raine walked up to the staff behind the reception desk. “Hello, are there still rooms available for tonight? We’re looking to stay for one night only.”
The staff glanced at the guest book on her left, then shook her head shortly after. “Because of the festival, unfortunately, we’re fully booked. However, you can try the alternative accommodation in this town. It’s a little further from the stalls, but they usually have vacant rooms. Here, I’ll hand you the directions.”
A sigh escaped Raine. He knew it was too good to be true.
“Thank you for your help, anyway. Have a good day,” he said, before joining Nikolay and Rascal at the door.
Following the receptionist’s instructions, they arrived at their true accommodation for the night: a rickety wooden cabin, just barely holding its structure together.
“Should we camp out nearby instead?” Nikolay asked, eyeing the questionable stability of the supposed ‘inn’.
While it seemed like the more reasonable option, Raine had one too many nights spent in that same flimsy fabric tent. A dubious bed was still better than no bed, in his opinion.
“It’s just for one night. Let’s just deal with it instead.”
Walking inside, the difference from the previous inn couldn’t be any more stark. Instead of a fancy, polished interior, it looked exactly like a dilapidated home. Raine and Nikolay stepped foot inside the living room — serving as the reception area, if he had to guess. An elderly man sat reclined in an armchair, sipping a cup of tea.
“Ah, you two youngsters. Are you here for a room?” the man called out to them.
Nikolay nodded. “Yes. Do you have a double bedroom? We’re staying for one night.”
“Right. Come over here, I’ve got just the room for you.”
The old man fished out a ring full of keys from his pocket, and picked out one from the set.
“Thank you for the room,” Nikolay politely said, taking out the cash required.
He bent over and cupped a hand to his ear. “Eh? What’d you say?”
“Thank y-”
“What?! Speak louder.”
Nikolay simply handed over the money in stony silence.
“The nerve of youth these days,” the owner tutted. “Your room is the third on the left.”
Eager to leave, they took the key and hurried down the hallway.
Their room wasn’t by any means fancy, but it still fared better than others that they’d experienced. For one, the first motel they stayed at in Marque had an underage smoker as a receptionist. Not to mention, they met said receptionist again while she was raiding the Order of Truth headquarters.
Anyway, Raine digressed.
By the time they’d finished unpacking and getting ready for the festival, the sun had already sunk below the horizon. From their window, Raine could see the myriad of colourful festival lights in the distance.
“Are you ready?” Nikolay asked, already standing by the door.
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s go. I don’t want to be late for the party,” Raine joked. “We can walk, though. I think Rascal’s had enough of being our personal chauffeur.”
Surprisingly, the walk to the festival stalls didn’t feel as gruelling as they’d initially thought. While it was a decent while away from their accommodation, especially compared to the larger inn’s location, the weather made it seem like a leisurely stroll rather than an arduous hike.
In the sun’s absence, the overall temperature dropped substantially, and a cool summer breeze blew across the flat plains. Stars, unobscured with the minimal pollution, shone their faint light onto the grass and illuminated the area just enough for visibility. Hesitant to disturb the natural scenery, Raine decided against turning on their flashlight for now.
As they neared the shining beacon of festival lights, the sounds of chattering people slowly replaced the soft whistling of the wind.
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“Here we are,” Raine declared. “It looks like we’re just on time.”
A brightly lit up arch at the entrance displayed the words ‘Annual Night Festival’, welcoming them into the stall-lined streets. The grass had been cut back to create a dirt path, allowing the stalls to nestle either side.
A kaleidoscope of colours shone from each unique stall, each vying for the attention of the small crowds of people walking past. Some had the typical games seen in festivals, while others were food vans or souvenir shops. The smell of food wafted through the air, and the sounds of laughter echoed from children having fun with the stall mini-games. Inside this bustling sanctuary in the middle of an otherwise quiet field, it felt as though they’d been transported to a completely different world.
Raine wandered through the streets in awe, staring at every stall with wide eyes. He’d hadn’t been to a festival like this since he was a kid. Hell, being here right now was making him feel like he was a kid, gawking at every single attraction possible. Especially compared to Nikolay, who was calmly following him from behind and not bothering to stare too long at the stalls.
It wasn’t long before a stall caught Raine’s eye, the glittering silver and gold jewellery reflecting the festival lights like a sea of stars. The accessories on display looked beautiful, and far too elegant for what Raine would’ve assumed to be on sale at a local festival.
A certain pair of bracelets drew his attention: they were silver and gold decorative wrist cuffs, completely plain apart from the clasps.
“Hey, Nikolay. Look at these,” he said, picking the bracelets up. “We could have one each. Aren’t they cute?”
Not that Raine was lacking in jewellery, courtesy of the gods’ taste in artifacts, but these didn’t feel like they were his. Rather, he was just borrowing them from the gods in order to fulfill the prophecy — he assumed that they would need to be returned before he left Kosira.
Raine wanted something just for himself and Nikolay, something that didn’t reflect the gods’ will or the prophecy. If he had to pick any souvenir from his time in Kosira, it would have to acknowledge the time spent alongside Nikolay. After all, Raine wouldn’t have been able to get this far alone.
Nikolay glanced at the accessories in ambivalence. “Sure. If you want.”
Well, he wasn’t really expecting Nikolay to be overjoyed about it. At least he didn’t refuse, which was most likely attributed to the fact that these cuffs were plain and easy to take off.
“Excuse me, I’d like to purchase these,” Raine said, holding up the bracelets for the shop owner to see.
The girl’s eyes lit up at his statement.
“Oh, of course!” she said, beaming at them. “Out of curiosity, who is taking the gold and the silver?”
Raine turned to his partner. “Nikolay?”
Predictably, he responded, “You choose the one you want. I’ll take the other.”
“Oh, fine. I’ll have the gold one.”
After a quick exchange of cash and commodities, the matching bracelets were now on Raine’s and Nikolay’s wrists. Unaccustomed to the persistent weight on his arm, Nikolay subconsciously readjusted the cuff multiple times while waiting for Raine.
“Congratulations!” the shopkeeper smiled at them. “Enjoy your night.”
Huh. Raine didn’t know it was common to congratulate customers on their purchase in Kosira.
“Thanks…” he said, as they walked away.
Continuing their expedition, another attraction quickly caught Raine’s eye. A peculiar stall stuck out from the rest of the street. In comparison to the other open-faced stalls, a starry fabric veil covered this ‘stall’, making it look more like a tent. Flaps obscured the entrance, though fog escaped from the gaps in between.
Raine tugged at Nikolay’s sleeve — unnecessary in hindsight, considering the latter’s eyes were already in his direction — to get his attention. “Look, a fortune teller! Remember that time when we saw a fortune teller all the way back when we were still in the same body?”
“Might I remind you that the ‘sacrificial’ temple she led us to was a trap?” Nikolay replied dryly. “And it’s the reason for a certain scar on my left arm.”
“Good memories,” Raine said in the same dry tone. “But anyway, my point is that she seemed legitimate, minus the fact that she was working for the Order of Truth. So… what would happen if we saw a fortune teller without any tampering from them?”
Nikolay exhaled through his nose. “Fortune telling is clearly a scam.”
“Oh, come on. What’s the point of going to a festival if you’re not having fun? It’s just a little harmless party trick, at worst.”
“Fine…” Nikolay said, recognising the futility of resisting. “Let’s go in.”
They pushed through the flaps and entered the fortune teller’s tent.
Contrary to their expectations, it was actually smaller inside than it looked from the outside. With fog covering the rest of the area, the centrepiece of the limited area was a table with various typical items used for fortune telling.
Sitting on one side was the fortune teller herself, dressed in the same deep purples and blues as the rest of the tent. To Raine’s surprise, he could see a magic aura floating around her, a veil of suspended dewdrops that blended in with the white fog.
“Welcome, welcome. You two are here to have your fortune read,” she stated, her smooth voice resounding in the small tent.
Now that he was actually inside and faced by this ominous and serious looking environment, suddenly Raine wasn’t sure if this was a ‘harmless party trick’ at all.
“Yes,” Raine quickly replied, shutting his mouth before he could say anything that would reveal his anxiety.
Noting the nervousness in his voice, Nikolay silently comforted him by squeezing his hand. At the gesture of the fortuneteller, Nikolay and Raine sat down in the wooden chairs opposite her.
“Good, get yourselves comfortable. Excuse me for a moment, both of your presences are so potent that I must divine this immediately.”
Maybe it was just Raine’s imagination, but it looked as though the fortuneteller smiled when she glanced at their new bracelets. After a long while of silent debating, she finally spoke.
“Your destinies are tightly intertwined, to the extent that it jumped out to me in an instant. Even if I were not a master of the divine arts, a novice could feel the powerful forces of fate tying both of you together, like a knot in the loom of fate. Now, let’s see…”
Right on cue, the deck of tarot cards on the table fell over. They spread out across the table’s surface, all of them face down.
Beside him, Raine heard a quiet scoff from Nikolay.
“Pick one card each. Take your time. Perhaps one may speak to you more than the others,” she said.
Looking down at the table, Raine honestly couldn’t tell if any were ‘speaking’ to him as such. There were just too many options, in any case. How was he supposed to which one to pick? What if he picked a shitty one?
Beside him, Nikolay had already decisively snatched a card at random. He glanced at the card in his hand, then raised his eyebrows.
“Are these tarot cards?” Nikolay asked. “They look unfamiliar to me.”
The fortuneteller earnestly nodded. “They aren’t the traditional tarot cards, but a special Kosiran technique my master has passed onto me. Don’t worry, I can take the card for you and still decipher it with full accuracy.”
While Nikolay handed his chosen card to the woman, Raine decided on the card closest to him. Surely, if it landed right in front of him, it was a sign.
Just like Nikolay, Raine looked at the front of his card. It was difficult to tell in the dark tent, coupled with the fog, but he could make out the painting of a lone candle illuminating a small room. The light from the candle illuminated a few empty chairs scattered across the wooden floor.
“Have you selected your card as well? Here, pass it to me,” the fortuneteller said, taking his card. “We can start with yours first.”
She had a brief look at his card, then placed it facing up on the table for everyone to see.
“Yes, this is an interesting one,” the fortuneteller nodded to herself. “You see, the candle is a metaphor for yourself. Like the candle, you are a source of brightness illuminating the way for those around you. These empty chairs are seats for the people who you value most, as they will stay in your life as long as they have a place in your room.”
Raine wasn’t sure if this was a blanket statement that she used for every patron to boost their ego. It sounded semi-applicable to him, but it could also be semi-applicable to almost anybody who walked into this tent.
“Now, for the gentleman with the ponytail. Let’s have a look at your card.”
She placed Nikolay’s card on the table. A violent smattering of crimson red and black paint covered the front, obscuring the image beneath. Even if Raine looked at the card in broad daylight, he wasn’t sure if he could make out the original picture.
“Ah, this card is… a difficult one to decipher, as it can hold many meanings.”
Many meanings? Raine wasn’t a fortune expert, but he knew a bad sign when he saw it.
“How so?” Nikolay replied in a flat, dry tone.
“Can you see what is beneath the black and red paint? It is unknown to even me, the owner of this tarot deck. Whatever is shrouding your heart, it is so prominent that even you cannot break through on your own.”
“The paint looks as though it was spilled onto the card by accident. Are you sure that this is the right card?” Nikolay asked, staring at her.
“W- Well, it’s an artistic choice. The creator must’ve poured additional paint onto the card once the underlying image was created,” she stammered, her mysterious aura dimming for a moment.
“I’m sure of it,” Raine quickly reassured her. “It’s a well thought out deck. Now, I think we have quite a few stalls to see before the festival ends, so we’ll be out of your way.”
Relieved that she wouldn’t have to deal with Nikolay’s sharp jabs at her business, the fortuneteller nodded enthusiastically. “Yes, you two must have quite the night ahead of you. Take care and enjoy the rest of your festival!”
Once they were out of earshot of the fortuneteller’s tent, Nikolay scoffed, “We paid how much just for her to let us know that we have a ‘shared future’? I couldn’t tell from the fact that we have an inane prophecy to do together.”
“Maybe she meant after that too,” Raine quietly offered.
The scowl on Nikolay’s face softened. He stole a quick glance at Raine, who suddenly refused to meet his gaze.
Scenarios from a possible future with Raine flashed across Nikolay’s mind. Watching movies, baking, having picnics — hell, he’d even try drawing if Raine would teach him.
A life where they would be able to truly relax, never needing to constantly check behind themselves for any threats. Where they could just enjoy the others’ company as it was. Without worrying about each other dying with every waking second.
Nikolay exhaled. “…That would be nice.”