Hector sat back on the bed, bracing himself on his knees. “A Talent is something a lot of people have. Well, not a lot. Actually, they seem pretty rare,” Hector said, frowning. He drew a circle on the ground with the toe of his sandals as he took a moment. “They are things that make people special.”
“Special? How do they make people special?” Mirae said, widening her purple eyes.
“Well, yours,” he said, bringing up Mirae’s stat screen.
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///
Cultivation level: [None]
Talent: [Dreams of Time [•○○] (1/3)]
Talent Fragment: [None]
///
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He mentally clicked on the Talent, bringing up its description.
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///: Dreams of Time: Allows the user to dream of the future, though they cannot control what they see or when it occurs. Furthermore, they are limited to only seeing a maximum of 30 years into the future. Increased stacks of [Dreams of Time] can enhance this ability.
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“Yours allows you to see up to a maximum of thirty years into the future,” Hector said, “though what you see can’t be controlled.”
Mirae pursed her lips as she looked off to the side. “Is that all it does?”
“I mean, it’s pretty strong—it’s the highest tier I know about. I think. And thirty years is a pretty long time.”
The bed creaked a little as Mirae leaned back, her eyes moving to the ceiling. “And what other tiers are there?”
“I think there are about five tiers in total. I’m not too sure, my Talent just gives me information on them.” He was lying, but there was no use bombarding her with everything at once. She needed to focus on her Talent. At least for now. “The ranks go from common, uncommon, rare, legendary, and all the way to mystic.”
“And what rank is mine?”
“Yours is a Mystic rank Talent.” Hector glanced to the side of the room. His gaze ran down the pile of trash sitting in the corner. The cracks and crevices running through trash were like a ravine on a mountain. It would be nice to get away from all this one day.
“Hector,” Mirae said, pulling him back from his daydreaming. He turned to her and perked up. She subtly shook her head. “Are you alright?”
“Yes. What was I saying?”
“You said my Talent was a mystic-ranked talent,” Mirae said, tucking a strand of white hair behind her ear. “But I don’t get it. Does that mean that this entire time you knew I had something like this? But you still choose not to believe me all those times.”
Hector chuckled, getting to his feet and stretching. His back let out two satisfying pops as he sighed. “I only awakened my Talent recently the other day. I only put everything together later on. So I kinda owe you an apology.”
“By the lake you do,” Mirae said. “Do you know how many times I’ve had to sit in this house knowing you were going out to get hurt? Or that something bad was going to happen. Just for you to say, it was just a bad dream.”
You’d think I would have learned to see a pattern. But then again, when wasn’t something going wrong in the slums?
“I’m sorry,” Hector said, lowering his head. He should have put more faith in her back then. Even though he had changed, he still technically did all those things.
Mirae huffed, but let out a sigh. Was all forgiven? Perhaps, but only time could tell. Hector moved back over to the window and peeked through the old wooden shutters. The streets had quietened as night set in. Old men coming back from a day’s labour somewhere laughed and chatted. One who was rather short stumbled on his feet—the alcohol was probably catching up with him. Drinking before, during, and after work was a normal thing. Especially when the water could make you sick if a cultivator didn’t purify it.
“But, you said your Talent awakened just recently,” Mirae said, fiddling with her thumbs. “Do you know what triggered it? I believe mine awakened when I was about nine.”
Six years ago—that seems about right.
She’d had a pretty bad dream back then and woke up screaming during the night. When he and his father got to her, she said she couldn’t remember what the dream was about. But it was really scary. Mirae hadn’t had the dream since. Was it a vision?
“I don’t know,” he said, turning back to her. “If I did, I would probably try to replicate it.”
“Hmmm..” Mirae brought a finger to her lip, and Hector moved back over to the bed, the wood creaking underfoot as he did. She often thought about things a bit too much, especially when she thought she could help. “I don’t think you should. We don’t know how bad it could be.”
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“Well, I don’t know how to.” Hector sat back on the bed with a thud and rested his hands on his knees. “Anyway. I really want to focus on helping you use your Talent.”
She glanced up at him, her lips tight and her brow creasing. “How do you plan to do that?”
“I’ve spent a lot of time with my Talent over the days. It’s not that hard to use, and I think I’m getting quite good at it.”
“Is that why you’ve been leaving the house randomly lately? Were you going out there looking for Talents?”
Hector swallowed, his neck heating up a bit. Seemed she’d been watching him. He’d need to be a bit more careful in the future. It was one thing to have his sister notice him, but if it was someone else, they may ask a bit too many questions—though it wasn’t like anyone was worrying about what a random slum rat was doing. But it didn’t hurt to be careful.
“Yeah, something like that,” he said, glancing at the creases in his sheets, tracking the folds “If your Talent is anything like mine. I think we could work something out.”
“So what do I do?”
“Well, first I’d like to ask you what it’s like when you activate your Talent. Do you feel any sensations of any kind?”
“I wouldn’t say I feel anything if I’m honest. It kind of just happens.” Mirae frowned in thought, bringing a finger to her lip. “If I had to say something, it’s like I start out dreaming normally, then something just snaps.”
Sounds similar to a lucid dream. Perhaps it could work the same way. Maybe all that time wasted on the internet back on earth will actually be helpful.
“Have you noticed any common things when you fall into those dreams?” Hector said, “Like do you notice your fingers looking strange?”
Mirae held out her hands, wiggling her fingers. She had chipped nails, with white lines running across them—back on earth. Someone had told Hector that they’d form when you didn’t drink enough milk. “I don’t remember too much. But I don’t really remember my fingers looking strange,” Mirae said.
“Alright, I see,” Hector said. Drunk shouts came from outside. More people heading to the tavern down the street, no doubt. Hector glanced at the window as he considered his next words. “When I use my Talent, it feels almost like I’m tugging on something. Does that bring anything up for you?”
“Hmmmm…” Mirae scrunched her eyes and tapped a finger on her leg. The floorboards creaked in the hallway, and Hector glanced at the door. Was his father going back to the kitchen? Or perhaps he was heading out again. Mirae turned to the door, then back to him. “I can’t say I feel a tugging sensation. I will have to keep an eye out for the things you are describing. Maybe because I’ve never consciously tried to use it, I’ve never noticed.”
“That could be it,” Hector said, resting a hand on his sheets and leaning back.
Or maybe your Talent is just tricky to use. I mean she’s the first person I’ve spoken to that even knows about their Talent. Perhaps with the Talent’s effects often being minor, people don’t really notice them. That or using a Talent requires awakening.
“Though, Hector, there is something I would like to bring up concerning my Talent, as you call it,” Mirae said, fidgeting with her thumbs. She lowered her eyes, directing her gaze at his sheets. “I mean, it’s kind of the reason I left Mr. Pennybrook’s stall.”
“You had another vision.”
Mirae nodded, and Hector let out a heavy sigh. He scratched his head and gestured for her to continue. Her Talent was both a benefit and a problem, in the sense that he couldn’t control what she would do, given the advanced information she had access to.
“In it, I saw you being captured by the guards. It was terrible, and worst of all. Lincoln, left you to be captured. He didn’t even try to help.”
“He did?” Hector raised an eyebrow—it was ironic since he’d technically done the same to Lincoln. Was Hector as bad a friend as he thought? Or did they just both think alike in that matter? Though he believed Lincoln could get himself out of that situation. Did Lincoln think the same? “What happened after I was caught?”
“I don’t know. It’s kind of blurry, and I didn’t see that far ahead,” Mirae said with a frown. She fiddled with the end of her brown shorts as her gaze moved to the window. “I also saw someone tell the guards something. But I think they did it sometime before you were captured. They might have tipped them off.”
Hector frowned. What did this mean? Did someone betray them? Did someone outside the group know about the plan? While they had already picked a few pockets by the time Mirae arrived, Hector was pretty sure that no one had noticed by that point. Or maybe they had, and he’d not noticed. Either way, it was something to consider.
“Did you see what the person that tipped them off looked like?” Hector asked, leaning in closer. A few strands of his white hair fell over his eye and he moved them to the side. “Anything that could give us a hint?”
“No, but it was only one person. That’s all I can say for certain.”
“Not much to go on, then. Damn,” Hector pushed off the bed and started pacing up and down his room. The floorboards underfoot creaked. He made sure to avoid the loose ones sticking up out of the ground. “I’ll keep this in the back of my mind for now, Mirae, thank you.”
She nodded, giving him a thin smile. That answer was the best he could give her at the moment. Could he run around and start accusing or questioning his friend when he didn’t even know how or what had happened? No. He also couldn’t tell them that Mirae could see the future. That would open too many questions.
“Do you trust me, Mirae?”
She tilted her head to the side, her hair falling over her shoulder as she let out a sigh. “Do I seriously need to answer that question?” Mirae asked.
Hector pursed his lip and let out a laugh. “I suppose not,” he said, running a hand through his hair. “I—”
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///: “All Talent saplings have finished growing. Please enter the Talent Garden space to collect them, and plant new Talents..”
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Hector paused. His eyes scanned over the system message. His heart fluttered a little as he read the text. This was good news, with everything going on; from the void beast to the pickpocketing operation—at least the start of it, the end not so much—he’d put the Talent growth to the back of his mind.
“Mirae, I’ve got something to do,” Hector said, giving her an apologetic smile. “If it’s alright with you, we can continue the conversation about the Talents later?”
Mirae nodded and pushed off the bed, hopping to her feet. “Are you going to look for more Talents?”
“Not exactly, but I will be meditating for a while,” Hector said.
“Alright, well, I’m going to start dinner. So, I’ll come and get you when it’s done. I don’t care if you are meditating at that time. Got it. So make sure you finish up before it’s ready.”
Hector chuckled. Walking forward, he raised a hand and ruffled Mirae’s hair. Who was the older one, exactly? It’s not like he couldn’t look after himself, but Mirae seemed adamant about doing it. He had to thank her for that.
She slapped his hand away, puffing out her cheeks and shaking her head before turning and walking to the door. It creaked as she pulled it open, glancing back at him. “For the record, I do trust you. Sometimes, more than I trust myself.”
“Well, that might be overdoing it a bit. Don’t you think?” Hector said with a chuckle.
“Mirae, you have a visitor!” Their father’s voice boomed down the hallway before she could respond. Mirae cocked her head to the side, frowning. But shrugged, waving goodbye to Hector and leaving the room.