EW 22-620
Everything feels surreal.
From the moment I learned that Nathaniel Hope wanted to kill me on this journey to losing Kori, I thought that I wouldn’t survive. Luck persevered and rescued me, helping me reach the isolated land of Eternally within four months.
Traversing through the never ending snow storm felt like hell. It was cold. I was hungry. I truly believed I was going to die, especially with the lack of food and water. I even had to eat snow–an experience I do not want to tell others. I was fortunate that the cave I took shelter in had a long tunnel. Exploring through the tunnel led me to a trap door with a bat Cobot. I was utterly confused at the sight of the bat. I was foolish to have thrown a knife at it because it activated the trap door that I was standing on.
Falling from a high distance usually led to death. I dreamt and a voice called out to me, telling me I was alive. When I woke up, I wasn’t dead. I believe it was fate of sorts as I met Nova.
Nova is beautiful and enigmatic, a man shrouded in mysteries. His lavender eyes are gorgeous; it’s like looking at a sunsetting sky. He told me he has the ability to grant wishes, just like the dragon of lore I’ve coveted for a long time. It was hard to believe him at first, but he told no lies.
That man harbors the fabled lavender dragon, Souhait, inside of him as his vessel. I do not know the specific details of how this came to be, but I know that they’ll tell me one day. I was able to accomplish a feat no other human has ever done: meeting Souhait and getting my wish granted.
The wish granting process was much more painful than I expected as it forced me to look through several parts of my memories in order to find a wish. My wish is for wishes to return to this world and Souhait granted it for me, with some conditions.
Here I am now, alive and writing this tale in this journal. I am positive that no one would ever believe me if I tell tales of this. It doesn’t matter. If they disregard me, they can. I will only tell tales and take in those who believe.
I wonder what will happen now. What happens now that my wish is granted? How will we go about accomplishing Nova and Souhait’s goal of granting the wishes of all living beings in this world?
~
Arcturus took one last glance at his entry and then closed his journal. He wondered if this was a portion of what Souhait meant about writing an honest log about Nova and him. He sat up from Nova’s lap. He was amazed by how Nova was still asleep while sleeping in a rather uncomfortable position.
His earring in Nova’s hand glowed for an instant and then reverted back to normal. He took it out of his hand to see what just happened. The earring was usually a cuff that had a sphere dangling from it; it normally was a bright yellow. On the sphere resided a sort of white insignia as if a portion of it got peeled off.
“Could this be like the marking I have on my chest? Does that mean Nova granted Kori’s wish?” A sense of relief came to him. He knew Kori wasn’t truly dead for his earring was still intact and in one piece; he just felt bad for what had to happen. He clasped the earring in his hands.
“Thank you, Kori.” He needed to say gratitudes more than apologies; otherwise the closure he wanted in his Realm of Desires would be for naught.
His ears caught the sound of Nova softly stirring in his slumber. It sparked joy in him. Once Nova’s eyes were fully open, Arcturus gave him a big smile.
“You’re awake, Nova!”
Nova looked surprised. After a few blinks, he greeted him back.
“You’re quite the heavy sleeper.” Arcturus remarked.
Nova chuckled. “The same applies to you when I first found you. I tried waking you up several times, but you wouldn’t budge.”
They both chuckled awkwardly. Suddenly, all the questions he wanted to ask Nova came to him. “Nova, what happened to the ice sculptures?”
Nova reached his hand out and a miniature version of the Souhait ice sculpture appeared from his palm tattoo. “I stored them. They took way too much time for me to destroy them all.”
Arcturus sighed in relief. He would be upset if they had been destroyed. The answer to that question felt like a weight had been lifted off of his shoulder. Another question came to him in a flash.
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“What should we do now?”
“We’re leaving Castle Lavender.” Nova answered.
“Leave?”
“There’s no more reason for me to stay here. I found you and a motivation to keep going. We need to leave in order for me to start my goal.”
“Is there an exit?” Arcturus scanned the area.
“There is, but it’d take a while for us to find it because of the tricks and turns in this castle. I’m also worried about those Shifties that are after me.”
Arcturus became deep in thought. If it took a while for them to find an exit and for them to find a way to leave safely without being detected by opposing Shifties, he thought of one alternative.
“Maybe we can return to the cave where I came from?”
“The cave?”
“Yeah, I took shelter in a cave which had a tunnel leading to the trap door with the bat Cobot.”
“Oh, that one. Arcturus, do you know how to return to that cave?”
“Unfortunately, no.”
“Worry not. You can wish for it!”
Arcturus tilted his head and raised an eyebrow. He was confused because he had already gotten his wish granted. Nova was hard to understand.
Nova noticed his expression and cleared his throat. “Let me explain. You and I are in a contract now. Because we’re in a contract, I can grant any wish you want.”
Arcturus quickly got out his journal to a blank page. “Elaborate.”
“Because we’re in a contract, I can grant any wish you want. It sounds too good to be true, right? However, there is a catch. You have to be elaborate with your wish. When you wish for something, you have to visualize. The wish won’t be granted properly if you aren’t specific. Let’s say that you wish for gold. What sort of gold would you want? If you just wish for gold, you get all sorts of gold: gold bars, gold coins, gold accessories and gold colored pencils to name a few; however, the gold that was wished for can either be real or fake because “gold” wasn’t specified. I could conjure up fake gold and there could be a problem with that later on. I could even conjure up gold combinations like white gold or rose gold.”
As he jotted everything word down, Arcturus had a hunch that there was a catch with this unusual generosity, and he was glad he had asked. Even if it was a big power to have, there were many risks. Anyone careless could be in trouble later on.
“By the way, be aware that once you get a wish granted, it cannot be rescinded. It is forever permanent. If you wish for gold and I conjure up fake gold, you cannot undo your wish. You are stuck with fake gold forever unless you find a way to pawn it off. Think of it as a risk factor. Your wishes are permanent and you cannot take anything back. That’s how Souhait conjured up the rules of wish-granting for this world. You wished for wishes to come back to this world; that is now permanent. If you want to rescind your wish, that means our contract breaks and you will die.”
Arcturus knew he should be very careful. One flub and he would be stuck with results he could never fix unless he paid for it with his life. Souhait was rather cruel for creating these strict rules; he understood why they needed to be strict just in case someone were to become abusive towards this power.
“There are a few restrictions to this power. While you can wish for anything, you cannot wish for resurrection. Death is permanent. If anyone wishes to resurrect, they’d have to erase their whole existence in order to hide evidence about this forbidden case.”
“Isn’t that a bit harsh?”
“I’m just reciting the rules Souhait implemented into this world.”
Arcturus glanced at his journal. “Is there anything else about wishes that I’d need to know?”
Nova pondered before realizing he had left out one more important detail: “Wishes can only be granted when I am awake. The ability to grant them is a consensual act. I will not abide by non-consensual acts.”
Arcturus nodded as he jotted all of it down. “Anything else?”
“That’s it for wishes.”
Arcturus closed his journal. “So, if I wish to return to the cave, I need to visualize and also specify for both of us to go.”
Nova nodded. Arcturus understood and closed his eyes. He recalled what the cave was like: spacious, cold, dark, had remaining wood for a campfire, and had a long tunnel. He visualized as much as he could. “I wish for Nova and me to return to the cave where I made a campfire.”
When he opened his eyes, he still found himself in Castle Lavender. He was confused and worried about being lied to.
Nova spoke up. “I forgot to tell you this, but you need to touch your mark as you grant your wish.”
Arcturus placed his journal into his satchel and then took a deep breath. He needed to visualize everything again. Before he could close his eyes to concentrate, a wolf charged into the room, aiming straight for Nova. This caused Arcturus to lose his concentration as he focused on his attempt to protect Nova. He touched his earring to materialize a dagger from his bangle.
Nova dodged the wolf’s lunge. His right hand changed into its draconic form; he lunged forward to punch the mechanical wolf with strong force in order to knock it down to the floor. Arcturus took the chance to charge towards the Shiftie and used the ice to his advantage by sliding to snatch the earring off of its right ear. He used his dagger to stab into the earring, malfunctioning both it and the vessel.
The throne room became quiet once again. Nova’s hand reverted back into its normal state as he took a deep breath. “We sure make a good team.”
Before he could remark, Arcturus decided to place a hand to his heart. He wanted to talk once they reached safety. He visualized the cave and then commanded, “I wish for Nova and I to return to the cave where I was earlier.”
The silence of the throne room had been exchanged with the whispers of the cold wind. He opened his eyes and saw that the wish worked. He was equally shocked as he was fascinated. He was speechless, which caused him to sit down in order to process something to say; every time he tried to find something to say, the words slipped out of his mind.
Nova giggled at how flabbergasted he was. “The power of wishes is amazing, right?”
A bewildered Arcturus looked at Nova straight in the eye. “It definitely is.”