Katya stood a distance away from the stranger sleeping next to the stream. The trinket the Lady Oracle had given her pointed straight in the man’s direction. She circled around a few steps, but the needle of the makeshift compass remained steadily pointed towards the strange man.

It made no sense.

The previous night, a magical anomaly, the likes of which no one in Willowcreek had never seen before, befell the Wyrdwood and the small towns that made their home in the forest. First came the beautiful glowing lights that painted the sky like watercolor on a canvas. Katya had read about the phenomenon in a dusty old book describing the Northern Kingdoms — but it had mentioned the lights, no, the aurorae could only form far to the north due to some physical processes she did not understand. But that could not explain why the lights had appeared in a place as south as the Wyrdwood.

However, none of the townfolk had had much chance to admire the aurora, for a mere few seconds after the sky flashed, an oppressive blanket of mana descended upon them. It had felt like she was suddenly drowning, having left her gasping for air. None of the other townfolk fared any better.

Katya could still remember the helplessness she had felt, the dawning acceptance that she was going to die.

But the event had ended as mysteriously as it had begun. Aside from a big fright, especially among the elderly, no one had been injured by the strange mana. It had dispersed as quickly as it had appeared, though Katya could not begin to guess where the mana had gone. Mana did not just disappear.

The string of surprises did not end there. When the summons from her Master’s manor came by the next morning, she had not expected the Lady Oracle to be anything other than her usual demure self. She was considered one of the great powers as far as the Wyrdwood was concerned, and she had always carried herself with an assured confidence that spoke of her centuries of experience. To someone unfamiliar with the Lady, she might have seemed normal, but Katya knew her master well enough to spot the slight tremble in her hands when Katya was handed the compass.

“This little item will take you to the source of the disturbance,” her Master had told her as she placed the delicate construct in her disciple’s waiting hands. Looking at it, one wouldn’t have thought it to be the work of a master Fate mage. A palm-sized piece of parchment, with a tiny twig sitting on top, and a needle going through the center of the parchment connecting it to one end of the twig. By all appearances, a child’s attempt at making a compass out of scraps.

Of course, Katya had immediately channeled mana to her eyes, activating one of the simplest spells under the school of Fate — Fate Vision. With the spell active, she could see the true nature of the construct. It had, at its core, a small thread of the mana from the previous night sat enveloped by threads made out of Fate mana. The Fate construct was fairly simple — it would create a link between the mana at its core and the source. A much more complex shell was layered above, one that would prevent the source from sensing the compass. Katya herself could have easily crafted the tracking part of the construct — such magic was merely the entry-level to her field, but the anti-tracking shell was beyond her current skills.

Katya repressed a shudder as she touched on the mana at the core, suddenly confronted with memories of the night before. A moment later, her Master’s words registered in her brain.

“W-What? You’re not sending me to find the source, are you?” exclaimed Katya, suddenly alarmed at the prospect of having to confront whatever had caused the event.

“Relax, child. I would not send you into danger. I have already divined who the source is and what you can expect. I would not send you to find him if he posed a threat to you.

Katya raised an eyebrow at her Master’s words. “That thing last night could have crushed me like a bug, and you say he’s not a threat? And anyway, you want me to find this person and then what? Bring him here?”

“Oh no, he’s a threat. But not in the short term, and more importantly, not to you.”

The Oracle gave a weary sigh and sat down on a nearby divan. “That’s why it must be you who goes. I have spent the whole night running simulations on how to best approach this conundrum. There are few good paths to take that will not lead to a disaster. The less you know right now, the greater our chances of success. The only thing I am able to tell you is that you must join him on his journey and that he cannot be allowed to meet me.”

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

“So then I, what, go and find this guy, who you’re treating like some herald of the apocalypse, and then tag along to steer him away from meeting you? How does that make any sense?”

“You will understand later. But now, I need you to trust me. Please.”

The Oracle held her apprentice’s gaze locked for a moment, and then Katya nodded almost imperceptibly. She owed her Master too much to deny her this — and she knew the woman much too well not to trust her given the seriousness of the situation.

Her task was strange, but she would get it done.

And now, one day later, she found herself standing in front of the object of her search, unable to reconcile the domineering aura from the previous night with the harmless-looking man sleeping in front of her.

The fact that he had not at all sensed her approach spoke of a severe lack of experience — this kind of carelessness did not let you live long in the Wyrdwood. His only saving grace was that he was sleeping during the daytime, when the only danger would be other humans. The beasties only roamed at night.

He had a messy clump of black hair, slick with sweat, and a pale, angular face. He wore nothing but a pair of breeches, their material indiscernible under all the grime, and his torso and arms were covered in numerous scars. All in all, he would have fit right in with one of the big city beggars.

Hesitantly, she braced herself activated Fate Vision. The spell told her another story entirely — she was blinded instantly, the man’s absurd amount of Threads of Fate glowing brightly to her enhanced vision. The Threads were meant to signify meaningful connections between people — the average human would acquire several dozens, at most a hundred over the course of their lives. Most of these would be thin, about as wide as a strand of yarn, and a handful would grow to be as thick as one’s wrist. Fate practitioners like herself and her master would usually collect several times more, as they would be seeking out connections deliberately, but never in her life had Katya seen something like this.

The man was positively covered in Threads. She could not even begin to count them, as they just melded into one another creating what looked to her like a miniature sun.

Okay, maybe not harmless after all.

Katya was so focused on the glowing orb of Fate that she did not notice the target of her inspection waking up and lifting himself off the ground.

“Uh, hello?”

His words broke her from her reverie, and Katya promptly shut down her Fate Vision, letting the world return to normal. A headache was beginning to mount, but she pushed it away to be replaced with a deep feeling of embarrassment as if she had been a child caught with their hand in a cookie jar.

“Oh, um, hi! I was looking for you — I mean — umm, I’m sorry, I’m doing this wrong,” Katya stammered. The stranger smiled in amusement at her antics, but tensed up at the same time, wary of her sudden apparition.

Katya took a deep breath and started again.

“I’m Katya. I’m a disciple of the Lady Oracle down in Willowcreek. She sent me here to find you and help.”

That came out much better.

He gave her a look-over, as if trying to divine the truth from her appearance, then shifted his weight to his other leg and crossed his arms.

“Akkari,” he replied, giving her a slight nod. “I’m afraid you have me at a disadvantage. I’m not familiar with your master, or even the town you’re hailing from,” he paused, gathering his thoughts. “I am… new to these parts, so to speak.”

“That’s okay! I’ve lived here all my life, I know the place like the back of my hand,” Katya replied with a grin. “I can show you around, no problem.”

“In any case, I’m afraid that’s all I can say about myself, for now. My...” Akkari hesitated, unsure how much information to divulge. He blinked once, then steeled himself and continued. “My memory only goes back as far as yesterday morning. I seem to have been afflicted with some kind of amnesia.” His face twisted into an apologetic frown. “I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’m afraid there’s nothing I can help your master with, given my situation.”

Katya blinked twice, confusion spread on her face. A second later her eyes widened in comprehension. “Oh no, you misunderstand! She sent me to help you. She’s a really big shot Fate practitioner, knows basically everyone and everything,” she started, then paused when she realized she was rambling. “What I mean to say is, she thinks that you’re important in some way or another, and that me helping will result in good things happening. Kind of. So here I am!” Katya grinned again.

Akkari pondered her words for a while. As the silence stretched, Katya began to worry that she may have come on too strongly and spooked the man. She could empathize with his confusion, given his circumstances. Finally, the man stepped closer to her and held out his hand.

“Then I will have to accept your offer for help. Thank you.”

Katya smiled, then grabbed his hand and shook. It was going to work out.