Timeless Destiny - Chapter 1 Sample

Harvest day. All of the folks are up early, excited to see the fruits of their labor. Three months worth of blood and sweat, and now their efforts has paid off. With a final look in the mirror, Haimisu secures the old straw hat on top of her grey-haired head. She makes sure that her hairbun isn’t destroyed.

It is Haimisu’s habit to inhale the scent of the wheat before stepping out of the house. She opens the door while humming a merry tune, and inhales the outside air that welcomes her.

Her eyes grew wide. She smells burnt wheat. It didn’t take her long to realize where it comes from. She runs over to the middle of her wheat field where the smoke is rising. She is surprised of what she is seeing: a young girl, wearing the kind of clothes that priestesses wear 200 years ago. Taijin sees Haimisu who is almost collapsing to the ground. He rushes to help Haimisu.

“Haimisu, you don’t seem alright. Anything wrong?” Taijin didn’t bother waiting for an answer. He looks toward the person that caught his eye.

“Taijin, take a look... compare this photograph... with that girl... tell me...tell me that my eyes... are fooling me,” Haimisu replied with the faintest of her voice.

Taijin takes the folded photograph and unfolds it. It is a picture of the legendary priestess of Horokeu, Resshin.

“Haimisu, your eyes are not fooling you. This girl is... Resshin.”

Taijin’s voice echoed throughout the whole field. Soon after, the whole town of Gyokuseki gathered around the unconscious body of Resshin.

Various theories has evolved since the appearance of Resshin. Rikou, the smartest person in Gyokuseki, theorizes that it is the Atreyu curse that makes Resshin exist even after she is born 200 years ago.

“But Rikou, if Resshin is under the curse of Atreyu, how did she get it?” one of the farmers asked.

Rikou opens his mouth to answer, but he does not go on. The door opened. Standing there, is Resshin.

“Please do not tell anybody outside this hall about my existence. I wish to live a normal life like you do, and it will only happen if no one will know about me.”

Before Resshin is able to blink her eye, all of the villagers except Rikou turned into black dust. To prevent those dusts from entering his aged eyes, Rikou closes his eyes as the wind blew.

“You are such a disgrace, Resshin. Telling all those filthy humans about the history of the mages! Rikou, how can you let yourself suffer and live with them?” It is the feared dark priestess Mistress Haraise. Because she is born as a pure-blood mage, she hated humans ever since she was young.

“Lady Haraise of Keigoku, aren’t you supposed to be dead by now? We priestesses do not live for all eternity, unless we are under a...” The sound of Haraise’s hand on Resshin’s face made Rikou open his eyes. Haraise is glowing blue in anger, while Resshin still looks peaceful and calm.

“I still can’t believe that a half-mage like you became the priestess of the strongest mage clan in the village of Horokeu, the Hoshigaki clan. And I shall be called Mistress Haraise, as all real mages deserve to be called,” Haraise said, laughing and releasing a semi-strong black chi to Resshin. Resshin dodges and dissolves it with a flick of her hand.

“Very well, I shall go back to my temple in Keigoku. We shall meet again.” With a blink of an eye, Haraise vanished.

* * *

Three days has passed since Mistress Haraise annihilated all the humans in the village of Gyokuseki. It is only Rikou and Resshin who lived together in the village. They dared not to speak to each other, fearing that either one will offend the other.

It is a bright sunny afternoon and Resshin is roasting some of the fish they caught at tihe river the day before. Rikou is setting up a table under a tree. After setting the table, Rikou approached Resshin. He cleared his throat as he is walking, making sure that he has not lost his voice after three days of not talking.

“Resshin, do you wish to know who I really am?” Rikou is surprised by his own question. It is not the question that he is intending to ask. Upon hearing Rikou’s question, Resshin let out a breath and looks at him.

“Yes, I want to know you. I have a strong feeling that I’ve known you 200 years ago,” Resshin replied. Rikou smiles upon hearing Resshin‘s response.

“Resshin, do you remember your servant Chuunaru?”

“Yes. How can I ever forget Chuunaru? She took care of me since I was born.” Rikou’s smile widened. He closes his eyes, and after a moment he changes into an elderly woman.

“This is me, Resshin. I am your servant Chuunaru.”

“I know it was you Chuunaru. I am happy that you have mastered the ability of disguising. Now what puzzles me is how did you manage to live until this time. What kind of curse did you get?”

Chuunaru sits down on the chair beside Resshin’s seat. She tries to remember what curse made her live for 200 years.

“I am sorry Resshin, but I seem not to remember the real reason of my longevity. I remember all things since I was a kid, but somehow this memory slipped off my mind.”

There is an icy silence after Chuunaru’s statement. Resshin is deep in thought.

“Chuunaru, I think I know why you forgot that only memory. A powerful mage or a witch casted this longevity spell on you. The caster also made sure that you will not forget the way you got the spell, so you cannot reverse it and cast a counterspell on yourself.”

Chuunaru is taken aback. She has no idea who would the possible caster be.

“Uhh... Resshin... do you know... who could have done this to me?”

Resshin tries to think, but only one name rings a bell.

“I’d rather not say... only one person is obvious enough to be the suspect.”

Chuunaru just shrugged, trying to ignore the thought that it is Mistress Haraise who caused their misery.

After eating their lunch, they cleaned everything up and continued cleaning their surroundings. They have been planning to leave Gyokuseki for good. Their destination however is unknown yet.

Many hours have passed and the sun has set. Only one piece of light can be seen flickering throughout Gyokuseki. Resshin’s image has been taken down, since there is no necessary reason anymore to have a shrine for the praised legendary priestess.

Resshin sits down in a corner, getting her nightly dose of evening meditation. Chuunaru comes inside, with sugar cane branches in her hand. She sits down beside Resshin and hands her a sugar cane branch. For five minutes the sound of sugar cane branches bitten and chewed reverberated on the walls of the half-empty room.