Chapter 40: Chapter 40

DEITY FLORA

The Palace Grounds, Kingdom of Howard

What Deity Flora had seen just now was not for the faint of heart.

It was unlike any of her visions before. Disturbing would be an understatement.

"The King must brace himself for the worse." The Deity whispered to herself as she crossed the palace grounds towards the King's Throne Room.

"A pleasant day, Deity Flora."

Deity Flora stopped floating in her tracks. She did not need to turn around to know who it was. "Hello, Prince Gian."

"I hope you're doing well," the prince said, his hands crossed behind him.

"I am certainly doing my best right now. Thank you for asking." Deity Flora slowly faced the prince. "My, you do have a habit of sneaking up on everybody."

The prince's nose flared with the observation. "I just happen to be in the right place, at the right time. Sheer luck, I supposed."

"Luck never made a man wise. Remember that, My Prince." Deity Flora then curtsied as a sign of respect and started floating away.

"Is there news about Colter?" Gian called out to her.

The Deity paused. "It's best if I disclose my visions to the King for the safety of everyone. I'm sure the King has a sound judgement of whether he'll share what I have foreseen with anyone he trusts."

With that, the Deity continued her way towards the direction of the Throne Room. She knew that Gian had a habit of eavesdropping on conversations, minding other people's businesses. She could feel that the prince was persistent in knowing what she had seen, on what account, she was unsure. But one thing was certain, she would not be able to stop what was about to happen next.

She made a great effort pretending to ignore the prince shadowing her. It was kind of amusing at some point. To the untrained eye and someone with no extrasensory perception, no one would even notice him.

Ever since he was young, Gian really had a habit of sneaking off to places he was not allowed to. It was unfathomable as to why Colter was the one always caught and not him. If anyone knew all the secret passages in the Palace, it would be him.

But she always knew. She knew he would easily blend in the shadows, like he was one with them. She paid it no mind but with the current situation of the Kingdom, he found it disturbing, all the while supporting her vision from earlier and her intuition.

As she reached the doors to the Throne Room, she took a deep breath and knocked, loud enough to be heard from the inside.

"Enter,"

She opened the doors and floated right in.

Once she reached the foot of the throne where the King was seated, she gave out a graceful curtsy. "Your Grace,"

"Deity," King Malik nodded in acknowledgement. "I hope it's good news you have brought in today."

Deity Flora sighed. "Alas, My King. It is unfortunate that I bear no good news. I have no intention of seeing only the bad things as my Sight is not selective but rather dependent on what is currently happening."

The King grunted. "Very well, then. Let's hear it."

"The looming danger that I had foreseen many nights ago has already descended upon Howard. It is rather unfortunate that Lost Prince is involved."

That caught the King's attention and he leaned forward, urging the Deity to continue. "I see that the Kingdom will soon fall into the hands of an unknown adversary. Howard will face defeat. The Palace will be razed to the ground as the entire Kingdom will be overrun by monsters, far greater than the ones in a child's nightmares. There will be a great loss among us and I fear that it will topple the entire system and the morale of the Ecanus." Deity Flora trailed off. "I hope that my visions are wrong and that Howard will see through it."

"One other thing, the unnamed adversary has found a friend in one of our ranks. He had been helping them gather intel and causing tremors of trouble in small amounts across the Kingdom. Whether he's doing it unknowingly or not, I can only see a great deal of anger and pain in this traitor's heart."

Deity Flora finished recounting her vision and she discreetly looked behind her shoulder to meet Gian's silver eyes, faintly shimmering in the dark, in her peripheral sight.

"The gall of that traitor!" King Malik thundered. "Who is it? We could prevent this from happening if you disclose the traitor's name!"

The Deity remained stoic despite the King's outrage. "I have went on ahead and cast a Clarification spell to reveal the traitor's identity. I can give you the name once the spell I cast is finished. It shall be done in three days."

"Three days is a long time, Deity! We might not have any time left. We could not let this traitor wander around, trading our secrets to the enemy!"

She unflinchingly met the King's eyes. "I feared as much. I have already taken counter-intuitive motions to supplement the Clarification spell I casted. There seems to be a great deal of dark magic shrouding the man in question. The enemy really values his help as they have taken the act of protecting him from being revealed."

King Malik looked ready to kill on the spot but Deity Flora assured him. "My King, your anger right now clouds your judgement and that is understandable. Might I remind you that even though we are facing the greatest adversary Howard has experienced in a long, long time, I have faith that you will see Howard through. The entire Ecanus is grateful for your protection and leadership."

It seemed to work as the King had calmed down. Deity Flora continued. "Trust in the process and your instincts, Your Highness. Be wary and vigilant. Use my prophecies as your guiding light in making the next steps to secure Howard's safety."

"May we all get through this in Howard's name." Deity Flora gave the King a blessing, a simple spell to help him alleviate his high emotions.

It was all she could do right now.

---

TESSA

Burn's Bar, New York City

"I need those bacon fries ready for serving, Lance!" Tessa yelled through the tiny window.

Banging pots could be heard from the kitchen. "Yes, yes I know! Calm yourself woman."

Tessa chuckled to herself. She always enjoyed rattling Lance. It was like poking a bunny's nose and watching it scamper around like all annoyed.

"Tess, I know what you're doing. Quit picking on Lance." Vida said as pulled on the dish cart.

"That's what I've been telling her!" Lance yelled in the kitchen. "Pick someone your own size."

"Less chatting, more cooking!" Tessa yelled back in a sing-song voice.

Vida laughed and said, "Here let me take those off your hands." She gestured to the plates on Tessa's tray.

"Thanks, luv." Tessa said. Vida then placed the plates on the cart and went inside the kitchen to deliver them for washing.

She looked around the floor, making sure that each customer was taken care of, when something peculiar caught her eye.

Right outside the window was a bird that made Tessa's hair stand on their end.

"What in the world?" She muttered to herself and slowly approached the window where it was perched.

She looked around and saw the people were paying it no mind. Once she got close enough, she realized it was no ordinary bird, it was a vulture, something you rarely see in a bustling city like New York. But what really creeped Tessa out the most was the fact that it was looking at her.

"I thought you guys, are like living in the desert or something," she said to herself. The vulture cocked its head as if answering her question. It opened its mouth and squawked, she could hear it through the glass.

When she blinked, she was not in Burn's anymore, having a blinking contest with a vulture. She was somewhere in an alley, where three men were surrounding another man in a corner. It took a while for her to recognize that it was Colter and he had a torch in front of him. Very medieval if you ask her. He was keeping them at bay with the flames. Then suddenly, the men lunged forward to attack Colter. After a while of scuffling, he was overpowered. They turned into big-ass vultures, carrying an unconscious Colter between them and flying off into a portal.

Tessa blinked and as fast as it had come, the scene disappeared. And so did the bird.

"Tessa, you alright?"

Tessa turned around quickly and saw Vida's concerned face.

"What's the matter? You look pale." Her friend remarked.

"Vida, call me crazy but I just had the weirdest thing to ever happen to me." Tessa said. She recounted what she saw through the window and what happened to Colter. "For Christ's sake, I don't even read your fantasy books. That was crazy."

"You sure you have been getting the right amount of sleep? You must have been daydreaming." Vida said.

"That was one crazy daydream if you asked me," Tessa said. "Besides why would I daydream about Colter being carried off by giant vultures?"

Vida shrugged. "Beats me, Tess. C'mon. It's not gonna happen. Giant vultures in the city? I highly doubt it. Relax, okay? Let me get you a glass of water. After that, let's get back to work alright?"

Tessa nodded. Her friend was probably right. It was nothing.

She just hopes so for the sake of her mental health.