Myne

eight

“Can you also show me how it’s done?” Rain asked. “While you are reading my fortune?”

The old man Sky stared at the girl, with a pondering expression. It was a simple question. There was, however, no simple answer. Not because he couldn’t, but because doing so wasn’t as simple in meaning as the girl seemed to think. But then, he paused. Was he sure the girl really thought it simple?

“Why?” He asked. “What are you hoping to achieve?”

“I am hoping to learn something,” she answered readily. “I don’t mean to be accepted as your student. I would like that. I would appreciate that. But I cannot ask for that. Or even expect that. I know that much. Picking up a few things, from observing, should be okay, shouldn’t it? That wouldn’t be asking too much, would it?”

“It wouldn’t,” Sky said. He was even smiling at the girl. “Okay. Let’s do this. I’ll even read out the steps, while I read your fortune. How much you grasp, how much you learn and understand, is up to you. What do you say?”

She nodded animatedly. There was no answer to the question but a loud and definite yes.

“Okay then,” Sky said. “Pay attention.”

The first step in reading a person’s fortune was determining an anchor. In most cases, and the easiest, was the birth date along with the time. In Rain’s case, her father had long ago shared her birth date and time, when asking for the favour. It was that openness and the great love of a father for his darling daughter that moved Sky and had him make the promise.

Step two was writing the details on a paper, placing that paper on a runic diagram. The rune acted as the portal connecting the stars high up among the heavens with the details on the paper. And that connection was the channel that allowed the reader to read the lines of fate hidden between the stars.

When a reader was practiced enough, and was expert enough, he, or she, could simplify the process. Sky didn’t need a paper. Didn’t need to draw the rune. He could directly establish the channel with the heavens. As if he had the rune drawn in his eyes, and the details in his head, and that was enough to find the right fate, and read the hidden lines. That was exactly what he did now, with the additional step of announcing what he was doing for the benefit of the pleasant girl.

And then, with the lines of fate becoming visible, he fell quiet. There was only so much the heavens allowed. A different reader might dare to challenge those limits. But Sky would never. His relationship with the heavens was deeper than just reading the lines of fate. And in return to all that the heavens gifted him, he gave them his truest respect.

His head was tilted upward. His back bent. His hands clenched on his lap. His legs crossed under him. And his eyes were all back, as if reflecting the darkness of the heavens. And in the depths of his eyes were ancient characters making up the lines of fate. Characters that he had read most his life. Characters he was as familiar with as any mortal alphabet.

His lips moved as he read. But no sound escaped out. And no one could make sense even after reading his lips. He read as much as he was allowed. And then his head collapsed down onto his chest. He breathed slow, regulating it along with his heart. It was a slow and lengthy process. To others, it was long as eternity. To him, it was a fleeting moment. A long moment. But a moment nonetheless.

When he opened his eyes and looked at the girl staring back at him wide-eyed and eager, he smiled. A smile that drowning in sorrow.

He expected her to be unnerved. He had seen such a scene many, many times. Not everyone was able to look at him right after a reading. When his eyes were slowly returning to normal, the black receding to the middle and the whites showing on the outside. When his breath condensed into mist over his face, like it was the coldest winter, even on the afternoon of a hot summer day. But most of all, when he seemed to be looking not at the person opposite him, but through the person. He had heard people describe it as scary. He had seen people fall away in the face of that, too terrified to scream, too shaken to sit straight. Even the brave and the strong felt uneasy. The girl was only sixteen. He expected the worst from her. She gave him much better. She was unnerved. She was shaken. But she wasn’t near terrified. She had no intention of screaming. She certainly wasn’t falling off of the chair. Even her curiosity stayed the same.

“So?” She asked. At least her voice was changed. It was weak. Small. Trembling.

“You are blessed,” he said.

He let the words sink in. Let the smile brighten her face. Let her revel in the joy. And then, just as she readied to speak, he continued. That was the good part. There was still more. There was still the bad part.

“You are fortunate. You have great joy in your fortune. But, that comes later. After a lot of hardship. A lot of pain and suffering. You must pass the tribulation. Then, you step into a blessed life. This is your fate.”

“What do you mean?” She asked after a long while. “Tribulation? Hardship? How bad?”

“The kind that defines people, that moulds people into stronger versions of themselves. That will mould you into the person you are fated to be.”

“I need to see,” she said.

And then, it was his turn to be terrified. For she looked into his eyes, held her gaze steady, until she dived in. Right into his eyes. Right through his eyes. Then, she was looking through him. Her eyes turned silver, entirely. Her mouth hung open, as she breathed through it. And every breath she breathed out a dense cloud, that continually grew in size, and hid more of her features. Until, her eyes were all that showed, from behind the clouds, from behind her breath. And when he looked back into her eyes, he saw in their depths, the ancient runes. Characters from the heavens, from behind the stars. Only, she wasn’t reading them. No, she was with them. She was reaching for them. She was becoming them. She was becoming the runes.

And then, she collapsed. As if drained of all her strength. And he looked on. Frozen. Still. Disbelieving.

Everything he thought he knew, had collapsed. And instead of feeling down, or sad, or blue, he was terrified and excited. For he understood what he was looking at. He knew what it meant.