A merchant coach made it's way out of the city gates, inside four people were seated two men and one women with a teenage boy. The coach had just passed through the gates when one of the men in the coaches caught the conversation being spoken by the city gatekeepers.
"Did you hear about what happened in west hill?" Gatekeeper 1 one asked? Piqueing the interest of one of the passengers in the coach, Gatekeeper 2 shook his head expectantly, Gatekeeper 1 frowned a bit and asked
"But isn't willow Grove much closer to west hill? I live all the way in Rosewood but yet I have knews." Gatekeeper 1 asked and boasted before he continued,"well I heard that a young woman was founddead in the staircase of a building named Barrin where she was renting what's shocking about her death was the fact that her eyes were burnt and she was bleeding from her eyes, and also several of her internal organs were missing.Her neighbors found her and apparently the killer appeared to have been her neighbor ." The gatekeeper spoke, Josh who was listening in on their conversation from the coach, looked down in guilt he knew that the woman they were talking about was Judith. He was the cause of her death, If he had just ignored the old man none of this was going to happen. Whilst in his thoughts a hand rested on his shoulder, lifting his hand up he saw Simon shaking his head slightly "its not your fault." he mouthed, Josh looked down again not sure whether he believed that. The coach made it's way into the wilderness.
Late at night the coach had stopped and they had made camp in a open space near a river, two of the merchants bron and Don made fire and gave the horses water while Josh, Simon and the woman with her child sat by the fire eating roasted fish. The stars were shining bright and many sounds could be heard in the wilderness, Simon looked at the mother infront of them and smiled "So any plans after you reach Denil, Sarah?" Simon asked, they had introduced themselves to the woman earlier during the day and they had shared stories and reasons for leaving Moonridge. Sarah smiled and nodded "yeah, my father left me his coal mine as inheritance so I will be running it and raising my boy,what about you guys?"She asked with a smile her eyes on her son, Derrick who was quietly eating.
" We hope to change our lives there, Denil is the city of dreams after all and I hope our dreams will come true but we first have to find jobs while we work on our dreams."Simon answered, Josh's mind was not with them he was plagued by everything that had happened from the day they stripped him off his rank and tittle all until now his life had not been smooth, and it was all because he took the wrong decision and he stumbled up things even he still failed to believe.
[Am I stuck in an neverending nightmare? Is this retribution for all the bad I have done, for all the innocent blood I spilled? If it is then it's true what they say about karma, karma is a b****.] Josh thought with a sad smile, Simon caught the smile and he turned his attention to Josh
"What's with the smile?" Josh shook his head with a low chuckle, "Nothing, nothing at all. Tell me both of you, do you believe in karma?"He asked stariing at the fire, Simon frowned a bit but quickly replaced it with a calm expression, Sarah was a bit taken aback by the quest ion but she nodded "Yes I do, I believe every action we make has a consequence and that consequence is karma, whether good or bad karma reciprocate in kind." Sarah explained and Simon couldn't help but nod "What she said.", Josh listened intently and nodded with a low"i see."
Simon shook his head and decided to clear the air "Derrick, why are you so quiet? Are you afraid of us?" Simon smiled, and Derrick the boy in question took a bite out of his roasted fish while shaking his head,"No mister, mother says I should not talk whilst eating." The boy's voice was soft almost like a girl's, his brown curly hair and hazel smart eyes made him handsome but not too much that he would stand out, his mother was a very beautiful woman sharing the same hair and eye color with her son, such a beautiful woman deserved a husband and sadly hers died on the Frontlines defending the kingdom.
"Your mother taught you well."With that the campsite was quiet once more.after everyone was asleep Timothy left the tent he was in and went to the river,he had been eager to try out his divine gifts especially Vision of the past since he had already seen Whisper of life. Arriving at the river he stared at his dark reflection for a while before kneeling down and placing a hand on the river, his eyes remained closed as he listened to the sound of water, Josh's strong emotions of regret, sorrow and guilt seemed to leave with the flowing water of the river. Feeling a knew level of peace Josh murmured "Reveal you past." For a short while Josh thought it did not work but then he found himself standing in front a tiny stream trickling down the rocks, barely wider than his hand. Josh crouched beside it, fascinated by the clear water winding its way through the pebbles. He wondered where it came from and where it was going but then it clicked this was the river's past, how it formed, a second later he found himself standing in the riverbed, once filled with rushing water, was now dry and cracked, its rocky floor exposed to the harsh elements.
Josh walked along the dry bed, he could feel the earth beneath. The ground beneath his feet was a patchwork of cracked earth, split into jagged pieces like a puzzle waiting to be put together. The river's path was still visible, a winding scar through the landscape, lined with smooth, rounded stones that had been shaped by the water long ago. He guessed this must have been back in 617 when the kingdom face the great drought sadly he was not even born yet since that was two hundred years ago, without enough time to process the information Josh was suddenly standing behind two men the other was dressed like a farm worker and the other was more like an aristocrat handsome and dignified but right now he did not seem dignified at all as he was busy cursing at the farm worker who kept his head down in respect
"Ervin you twat , you can't even get one thing right. All I asked was for you to poison the plants so that Harrington's customers may ditch him and come to me but you failed and now Harrington is striving even more since whatever you did must have fertilized his grounds even more! Now tell me what do I do with you?" The aristocrat man yelled at the farmer, the farmer knelt down tears streaming
"But-Mr Dotmon I tried, please spare me the punishment I will try to work even harder now and I promise you your next harvest will be way better than mister Harrington's."The farmer spoke hurriedly but it seems like Mr dotmon was not having it as he had already taken out a knife from his pocket , the moment the farmer looked up, Dotmon inserted the knife into the man's forehead, killing him. Then he threw his body into the river , turning back Dotmon stared directly at him that for a moment Josh believed he could really see him but then Dotmon passed right through him without any shred of guilt.
Without warming Josh had returned to the real world his hand was still in water, standing up he stared at his hand then at the river, [I really do possess two divine gifts but I fear they will bring me more trouble than I think. What of my role in all of this mess you left me in old man? Am I supposed to take on your destiny since you are dead? But what about mine?.....mine's dead,I guess I will take on yours then.] Timothy quietly thought , unbeknownst to him someone was watching his strange actions with a confused expression"what secrets are you hiding Mr belling." The person spoke slowly, before leaving.
Timothy who was so immersed in his knew finding and he didn't notice that a someone had been spying on him. Deciding to return to the tent he shot himself one last look before retreating back to the tent but in his mind he had found a knew objective....Find out why was after the old man and why?