Chapter 4: Vision of the past
A merchant coach made its way out of the city gates. Inside, four people were seated: two men, one woman, and a teenage boy. The coach had just passed through the gates when one of the men overheard a conversation between the city gatekeepers.
"Did you hear about what happened in West Hill?" Gatekeeper 1 asked, piquing 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 news." Gatekeeper 1 boasted before he continued, "Well, I heard that a young woman was found dead in the staircase of a building named Barrin where she was renting. What's shocking about her death was that her eyes were burnt, and she was bleeding from them. Also, several of her internal organs were missing. Her neighbors found her in her room, and apparently, the killer appeared to have been her neighbor."
Josh, who was listening to their conversation from the coach, looked down in guilt. He knew 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 would have happened. While lost in his thoughts, a hand rested on his shoulder. Looking up, he saw Simon shaking his head slightly. "It's not your fault," he mouthed. Josh looked down again, not sure whether he believed that. The coach made its way into the wilderness.
Late at night, the coach had stopped, and they made camp in an open space near a river. Two of the merchants, Bron and Don, made a 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 in front 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 shared stories and reasons for leaving Moonridge. Sarah smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, my father left me his coal mine as an 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 of his rank and title. His life had not been smooth, and it was all because he took the wrong decision and stumbled upon things he still failed to believe.
[Am I stuck in a never-ending 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 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, staring at the fire. Simon frowned a bit but quickly replaced it with a calm expression. Sarah was a bit taken aback by the question, 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 reciprocates in kind," Sarah explained. Simon couldn't help but nod.
"What she said," he agreed. 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 eyes made him handsome but not so 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, but sadly, hers had died on the frontlines defending the kingdom.
"Your mother taught you well." With that, the campsite was quiet once more. After everyone was asleep, Josh 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 new level of peace, Josh murmured, "Reveal your past."
For a short while, Josh thought it did not work, but then he found himself standing in front of 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. 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, now dry and cracked, its rocky floor exposed to the harsh elements.
Josh walked along the dry bed, feeling the earth beneath his feet. The ground 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 faced 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. One was dressed like a farm worker, and the other 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 would ditch him and come to me, but you failed. Now Harrington is thriving even more since whatever you did must have fertilized his grounds even more! Now tell me, what do I do with you?" The aristocratic 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 Mr. Harrington's." The farmer spoke hurriedly, but it seemed like Mr. Dotmon was not having it. 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, and for a moment, Josh believed he could really see him, but then Dotmon passed right through him without any shred of guilt.
Without warning, Josh returned to the real world, his hand still in the water. Standing up, he stared at his reflection, 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 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,] Josh quietly thought. Unbeknownst to him, someone was watching his strange actions with a confused expression.
"What secrets are you hiding, Mr. Belling?" the observer spoke slowly, before leaving.
Josh, who was so immersed in his new findings, did not notice that a spy had been watching him. Deciding to return to the tent, he shot his reflection one last look before retreating, but in his mind, he had found a new objective: investigate the Dotmon family.
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