Torn Dimension: Ch. 12 - The One Who Could See

"Come with me." The King ordered, suddenly, after a strange silence between him and the warriors. He pointed in the direction of his throne. The warriors remained speechless. "Angst," he continued, "I would like you to follow too."
With his words the King began to walk ahead. Angst turned towards the warriors and signalled them to follow him. "You should stay close. I honestly have no idea what the King has in mind."
Without questioning, Daniel, Hope and Kira walked alongside Angst. Genesis turned to Aura and shrugged. His head sank.
Aura sighed. "He's the King… he wouldn't do anything silly. Besides, he's our lead to the Pulsus."
Genesis nodded. "I honestly had no doubts. I'm just confused about some things."
Aura walked up to Genesis and placed her hand upon his shoulder. "It's… Daniel, isn't it?"
Genesis looked ahead at Daniel scraping his feet as he walked before looking back towards Aura. He then shook his head frantically. "It's only been since this morning. He'll snap out of it." He then shrugged off his friend's hand and began to walk forward while she watched in pity. She followed shortly afterwards.
The five warriors soon found themselves stood in front of a large, stone door beside the King and Angst. There was the marking of a circle engraved on the door. Markings of vines were also engraved around the centre of the circle to the edges.
The King placed his hand on the door. The engravings began to glow bright green before the door slowly opened.
"How did you do that?" Genesis asked, astonished.
The King turned to face him and grinned. "There's a reason all the Kings and Queens of Terra are decedents."
Genesis shrugged. "I'm not even sure I want to ask."
"So, does that mean you're related to King Virtus?" Kira asked with enthusiasm.
The King chuckled. "He's my grandfather on… my mother's side, I believe. My mother was Queen Venus and my father… King Caedes."
The warriors, aside from Genesis, gazed in amazement. They began to walk through the stone door and into a giant, elegant hallway. The walls were marble and the ground was covered in red carpet. Stone pillars held up the roof at the side of the room. Classical ornaments were stood, or hung, around the room such as vases, lamps and chandeliers, etc.
"It's amazing how you can be related to both King Virtus and King Caedes." Kira proclaimed. "Best of both worlds, I suppose."
The King grinned. "It's fine. It's good to have ended his reign."
Genesis sighed. "Forgive my naivety, but… why are the two Kings good… or, well, bad?"
Angst laughed from behind the warriors. "Did you sleep through your History class or something, Genesis?"
Genesis scratched the back of his head. "Something like that…" He whispered, slyly.
"The previous two Kings of Terra, Virtus and Caedes, were father and son. However, they were nothing alike. King Virtus was an amazing warrior whose reign helped Terra greatly." Angst's face dropped before he continued. "King Caedes came to the throne with high hopes to continue his father's reign. Something quickly happened though-"
"My father was the worst thing that happened to Terra in a good few years. He secluded us from the rest of the world, slowly rotting Termus from the inside. We were effectively forced to face against one another for our lives."
"How long ago was this?" Genesis asked.
Railuma shook his head a little, placed his hand on his cheek, and stared into Genesis' eyes. "I can show you." With his words, the King pointed ahead towards a large door. Above the door laid the sign 'The Hall of Kings and Queens.'
"I assume this is the portrait room of all the previous Kings, right?" Hope asked, gathering the attention of Railuma. He turned and grinned as he opening the door to reveal a large hallway. A red carpet ran through the whole hallway to the other side where another large door lay. At either side, beside pillars that support the ceiling, there were portraits of the supposed Kings and Queens of Termus. Above them, lighting each one individually, was a single chandelier.
Railuma led the warriors towards the end of the hall. Four portraits were hung side by side. Beneath them, there were four individual plaques:

King Virtus Bonlum
[IV]142 – [IV]164

Queen Venus Bon'Malum
[IV]164

King Caedes Bon'Malum
[IV]164 – [IV]177

King Railuma Bon'Malum
[IV]177 – Present

"You only ended his reign five years ago?" Genesis asked, astonished. "Termus is pretty well off for five years after a dark reign of thirteen years."
Railuma sighed. "It shouldn't have happened in the first place. The Fourth Age, our Age, should not have allowed this to happen. We're only one hundred and eighty two years in and we've already allowed this mess to happen. What does that show us for us?"
Hope's head dropped upon reading the plaques further. "You're mother, Queen Venus… she died the year she came to power, didn't she?"
The King walked up to the portrait of his mother and placed his hand on the painting. "Yeah. I didn't know her too well; I was quite young when she died. It took my father thirteen years to admit to the world he was the one that murdered her… and it was all the gain the power of the throne early."
"Is that why your father died? He admitted he killed your mother, his own wife, and then was sentenced to death, surely." Daniel asked.
Railuma shook his head. "No. My father admitted he killed my mother through a note. A note he wrote the day he shot himself."
The five warriors chocked on the air around them in despair.
"I remember his whole reign." Angst said, slowly. "I was nine when he came into power, and twenty-two the day I found out he died. Boy did that time go slowly. I guess you can say me and Railuma here, considering we are the same age, lived through the worst of it."
"Right then," Railuma interrupted. "That's more than enough reminiscing for today. We need to quickly hurry; Fate won't wait for too long."
"King Railuma, you speak of 'Fate' as though it is a person. Why…?" Daniel asked, stunned.
The King sighed, deeply. He turned and began to walk again. "I didn't expect a bunch of kids like you to understand the concept of Fate."
"What?"
"I'm sorry; I must have come across a little condescending with my words. It's neither of your faults that you would not understand the Religion of Fatalism. Considering none of you, judging by your lack of faith, are from the mainland of Terra."
Genesis asked, "Why the mainland of Terra? I mean, I agree because I'm from Manocia which as you should know if located in the north-west, but… Well, I'm curious."
"Manocia is considered to be 'modernised' unlike the mainland of Terra. Mortel and the Dahridian Desert are also pretty modernised. However, they are practises of the religions Chausism and Polinumen respectively." Railuma went on to explain, "Fatalism has a strong belief in the Goddess Fate who is said to have created the world we live in, Aetus. She is said to be the writer of our lives; thus, we named our paths, our destinies, 'fate' after Her. She is a caring, loving Goddess who always knows exactly when our time to pass into the next world is over. She, along with the Oracle, is said to decide our fate for us."
"What a cruel Goddess." Daniel spat out.
"Come again?"
"Why would a purely good Goddess allow such evil to happen in this world?" With his words, the boy had singlehandedly gathered the eye contact of everyone in the hallway.
"There have been… some suspicions for a while now. It started with the whole World War of the years [III]934 to [III]1251 of the Third Age which led to the start of the Fourth Age. It was said to have been the presence of Fate, who had come to Aetus, having been dormant, that stopped the war. The world offered a truce, but quickly the world became secular due to each growing generation rejecting more and more views of the previous. The mainland of Terra seems to have been the only continent that seems to have secured these views. It is said that the fates of those indulged within the war were opposes to their fate. They corrupted the balance of this world and we have suffered ever since." Railuma had reached the large door and placed his hand on it. The door, as before, began to glow green.
"It's just like Tsu'Vand said… The balance of this world is broken." Kira confirmed.
Daniel sighed in disbelief. "Stupid pain dampener," he muttered under his breathe. "That's all religion is."
The door opened to reveal a tiled circular room. In the middle of the room was a large map on the floor. On the northern side of the map, opposite to the doorframe they were stood at, a tall throne sat. Tiles in the centre of the floor showed the map of the world. Terra was in the middle, though slightly to the left. The Dahridian Desert lay on the bottom right side of Terra, and a small island in the middle of Terra was Mortel. At the top right corner of Terra was a darkened land void of any life – not even a name was remembered - 'The Dying Lands.' Crescenta and Sharhe rested peacefully in the shape of a cracked moon, the latter being the smaller island, at the top right corner. Glaciar took up most of the top of the map, which the Icy Path connected it with Magenta. Starnigh rested in between Magenta and Ridgeous, the southern continent of the former, and Senland was much more southern. At the left side of Ridgeous that connected through a rugged lake was Snaeraph which furthered into Shrouja. At the left side of Magenta was an island called Tempesk.
The King walked up to and pointed directly at the Dahridian Desert on the map. He turned to the warriors. "The Pyramid of Fortis'Petra is said to house the Terra Pulsus, the sacred artefact of the Middle Continents. You five… you do realise that if you take the Pulsus you are further risking the balance of the elements within the world, right?"
"It's what has to be." Aura said, sternly. "Our fate, whatever it happens to be, is connected to these Pulsus."
"That's right," Kira spoke in her usual perky tone, "And no matter what the cost we'll do our best to protect them."
"Besides," Daniel began. He lifted out of his bag the Aqua Pulsus, bewildering the King. "When we collected the Aqua Pulsus from Pandora's Crevasse, we managed to lift the curse from Pandora, not harm it. Whatever we did, I'm sure it wasn't negative."
"Daniel does have a point." Genesis said. He withheld his words slightly towards the end, as if he regretted speaking.  
The King looked helplessly towards Genesis shortly before sighing. "Very well… I trust that you all know what you are doing. I have to be honest, if it were not for that Insignia of yours, what we Fatalists consider a sign from Fate herself, your search for the Terra Pulsus would not have been as forward."
"We are grateful, Your Majesty." Hope said, politely. "Your kindness will not be taken lightly, I assure you."
"You're very kind, Hope. You should all get going soon. Angst, can you stay behind for a second, I wish to speak with you about events earlier today." Railuma spoke slowly, as if something was bothering him greatly. His line of sight rarely moved from the same spot on the floor.
"Thank you." Hope said before leading the other four warriors out of the room. The King signalled Hope to close the door behind them, to which he quickly conformed to. Angst stood silently in front of the King, awaiting his words with apprehension.
"They are definitely the ones you saw in the vision earlier?" He asked, weakly.
Angst's head suddenly dropped. "Yes." After a few seconds of silence, he looked back up at the King again. "I've got this horrid feeling, Your Majesty. I think this is the final chap-"
The King saw his warrior's pupils diminish. He rushed up to and grabbed Angst's shoulders, pulled him close, looked him in the eye and cried, "Come back to me, Angst! What did you see?" He slowly shook him back and forth. "What did you see?" He repeated, over and over.
Angst's pupils slowly began to form again over about half a minute. He looked down at the floor again, resulting in Railuma lowering his grasp on his shoulders. The King anxiously awaited a reply, but Angst was silent.
"What did you see?" He repeated again, albeit with more emphasise.
Angst began to speak, slowly, but his eye's gaze was still pointed at the floor. "I – I saw... a death."
"Whose, Angst? Whose?"
The warrior slowly placed his hand over his heart. It was only then that he slowly glanced into the King's eyes. A few tears travelled down his cheeks, sparking dread within the King's heart. Angst shook his head frantically. "I… I don't want to-"
"How soon? You weren't knocked out. It can't be that soon; you're still standing. Angst, how soon?" The King's voice trembled as he spoke.
"I'm not sure… but – but I've got to be strong, Rai. For the warrior's sake; I'm their only guide. It's only then they can face their fate."
The King sighed. It had been sometime since Angst had called him that. Rai. "You are confident they are the ones, aren't you?" He asked again.
Angst nodded, firmly. "I'm positive. I just wish I would be there to see it. I will help them in whatever ways I can."
The King expressed a fake smile as a tear trailed down his cheek. He held out his hand to his guard. "I'm… I'm going to miss you, Angst."
The warrior tilted his head. "You're far too pessimistic, Your Majesty; we'll meet again. If not in this world then we will the world in-between."
Railuma smiled again. Except, this time, the smile was not as weak in Angst's eyes. It was sincere. "I'll happily believe in Fate for you, my friend." Angst reached for the King's hand and shook it.
"Until next time, Your Majesty." Angst said, cheerfully, as he turned around to join the warriors through the King's door. "I promise you… this is not the last time you and I will meet. I will make certain of that."

From the outside, Termus looked pleasant once again. It was as though the 'war' had ceased to exist; as though it was just a dreadful nightmare. Inside, however, it was the opposite story. It was hard to hold back the tears as the warriors stumbled through the many dead bodies that scattered the streets. As if the sight wasn't enough, the stench of decay was enough to make even the strong feel physically sick. Trees that had been uprooted by chaos littered the pathways and streets, making it hard to manoeuvre. Each story of the dead was been lost. All of their deaths were in vain. It was indeed difficult to imagine the effects that would have elapsed should the war have lasted longer.
Gravis. That was the name of the town Angst was leading the warriors to. It was quite some time away; a few weeks the warriors were told. They aimlessly, or so it seemed, wandered through forest after forest. On the first night, while they set up camp within the forest, Angst finally began to speak.
Angst was sat on the root of a tree that vaguely surfaced. Daniel and Kira were sat together close by while Genesis, Aura and Hope were talking at a slightly further distance. Angst had caught a couple of Viridi, forest dwelling creatures, for the warriors to eat. Within a few minutes, they had found wood and set alight a fire.
"Why will you not eat?" Kira said, holding out a piece of the meat to Angst. "You need to build energy."
Angst laughed, feebly. "I've just got something on my mind, is all." The warriors stared at Angst in silence, prompting him to rise off the tree roots. "You know what… it's about time I told you all."
Kira sighed. "Told us what? It is about your eyes?"
Angst looked in Kira's direction. "I have the ability to see images of the future. Normally, the images are nothing too serious. However, sometimes they are more... I see someone's fate, or, in other words, their death."
Kira nodded. She had worked out the truth a while back. "That's how you could escort us through Termus with no worries, then, right?"
Angst echoed Kira's nod, but before he was able to reply Daniel interrupted. "Have you seen any of our fate's yet?" He asked, shocking Angst.
Angst shook his head. "If I am blunt, I fear I won't live to see any of your fates."
Genesis held his head in one arm for a sudden sharp pain flew through it. "Why would you even say such a thing?"
Angst decided against answering the question. He looked each of the warriors in the eye, sternly, before replying. "I'm going to train you. You were lucky in the war – if... if we could even call it that since it lasted a day – so we'll need to train you for your journey. So what do you think about calling me your new mentor?" He said, holding his hands out with glee.
The warriors each looked at another in confusion. Genesis, however, stood up and reached for Angst's hand. "I'd be happy to train under you." Their new mentor reached out, grabbed Genesis' hand and shook it.
Daniel was the last to stand up and shake Angst's hand. "I'm more than happy to allow you to train me. However, can I ask one thing first?"
Angst thought before he answered. It was obvious by the way he took several seconds to reply. "Of course, Daniel."
"Where… Why do you have your eyes? Like, when did you get them?"
Their mentor scratched the back of his head, slowly. "That's a hard one… I know from pictures I was born with the fuchsia eye colour. I had my first vision when I was pretty young . . ." Angst sat back down on the root of the tree. He looked towards the tree at his side. "I had what they first thought was a catatonic episode shortly before one of my closest friends died. I woke up in the hospital and explained what I thought was a dream to my carers. They told me what I described was exactly what had happened. As it happened more and more, sometimes minor things, they started thinking I given a 'gift from Fate Herself.' As you can imagine, I was lucky to have been born in Terra, otherwise religion wouldn't have been an appropriate conclusion. Despite this, I was still ridiculed and bullied by the other children in school. Some were jealous, while some were just worried that I was going to 'predict their deaths.' It was only a matter of time before King Caedes sought to use my power. He knew because I hadn't seen my own death that I wouldn't die, even if he sent me to see, for example, a murderer's fate."
"That was how you met Railuma, wasn't it?" Kira asked.
"Yes. Railuma was the one who made everything worth it. He's my closest friend, and I will forever be in his dept. He quite possibly saved me from the same fate of his father. Though, with Fate, you can't really see it as that, can you?"
"I suppose you can't." Genesis agreed. "Though, I'm not quite sure where I stand in all this religious stuff."
Angst tilted his head slightly to the side. "It's a very contradicting thing to believe in, if I'm honest. It's something to give you hope, something to believe in through the tough times. But when your closest friend dies and you are powerless to stop them, even if they're nothing but pure good, it's hard to believe in a Goddess who is all good."
"I can see why you would think that way."
"Now then!" Angst said, clapping his hands. "I am going to split you all into pairs, while one of you will be with me, and we will all fight our pair. Hope and Kira can be together, while Aura can be with me." Angst looked at Genesis and Daniel smugly. "Now then, Daniel and Genesis, you two are going to fight against each other first. Do you understand?"
Genesis moaned while Daniel crossed his arms. The latter began to walk further out into the open area of the forest, within the centre. He looked at Genesis before pointing to the ground opposite of him. "Let's get this over with."