Fate - Destiny

Chapter XIII: Central Town

     After reading the news, Fate realized why his town suddenly became dead silent last night. As such, Fate knows what kind of danger he had just faced. He belittled something that is supposed to take his life, something that he cannot fight, and neither can he escape.

     "The public hearing will take place today," Fate thinks. "If the hearing will take place at when The Triplet's Vow is supposed to, does that mean The Triplet's Vow is canceled?"

     That thought Fate had discovered confused his ego. He's confused about what to feel after what he had thought. Will Fate be happy about it? Caeruleus had told everyone what dangers they could face once The Triplet's Vow had already begun and taken place later, and everyone, including him, will be saved from the potential threat of what The Triplet's Vow could bring them after the cancellation of the said event. Or perhaps he should be pissed off since everyone trained to their deaths, including him, and everyone's time they had dedicated for their training will be drained down the sink of nothing just because of a public hearing?

     Fate doesn't know, he has to consider the missing participants and the casualties caused by the 'Abductor of Night'. His thoughts are clashing with each other, and he cannot decide what really to feel.

3 hours before The Public Hearing

     "I need to have a break," Fate thinks. "Maybe going outside will ease my thoughts... at least for a moment."

     Fate went outside to breathe some fresh air. He meandered down his town to spend his time pleasing his eyes, seeing kids play with each other outside, but he did not meet what he had expected. It let him down.

     While walking outside, Fate saw adults talking with each other, gossiping about the famous folklore and the casualties left by the suspect. His town is not lively anymore, even in the daytime. His hometown was filled with fear and dread. Kids were isolated from outside by their parents filled with anxiety and terror for their sons and daughters which prevented the kids to wander around. The parents were so afraid of what could happen to their children that they had prevented their kids to go outside, may it be daytime or nighttime.

     It isn't a mandatory activity for a parent to prevent their kids to go outside during the daytime. They are only mandated to isolate their kids inside their houses once the central clock from Eurik Town rang its bell at exactly 8:00 pm.

     Fate wonders why the parents isolate their children even in the broad daylight, but he cannot complain about it, though. After all, parents love their kids so much that they will do everything to keep them safe, and he understands it well. It was something Fate envied.

     Fate eventually decided to go to an abandoned place where nature overwhelms every man-made structure. The place he had gone to was just kilometers away from the forest that separates Monteraz Town from Eurik Town: the central town. It is another special place for Fate. The reason why remains history. Only Fate knows.

     Eventually, Fate crossed paths with Lucien. She leaned her back on a wall where she could stand straight. Fate found her smoking a cigarette.

     For some unknown reason, Fate felt nothing after seeing Lucien. He was surprised to see her, though. It was a different feeling for him knowing that he likes Lucien so much, but he didn't care about it. All Fate knows is that he is too burnt out from the one-month training he had with Caeruleus that he couldn't care less about what is going on around him, let alone what to feel about the public hearing.

     Lucien was standing next to a ruined house. The house was abandoned enough for nature to occupy it. Only the walls remained standing along with some metal supports inside the walls.