A Thousand-Year Old Prophecy

146: Fourth Guardian 1

"I heard what you did for our tribe from Vina." The old woman began.

Nyssa remained quiet.

Anyway, there were only four of them inside that tent.

Nana Asyang, Vina, Maru and her.

Leo, Raqie and Toby were outside the tent, guarding against eavesdropper.

Batid naman nila na minamanmanan nila Felix ang aksyon nila.

It was already their limit to have some "nomads" roaming around the Meridius Sun Tribe. Wala din naman silang magagawa since Vina told everyone na guests niya sila.

However, once they heard the news na kinausap ng pribado ng Tribe Head ang mga ito, the Neretos people would surely not rest easy.

Kaya naman Nyssa sent these three to block anyone in case someone insisted to listen or come uninvited to the tent.

"Hindi sa hindi ako naniniwala sa apo ko o sayo, but just to ascertain the truth, I would like to read your palm."

Nyssa almost had a hard time keeping her sneer to herself.

This was the same thing the old woman told her noong makausap niya ito noong huli niyang buhay.

In fact, meeting the old woman now, Nyssa felt abit apprehensive.

In her last life, Nana Asyang read her palm too. The next day, she lost her life.

[Flashback]

Nyssa remained quiet while Nana Asyang was grasping her hands.

The old woman had her eyes closed while she could see several expressions from her face.

When the old woman finally opened her eyes, she muttered, "A murder leads to fortune... Three changed lives."

Nang tanungin ni Nyssa kung anong ibig sabihin noon, the old woman simply told her kung saan matatagpuan ang Golden Tree na hinahanap niya.

She was stunned, of course.

They just arrived there at siya agad ang nakausap ng matanda dahil pinalabas nito agad ang iba pang mga naroroon maging si Vina.

Ni hindi pa rin nga nababanggit ni Nyssa ang tungkol sa Golden Tree.

But just by "reading" her palm, the old woman already knew what she wanted.

"The journey towards the Golden Tree hides lots of danger. It is more than you've ever known... more than you've ever encountered before."

Then Nana Asyang made her understand in details how dangerous the mission was and told her if she must still insist in going there, she needed to leave Vina and the rest of her guild in Meridius Sun Tribe.

That's when she decided to follow the old woman's words and went alone towards her own demise.

[End of Flashback]

Now that Nyssa thought about it, the old woman seemed to not only saw about her past, the truth and her death but also her rebirth.

"A murder leads to fortune... Three changed lives."

That definitely meant her death and the three of them in this lifetime; Moira, Anastasia and her.

"Well..." Nana Asyang said then preoffered her hands in front of Nyssa.

"If you really must then please read my palm for the truth." Nyssa had put emphasized with her last word, clearly implying that other than that, the old woman must not overdo it.

Nana Asyang just had a mysterious smile.

Nyssa put her hands on the old tribe head's hand. Then the latter began to "read" her palm.

It took a while than the last time they did this together.

Maybe because the old woman was viewing the truths of her two lifetimes.

Well, she wasn't sure entirely about this. Could the old woman really see her memories from two lifetimes?

Several minutes had passed, ilang expression na rin ang lumipas mula sa mukha ng matanda.

Nyssa was really actually curious but she couldn't disturb the ritual at all.

However, Maru had a different idea than her.

More minutes had passed and they were beginning to really get curious of what the old woman was seeing.

Even Vina had the same expressions with Nyssa. She didn't usually mind when her grandmother was reading other people's palm.

But this was taking the old woman too long.

Vina and Nyssa looked at each other.

Both of them were wondering how many minutes more they had to wait.

Their question was quickly answered though.

Because Maru suddenly grabbed Nyssa's hand and pulled her away from the old woman.

Of course, kinagulat nila Nyssa at Vina ang ginawa ng ibon.

Vina quickly attended to her grandmother who began to cough blood.

As Nyssa had said, the ritual couldn't be disrupted that easily.

That's because it affected the initiator that much.

"Maru, why..." Nyssa stopped at once when she saw the fierced expression of the lady bird.

That was the first time she had seen her like that. And she was directing her gaze towards the old woman.

Just what the heck had happened exactly?

"It's okay, Vina. I am okay."

"But, Lola..."

The old woman tapped her hand and there seemed to be a hint of shame in her face when she did that. She couldn't even look at Maru.

Anyway, she coughed away her shame and told Nyssa, "I have seen the truth from your palms. I greatly thank you for saving our tribe. Let's talk again next time, probably tomorrow... If it is okay with you, of course..."

Agad namang tumango si Nyssa kahit naguguluhan pa siya.

"Sure, sure, Nana Asyang. Please rest for now."

Then she looked at Vina who nodded at her.

Maru began walking out of the tent kaya walang nagawa si Nyssa kundi ang iwan ang matanda at dalaga doon.

***

"What happened there, Maru? Why did you cut off the ritual?" Nyssa asked as soon as they already reached their own tent. Nakasunod lang naman sa kanila ang tatlo and silently listened to their conversation.

"That old woman almost overstepped her reading of your palm."

The others might not have understood what Maru meant but Nyssa could.

She gave a warning to the old woman before they began. That must have made Maru watched out of how much Nana Asyang would read of her truths.

But what bewildered her was the fact that Maru must have seen what the old woman had also seen there.

She was pensieved for a moment. But after a while, she thanked Maru for protecting her.

The lady bird simply nodded at her then went back to the Void.

Leo followed her matapos na tignan si Nyssa, obviously asking for permission. The lady just nodded. She also felt that Maru was kind of upset so she could only trust Leo to appease her somehow.

Soon, the two ancient birds disappeared to the Void and it was just Toby, Raqie and Nyssa who were left.

They sat down and Nyssa sighed.

"Now tell us what had happened..." Toby said.

***