“... You...”

“... You are so...”

White, almost lifeless, hair pressed against the ground. Grey temple garbs stained with blood. The boy’s angular face seemed like it was shaking against an invisible force, as words trickled out laboriously.

The world felt like everything had slowed down, so silent one could hear a pin drop. And yet she could not hear what the next word was. His body went cold in her arms, the life in him felt as though it was running away from her grasp, the figure in her embrace suddenly seemed lighter as though it was fading away from existence. She felt a tear tread painfully down her face. Inside was a fire that wanted to light her up from inside out but was forced to extinguish, and that itself made her feel more scorched than if it had been allowed to burn. The coldness felt foreign, her heart thumping in her chest like it was beating itself against cold steel.

She realized something, something, and that made her despair even more than when she was blissfully unaware. But now, now it was too late.

———

Consciousness crashed onto her as a wave of relief came over. She didn’t cry, but it felt like she did. The pain was so real, but she didn’t know why. Not yet.

Asri awoke from her nightmare feeling a bit disoriented. She knew the person in the dream; it was her friend Lute. He was a bit mysterious at times, but they were good friends. She knew dreams were just dreams, but couldn’t help feeling a sense of dread.

She could barely remember the room they were in, so thoroughly distracted by Lute’s dying figure in her arms, but it looked like a fancy chamber. It was unlike any of the rooms she had seen in the temple, and it didn’t seem like a place that a servant like Lute would normally go to. Lute usually swept the back garden near the border between the men and women’s quarters, but she did not know what kind of place Lute usually went to as part of his duties.

It was silly to put so much thought into a dream, but it was so scarily realistic. She would tell him about it just in case.

A bit later after their daily lessons and meals, she met up with Elrin, who was her friend and a fellow Star candidate.

— Elrin! How has your day been?

To which her good friend answered:

— Just like yours.

Elrin was like that, effortlessly sounding like she did not want to continue talking. She took a look at Asri and thought about it a bit before continuing:

— You look pale, did you stay up reading cookbooks again?

— No I didn’t this time! I just had a bit of a nightmare, it felt so real it was like a prophetic dream or something. But I sure hope not.

— That’s just silly talk.

— Yeah I know...

They talked for a bit before parting ways. Elrin often spent her break in the library, head buried in books like she was studying for her life. She would be a bit scary if someone interrupted her, so Asri learned to talk to her before her studying started.

Some people told Asri that she wasn’t always like that. A bit before Asri came to the temple, Elrin was still taciturn and easily triggering people with her curt attitude, but she wasn’t the most studious kind. In fact people said she looked like she didn’t care about anything at all. Then something happened and it was as if a switch was flipped; she started camping the book room like it was her own room, and did so much better in all of their exams. It was eerily like an awakening to her life mission or something, but she always looked mildly annoyed when someone asked her if she loved studying. Asri learned that it was her way of saying, “No don’t be stupid”.

Elrin could make enemies with her normal attitude, but most people had grown used to it, realizing that she just wanted to be left alone. They whispered among themselves about her, especially so since she started acing exams. Everyone was either orphans or cut off from their family, all because they were deemed a possible candidate for the next Chosen Star, so they were all thinking about how to be selected. As they had knowledge and etiquette lessons, and rumors were afloat about behavioral observations, many people did not want to raise a ruckus just because of Elrin’s attitude. They left her alone, all except for one person.

It was hard to describe what Miru was. When Asri first met the two of them, Elrin was being talked down by Miru. Miru was apparently a noble’s child, but they were told early on that statuses meant nothing among the candidates. You either had no family, or you could never call them family again. Sometimes Asri wondered if she made the right choice to never see her parents again, but the Head Priestess told her she was helping her parents, and the world, so much by becoming a candidate. She loved her parents, she really did even though they weren’t her real parents, so it did hurt a bit to never see them again. But some part in her, that she wasn’t willing to admit, whispered to her that if she might be abandoned again, then she might as well be the first to leave.

But she digressed. Miru, who was often bitter about being left by her family in “a place full of classless orphans” - in her words, was always irritated at how Elrin acted. They often argued, most of it being Miru raining down scathing remarks like “how could someone filthy like you even dream of being a Chosen Star”. Asri would try to break in between the two of them, and it always ended with Miru whisking her strawberry blonde locks of hair away like she meant to whip Elrin with them.

Asri tried telling the priestesses who took care of them about it, and Miru would be told off by them, but it would always happen again. At one point, Elrin even told Asri that there was no point, “They don’t care so don’t waste your time”, and said that she didn’t care about “that pest”. All that insults didn’t stop her from acing the next test and looking contemptuously at the blonde whose mark was digits away from a full score. They were just like that.

As Asri made her way to the back garden, she saw Miru walking towards the library. She knew the place would not have a peaceful afternoon, and normally she would come along to try and minimize the damage, but not today. Lute would be in the back garden today, and she was a bit anxious to tell him about the dream at the earliest chance she could.

She walked into the garden. It was a plain area with not many flowery spectacles or statues to even be called a garden, but it was because not many people usually came here. There was a wide shade underneath a tree just couple steps from the wall that separated the men and women’s quarters, and sitting there was the person she was looking for.

His posture seemed straight despite leaning against the trunk of the tree. His white hair was tied in a short ponytail behind him, held together by a white band that seemed more yellowy against his hair. His eyes were black with a hint of red, his jaws angular in a way that might seem intimidating, so him not smiling often did not help at all. But she knew he was kind - at least from the way he smiled softly when he talked to a child or when a cat wandered to this part of the temple.

He was also in a priestess garb. When he let his hair down he could really pass off for a beautiful, albeit slightly sharp-looking, girl. When she asked him about it before, he just said that his fellow servants dumped this on him to make fun of how he looks, but it worked so well that he just used the getup to sneak away to this place from time to time. It was a nice and quiet place to think.

She accidentally saw him here and unabashedly thought he was an angel. That misunderstanding was easily resolved, but not before she had stalked the place a couple times waiting for him to appear again and hiding when he did just that. Somehow they became good friends and he would find ways to tell her when he was coming so they could spend an afternoon together in the garden, just like today.

He was looking down at a book, his eyes narrowing a bit of whatever he was reading. The sight left her a bit speechless; it was so different from when he was lying lifelessly on the floor in the dream and the stark contrast gave her relief. It was just a dream, she told herself.

When her feet touched the grass, he looked up. Lute looked normal and his eyes seemed to say “You’re here”. He didn’t smile, but she felt like he did. The book was closed silently as he made space for her to sit next to him.

She immediately said when she had fully sat down.

— Listen, Lute, I had a dream. Um, it’s more like a nightmare...

He looked at her, and just like usual gave her a strange sense of comfort. She continued.

— You were in a room, like a chamber, and you... you were dead. I don’t know why but... you... you were dying and I couldn’t do anything. I know it’s just a dream but it felt so real. So just be careful okay? It was a chamber-like room, but I don’t remember seeing a room like that in the temple.

He seemed to be considering something, before saying slowly.

— Alright. Don’t worry I’ll be careful. A chamber-like room, right?

— Yeah, it was big. There was an altar or something. I don’t remember seeing it anywhere though, so it was so strange. Do you ever go to a room like that on any of your errands?

— A chamber... the wine cellar wouldn’t be it, not the laundry room or the kitchen either. So no, I don’t think I’ve been there.

— I see... well I just want to tell you that. How was your day?

— It went alright. I was getting some snacks from the kitchen but came across the Head Priestess scolding a priest because he was pushing the people out of the temple.

— The Head Priestess! She didn’t see you looking like this did she?

— She was too focused so I slipped away.

— Pushing people out huh... There’s rumor that the current Chosen Star is feeling sick but she’s still meeting people. Maybe that priest just wants the Star to take a break?

— He was too obvious about it. The Head Priestess spent a lot of time trying to get more people to the temple, so she would rather get someone to replace the current Chosen Star.

— That... would be us candidates I guess. It’s in a few days too...

— ...Don’t worry, even if you don’t become the Star you can remain as a priestess. In fact, it’s better that way.

— Lute...

Lute didn’t trust the whole Chosen Star thing at all. At one point he even said that they tricked Asri into coming here, and cut off her family relation so that they could do whatever they wanted with her. But this was the Temple of Lunacape, the biggest temple of Fate in the capital. She had never left the small town she was in, and even she knew about this temple. What use could such a place have for a young girl in a remote village? Candidacy for the Chosen Star made sense - the Divinity Ritual was coming and everyone knew a new Chosen Star would arise. The Goddess would tell the Temple where to find the candidates, and the Head Priestess would select one to become the Chosen Star - the one blessed by the Goddess to help the people. There was no bigger honor, nothing that would make her happier than being able to help so many people.

Lute seemed to heave a sigh internally, and Asri looked at the closed book next to him.

— What are you reading today?

He picked it up and she could see its name engraved on the hard fabric cover. It read “Revelations of Fate”.