The Master of Fate

Chapter 2 - In Between Reality and Illusion

Meanwhile, somewhere in the middle of the ocean, a dark and gloomy ship is sailing. The ship is very unusual, it's sailors are skeletons, that of an undead. Its sails are filled with tatters and patches and on above it a single black flag was raised. The flag is painted with an eye that's pierced with two bone swords.

Inside the ship, in the gloomy room, a lady not older than 25 with exquisite looks and curves on her body that was sitting in lotus position had her closed eyes suddenly open as she muttered, "At last, the time binder is now born and about to awaken."

Her lips curved into a fine smile that lightens up the gloomy room, akin to moonlight in the depths of the night.

She stood and walked to the navigation room of the ship and pointed in a certain direction.

The ship has been sailing for a long time now. Along the journey, the ship passed various ports as it restocks and each of those ports is evident that is less bustling than the last which indicates that the ship is going to a backwater place.

As Red fell unconscious, he was oblivious that a pair of eyes had been watching him from the skies.

The moment that he fell to the ground, a loud eagle cry resonated that seemed to shake the heaven. The cry was filled with joy and longing as if it had found what it's looking for. At this moment the eagles had decided that he would save the unconscious young man no matter the cost.

A jade white eagle dived majestically which terrified the other beasts as they sensed the suppressive presence of an emperor. The birds on the trees flew in the opposite direction and the animals on the ground ran in a rampage, as they only wanted to leave this place as soon as possible.

The eagle is called Jade White Eagle King. As the name suggests, it is a type of eagle, its feathers are jade white which seem to be free of stain for eternity. The jade white feathers which are filled with elegance and seemed to be harmless are one of the assets of the Jade White Eagle King. It can be used for offense and defense.

The Jade White Eagle King is unparalleled in the skies, be it in terms of speed and attack. It has claws harder than metal and sharper than swords. Its wing is wide and strong, currently, it has a wingspan of five times that of a normal eagle, ten meters. Its body is three times the size of a normal eagle. Atop its head, a set of golden feathers shaped like a crown rest majestically which symbolize the noble bloodline of the Jade White Eagle King.

In fact, the Jade White Eagle is not yet on the stage of maturity, despite its size, it is still an infant.

As the Jade White Eagle king dived, it picked the unconscious body of Red with care and full of affection.

The Jade White Eagle King flew up in the sky far away from the sights of humans and beasts alike and landed on a mountain peak of a very tall mountain.

The mountain peak is the habitat of the Jade White Eagle King. It considers this place as its home as it was born here and grown here.

There is a cave and inside the cave, there is a spring with water that seems to be glowing with magical light.

The Jade White Eagle King placed Red on the edge of the spring and let Red bathe.

Seemingly affected by the glowing spring water, Red also glowed and his stressed unconscious body began to relax as if he was just sleeping.

Unknown to Red, the spring is a treasure that will incur the greed of beasts and man alike as it is called an Immortal Spring. Moreover, the spring is of very high quality and has so much water stored in it.

Meanwhile, in a foggy place somewhere in between reality and illusion, Red grunts as he slowly opens his eyes.

In his field of vision, all he can see is fog.

He stands and walks forward only to see a silhouette.

Out of curiosity, he moves closer to the silhouette.

As he was walking he could hear his heartbeat with every step. The closer he got, the more anxious he became.

And when he reached the owner of the silhouette, he was shocked. He felt fear as his heart beats like a war drum.

He did not know what to think and what to do, as he seemed to be dazed.

He can see himself in front of him. It felt real, everything is the same as if he was looking for a mirror, except, the 'he' in front of him is not dazed but was calm. As if he was expecting Red to see 'him'.

"Who are you?" Red asked.

The 'he' in front of him smiled and replied, "I am you," as he pointed to Red.

"And you are me," he added.

Red was confused. Although he knows that they have the same physical appearance, he does not think that they are one, at least he thinks that he was true and the other one is a reflection of sorts. But he cannot make himself believe that his reflection is talking to him.

"Where is this place," Red inquired.

"Who knows," his reflection shrugged his shoulders and added, "some says this is a place in between reality and illusion"

"Do you know who you are?" the reflection asked.

Red was stunned and unable to answer.

He asked himself, "Who was he?"

He was confused why he survived the disease that attacked the orphanage he was in when he was young. If it is incurable, then why did he live? Worst of all, he was cured without the need of magic nor potions. Unlike the other kids, they were convulsing in pain for close to one week but he merely had a fever for a couple of days.

Another question is, how did he end up in the orphanage? Who was his parent? Does he have parents? Well, it is impossible that he does not have any but where are they, are they dead?

There are lots of questions that surfaced in his mind and all of these questions concerned his well-being and existence.

But of all the questions, what pierced his fragile heart is the question: Did Ienze really need to die?

Once again a tear fell from his eyes. Part of him blamed himself as he was too weak and wanted to be strong.

He has so many questions but he has no answer. He does not know who to ask and where to seek answers.

He closed his eyes and forced himself to calm down.