The instant those words had echoed in that dark space, Xavier couldn't help but have his mind race.
"What? She's actually legit?"
"Could it be that she actually knows how to manipulate Ethereon and she somehow used it to find such things about myself?"
"No, the last statement was too general—it sounds exactly like something a charlatan would say. There's a possibility that she had information about me beforehand."
"No, who am I kidding. There's no way she could've known that I know about Ethereon through past information, knowing how confidential it is."
"But I still can't seem to believe her…"
Ren closed her eyes and shrugged, her face still keeping a teasing smile.
"You're thinking too much, Xavier. That has always been one of your problems, right?"
"You overthink too much about certain things. You think it's logical, but it comes from a deep feeling of insecurity. You have certain expectations that you want other people to follow for you, but all of it stems from a superficial desire for connection—not true mutual understanding…"
"You feel a strange sense of fear because of this, do you not?"
"Heh, I don't know what you're talking about…" Xavier said as his attempted smile twitched slightly.
"Don't such statements seem a little too general?" He asked, keeping his hands in his pockets while a slight chill was felt in his stomach.
"A skeptic, I see. You're quite smart." Ren teasingly complimented Xavier.
"But do you truly believe that my knowledge of you knowing about Ethereon is general?" Prying, she asked.
"I don't know what that word even means. Just because you know about it doesn't mean that I know. I was just surprised because you said my name without me telling you."
"Besides, isn't everyone hiding something?" Xavier gave a sigh in his head, feeling as if he finally escaped the lady's grasp.
Ren's teasing smile became more exaggerated. Enjoying this question, she continued to say:
"An immigrant that wasn't even registered two weeks ago. How convenient."
"Do you know what also happened in that timeframe?"
Xavier's eyes widened. He blinked several times in a few seconds, almost losing his composure.
He knew what she meant by this.
"I can tell you, if you don't feel so inclined to tell me." She said, her voice noticeably trying not to break into a laugh.
A small silence ensued for a few seconds, but Xavier felt as if this silence was as loud as the noisy crowd from outside. He couldn't even hear his own thoughts.
"Who are you exactly?" Xavier asked, his voice almost cracking out of nervousness.
"I'm just a Seer, Xavier." Ren closed her eyes, her smile becoming less subtle. She had finally seen through him completely—and she had known Xavier was aware of this.
"A satisfied one, that is."
In that moment, three cards manifested out of thin air and floated in front of Ren.
At first, they were blank cards. Then, a burning wall of fire slid across them from the bottom up, revealing a black question mark.
At the same time, a black question mark faded into existence on Ren's forehead.
Xavier struggled to process this information. His mind was still focused on her words from before. For some reason, he felt a strange sense of danger being next to this lady.
It was as if her purple, violet eyes could've read his fate like a reader analyzing a book.
He fittingly stared at the question mark on her head and on the three floating cards, as if his eyes subconsciously went there to reflect the current enigma his mind was going through.
"I understand. It's hard for the human mind to come into terms with certain things, especially things that challenge their knowledge, intelligence or identity." Ren said, her closed eyes giving her face a calm expression.
"In moments like these, the mind tries to rationalize the hostile information, no matter how true it is. This is the fear of discomfort." In that instant, her body began to hover over the darkness. Her legs crossed themselves as her hands were bent outwards.
It appeared as if she was meditating.
Xavier watched carefully, his eyes half-closed and his lips frowning.
"Choose a card, and it will let you read your fate." A strange, grey light appeared from under Ren as mysterious dark blue symbols orbited around her.
An even stranger, grey mist manifested from out of the darkness, spreading outwards throughout the space.
Xavier covered his face and moved his hands as if he was affected by the fog, but it didn't show any tangible effects. He even could've seen through the grey fog.
However, Ren's body was coated in the grey mist. It was as if she had worn it like clothes.
Xavier squinted his eyes in slight disbelief.
"Don't worry about paying. For this time, it's on me." She clarified.
Xavier, still feeling a strange chill throughout his body, took out one of his hands from his pockets and stretched them out toward the cards.
After some time of silent contemplation, he chose the third card. His hand reached out to grab it, and he flipped it over to see its contents.
The card had an ancient design, and it showed a massive technological clock tower that loomed over a large galaxy. A person dressed in a hooded robe was on a planet, staring at the large clock tower that towered over the galaxy.
At the bottom of the card were strange blue and white symbols that Xavier had never seen before.
"Assistant of Space-Time…" Ren said, her voice sounding more and more ethereal.
"What does this mean?" Xavier asked, his eyebrows raising in confusion.
"That's for you to figure out, my dear friend." Ren replied.
"Then can I ask about the strange symbols on the card? Is it an ancient language?" He asked as he let go of the card. It magically floated back to the other two cards.
"Hehe. Yes, it is." She didn't hesitate to respond. "It's called Fata Morgana, an ancient language derived from Westoria."
"Fata Morgana? That's a refractive effect that causes mirages. Who knew that an ancient language would take a physics concept as its name?" Xavier remarked sarcastically in his head.
"The founder was a lad named Guren Yoshiro." Ren continued, "It's mainly used for Magic and Mysticism spells, like the divination I'm doing, but it can also be used to enhance other dimension's spells and manipulation of Ethereon."
"Guren…Yoshiro? Who's that?" Xavier asked.
Ren chuckled softly.
"Guren…he is a powerful, mysterious, yet playful fellow. Even I don't know who he truly is."
"He is an enigma, a question mark personified."
"But most of all, hehe…" She chuckled again, the weight of her laugh carrying boundless mysteries.
"He is a jester."
Xavier paused for a second, as he didn't really know what any of this meant, nor did he know what he could do with it.
"He entertains? Like a clown in a circus?" Xavier asked, trying to find more information.
"Perhaps this could be the reason why he chose such a name for an ancient language…" He added inwardly.
"Who knows?" Ren didn't satiate his curiosity as her figure continued to meditate above the ground, her expression still calm and serene.
Xavier sighed. He only could've taken what he was given.
As if noticing his disappointment, Ren smiled and said, "Don't fret. Every piece of what I've told you will be necessary in the future. You can't go without it." Ren said, her calm expression contrasting with her cryptic words.
"That doesn't really help, since a lot of the information you gave me was vague…" Xavier inwardly criticized.
Feeling a little more anxious, he continued, "That's pretty scary, isn't it? You're basically saying that if I never came here, and if I never met you, I would've never known these things that are apparently necessary."
"Perhaps. Maybe that's what fate has arranged…" Her ethereal voice resonated throughout the space once again.
"Another one…" Xavier criticized inwardly, again.
"So, do you normally just do this for everyone who comes in here?" He later asked as he stared at the floating Ren who was currently performing a divination.
"No. You are associated and connected with many strange and peculiar things."
"I wouldn't use my ethereal powers to this extent for other people." Ren responded, her voice sounding as calm as the ocean breeze.
Xavier raised his eyebrows. He felt like he knew what this meant!
"Dr. Sera…so she is still in this world!" He immediately connected the dots out of excitement.
"At the same time, she said 'many'. Could it be that Vael is also one of them?"
"Actually, that should be pretty evident." He clarified to himself.
Feeling somewhat satisfied but still mostly anxious, he gave his thanks to Ren Zhou, who apparently was still performing a divination spell.
He didn't really question this, since he wanted to leave immediately. Thus, he left the dark enclosure.
As she watched him walk away, she stopped hovering and allowed her feet to touch the ground still covered in dark and grey mist. At the same time, the strange symbols and grey light disappeared.
Ren casted her gaze to the back of the two remaining cards, with Xavier's card turning blank.
She smiled as she muttered, "Ruler of Darkness, and Queen of Imagination. I wonder who are the other two…"
…
As Xavier walked out of the tent, a figure who was on the line stood out in the corner of his eye.
She had mid length, straight brown hair that was parted. It looked like it was just done at a hair salon. She had vibrant blue eyes.
However, the feature that made her stand out was that her skin had some marks left on it.
This was all he could've seen as he walked out of the Seer's tent.
"Strange. It's not usual for someone to have scars like that with the technology of this world…" Xavier thought to himself.
"Was she fighting a lot? Or maybe she's a part of the police, military, or Dominion?"
"Ah, forget about it. It's none of my business." He shook his head as he quickly discarded the thought.
"You idiot, where were you?" A woman's voice came from behind Xavier.
He turned his head around.
He saw Aria, still dressed in a green sweater and a black pleated shirt. However, her ears had adorned shiny sapphire colored gems while her wrists were covered with emerald jewelry. This collection of gems further enhanced Aria's looks, almost making her seem like royalty.
Although, it was sort of ruined by the fact that she had also carried a leather bag with her.
She didn't mind this, though, since it had her shopping goods inside of it.
"Oh, Aria. Why are you asking where I was?" He fully turned around with a neutral expression.
"Because I couldn't see you on the map? What type of question is that, dude…" Aria said with an exasperated expression.
"Huh…strange. Well, I was getting my fate read inside that tent over there." Xavier pointed to the Seer's tent. "I'm guessing the signal didn't go through while I was inside."
"Oh really? What did you get?" Aria asked curiously, almost forgetting about the fact that she couldn't find him.
"Assistant of Space-Time." He stopped pointing at the tent.
"Damn, that sounds cool. Did you have to pay for it?" Aria asked, curiously.
Xavier scoffed.
"Heh. Do you think I'd pay for something like fortune telling? You must not know me, Aria."
Aria narrowed her eyes as she placed her hand on her chin. She felt like something was off with this reaction, but she didn't know what.
Because of this, even though she wanted to give a cheeky remark, she wasn't able to find the words to do so.
"What?" Xavier asked as Aria kept staring at him with an inquisitive expression.
"Nothing." Aria placed her hand to the side.
"Anyway, if it's free I wouldn't mind going inside there. Heh, I wonder what I'd get. Aria said as her emerald eyes suddenly gleamed with curiosity.
"Why are you so quick to believe those things?" Xavier asked with an incredulous expression. "Since when were you ever into fortune telling?"
"I mean, you can't pretend that things aren't different now that we're here. Clearly anything is possible." Aria retorted, her bright green eyes getting slightly darker.
"Fair enough. Anyway, it seems like you've been on a shopping spree," Xavier looked Aria up and down, examining her jewelry and gazing at her bag for a second.
"Of course!" She said as her mood changed quickly to that of excitement, her head moving to show off the jewelry on her ears. "My earrings come from the Aetheris Archipelago. Rumor has it that these gems were stolen from pirates while they battled the admirals centuries ago."
With a smile, she later raised the arm that wasn't holding her bag, showing off her emerald bracelets. "These come from the Silvermere waters that are owned by Sentaia."
"Hehe, I also wanted to buy some jewelry and rocks from different civilizations and planets in space, but they cost a bit too much. I still have some other stuff I want to buy."
Xavier placed his hand to his chin.
"How much did the jewelry cost, anyway? Along with the other stuff you did actually buy."
Aria instantly put one finger to her mouth, silently indicating a 'shush'.
Her expression was completely deadpan.
"…" Xavier was pretty speechless.