Liar

"Just remember, all for the sake of Something Greater…"

***

They have travelled far, though it seems there was rain nearby which is why the soil ground was muddy and difficult to travel into. It was dangerous to sprint so the horses made their way narrowly. Athena and Zera were upon black Bucephalus while Hatim alone rode Pegasus. For the little lady, the ride was very stressful, after all, riding along with a mysterious figure who has some weird powers like a witch was something that should be enough reason. Yet, she can not deny that Athena was warm. Zera throws some glances over to Hatim, but he didn't seem to notice which made her pout with irritation. Hatim knew what that little lady was up to, yet he is also sure Pegasus is barely in the mood with him, there was no way it would carry two passengers. He intentionally ignores it. There is still a little time before they reach Red-Light District, Zera couldn't withstand this horrifying silence these two always bring in their guts. "Athena!" Her aggressive voice echoed in their ears a little loud as she swirls her head to the lady from Olympus sitting behind. Athena spun her head to the little lady, and for some reason, she didn't wear her hood so their eyes met. Given that Zera sat in front of Athena, she instantly averted her snake-ish gapes to the road anxiously, fearing that unseen beauty. "How did you know about Captain Alika?" To make some kind of conversation, she asked a genuine question. Yet, it was a curious one too, this lady didn't know anything about Artelia but suddenly she knew the Artelian language. Athena was like a window with countless curtains, no matter how many you open, you just can never see what's hidden beyond that window. She knew about Captain Alika too much as if she was there when everything happened… "How?" Zera's lips sought an answer that even peeks at Hatim's ears, yet for some weird reason, he knew it. After all, he is the only one who can see what lay beyond that window, yet he won't. That's not his Destiny after all… 

"How…?" Athena as always spoke some ghostly words. A question, and a hidden answer. Mysterious as always this lady from Olympus seemed as if dreadful wisdom lay beneath absolute beauty. Athena pointed her finger in the sky though, nothing was visible before those sturdy raven clouds, yet she accurately pointed in the direction where rest her answer. "Child, have the tale of Andromeda's Truth reached your ears?" With a warm and gentle vocal, she asked. Though Zera knows about many stars in the sky, her view struggled to pierce the mist up in the sky. "No… I don't know the stars by their names… just some… hehe…" Unaware, Zera was not sure what words are better than simple ones. Athena dropped her finger. "Theory. It was Theory." Zera blinks multiple times to understand, yet couldn't. "And Andromeda is another Galaxy. Astronomers of Olympia studied it for centuries before coming up with that conclusion… They debated it was another Universe at first, and is not that far, but have no proper answer to it… They maintained Theories, finding as many as they could. They used methods like Parallax and many other methods before concluding to a reasonable answer… via just operating telescopes and discussing or debating… they never explored the outer world but know precisely how far it is… Because of a Theory they learned and found reasons, combined with their practice, and now it is a belief which is an answer…" Athena halts her gentle voice. Leaving every living being present confused and frightened. Zera scratched her head, not understanding a single word the lady of Olympia uttered… "So… you have a vague idea… nothing more?" Perhaps, that might be the only possible thing Zera could think of. "No." Athena gently denied it. "It is not as vague nor only. I have to gather knowledge before barging in with mere theories. The mysteries are not as complicated as it seems, moreover, pieces are laid out from the beginning, all one has to do is gather them precisely… memorize everything. However, even then some aspects could not be seen, that is why I did not know about someone principal pulling the strings from beyond." Whether it was Athena herself, being as such that none could comprehend the words she speaks or rather, she was letting her guard down. But in both results, little Zera could not acquire any means in her words, rather for her it was just piling up perplexity. "Uhh… so just how much did you know…? About Marina?" Athena exhaled a breath that felt like an annoyance to him. "Child, I know enough just about Marina City that it could give you nightmares…" Zera took a gulp down her throat and nodded hesitantly. "Listen with open ears, child… Captain Alika was not capable enough with his strategies to go against Pirates, yet people believe in him as he was a figure who once fought one of the greatest wars in Artelian History. However, he led one defeat to another, failing at most aspects of a 'war'. Yet, there was one way in which they might come around as victors… It was money. If the Marina Navy has better equipment, the odds could be changed. But Artelia Country was in no formation to give after the incident of City Leos. At then none could provide what Captain Alika demanded. The idea was classified as a decline… In the feeling of losing he did something unthinkable to turn the probability… and yet even that arose as an ultimate defeat… He is a weak and manipulative man, who had a rubbish belief that led to the doom of the city he fought hard to protect…" Athena for some reason glanced over Hatim, but he kept his eyes on the path instead… "Child… never let something possess you. Never let desire surpass the will of truth the reality carries because everything comes with bitter and sweet results on the horizon. Whether it's victory or defeat, It is up to you which will last longer." These were probably the easiest words she could speak yet still Zera didn't understand… but she just somehow realizes a thing… "Athena…" The little child's tongue moved for another question. "You know so much… Yet you ask everyone everything… why?" The fact that Zera ignored everything the lady just said and overlapped another question was quite annoying, yet perhaps, this time Athena didn't feel testy, rather… "Child… preservation, theory, patience, striving and practice creates wisdom… one could know much from practice, yet without any answer, it just remains a theory which carries no weight. I have countless theories which are accurate, though eventually with no evidence or witness… I carry nothing… Hence, be patient, preserve and strive which will ultimately build a path to the answer." For once, Athena's words sneak through the child's head, yet leave her in some deep mystical thoughts… as her silence arose thick which made the hooves of the horses echo, the environment suddenly occurred repressing. "Athena… you know so much, I wonder if you know who my father is…?" Those words strike right at something deep within him and Athena. Zera never knew the world outside her allies built in the isolated city. All she wanted was a route to her father, but she just can't seem to know. Even after standing so close, she felt too far, today, she despised Athena. For the first time, Zera felt this weird feeling, of being a loser, of not being enough to achieve her dream… not being the centre of something crucial…

"What is my purpose then… What is my destiny?" Zera whispered, unknown to her own destiny and the choices of life, it came to be inevitable, she marched out from Melidiona without thinking anything and now she is wandering with two travellers with no reason at all, moreover, she is good for nothing even with them, she is just walking along with no reason at all, she felt utterly disappointed in herself, she envies Athena, as she knows so much, though, she doesn't envy Hatim but he has so much willpower to go against anything makes her feel… unwritten. It should be Athena, she has so much wisdom, she should know the words to tell this young child, in the havoc of not being enough… yet that stone face didn't flinch, it merely couldn't. "Zera…" Hatim in the end was a human. Weak, and miserable in his own thoughts, yet strong and worthy in everyone's. But that makes him a proper being, despite existing incomplete, he perhaps was far too complete than Athena. "I had a brother…" Zera spun her hopeless gapes to him.  "He used to tell me the tales of the unknowns. He has countless tales. I once asked him, ``What is destiny…?" Hatim blinked. 

"Destiny is like your life partner. Unlike Luck, which appears for a brief moment, and brings infinite happiness or endless despair, destiny writes your story the moment you are born into this world. It writes tales for you and remembers everything you have done. Every mistake, every moment of happiness, notes down everything and creates more every second you breathe. But it does not adore you. It will never show its face to you. It will just lay paths. Some people are destined to obtain the wishes they wail for. Some crawl into the world of despair for the rest of their life blaming their destinies… Destiny is a bitch. You cannot evade it…" Hatim paused for a second. "...nor can you defeat it… it is the shadow of an undying truth. Yet you can find it, find the paths it has created… find the right one, it will be there. The better next to the worse one. Find it. And you can achieve your desire…" Hatim's willful gaze spun to her as she looked at him, it gave her a wink of courage. "Don't pity yourself if you chose the tough path, be proud that you chose one…"  For the first time, Hatim spoke this long to Zera and left her snake-like eyes wide open with a gleam of a little hope crawling up its way.

Athena never resents anything, her morals do not let her do so. She sure understands humans' perspective of the things they yearn to protect but in the end, it makes them weaker. Affection, Hate, and Sympathy are greater self-destruction of mankind than any other, and which is why she carries none. Of course, she hates none of it, but if one ever asked… Her Emerald green eyes glanced over Hatim. It made her brows furrow. 

"Lie."

Indeed she never hated anything but if ever asked… it would be hypocrisy, it is a greater lie than any other. It is a delusion, a deadly disease, a doom that every human carries out through in this walk of destiny that eventually shatters everything, and yet it remains unseen, untouched, and unblamed.

Hatim lied.

His brother would never tell an unresolved tale.

But Hatim was a human.

Some little beads of tears crawl in her eyes, hope arises from the depth of anguish, giving her the words she needed most.  "Thank you." She whispers and moves her head to the path before. Upon seeing the concrete road nearing, Athena sped up Bucephalus and along Hatim made a tighter grasp upon Pegasus. In a matter of seconds, they were flying over the ground. Both were called the fastest horse for a reason and they were proving it with every rapid velocity upon their steps. It was frighteningly fast. Zera makes a very tight grip on the horse leash, yet it was not helping her back at all. She was not used to riding horses, besides, these were no ordinary horses, it pains her like hundreds of needles are being pinched to her skin and hammering her spine every second they sped up. Though suddenly, her back pain started to fade, weirdly coming to be non-existing. Zera spun her face behind for a second and saw a lady from Olympia's golden hairs scattered along with the winds and green gleaming glow within her eyes. For a second it gave her a shiver of terror but then a sensation of comfort for another. It is commonly used in Olympia, Theo Energy has the capability of making one's immune system strong for a brief while, it can give one enough stability to overcome lesser damages which then the primary immune system can carry out later, in simple words it strengthens the mortal structure for a span. Yet, unknowing the existence of it, Zera smiled and spun her face back to the path, she giggled. It was weird, her age from these two was not that distant, yet she always felt like years of unseen worlds in between them, she wonders. Her thoughts mingled over Hatim's words.

"Destiny… a lifelong partner?"

She wonders.

Zera somehow recalled something. Some little fragments of her wandering steps in Marina when Hatim was heavily injured. She recalls a woman, in her seventh-month labour, in the grey sky, that lady looked over it with gleaming eyes. Sitting in the corner of her ground-floor balcony. "What are you looking at?" Zera approached her with her swift walk. That lady looked over at Zera, she smiled, "I am waiting for my husband to come back…" Zera blinks a few times. "Oh… I see…" Their eyes met for a few minutes, and just then, the lady gestured for Zera to wait right there and struggled to stand from her chair. She went into her house and came back with a handful of candies in her palms. She called Zera over and then handed it all to her. "What is your name, child?" The gentle lady asked for Zera's name, and so she told her with a loud voice. "Ah Zera, what a royal name…" Zera giggled as an appreciation and so their talk continued. "Now, now… what are you hiding in your clothes?" The lady saw something unusual hanging on her clothes, tied to her with a rugged leash. "Oh! You can see it? Wonder why they never noticed it…?" It made Zera pout, releasing her companions who never gave the thought about the small details, though the lady smiled back fondly, and then again went inside and came back with a fancy sewed bag. "Now take this, and keep that thing in this, it won't get dirty." Zera didn't even hesitate to accept the bag but bowed before, moreover, then she asked for a few papers. The gentle lady gave everything little Zera asked, she just smiled back afterwards. The little lady got this weird feeling, seeing her felt like seeing a trapped bird in a cage, even though she was a nice lady, Zera doesn't want to be in her place. It makes her feel ugly, yet… sad…

She wonders.

Did that lady fail to find her Destiny? Or she was weak enough to never take a step to uncover it in the first place?

She wonders.

Her steps wandered again after getting the fancy sewed bag. It stopped over a howling noise coming from a big brick cottage. Folk roaring in sync, Zera walked to its door and saw many young boys, barely reaching the age of seven or eight, sweating and wooden swords and shields in their small grips. It was not a pleasant sight, but a culture to Marina, the young kids before the age of twelve have to learn sword style and strong defence. Though mostly her eyes could see young boys, there was a woman in between them. A bulky and big figure, hard to tell, she was a lady, but Zera's extreme glares roamed her whole body, inch by inch. Upon feeling a weird glare at herself, the lady saw Zera standing in the doorway, she called her over with a finger, and so Zera hesitated, yet rose her step towards her. "Watcha' were doin' back there?!" A heavy and bold voice asked Zera rudely and it scared her to death. "Uhh… your muscles are very nice…" Obviously, Zera wasn't looking at the muscles but she couldn't think of anything to say other than that. "Ah! Ya think so? Damn, thanks!" Somehow, the situation got better with a massive smile on the lady's face. "So! Yer ain't from here, are ya? Never seen ya before!" Loud as before the lady asked and so Zera introduced herself, a little hesitant, but fully. "Zera! What a royale name ya got there, lady!" She has very white teeth, that's one thing Zera just learned by seeing her smile twice. "I'm Ark Ischyros." Zera paused for a second. "Ark…? That is quite a weird name, I guess." At that second she realised it was very rude to say to someone she just met. "Ah don't ya worry, I get that a lot. My pop put it on me after Noah's Ark, the vessel that protects everyone." She had a sparkle in her eyes when she spoke about it. Zera couldn't ask more, she just couldn't because somewhere there was something alike in between them and she didn't want to realize it. "Why are there only young boys here?" Zera averted the topic with a tiny voice and asked something she knew about. "Ahh, I guess ya ain't from here at all then, eh?" Ark sighed with a long blink. "Well…" And so she sang all the story behind Marina's corrupted system. The Red Light Streets, and the War at Sea, it was heart wrecking to hear to it all again. Though Zera knew about it, she listened to every single word Lady Ark said. The place they stood at was a training camp for young boys to learn swordsmanship and defensive tactics, mostly filled with children between the ages of seven to ten, most eleven went to the sea at this point, a year early as the age of twelve is graduation age because of the lack in the formations Navy. Zera blinked a few times. "Why are there no girls here…?" That question suddenly halted everyone, their gaze spun to her for a brief moment. Ark looked at Zera, with a little failure in herself, yet with enraging anger. "Nay." With a slight echo giving rise to a simple reply, she gave her words, hiding something. Of course, she wasn't telling anything trivial to a tourist and Zera somehow understood it, she held back any further questions. Zera felt weird l knowing, she is becoming like Athena a little. Yet once again, she looked at everyone. 'Destiny.' 

She wonders.

Were they forced to obey the orders? Did they try to find another path or did they accept the only path laid out before them? 

She wonders.

Zera came back to the moment and saw the great gate of Marina that they left this morning. Welcoming them to the Red Light District once again.

"Destiny," Zera whispered.