Chapter 9: The Burden of Destiny

The prophesy weighs like a heavy garment on your shoulders, making the trek more and more difficult. The once-bright vistas you travel through become duller, as if the grim facts of the world are beginning to sink in. You get more and more sensitive to the hardships that these creatures endure, particularly the non-human ones that endure prejudice, brutality, and tyranny. The rebel cause is admirable, but it also feels like a desperate last fight against an overpowering army given the harsh regulations of the kingdom.

You struggle with a conflict between desperation and resolve as these facts set in. It drains your soul to be viewed as a possible rescuer, a link between the human and non-human worlds. The awareness that your change It's horrifying to consider that it may be more than just an accident and that it might be a predestined occurrence connected to the fate of our earth. However, the thought of leaving everything behind and looking for a means to go back to your previous life is just as scary.

The Love Interest becomes your rock in the middle of these internal battles. Talking about things that go deep into your hearts, you two sit by a dying campfire late at night beneath a sky full of strange stars. The Love Interest, who has always emanated a calm strength, starts to exhibit signs of weakness. They talk about the extreme strain they had to endure as members of a royal family that was supposed to rule. It seems impossible to overcome the fate of the world, and it is nearly unbearable to consider including someone you care about in that uncertainty. You learn that while you have been struggling with your transformation and the responsibilities it entails, the Love Interest has been fighting their own demons and is haunted by a past they cannot change.

Your mutual weight of fate creates a strong link between you both. What was first only a tentative partnership is now developing into something more substantial and significant. Not only are they strong and wise, but you also find yourself pulled to the love interest because of their understanding of your hopes, worries, and uncertainties. Your relationship is becoming more and more sensitive, with times when a touch, a look, or even a gentle word might convey a lot.

But this link also brings with it a new type of terror. The knowledge that there is danger ahead grows along with your affections for one another. The prophesy threatens to shatter the brittle happiness you've discovered, hanging over you like a gloomy cloud. You start to wonder if you can really follow your destiny and if doing so would have negative effects on your relationship. Like you, the love interest is split between wanting to keep you safe and not wanting to grow too close to someone who may turn on them.

One evening, following a very trying day during which you personally experienced the harshness of the kingdom's laws, you and in each other's embrace, the love interest find comfort. The embrace is a consolation and an implicit commitment to face whatever comes together, no matter how unclear the future may seem. You both know, though, that the stakes are bigger than they have ever been. The revolt, the prophecy, and your growing love are all strands in a complicated web that might come apart at any time.

You are left feeling both hopeful and terrified as the tale comes to an end. Not only does the love you've discovered in this unfamiliar and weird world weigh heavy on your heart, but the weight of destiny also does. The last issue is whether you can carry both without one of them breaking different.