World of Elestia: Seasons of War

(Summer) Chapter 6: The Reaper's Cry

When Oliver regained his sense he was back in the same subway car he had been last night. ''This place again?''

''So you finally woke up... In a manner of speaking.'' Oliver almost jumped out of his skin at the sound of the voice. But when he turned around he saw the same old man as last time.

''You again? Why am I having this dream again?'' He asked in an annoyed tone.

The old man chuckled. ''As I said, I am real. I did not expect to speak to you so soon. But from what I can gather you're going in a dangerous situation soon. So it's fortunate we can talk.'' Before he could continue the subway car came to a stop and the door opened to the same large open field as yesterday. ''Come with me young Oliver.''

He was still suspicious of all this but he decided he might as well follow Harmony. After all if it was just a dream what's the worse that could happen?

Finally they stopped once they were far enough. Harmony smiled toward the young boy. ''As my Champion I want to bestow upon you two gifts. However I won't be able to give both of them at the same time. So I think I will start with my first gift. The Reaper's Cry.''

Oliver looked at him with a bewildered expression. ''The Reaper's Cry? What's that?''

''As I said last time my role is to guide the souls of the departed Elestia. As such I have the ability to sense when a living being is about to die. To aid you in your quest I will also give you that ability.'' Harmony said to him.

Oliver looked at him with a disturbed expression. ''Why would I want to know when people are about to die?''

Harmony smiled at this. ''It's very simple, contrary to what people might believe, fate is not set in stone. So when you sense that someone is about to die. You have the ability to change their fate by saving them from whatever danger they face.''

Oliver looked at him in awe at this. ''You will really give me an ability this powerful?''

Harmony nodded but then he crossed his arms. ''Unfortunately since you are a mortal, your ability to use the Reaper's Cry will be severly limited. For one thing using this ability will drain some of your ether so you can't have it activated all the time. And secondly you will probably only be able to sense the death of someone a few seconds in the future and the range in which you can sense death coming will only be a few meters. In short this ability will almost be only useful to save yourself and your team and not much else.''

Oliver frowned but then nodded. ''I see so it's not much like a vision for the future. This is more like some sort of sixth sense that can detect danger at the last minute right?''

At this Harmony nodded. ''I suppose you could see it that way.''

''So how do I activate it?'' Oliver asked eagerly.

''First we will have to meditate to try to unlock the Reaper's Cry inside of you.'' Harmony said and Oliver groaned. Suddenly gaining a new ability seemed much less interesting...

- - - - -

In the end Oliver had barely scratched the surface of his training before he was interupted by Clara who shook him awake. If the dream had been real he could now try to activate the Reaper's Cry but Harmony said it was so unrefined that it would be only a waste of his ether if he tried to use it right now.

The trio had now decided they had recovered enough from the journey and were now trudging throught the desolated town of Bluesung. The town almost looked like a warzone as buildings were almost crumbling all around them and they could see a lot of rubbles in the streets.