The Raven Flame [The Crown Saga III] (First Draft)

Estranged Visions

So, the fate of the entire world didn't necessarily rest on my shoulders. That was a relief.

"What about the other thing he told me?" I said, teasing the nail that had torn during my attempt to fight the sand. "That one face among the ones I trusted may not be who they seem while another may lead to salvation."

Kelda stopped in her tracks, making a creature of fear nibble on my nape.

"That's the first time I hear a prophecy like that," she whispered, blankly staring at the crystal in front of her before shrugging. "But again, it could be an exaggeration. That old geezer isn't as proficient in reading his vision as he once was."

"Haven't you received the gift of sight, too?" I asked, carefully stepping closer to the crystal seer. "Could you look into my future to explain the Grand Elder's prophecy?"

Kelda looked at me from the corner of her eye and sent me a crooked smile. "Sorry," she said. "I've only mastered the eye of the present and can barely manage to understand the whispers of the past. I have seen into the future, but the visions are even more unclear than my grandpa's, and I've never seen further than a few hours ahead."

"Oh," I said, feeling stupid and demanding for asking. "Sorry for assuming—"

"It's okay," Kelda said before I couldn't finish my sentence. "I wouldn't expect Grandpa to tell you more than strictly necessary about us. He may have seen you in a vision, but you're still a stranger, and your friends were never part of that vision. Dad is definitely not fond of bringing them here."

Then why did she seem so carelessly unconcerned about sharing the history of her life with me?

"But I find it difficult to believe that the lot of you could pose any real danger," Kelda added as if she'd read my thoughts. "My gift allowed me to peek into their recent pasts, and none of them appear particularly rotten."

"Rotten?" I said, chuckling.

Kelda's green face darkened. "I-I mean— What is it called in your language?" She muttered a few words or phrases in her language that I didn't understand. "When someone is not to be trusted or has evil thoughts that are kept secret."

"Untrustworthy?"

"Yes!" Kelda exclaimed. "None of them appeared untrustworthy, unlike many of the surface walkers."

I raised an incredulous brow. "I thought you'd never met a human before I fell down here," I said, suddenly questioning whether they were right to fear us or if it should've been the other way around.

"I haven't met a human before," she quickly corrected me. "Dad had barely met my mom when we were forced to hide in these caves during the dragon war. I was merely a seed that the sand had yet to whisper about. However, my sight allows me to view the present from everywhere, so I have seen much of the World and many of the surface walk— I mean, humans."

"Wait," I said, raising my hands to wrap my head around her claims. "Your parents were there during the dragon war? H-how old does the Crystal Whisperers get?"

Kelda chuckled. "I turn 997 in a few weeks."

"Y-you're almost a-a thousand years old," I whispered, feeling my breath threatening to hitch. "B-but you're so— so—"

"We don't age like humans," Kelda clarified. "Grandpa is only a few years from reaching five thousand."

So, the old man wasn't lying when he'd said that he'd lived in the same century as our founder.

A loud sigh suddenly sounded from the young crystal seer. "I have lived down here my entire life, and the tunnels sometimes get so dark and cold, despite our crystals' light. So, even though I'm not supposed to spy on the humans, I sometimes go to the lake and let the sand that forges these crystals show me what I'm not allowed to view with my own eyes."