Tearha: Deck of Clover

Chapter One: Guardian, Part One

Auditorium shaped, the interior of their classroom was decorated with dark wood panelled walls and gleaming cryst lamps. The ceiling was made of limestones while the floor carpeted by red hatched green. Their school desks stretched to three a seat with twenty in rows of five. Windows that stretched from wall to wall lined the back, facing the inner wall of blackboard guarded by two doors. A far cry beautifully decorated interior from the drab outer grey stone walls.

With only a class of fourteen, most of the seats were empty and they had no fixed sitting arrangements. That day, Quinton sat at the middle front, sharing a desk with his sister. It felt right for him to be close to her, given the hectic day. Ever since finding out about their epitaphs, all they had done as a class was attempt to figure out what it all meant. The one breakthrough their class had was that the future predicted would likely happen within the year, given that after that, they would no longer be in such close proximity for the numbers to matter.

What helped them further was that Rehiy decided it was a good time to refresh their knowledge on epitaphs while they waited for a 'special guest' to make an announcement of their situation.

The drakin teacher recited, "The Overseers were a group that had the magical ability of precognition, the ability to see the future. However, the future is messy, and as such, seers often only see the future in glimpses through mediums, such as dreams, paintings, or in this case, name titles."

Quinton watched his sister stifle a yawn. She was a certified prodigy. An individual capable of learning almost anything instantaneously, she excelled at combat arts and studies, and could have easily skipped her years in the academy should she have applied herself. But she preferred to relax, to make her way slowly in the world and leaving a lasting impression with her constant presence.

'Given time', was what she said.

It was a reference to her capabilities. Because of how easy it was for her to learn new things, she wanted to take in the rest of the world slowly and at peace. If their parents had been alive, they would have pushed her for further education, and he had the feeling she knew that, hence her willing to take life lacking.

He gave her a nudge at her yawn. She smiled back, waved sheepishly away his concern and returned her attention to the class.

"While we do not know much about them, we do know the accuracy and specificity of a prediction is dependent on the power of the seer. The stronger the seer, the more precise and detailed they are," Rehiy continued, reading from a book on the subject. "As for the predictions themselves, they are mysterious in their own rights, though they operate within their own rules."

It was his job as her only guardian to make sure she gets where she needed to go. Even though he was older than her by just a few minutes, she was his responsibility. His everything. He was not as talented, skilled, or smart as her, and as such, his only duty was to make sure she could be anything she wanted and to help her find her happiness.

He had planned their entire year. Weekly extra training to improve her combat performances along with longer hours in the school library to further boost her already capped grades. And he was planning on getting a part-time job to help pay for additional remedial lessons needed.

Now, with the epitaphs, his timetable had been thrown into disarray. He had to figure out what the epitaphs meant, and how to work around it after. He hated when things did not go according to plan.

"For one thing, predictions are not able to count. Anything specific, such as competition victory, order of death, and ranking of strength, has never been done before. The ability to simply alter these outcome makes them a paradox to predict. Therefore, most predictions are vague about a large, general event or events that will happen regardless of any mid scale interference."