I tell Augustus about my weird dream the next day at the library. He scratches his head, not knowing what to say. "That is really weird."
"Where did you find it?" I ask.
"I got it from the market, from the girl from the dance actually." He thinks for a minute. "I think we should go pay her a visit."
"She's a psychic!?" I ask on the way to the market.
"Yep. I didn't really believe it either, but it makes sense now."
We get to the market, and Augustus finds her purple tent. She sees us and waves. "Hey guys. I see the necklace was a success."
"Yeah, about that. Something weird happened when I put it on."
"Interesting."
She invites us back to her apartment to talk, and I tell her all about the weird vision with Julius. "Of course that's the first thing you remember. But did you see anything else?"
"No, that was it. Wait, did you say remember?" I confirm, confused.
She sits up straighter, thinking about what to say. "Yes, I did. I enchanted this necklace to give you the gift of memory."
"I don't understand...when was I with Julius?"
"This was a memory from your past life," she tells me, and then is cut off what looks to be an excruciating pain in her side.
"Are you okay?!" I ask, in disbelief of what is happening right now.
The pain finally stops, and she's left breathing really hard. "I'm okay. I think."
"Profeta, what are you talking about?" I'm a little scared to ask.
She sighs. "I'm talking about reincarnation."
"You mean, like being reborn after you die?" Augustus asks.
"Exactly," she says, almost anticipating the next wave of pain.
"You see, the universe likes to recycle energy in the form of souls passing on to the next physical body, and my job is to make sure that all happens smoothly. I'm afraid I made a big mistake a long time ago, putting us all in danger."
"What is it?" I ask.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you. I'm not sure what the consequences would be. But Augustus already knows..." she trails off, looking at him with sad eyes.
"Do you mean...?" he says.
She nods slowly. "I'm so sorry."
"Does Julius have anything to do with this?" I ask, putting the pieces together.
"Yes, and he'd kill me for telling you this." she says, looking stressed. "I've been thinking of what I could possibly do to fix the mess I've created, but I have no idea. I'm responsible for maintaining the balance that the universe strives for, and I did something a long time ago to throw that off. The universe created the concept of soulmates to release vast amounts of energy in the form of eternal love, and these beings are driven to find each other each lifetime and fall in love. If something happens to interfere with this, bad things can happen. It can be as simple as one living way longer than the other..."
Augustus goes pale. "Are you okay?" I ask, hoping he doesn't faint.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Profeta's eyes widen and she looks unsure of what to do.
The veins reappear beneath Augustus' eyes. He turns away from me, breathing hard. "I...have to go." He leaps up swiftly and bolts out the door, leaving me and Profeta sitting in silence.
"What is going on?!" I exclaim.
"I'm sure you'll understand soon enough," is all she says.
YOU ARE READING
The Renaissance
FantasyWarning: what you're about to read is a complex story involving flashbacks and endless mystery, where 2 soulmates (over several timelines) try to figure out what happened to them, and why they keep receiving clues of the past. All of this was thanks...
