F0RTUNA

4

Rebecca was walking around. She looked very worried. My mom had already cooked us dinner, but she hasn't taken a bite out of the baked rice.

I confronted her.

"Becca, what's your goal?"

She jumped up in shock and turned towards me. She exhaled and placed both her hands on her head.

"My goal..."

It felt like she had no idea what her goal was. She fell onto the sofa and looked up towards the ceiling.

"My goal is to give 10 people burn scars on their bodies."

Oh god.

That sounds gruesome. Sickening. A horrible goal.

I grabbed my bowl of baked rice and sat next to her.

"Burn scars?", I asked. Does her powers include using fire?

"I can control the temperature of my hands and make them very hot."

What an interesting power. Yet... it sounds like a very dangerous one.

Unfortunately, she has to use her power in a dangerous way as well. Pathetic.

I took one bite of the baked rice. The cheese melted slowly with the rice and the chicken felt hot yet soft.

"Becca, you should go eat. I can try to help you with your goal later."

She nodded and proceeded to the dining table. I had never seen her this glum in a very long time.

Must be a very serious game.

Dinner was also very silent.

I took another bite. This time, the food didn't taste as good.

...

Saturday arrived. I made my way downstairs with my badminton racket in my bag and hastily walked to school for my badminton training. There were lesser cars on the road than before, much less people on the street.

This all felt too strange.

I held my head up high. I hoped all my badminton teammates weren't affected by the Fortuna message as well.

That was what I hoped for. Yes.

That was not what I got.

Training looked empty. Only 6 people showed up, including me and the coach. The coach seemed to understand the situation.

"Alright juniors, I'm sure you are all well aware of what happened 2 days ago with the whole Fortuna message thing going on, yup?"

We all silently nodded our heads. Our coach, Mr. Bell, is a 40 year old former badminton player and had been teaching for the past 5 years. By the looks of it, it doesn't seem like he was affected by the message.

"Do not let that Fortuna message get to your heads if it has affected you. We got some badminton going on up in here! Get ready for warm-up."

I placed my bag at the corner and got into position. Next to me was Alex, my longtime badminton friend. We have been playing badminton for the past 6 years, and he was always better than me in it. I had never won a game against him, officially. I won once only because he decided to play with his weaker hand.

As we were all doing stretches, Alex looked at me.

"Matt, did you get the Fortuna message?"

"No, I didn't. Did you?"

There was a brief silence.

"Yeah, I did."

Damn it. It's getting almost everyone I know.