Chapter 5: Potential
"But how?"
Mr. Wizard had a troubled expression on his face as he sat back down on the trunk.
"Do you know why I chose to reveal myself to her, Axel?" Vita spoke.
Mr. Wizard sighed. "Because she's special?"
"Exactly."
"But what's so special about her?"
They continued talking as if I wasn't there. No matter, I was too young to understand what exactly they were talking about. But I listened anyway in hopes that maybe I could understand even just a little bit of their adult talk.
"Why don't you find out yourself?" Vita said. Then she stretched out one of her thin branches to me, touching my cheek gently. "Dear Shiro, will you take your glove off for me?"
"What for, Vita?" I asked. It was quite cold and I didn't want my hand to freeze.
"Trust me," Vita spoke to me. "Axel, I want you to hold her hand."
I obediently took my glove off and looked at the wizard in front of me. He had a thoughtful look on his face as he took off his own glove and reached out for my bare hand with his bare hand.
His hand was warm. It made me relax so much that I emitted a relieved sigh.
However, Mr. Wizard gasped once we touched.
Our contact didn't last for more than four seconds when he abruptly took his hand out. He held on to it as if he just held something disgusting or hot. His expression was slightly tinted with fear.
"That... That was," he stuttered in shock.
"What? What happened?" I asked in bewilderment. I didn't understand anything at all. I turned to Vita for answers. "What just happened?"
Vita chuckled. "Relax, child," she said. "Axel here simply experienced a revelation. Didn't you, Axel?"
Now with a calm and schooled expression, Mr. Wizard spoke, "I damn well did. This is strange..."
"What is?" I asked, curious and impatient.
"Axel," Vita spoke. "Now do you know what you must do?"
I saw Mr. Wizard visibly gulp before facing Vita with uncertainty in his eyes. It was the first emotion I saw within those blank eyes of his. "Why me? It could be any other wizard or witch who could help her. It didn't have to be me. So why?" he demanded.
"Because it is pre-ordained. Don't you remember the prophecy?" Vita said.
Mr. Wizard, whose hand was rested on the makeshift table, clenched his fist tight. "Bullshit."
Then he abruptly stood up, his expression angry. "I will NOT submit to a stupid prophecy made hundreds of years ago," he roared. "I will weave my own destiny."
Vita was silent for a while. "Then will you leave Shiro to fend for herself?" she asked. "Like how your parents left you to fend for yourself all those years ago?"
I witnessed how Mr. Wizard visibly became angrier and angrier by the second. Something about what Vita said struck a cord within him.
"Vita, you may be the damned Tree of Life," he spoke in a deep, dark and cold tone that it spooked me. "But you're overstepping the line. Back. Off."
Vita remained silent. I watched as a dark aura emitted out of Mr. Wizard's body, his eyes darker than ever. His expression was so twisted in anger that it scared me. I was frozen in my seat with fear.
What exactly was happening? I didn't understand a single thing except that they were fighting and Mr. Wizard was scary. What was this prophecy they talked about? What did it have to do with Mr. Wizard? With me?
After a few more seconds of silence, Mr. Wizard's dark aura slowly dissipated 'til it disappeared. Seconds after that, he exhaled deeply and sat back down in a slump.
"I WILL weave my own destiny," he spoke in a calm but firm tone. "Nothing will change that." Then he turned to me with a strange look in his eyes.
"But that doesn't mean I won't help her."
Right then and there, it was as if I could feel Vita smile even though she doesn't have a face. "That's settled then," she said. "Shiro, you've found yourself a mentor."
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
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