“At least tell me this,” you say. “Why do you keep calling me the ‘Chosen One’?”
Behind you, the boy named Eli laughs dryly. “Because. Because Granny here had a dream, a prophecy that led her to you. A prophecy where you could control the wind, destroying all the monsters. Saving our town.”
You cough. “Me? I barely even know how to control my magic. I can’t do any of those things.”
A moment of silence passes through the shabby basement, and you swear you see Granny Elena deflate a little, her eyes growing duller and her shadowed wrinkles deeper than before. The little light in her palm flickers even more, threatening to go out completely.
Eli shines the too-bright flashlight back in your direction.
“Sorry,” you say, not managing to sound very apologetic.
“You should conserve the batteries on that, young man,” Elena warns her grandson, her graveled voice cracking.
He grumbles, but clicks the flashlight off anyway.
Elena’s light is so dim now, you can barely see, and you reluctantly make your way back to the dingy old couch just so you have somewhere to sit before you’re completely blind.
Once you’re seated, she lets her light fade. Or maybe it goes out on its own without her being able to stop it. You hope not, because that seems like a bad sign.
The last thing you want is for her to croak right there next to you on the couch in that dark basement while wind still rattles the walls from overhead.
An uncomfortable silence stretches around the room, and you find yourself feeling compelled to make conversation to fill it.
“So…” you begin, not sure what exactly to say. You feel oddly like you need to apologize, despite the fact that these folks are the ones who hired kidnappers to steal you away against your will. “Just to be clear, I’m not exactly a trained fighter. And I can’t control the wind. But—”
No. Nevermind.
You stop yourself, deciding maybe you don’t really want to admit you know someone whocan. “But I see why you did it,” you finish, switching directions mid sentence.
For a second there, you were really going to offer up Ziros’ help.
But yeah, nah. Nevermind. Not when these folks had you kidnapped.
Beside you, old granny Elena lets out a soft, tired sigh.
“I suppose I should apologize to you, then,” she says. Her voice shakes as she adds, “I should have known even my visions would fail me in my last years.”
She sounds so frail and sorry, it’s hard not to feel guilty for not helping.
But you can’t just drop your entire life to stay here.
You have a job! An apartment!
That rent won’t pay itself.
Not to mention, you don’t reallywantto stay out here in the middle of nowhere.
“Yeah, sorry,” you mumble again, feeling more crappy about it than you’d like.
You’d rather if you didn’t feel bad for your kidnappers.
It’s just…they do seem to be in a bit of a bind. And there’s probably loads of regular people in this town who didn’t do anything wrong and are now in danger because you’re not helping.
“But youarea sorceress,” the old woman says, a glimmer of hope coming back into her voice as if she senses your hesitation. “Maybe I could teach you.”
You frown.
You’d like to learn how to use this pesky magic that seems to attract monsters everywhere you go, but you really don’t want to drop everything to move out here and begin some sort of training arc and then feel obligated to stay the rest of your life.
