Noira is a seventeen-year-old girl who lives with her unfated mother in a small apartment near the slums. With porcelain-doll skin, shining blue eyes, and a perfect black wolf cut framing her slender face, she was striking—yet shadows clung beneath her eyes. She had been up late, working to help put food on the table.
Weaving carpets and cotton towels was enough to keep the family afloat for the next day. The demand was not that great, and she needed to travel 5 miles to sell the woven items. But she and her mother were happy, and that was all that mattered to Noira.
With no apparent signs of rain soon, the sun blazed hot outside, so she prepared to take the carpets and towels to sell in the City of Desire—the home of people fortunate enough to be given a Destiny and help humanity overcome a fatal trial set by an unknown force.
After organizing her merchandise and preparing to travel to the city, she went to take her first meal of the day. Her mother was preparing breakfast in the kitchen.
"You are already awake, honey. I was just about to wake you up to eat breakfast."
Noira gently smiled at her mother.
"I also prepared and organized the goods. The weather is also sunny, so I will travel to the city after having breakfast. Also, I tucked Father's dagger inside the bag, so don't worry."
Her mother smiled back at Noira and reminded her:
"Be careful when traveling, Noira. You already heard that the forsaken creatures spun out of control, and some escaped the Labyrinth. If you meet one, don't even think about fighting it and focus on running away. That dagger is only for a last-ditch effort."
Noira nodded to her mother in agreement. She knew the dangers of the forsaken would be fatal to a mundane person like her.
But more importantly, the vivid smell of eggs coated the small kitchen. Her mother gave her a small plate with two pieces of white bread with a fried egg on top.
She ate alongside her mother and went to start her day traveling and selling her woven items to the City of Desire by taking a nice, ice-cold shower.
***
Carrying a bag full of goods on her back, Noira set foot on the dry streets and began her journey to the nearest city.
Humming like a bird, she walked towards her destination. The money clouded her mind about how much she could earn today selling the merchandise she and her mother had created together.
It reached a point where she failed to notice a creature thrice her size from a mile away, chewing something hard on a wagon that spewed blood from time to time. A disgusting smell struck her after noticing the gruesome scene. The wind had been against her direction after all.
The creature had a humanoid torso, mantis-like claws instead of arms, an ant-like head, and four legs resembling those of a spider. It was a forsaken who got lucky with a quick, easy meal.
The scene made her tremble to her knees and feel sick to the stomach. Fear consumed her heart as she heard a loud crunch that echoed through the air a moment later.
A bitter memory from her childhood rose in the back of her mind while looking at the disgusting scene. A sharp pain in the corner of her heart arose despite being consumed by fear.
Luckily for Noira, the forsaken was too busy not to notice her for a different reason.
She seized this opportunity to regain her composure somewhat and make a detour around the forsaken despite stumbling down from time to time, making sure she would not get noticed and hunted down by the twisted beast today.
'I have to inform the fated order after reaching the city. I don't want to meet that thing on the way back after all.'
She continued to walk towards the City of Desire on a new detoured path until Noira could practically feel the city's vivid and moist air. The walls covering the city were made from an enchanted stone—strong enough to withstand a barrage of forsaken when needed. The civilians were also friendly despite living in tough times.
From a distance, a strange black mist emitting light within itself and covering the sky was visible behind the city.
Noira quickly greeted the guards, and before she navigated to the fated order to inform them of a rogue forsaken a mile or so away from the city feasting, she felt thirsty and stopped at a public water fountain.
While drinking greedily, she overheard a conversation happening nearby.
"Where are Elera, Kael, and Roric? They have been traveling over a wagon with goods to supply my store, and they haven't arrived!"
"I don't know, okay! They are not picking up their communicators when I tried to call them."
"What do you mean you don't know?! You stupid imbecile! They probably ran off with my items. Does your tiny, puny mind comprehend how much of a fortune those materials cost?!"
Noira choked on the water while overhearing their conversation. She stood up and immediately went to report the tragic scene she had witnessed earlier.
Eventually, she managed to reach where the fated order resides. One could see a beautiful building made of white marble. On top of it was a huge logo of the fated order.
Just a few steps away from the building, a gorgeous marble statue holding a stiletto in its right hand and the scabbard on the left stood in front of it. A legend said that the statue represented Desire, a God who had once ruled the city with her might before abandoning it for an unknown reason.
She clenched her hand against the strap in her bag. Noira felt only hatred at the divine statue. She saw it as a demon in disguise rather than humanity's salvation or hero.
Noira considered not reporting the beast lingering, roaming around in the open after seeing the wicked statue in front of it, but quickly dismissed it. It wouldn't be wise to risk her life for a grudge against a stupid statue.
Stepping inside the building, a svelte receptionist approached her.
"Good morning, dear, if I may ask. What brings you here today?"
Noira lingered her hand for a moment and responded:
"I am here to report a rogue Forsaken."
Reporting the incident she saw on the fated order was a lengthy process. She barely managed to fill out her contact information because of her lack of education.
The receptionist reassured her that they would take immediate action after there was an available cohort of fated—a group of person fortunate enough to receive a destiny.
But Noira had a bigger concern besides the wicked beast. She needed to sell her goods to people before sunset arrived.
***
While Noira was counting the money on the corner of a busy street, a beautiful dagger made of an enchanted obsidian fell from her bag. She immediately picked it up and stuffed it into one of the hidden compartments in the bag. A passerby saw the whole thing and approached her.
The man has a weirdly content smile while approaching Noira.
"A nice dagger you have, Is it for sale?"
Noira looked at the man with an awkward smile.
"The dagger? Unfortunately, it isn't. My father gave it to us as protection before he went to the wasteland…. alone."
He broke the smile and put up an awkward frown at her.
"My condolences. Sorry for bothering you and I will take my leave now. Let's meet again if the world allowed it."
The man left and blended into the street a moment later.
'If the world allowed it, huh? As if the world hasn't taken away one of the most important people from us and left me and mom to die in the slums quietly.'
Noira sighed heavily and continued to count the money she earned that day to see if she could at least afford something.
'118 coins, what could I afford with that?'
Noira managed to sell half of the merchandise to the civilians passing by. But she still couldn't afford to buy both herself and her mother a steamy meal.
She decided to buy a handful of pastries that failed to sell that day. The seller gave it to her at a heavily discounted price because he was going to throw it out anyway.
While holding a bag of pastry, she noticed that the sun was about to set, so she needed to go home fast. Strangely, black mist covered the corner of the sky. Some people also strangely rushed to the center of the city to kneel in front of the holy statue of desire.
Approaching the city gate, Noira looked back and gave a final hateful gaze upon the holy statue. The black mist glowed and struck the statue right after. The people kneeling down at the statue let out a joyful cry while the others clapped for them.
"Finally! The seed of Destiny has finally found its way inside me!"
"I lived in this city for a year for this moment! I will soon be a wielder of a fated or even a supreme destiny!"
"Fools! Only one can receive the seed of destiny, and it's definitely me! I am the future wielder of a primordial destiny!"
"What did you say, you mentally ill forsaken in a human disguise?! It's definitely me who got it!"
Noira watched them fight like starving dogs fighting over a single scrap of meat and sighed.
The more curious part, Noira felt truly strange after gazing at the marble statue. An uneasy feeling harbors deep inside her soul. It felt like a parasite that had taken root and made her its host. She soon dismissed that feeling, treating it as a hoax while walking back to her home.
Noira walked peacefully for a mile, then another, and another. Eating a tiny bit of pastry while doing so.
Then, she heard a loud clashing sound nearby. The rhythm only got faster and faster as she got closer until it stopped completely, replaced with a loud crunch sound like she had heard earlier.
Standing in the distance, a beast thrice her size with a singular mantis-like claw, a humanoid torso full of cuts, and two spider-like legs. Its head resembled an ant with no eyes and a singular antenna. Eating a fated individual whom they had been fighting earlier.
She suddenly remembered the reassurance of the slender receptionist earlier.
'Sh*t, sh*t, sh*t! What the hell do you mean a cohort?! It looks like a singular person!'
She slowly realized the gravity of the situation. Unlike her first encounter with the fiend, she is way too close for comfort, and the forsaken is looking at her while eating…. Looking at her?
Noira tried to run away back to the city, hoping that a fated one is nearby, roaming to save her.
Unfortunately, the monster swallowed the man whole and ran towards Noira with great effort. Despite rolling and stumbling for a few times, the monster is far faster than she is.
So instead of following the initial plan of hoping for a fated one being nearby, she pivoted her foot and decided to lure it into a nearby boulder to hopefully slow it down instead.
'That lying piece of receptionist! What do you mean by not to worry?! This would be dealt quickly? Then what is this forsaken doing right here!'
Thoughts were wilding at the back of her mind. Her senses are heightened for a moment as she is running away from the beast.
While running for her life, she felt a burst of wind centimeters away from her side. A gigantic mantis claw is clenching the ground hard after it had missed her.
Fear covered her very soul. The beast was right behind her. Once the claw escaped the dirt, the next attack wouldn't miss her again.
So Noira spun her body 180 degrees while putting emphasis on her bag. The unsold woven items fell right out, following the dagger she had tucked in the hidden compartments earlier.
The beautiful obsidian dagger is sitting on the grass floor, trembling while the forsaken is trying to get free from the grasp of the ground. Noira immediately picked it up, stumbling on the way, and took the scabbard away from the captivating edge.
She rushed at the beast with all her might. But before her blade reaches the forsaken's leg, the claw is finally free from the earth.
The dagger managed to make a deep cut to one of the reinforced legs of the forsaken despite its size, rendering it immobile for a moment. A part of Noira's flesh was torn apart by the creature's claw. She felt a sharp pain, followed by the gushing of her own blood.
"F*CK!! YOU SON OF A B*TCH!" she screamed, her voice cracking with pain.
Her heart was beating faster and faster, accelerating the blood flow. For the first time in a decade, she felt that she was truly going to die today.
As she cried while running away from the beast, it gave out a hefty scream. The forsaken lost its balance while trying to slash her one more time and hit the boulder, shattering its claw. Momentarily losing focus on Noira.
She seized this opportunity to grab a woven towel and tied it to her bleeding wound, slowing the flow of blood.
Noira tore the remaining carpets with her teeth to form thin, long strings while running away from a stunned monster.
She ran towards a nearby tree and tied the string to it.
The beast is already running behind her after she finished securing the knot. Noira gripped the other side of the string firmly.
As the forsaken approached her, she clenched the dagger in a throwing grip.
'What if the plan failed, and this bastard is just too strong to stumble and fall to his grave?'
Thoughts echoed at the back of her mind as the monster's foot finally reached the thin string.
Noira immediately felt the force trying to launch her. But the string gave out first, only managing to make the monster stumble for a moment. But that moment is all she needs.
She threw the dagger at the forsaken, aiming for its head to end the battle once and for all. The exceptionally sharp blade made of enchanted obsidian cuts through the air with no visible resistance. Its very nature defies the law of physics as it approaches the monster.
The blade pierced through one side of the skull but failed to exit the same way. But that's enough for Noira. As she saw the weakened beast lose its life soon.
Blood gushed out of the forsaken's skull as it fell for the last time. She had successfully slain the wicked monster and survived to tell the tale.
Her hands trembled with excitement and thrill as she killed her first forsaken despite escaping death by luck. Her lungs are burning as she tries to catch her breath. Noira slowly loses strength, falling down on her knees.
A strange light emits from the beast's lifeless body. A reflection of a person rose within the forsaken and shattered right in front of Noira.
The strange light later got sucked and absorbed by her muddy skin as she heard a strange whisper inside her head.
[The seed of destiny has bloomed and offers its gift upon you.]