Another long one meh.

I still take suggestions. I love opinions and critiques. Like where this story is going? Don't like it? I'm moving too quickly, too slowly? Let me know.

Arc I, The Plate of Space

Chapter Fourteen:

The Prophecy in the Stones

"Aurelio, what is fortune telling?" I asked as we were making our way back to the hotel.

We had left the Devon headquarters minutes ago. Aurelio had stormed out of the building in such a frustrated rage that I had been seeking anything that could distract him since. Thankfully, my question, innocent enough, seemed to slow him. He stopped on the sidewalk, sighing as if he had just awoken from his blind anger. The sign off to the side had caught my attention: Miss Fortuna's Fortune Telling.

"Exactly what it sounds like," he replied. He stared at the sign, incensed. "It's a reading by person who tells your fortune, or your future. That's a little cryptic for Rustboro. This isn't Saffron City, people..."

"Are they accurate?"

Even I wasn't omniscient. I suppose that I had never tried to be. The future had always been set in stone for me, or so I thought, and it had never interested me until now. I suddenly wanted to know if I would retrieve my Plates without trouble or if Grimmwolfe would get there first.

"I've never had mine read," he said oddly. "Did you want to try yours?"

"That would please me."

He glanced at his wristwatch. "I suppose we have some time. We've got a good hour to get back to the hotel, grab my backpacks, and get to the dock. You're not scared?"

"I don't see why I should be," I responded, edging towards the entrance of the shop. I noticed how dark the bricks were compared to all of the other buildings around it. The store really did look out of place in Rustboro. The only decorations besides the sign were the violet tulips planted on the windowsill. "It's only a harmless reading, correct?"

"Well, not always," said Aurelio uneasily. "I know someone who was really into that kind of research. She went around to different cities to find psychic Pokémon that could read the future. There are plenty out there. In fact, she retired shortly afterward. Never figured out why, but it was a sketchy situation overall. Hey, why don't you ever tell your own future? You have the Psychic Plate at your disposal."

I stared at my shoes, imagining that he already had his journal open for note-taking. But when I turned around, he had nothing, and even looked genuinely concerned.

"I've never used them," I said after some time, choosing my words carefully.

Aurelio blinked. "The...Plates? But they're your signature weapons. They're in all of the drawings, each of the translated texts from hundreds of years ago..."

My eyes glazed over. "What you know about my powers, forget it all." I wanted to drop the subject. "All of it. I was impressed when I saw that you were even aware of the Alterstone's existence. But its secrets, how it came to be…"

The hidden visage.

"...and why I created — it must all be forgotten with time."

"None of it has ever been discovered," said Aurelio, seeming to recognize the weight in the air. We stood mere feet apart, but he felt further from me than he had felt since before I met him, even back when I was unaware of his presence in my universe.

"I meant not for your kind," I said. "I am the one who needs to forget."

The shop's musty smell had overwhelmed me before I could fully open the door.

I had convinced myself to go inside. Because Aurelio was, well, Aurelio, he had followed without much protest. So we stood in the dim purple lighting, my insides feeling cold even though the building was disgustingly warm and humid. I brought my hands to my arms, rubbing my skin vigorously, but nothing quelled my growing apprehension.

"Hello?" Aurelio said, greeting the emptiness before us.

When our eyes had finally adjusted, we saw a door further down the hallway. Stairs on the left ascended into pure blackness, and even though I was immortal, I didn't exactly like the idea of meeting death face-to-face, so we treaded far around it and ventured nervously down the corridor. Aurelio tried to cut in front of me so he could open the door, but I stopped him with a hand to his shoulder.

"Let me," I said, keeping my voice low as to not disturb whatever awaited us. "I'll speak too."

"Arceus, I know you kind of wanted to do this is a fun time filler," he said. "But this isn't fun anymore."

The woman inside was seated at a blanketed table, surrounding by Pokémon with glowing eyes — Gothitelles, Xatus, Alakazams — multiple numbers of each breed, which all stood in eerie manners with their eyes shut, as if their minds were not fixed in the present. The woman, who had black hair streaked with silver, glanced up at us — from her cellphone, a bizarre ornament in the chilling atmosphere of her store.

"If I had known you were coming, I would have turned on the hallway lights," she commented.

Aurelio and I glanced at each other.

"Just kidding," she said, turning off the phone and sliding it away from her. "I'm Miss Fortuna. Not the most creative name in Saffron, but come to Rustboro and you're the local basketcase. My real name is Rosemary. Please sit. You want Alakazam to get you a soda? Glass of milk, maybe?"

"We're okay," said Aurelio. He sat down at the table, glancing over his shoulder at the door as if to make sure it was still unlocked. "You're a fortune teller?"

"It's what the sign says."

"And—"

"You're accurate?" I interrupted.

Rosemary grinned, her teeth looking unnaturally sharp from the chair in which I was sitting. "Never had anyone come back and demand a refund," she chirped. "So you're the one who wants to know your future. Why's that? Want to know when you'll die, when you'll get that promotion, or when this handsome boy is going to propose? I can show you all of these things."

"I just want to know my near future," I said. My hands clenched in my lap. The psychic Pokémon had set their gazes upon me, tilting their heads back and forth. The hair on the back of my neck rose as a Xatu got unnaturally close, its beak nearly touching me. "I'm going on a trip...of sorts. I want to know if I'll find what I'm seeking."

Rosemary hummed with her mouth closed. "Well, that's a nice bracelet," she commented, snatching my hand from my lap and displaying the Alterstone on the table. The psychic Pokémon hissed when it came into view, and Aurelio rose from his seat. "Don't worry, sweets, I won't touch it if it's that important. But I get the feeling that it plays an important role — a very important role — in what's to come. We'll make it our anchor."

"Anchor?" I echoed.

"Whether we know it or not, there is something about all of us around which our universe is centered," said Rosemary, looking the Alterstone from all directions. She had not recognized its designs, and though I hadn't expected her to, still I worried. "You, boy," she said, pointing at Aurelio's shocked face, "yours is the notebook in your satchel. Usually, what we seek, or what we dream, or what causes us the most conflict in our lives — they can all be attributed to something physical. And yours is this bracelet."

"I never take it off," I said, resisting the urge to yank back my hand.

"When I touch your anchor," said Rosemary, lowering her face to the stone to inspect it, "which is usually the most important thing in your life, I can see the timeline of events built around it. Nothing complicated. Gothitelle can read the stars. Xatu's abilities come to it in visions. They don't even need an anchor. It'd take me more effort to put away the groceries."

I bit my lip. "So tell me."

Rosemary observed the stone from a different angle. Her eyes narrowed. "You're sure?"

"Absolutely." I had jumped from the immortal dimension onto this earth. I could handle fortune telling.

"I can tell it to you in private," she cautioned, "or with him present. I cannot promise that your fortune will be what you want to hear. Which will it be?"

I looked over at Aurelio, who was still halfway out of his seat to guarantee Rosemary didn't make a suspicious move towards the Alterstone. He raised his eyebrows at me, trusting me with the decision. "Our futures are intertwined now," I told Rosemary without hesitation. "Whatever I will hear, he deserves to hear as well."

"Then it shall be. Please remove the bracelet."

I tensed. "That will not happen."

"You must."

"I will leave if that's what I must do."

Rosemary glared at me, clearly vexed. "Then keep your wrist on the table. I will throw my stones around your anchor. But you must not move at all. The reading will be tainted if you disturb how the stones fall onto the table."

She placed her hand over the Alterstone, her fingers precariously close to the cradle on which the jewel rested. The psychic Pokémon were still bristling, their eyes never leaving the stone. Where Rosemary's skin came into contact with mine, I felt cold streaking up the blood in my veins. Then she reached into a small velvet bag and pulled out a handful of milky white pebbles. Without rhyme or reason, she tossed them at my wrist, letting the stones fall where they pleased. Their placements created a design of no meaning to me, but Rosemary seemed concerned.

Her eye twitched. "Your anchor," she muttered. She pointed at the stones. "This pattern, the closed mouth, means seclusion or deceit, and it's pointing directly to your bracelet. It's paired with the pattern in the shape of the tree — meaning your foundation, your roots and your branches. This bracelet must be more than something precious to you. It is the very reason you breathe. But it holds a deep secret"

She dragged her finger along the tablecloth.

"This is — ah, well, that's the cloak. There's somebody watching you."

Fear seized my stomach. "Is he here now?"

"Not with us," said Rosemary. "The next design — that's ominous. Do you recognize this shape? Of course you don't. That's the friar, meaning sacrifice. He's paired with the tree again. You're going to sacrifice your bracelet? To whom, I wonder. Ah, even better, there's a third story to be told. Beneath these two, there's this straight line, do you see? This is kind of like a blank card. I see you giving up this anchor for someone important. What role they represent in your life is undecided."

"I would never give up my bracelet," I said. "Not for anyone."

"Take the hint or leave it," said Rosemary, shrugging. "Do you know what this next one is?"

I leaned over the table. I heard Aurelio behind me, "Thea, I think we should leave," but I paid him no attention. The stone had created a disfigured pattern, but a recognizable one nonetheless, and the shape that stared back at me was that of the empty hourglass. From my perspective, it should have been full, but I knew that Rosemary was seeing a very different picture.

"I don't think I need to tell you," said Rosemary, her voice an octave deeper. She awkwardly checked her cellphone while I tried to convince myself that the empty hourglass didn't mean what I suspected it did. Clearing her throat, she wandered further on. "And this — the last pattern — that's a circle. It means infinity, and is a clear contradiction to — well, the last one we saw. It's paired with the eye, meaning god. I have never seen these paired together, however. Usually people who get the circle become famous, meant to be remembered forever. Those who get the eye often embark on a journey of spirituality and learning."

She squinted.

"But together?" she murmured. "Curious." She watched me closely. The psychic Pokémon were in more of a panic than before. They were bustling around the room, knocking over lights and chairs, but Rosemary didn't seem to notice. "The closed mouth, the tree, the cloak, the friar, the tree, the blank, the empty hourglass, the circle, and the eye — in that order, with a pairing I have not even seen before in all of my years. Tell me, stranger, who are you really?"

I pulled my wrist to my side, the muscles in my arm sore. "I'm done here," I said hoarsely.

"How much does she owe you?" Aurelio asked.

Rosemary lowered her eyes to the pebbles. I had moved some of them to the side, but still the empty hourglass and the friar remained completely intact. "Nothing," she said shortly, scooping the stones into her pouch. "You know, thousands of years ago, people used to put coins on the eyes of their kings when they were buried, to be used for passage into the afterlife. If they did not have those coins, they would be denied entry..."

"Your point?"

Rosemary smiled grimly. "It's thievery to take money from a dead man walking."

End of Chapter Fourteen