treavellergirl - Two months; this peculiar time-change only happens in the Dungeons, which also happened to Sinbad (if you are reading the manga 'Adventures of Sinbad' there it happens too).

kenegi - Sort of; since she had died in her old universe, the moment she got transported into this world she joined the Rukh, but through the reincarnation process, she was brought back to life. But with it she still has that link to the Rukh. That's the 7th type of Magic you mean, right?

Guest(s) - Thanks!

Anonymous - I hadn't thought of rescuing the two princes, but it does seem plausible. I'll think about it, thanks for suggesting it though. For now, let's see how the story will 'flow'. And thanks for the kind words, I'm starting to love reading your reviews!

Masrur's age: 9 years old

May's age: 8 years old

Morgianas age: 3 years old

Pride of the Fanalis Clan

.

.

By Angelbloodlover

.

~ "Coincidences mean you're on the right path."

–

Simon Van Booy, Love Begins in Winter: Five Stories

.

.

Chapter 9: Pure Coincidences

Life. And then followed up by Death.

An earthly cycle where a child would be born and then would leave the world. Even I had faced Death's door and had been reborn in this world instead of going to the Afterlife. Now I remember why I had felt so serene and calm-Could it have been that the moment my soul had left my old body I had joined the Rukh? That could explain as to why I had felt so wonderfully calm, no troubles, no painful lungs, no burden. To be honest Death had amazed me, of course not the dying part, but afterwards...

...afterwards had been refreshing.

And now I was back to feeling all alone-and this ferocious anger swelling inside of my chest, the sheer force behind it was unbelievably wrong. I didn't want to feel all of this anger stored inside of me. The need to kill those people were supplying my legs with energy, pushing me to go faster, to reach them and save my family, to get them back for what they had done.

I kept running, not even stopping to rest-all I could think of was crushing their miserable lives with my fists and erase their filthy existence. Days, weeks, I didn't know how long I was running, but after non-stop travelling I dropped to the ground, lifeless. My body exhausted to the point where I could only crawl, gasping for air as those cursed tears came crashing down. "W-Why..?"

"Sometimes, little one, Fate doesn't want to be interrupted..."

Glaring at nothing in particular, I snarled, "Are you insinuating that I won't be able to save my family, my clan, my flesh and blood?"

Softly, gentleness coating those words, "Of course not, I'm only saying that you should think of what you are doing. What will happen to our stabilized future if you save them? Think, young one."

I shook my head. No, how could I let Morgiana suffer like that? With that monster Jamil hurting her and traumatizing her entire life? How could I let Masrur be forced to fight for his life? As a source of entertainment for people who have absolutely no idea what to make of their lives? How could I let those things happen? How would I even be able to face them, knowing that I had left them to the wolves and closed the gates? "N-no..No!"

"If you would change their Fate then Morgiana won't be the same Morgiana that you will come to know about. Masrur won't be the Masrur that you will meet later on." Quieter, "If you interfere then Morgiana will never meet Aladin nor Alibaba. Masrur won't join Sinbad's Alliances. Everything, the future that you had seen and read with your own eyes won't become reality. Only an illusion, an afterimage from a far-away memory." The voice tried to reason, but I-"Think about it, May, think about it carefully. You're a special case, you're supposed to lead the world towards eternal peace and happiness. Don't interfere." His voice became sharp at the end, and I shivered, pushing myself into a standing position. The air around me became wilder, sizzling and thrumming with uncontrollable power, a mystical epitome, something that I had no way of describing with mere words.

Rubbing my arms from the freezing coldness, I answered tiredly, "I was told to use my special powers of 'seeing the future' to my fullest advantage! If I don't interfere with the tragic things that had happened to my family and friends, then my ability should go to waste!" Boiling anger surfaced and I felt a familiar tingling running through my veins. "I promised myself to protect my family and friends! You shall not stop me from continuing on my path!" I screamed in scorching fury, the air around me becoming humid-it felt as if I was near a water source, a giant one.

No reply, the manly voice disappeared and with it, so did my strength. I collapsed on the ground, falling into a deep slumber.

"W-wat-er..." I turned around in shock, seeing wild, untamed red hair.

Ba-dump. Ba-dump.

Shaky steps, wide eyes, uncontainable fear tearing my organs apart from the inside out.

Ba-dump... Ba-dump... Ba-dump...

When I neared closer, I saw one of my clan members on the verge of dying from dehydration, and a bleeding injury, the blood gushing out his body in an alarming rate. His lips were burst open, blood flowing freely down, and vultures were clawing and tearing his flesh apart. The man had absolutely no energy left, not even to shoo them away, or spit on them.

I let out a fierce battle cry, scaring all the animals away, "Mazin-san, Mazin-san, s-stay with m-me..," I sniffed pathetically, placing his bleeding head on my lap and fumbling with my flask. Said object was getting emptier again, and I had been afraid that I wouldn't be able to survive this, but with the aid of the juice within the cactus, I had refilled it. Lucky call, and one of the few times were nothing was opposing me.

The man's eyes widened, "M-May-!" Blood started gushing out his mouth, I started panicking and reared his head downwards so he wouldn't drown in his own blood. Stupidly, I had forgotten about the opened flask and cactus juices spilled all over heating sand, sucking up the cool refreshment. Inwardly, I cursed, Mazin would sooner or later need water and out of recklessness I had dropped it. Things were gradually on becoming worse. Fear increasing as seconds ticked by and he kept throwing up blood. This wasn't normal anymore.

"M-Mazin-san! S-stay with me! D-don't leave!"

His body convulsed and I tried to steady him, making sure that his head would stay down. He keeled over, crying out in pain, and coughing, hacking out blood. I tried doing anything; keeping his head down, massaging his back, ... But in the end nothing seemed to work. Mazin's body too weak to fight for survival-his will already diminishing. Convulsing became wilder, and his back arched upwards, his wide, panicked eyes raining tears.

...then, it was all over.

He dropped on the ground, his lifeless, red eyes staring at the sky.

Redness.

Blood.

A sea of blood, "M-Mazin...?" I blinked my eyes in shock, my body numb, "..a nightmare, only a nightmare..." I grabbed my temples, squeezing it hard, "Nothing is real. When I will wake up everything will be back to normal; father and mother talking to each other, their loving eyes locked with each other, Morgiana bugging me to play with her, followed by Masrur who would demand a spar. Then Malik would look for us and tease our 'intimate' relationship. Marus' complaining rumbling throughout the camp.

Looking down, Mazin, the archer specialist, was still wide-eyed, a frightening fear still lingering within his ruby-red gems. Mazin who had a beautiful wife and three children: two sons and one daughter. I remembered that he and father had talked and drinking bitter beer, celebrating. And now Mazin was nothing more than an old memory-I couldn't even remember when I had seen him last.

Why was it so hard to breath?

These chaotic feelings...

...they were pushing me towards insanity.

The sensation crawled upwards, and before I knew it I was vomiting, "...P-please, s-someone h-help h-h-him..." This was no fucking dream, no matter how hard I wished that it was. "No...p-please..." I sobbed, the smell of copper and puke stinging my nose painfully, reminding me very two seconds that it was real, and my hands felt sticky, even if I tried to wipe it off.

Dirty, I was dirty. Covered in nothing but that awful sticky substance, I stood up drunkenly, only to drop unceremoniously into a heap of flesh and bones.

Mentally, I was too tired to continue. I shut my eyes, trying to close off everything...

...only to end up failing as it all came crashing down on me.

When I had woken up again, I had felt so empty to the point that it scared me. I had pushed those feelings away and buried Mazin underneath the ground and prayed for his life, "I hope you're happy now, M-Mazin." I choked on my words, clenching my fists.

The reason why he was left to rot was because he was mortally injured, no treatment would have saved him. And those bastards had no use of him, "A useless slave was better of dead..." I could already imagine them saying those things. Again, that same tingling crawled up my skin like insects and I wondered what it was. But I didn't let my thoughts wander too much and picked up my bag, leaving Mazin's grave behind.

...towards my path for revenge.

After a long-awaited journey, I had reached my destination. A day which would be imprinted into my brains, only to see it all happen again in my dreams.

A never-ending repeat of my failure...

"Everyone, I'm sorry for f-failing..."

Another weird dream?

I didn't know where I was, only that I happened to appear in this white void of nothingness before I could reach my destination. Only thing I could remember was the ache in my chest, and the running that never seemed to end. Narrowing my eyes, I tried to find an escape route, a path that would lead me out of this craziness. When suddenly, out of the blue, a familiar person appeared. "W-what are you d-doing here?"

"I think that's fairly easy as to why I'm here, no?"

He smiled, nodding, "I see you recognized my voice." I became livid at his nonchalant voice, as if we were talking about an everyday topic.

Taking my Fanalis stance, I readied myself to attack him. How dare he suggest such a thing? Did he really think it was that easy to do it?! "Have you no shame for suggesting something like that?! Aren't you supposed to lead the world into happiness instead of wandering around the world and hiding in a small cottage underneath the Great Rift?!"

Sadness emitted from him, and for a moment I hesitated when I saw that I had hurt his feelings, but then I remembered his idiotic and unimaginable suggestion-"I want to show you what the consequences of our future will entail after you'll try to rescue your family."

I sucked in a deep breath, eyes going as wide as saucers as many images shifted. Splitting headache became unbearable and I cried out in pain, screaming that this would not be my future. That I would remain loyal to my family and friends, that I wouldn't dare to do such an unthinkable act, that this was not May, an impostor cloaked with my skin, smell, look...

...unimaginable hatred.

May suppressed shouting and shrieking with all the fury that was boiling underneath her skin. Because there underneath her was a valley, but that wasn't the most important part of it. No, it were the people who were walking in that valley who mattered to her.

Anger, so blinding and unnerving-it felt as if her skin was being burned alive, smothered into scalding hot magma, leaving a burnt body behind. The pain of seeing her family and clan chained like animals, injuries and flesh wounds decorating their bodies. But what made her snap from the inside and lose all ounce of control was the sight of someone dear to her, someone who looked up to her-that someone was none other than Morgiana, a bleeding Morigana. She couldn't control her emotions anymore, she couldn't control her body, a fierce tornado whirling inside of her and forcing its way out. Without knowing what she was doing, she hissed venomously, words that she didn't even know about, let alone heard them, "Sea Goddess of Courage and Generosity, I command thee to grant me thy will of the untamable oceans and become one with me! Arise Beleth!" Her body changed completely, wings erupted from her back, and horns popped out of her head as clothes and whatnot changed into a divine being, promising death to whoever dared to look inside her eyes.

She felt the cackling energy buzz within her, and then she dashed towards the menaces who had hurt and captured her family, "I'll kill you all!"

Giant scythe in hands, she beheaded one of the slave hunters who was too late to slow and dodge her unavoidable attack. She didn't have time to stop and look at her family, only the thought that she had to save them no matter what, her life be damned. These people were everything to her, and she would use every ounce of her power to save them, even if it changed the shift of their Fate. The moment Fate had decided to drop her into this world, it should have known its consequences-the reason that she was put here in this world was to prevent anything catastrophic, not sit by and watch as everyone got hurt.

Covering herself in water, she avoided a nasty slash coming from a bandaged guy. Hatred fueling her, she jumped into the air and turned her body upside down, falling straight towards three of them. Quickly, she took her scythe and started spinning around, commanding the nearby sources of water to come towards her, like a magnet. Grinning like a madman, she became a tornado of mud and water, which ripped them into shreds. "Die! Die, you scumbags!"

She felt something black and ominous smother her like a mother who was about to embrace her child and lull her into a sweet sleep.

The ache became unbearable and she screamed in hysteria. She could feel her powers flickering as it dwindled down, the wild, restless Rukh becoming too much for her to handle. Knees dropped on the ground, she let out a pleading cry. A pair of hands grabbed her hair harshly and pulled her up, "You monster! We'll make you pay for what you did!"

Opening one eye, she glared weakly, whimpering at the intense pain, as if thousand swords pierced through her. "I-I'll kill you a-all... E-even if I have to d-die.." Using all her willpower, she pleaded to the Rukh to command her will. With one mighty push, she kicked the man in the head, enjoying the sound of his crushing skull. Secondly, she created a ball of condensing water, "Sharrar!" and engulfed all the chained Fanalis from her clan, cocooning them like a mother's womb. When that was done, she looked to the hundreds of slave hunters, eyes slightly wide.

So many have come...

And to make matters worse, she could feel her body getting weaker and weaker as she kept coughing out blood. Eyes crying blood, limiting her sight, and her body felt too heavy to move, exhausted-the strain becoming a searing pain to the point of hindering her movements. Wiping the red liquid with her forearm, she spit on the ground and embraced herself with the incoming torture. With a loud, ominous chant, she poured the entity of her leftover Magoi, Sea Goddess of Courage and Generosity, bestow upon me thy powers to crush my enemies with thy violent waves!" When those words left her lips, she could feel her life slowly leaking out of her, she could feel her power vanishing slowly on, the cold, icy feeling of Death itself as it wrapped its poisonous arms around her waist, whispering sweet words of nothingness.

Before she had dropped on the ground, she could hear desperate screams, pleads for help and then the quietness that welcomed her back.

More imagines shifted and I choked back when I felt my death. The black Rukh had surrounded me, to the point where I couldn't even breath, ominous whispers caressing and promising me power beyond my imagination. I couldn't have died, I had been powerful, I could feel the power-"You mean the black Rukh surrounding you? Yes, definitely your powers." I could feel his disdain, his sarcastic disgust when he listened to the echoing of my words, and he was right...

...disgusting, I was disgusting to trust on that kind of power, which would eventually corrupt me.

"But with y-your help, we can c-change t-the tide, I-I'm sure.." Why did I sound so uncertain, as if my words were useless, unnecessary, not powerful at all?

Before I could convince, he spoke with disappointed grief and sadness, "I wish I could, little one, but I can't." I didn't even have time to question him as to why he couldn't help when more images bombarded my mind, as if I was the person committing those deeds, which in some parts had been right.

She was afraid, but then again why was she scared?

What would happen to her? Who could hurt her after she would commit her atrocious deed?

No one. Nothing.

Because by then she would be dead.

Why would she live? Who would she live for? Who would she spend the rest of her miserable life with? Who would cheer her on to continue life?

No one. Nothing.

Because she had no one left. No father, no mother, no ...May-onee-chan, no Masrur-kun, no Mazin-san, no Marus-san, no nothing.

"Morgiana! Where are you?! You can't escape me, you'll always be mine. Forever and ever and ever and ever..."

Shivering, she looked down and ignored the impatient shouts from Jamil, it looked painful, but that would only be a fleeting kind of pain and then..

..and then...

and..then..sweet bliss, nothing.

She would be freed from this inauspicious world, she would fly towards the sky and there would be no one to stop her. She would join her family; her courageous father, her gentle mother, her wonderful onee-chan, her entire family, and up there they would become a family again. Up there, she would join her sister, who was bugging Masrur. Or she would get a piggyback from her father. Afterwards, her mother would smother her with motherly love and attention.

Because in the end she couldn't continue living like this.

Because in the end she had...

No one. Nothing.

With closed eyes, she leaned forward and stretched out her arms like a bird who was about to soar the high skies until she would reach the stars.

Because in the end she couldn't live on without her family.

I choked, scratching out my eyes when I had seen Morgiana commit suicide, "No! No, don't! Continue living on! ...please..." I had felt her pain, her longing for a lost family, her emotional struggles, her traumatizing experiences. Her everything and nothing at all.

The way I had seen her future made my stomach churn unpleasantly, shivers running up and down my spine, my heart beating like a savage without a destination or a goal in life, who kept running through the plain, and running... until it would drop dead. Curling up in a ball, I screamed in outrage, denying everything I had seen it, but that was a foolish thing of me, because the feelings had been real, because I had seen things that Yunan couldn't have known about.

Morgianas last image was of Masrur screaming in irritation as she and I ran away from him, her on my back, laughter ringing throughout the camp. This had happened after Morgiana had bitten Masrur's favorite pillow and then I had used it as a prank, smothering Masrur with honey and afterwards sticking the feathers on him. He had run through the camp, flailing his arms and looking like the picture-perfect stupefied chicken who tried to fly but failed miserably at it.

Then, more images appeared; of Alibaba shooing Aladin away after giving him food and a night's rest. And since they didn't meet Morgiana, Aladin never shower Alibaba Ugos incredible powers, which led to Alibaba wanting to recruit Aladin for Dungeon Capturing. More images shifted and there was Alibaba lying on the ground, his body angled in unusual ways, blood pouring out of his body as his eyes closed and his lips took one last, sweet breath before he left the earthly world to join the Rukh. Somewhere far away, the Fog Troupe didn't get Alibaba as their leader, and eventually would be slaughtered by Sinbad.

..more and more images, one after the other, and the pain that I felt from all those dying people had made me scream and choke and strangle myself...

...just...

...to get this impossible, unthinkable pain away.

"..s-stop..S-stop! I said to fucking stop!" I screamed at Yunan, "I believe you! I fucking believe you! Let me out of this insanity!" All the pleads of those people, all their future that I had destroyed with only a smart tweak of Destiny, all their black Rukh surrounding to the point of suffocating me. Death was better than those feelings, "Please, make this s-stop!"

"Do you understand the consequences of your deeds..?"

I nodded shakily, blinded by pain, by this point I would have done everything he asked me of, kissing his feet, becoming his slave, anything, only to get relieved from this excruciating pain. "..just p-please..I'll do anyt-thing.." Gasping for breath, I curled up in a ball, trying to keep those voices out, but it was an impossible task, they kept increasing, more deaths, Magnostadt, Al-Thamen, death, apocalyptic world, ...the end.

Sorrow and grief crushed my windpipe, "Then promise me, promise me that you won't do anything reckless and stay with me until I let you go."

I knew that he was despising his method of getting things done, in this despicably way, like a master would force his/her slave to bid his every command, but it was necessary. Hell, in this case I agreed with him, I was driven by revenge to the point of forsaking my life, followed by the lives of my most dearest people. "I promise! I promise! I promise...!" Those words were replayed like a radio on repeat, again and again, and tears streamed down and I dug my nails in my tender flesh, willing the blood to leak out.

Suddenly, a blinding, white light appeared and then the dark, freezing touch of Death was replaced by warm, soft hands, "Stubborn child, sleep." His voice was commanding, laced with pity and empathy. I struggled weakly, screaming with my hoarse voice as the drain on my body perished, leaving me frail and naked behind. "Father... Mother... M-Morgia-" I coughed, gripping the warm hands tightly, "...I-I'm s-sorry.. f-forgive m-me.."

"I'm sorry May, you have no idea how cruel and inhumane this request makes me feel, to force you to do something so monstrous. I hope one day you'll be able to forgive me. Until that day, I'll keep praying that I'll receive your forgiveness."

I let out a final blood-gurgling, heart-wrenching scream, like the sound of a person who had lost everything she loved. I cried until I had no energy left and dropped unconscious, the name of my family coming out in pained, harsh whispers.