As a Seer, Akira has to live by a very important code.

"You must never intervene in someone's destiny."

To follow this rule, Seers are forced to live on the outskirts of humanity. They isolate themselves from ordinary human beings; and if they were somehow discovered they were forced to move again. To make this process easier, Seers are made to forsake everything: family, possessions, and any other attachments they may have.

Akira had to go into isolation when he was fifteen. Ripped from his family, his friends, and his home, he was forced into the life of a Seer and made to emigrate deep into nature's hold.

He's lived in isolation for more years than he cares to count, reading and monitoring other's destinies from afar.

Until he met her.

He was taking a walk in the forest, forging for his next meal, maybe just going for a stroll. He doesn't remember, but on the walk, he found out that something was amiss. When you've spent long enough in nature, you find nature speaks back. He set out to find the anomaly.

She hid herself among some tall bushes and foliage, though it barely did her any good. Besides her frantic shaking, her platinum blonde hair made her location a dead giveaway. Only dousing it in the thickest of mud could ever cover up that radiance. Although to her credit, she made herself as small as possible, curling up in a fetal position.

He knew what was going to happen next. A few of the greasier villagers were chasing her. She hides in the bushes, desperately hoping that they won't find her, only for that hope to die horribly when they pull her out of her cover spot by her hair. It's the last time light ever graces her eyes again.

In the past centuries of his life, she's the first soul to have interested him. It wasn't her destiny that caught his attention. Hers was many of a million. Born to loving parents, spoiled while they were younger, nurtured by all until the nurturing hands stopped reaching out and were replaced by those of the greedy and malevolent, who sucked the poor souls dry until the end of their days. The cards have bared witness to many with those destinies. So why did hers catch his eyes?

Maybe it was because she's the first human he's actually seen in years, maybe it was because the long years have made him lonely, maybe it was because he's seen too many lives end so tragically; but he found himself thinking that he'd rather not see those bright blue eyes succumb to the darkness.

The ingrates were close. She covered her ears and closed her eyes, wishing and hoping that everything would miraculously be okay if she closed everything off. She curled up more when the grass in front of her started shaking.

A black cat broke through the tall grass, something dangling from its mouth. It walked closer towards her and dropped the item in front of her stomach. She blinked at the small creature.

"Meow." It cooed and nuzzled its furry cheek against her arm before it walked off back to wherever it came from. She picked up what the cat had dropped.

It was a card. The front of it looked familiar, but she couldn't place her finger on exactly what it was. Someone in the village might know. She flipped the card over and found some swirly script written on it.

'Don't give up, Ann.'

"W-who?" She whispers, slowly getting to her feet. She looked around, trying to see if she could see who may have left her the card. With no luck, she rose to her feet and slowly left the coverage of the foliage. She looked around one more time before leaving, not seeing the shadow watching her retreat.

He honestly didn't expect to see her again, but here she was: somewhere she shouldn't be, again.

He considered the first time she appeared in the forest on accident, akin to a child who wandered too far off the path and ended up somewhere unknown and somewhere they weren't supposed to. He doesn't know if he can say the same about this bout.

She's just leisurely walking down the path, humming a little tune to herself, swinging her arms back and forth. Not seeming to have a care in the world. She looked healthier. It looks like the years have been better to her. The pre-pubescent girl hiding from low-lifes in the forest is a shadow of the teenager he's looking at now. There was a fire in her step now that wasn't there years ago. It was alluring, but very much forbidden. So he stuck to the shadows of the trees.

But it seems that not so much has changed.

She was being followed.

There aren't as many pursuers as there were years ago. Really, not that many at all. Just one, walking a fair distance away, but he couldn't tell what their intention was. Without that card, he hasn't been able to see anything about her really.

The footsteps were approaching her faster now. It seems like they were about to make their move. Akira was about to dive out of the shadows to interfere before he saw Ann stop walking and turn around to face the incoming person.

Huh.

The person stopped right behind her. It was a teenage boy.

"Ann-chan!" You know we aren't supposed to be in this forest!"

"Relax. It's perfectly safe here," Ann calmed the panicking boy. "Besides, you could've stayed in the village. I didn't ask you to come along."

"What!" The boy was shocked by her rejection. He furrowed his eyebrows and propped his hand on his hip. "Is this about that card you found?"

Akira froze at what the boy said while the blonde sighed at his words. It looks like they've had this conversation before.

"You need to stop chasing these fairytales, Ann-chan. There's no sightings of these "Seers" in this forest. No one knows if they even exist!"

So she's out here looking for him. Giving her that card couldn't have sparked her curiosity that much! Maybe that bit of encouragement from him was a little too much after all.

But he couldn't worry about that now. She's putting herself in danger by walking through the forest looking for him. Just like how Seers are real, there are other real creatures people think of as myths that lurk in this forest.

He couldn't let her see him.

"We're leaving!" The boy grabbed her wrist harder this time judging by her small finch, intent on bringing her back to the village even if he had to use force.

"Hey! Let go!" Ann tried to pry his hand from her wrist, but his hand wouldn't budge. So she planted her feet on the ground and pulled back. She was strong enough to impede his stride. He stumbled, almost jerking back with her unexpected stop.

"Come on, Ann!" He let go of her hand in a huff when it was obvious that she wasn't going to go by force. "Think of the village. Think about how everyone will take this! They're already whispering things about you behind your back. If you keep doing this everyone is going to think that those nasty things are true!"

"I don't care if they think what they say about me is true!" Ann yelled back, standing her ground. The girls he found shivering in the bushes years ago wouldn't have made this stance against someone pressuring her. So this is the person that little girl grew into. He had to say, he didn't hate it.

"Are you serious right now?!"

The forest rumbled at what the boy said, probably one of those "mythical creatures", that aren't so much a myth making a timely appearance. It had the boy shaking in his boots.

"Fine! You can stay here, but I'm leaving!" The boy quickly scurried away back towards the village, leaving the blonde behind.

Now that one issue was gone, two more remained. It's getting dark and more creatures come out when the lights go out. He also needed to leave before she saw him.

"You're the one who gave me the card, aren't you?"

Crap.

When did she sneak up behind him?

"You are, aren't you?"

He could practically feel her behind him. Maybe it was just her presence. Maybe it was his natural power to see the potential in humans. Maybe it was because of the card he gave her all those many years ago.

The grass crunched underneath her feet when she stepped closer and he stepped back.

"Stop. You can't come any closer." He said. "It is forbidden."

She didn't take another step towards him, but he didn't hear her leave. The next minute he heard her speak again.

"My mom used to tell me stories about Seers when I was little. Unlike the other people of the village who called Seers "witches", she described Seers as "lonely wallflowers". They sit on the sidelines of the world watching everyone else live their lives while not being able to truly live a life of their own."

"She also told me a story of a Seer who gave her a special card that allowed her to glimpse into her own future."

He's sure he's heard this story, too; except it was told as a cautionary tale. It was one of the last things the elders told him before he was cursed with this power. It was the story of a Seer who defected and allowed himself to be seen by humanity, even going as far as refamiliarizing himself with them. He was told that his powers were revoked, but what happened to the Seer was ominously left in the dark; it was heavily implied that he was executed. It was a warning to never attempt the same.

"If you know the end of the story then it's even more of a reason for why you need to leave."

But Ann shook her head.

"She married him."

What?

"That's why I wanted to give you this back." He heard the rustling of clothing behind him. He honestly could have fled while she was searching, but he found that he just couldn't urge himself to move. The fight between body and mind stopped when he felt something thin and light pressed against his hand.

It was his card. Or rather, her card.

The Lovers

"So you've chosen your path?"

"I… don't know really. But I know that I don't want to be treated as a toy anymore." There was a resolution to her voice, so strong and so sure. There was a fire in her voice, a minuscule, flickering flame grown into a gentle fire on the cusp of becoming a grand inferno.

A fire that burned so brightly that every pair of eyes in the room would be drawn to her and unable to look away.

"I also heard that those cards are how you're able to see our future, so I want you to keep it. So you can continue to watch me as I grow even further."

A burning flame. And he, the moth.

A deep growl rumbled from further into the forest. Seers aren't the only myths that inhabit this forest, and as the sun's light begins to die out, the myths start to awaken. They were most likely hunting now.

"You need to leave, Ann."

The blonde had turned at the sound of the beast. Because of that, he had a great view as the apple of her cheeks and the tips of her ears flushed.

"R-right. It's forbidden. A-And it is getting l-late."

He has no idea why she's stuttering all of a sudden, but she started walking away. Or maybe fleeing the scene was more appropriate.

"Oh." But she stopped, a ways away but still in his range of sight. She spun on her heel and raised her hand in the air in a wide, brandishing wave farewell; her eyes a shimmering blue, her cheeks a rosy red, and her smile joyfully free. The sight made his heart thump heavily in his chest, and he doesn't know why but he grips the card a little tighter in his hand.

"Please keep watching me from this moment forth!"

This human was definitely special.