Strings of Fate

Strings of Fate 162- Starting and spanning Bellamy and | are the first to join the call. | stare at the black screen anxiously, constantly checking and rechecking that the camera is on properly and the microphone has sound. Bellamy gently places a hand over my knee to stopfrom bouncing my leg anxiously. | have so many questions, | don’t even know what to ask first.

About Kiara’s magic? About theirs? My own? What if they don’t know anything, or what if they DO? I find myself leaning into Bellamy’s shoulder. | feel kind of nauseous. Maybe | should have sat on his lap after all, at least then he could supportif | pass out. I'm actually holding my breath when the first person joins the call. It’s an older man, maybe in his sixties. He has a huge moustache and not a lot of hair. Honestly he kind of looks like a cartoon character. The thought makescrack a smile and | start breathing again.

“Well hello there young lady. You too lad. I'm Collin Demy, you can callCollin” His voice is gruff, but he seems nice.

“Hello, I’'m-" | get cut off by a second person entering the call.

“Okay mum, you're in. Now can | PLEASE go play my game?” A boy, maybe fourteen years old, is standing over the camera.

“Yes, yes. Go on, get out of here.” A rather frazzled looking woman steps into view and drops herself into a seat.

“Hello all! Sorry I'm late. | had to get my son to helpfigure out the computer. | assyou are Bellamy and Ryann, and who is this gentleman?” She questions.

“This is Collin Demy, Collin, this is Adeline Landry. You both have the smagical mark.” | tell them in a way of explanation. Collin perks up.

“Well yes, | assyou're the third member of our little group then?” He asks. Okay, so he seems to have sidea what's going on.

“Not quite, the actual third person is a little girl, Kiara. She's been kidnapped and I'm trying to find her. My mark is quite similar to yours though. | was hoping you could tellwhat you know about your magics as well as Kiara’s if you know anything. Then | was hoping to 1/4 162- Starting and spanning see if you had any insights as to what my magic might be.” I tell him. | was intimidated, but somehow it’s impossible to be frightened of a woman who needs a teenager to help her set up a video call and an old man who looks like he should be animated. Plus they both turned up and seem willing to talk, what more could I ask for? Collin is the one to answer.

“I don’t know what you already know, but letstart from the basics. Myself, Adeline and this Kiara girl are representatives of the three fates. | guess the first thing you need to know is that the representatives are a reflection of the fate who chose them. Our role is to use our magic to make sure that people’s fates actually cto pass. In general that doesn’t actually require any action on our part. I've only been asked to intervene three times in my entire life, which has been quite long. I'm a Banshee so | age slowly. I'm currently one hundred and thirty-two years old. Really, our existence is mostly because the fates like to have a representative. They each choose a person and bless them with additional magics outside of those that their species provides. In my case | am chosen by who the Greeks called Lachesis.

The sister who measured the length of a person’s life. She's unusual in that she seems to have decided to always choose a representative from my family line. Lucky for us, that means | actually had someone to ask about all this.” Collin is fairly cheerful. | can’t imagine what it would be like to grow up actually knowing about your magic and even knowing that you have a purpose.

“That's... wow. So, if you don’t mind, would you tellmore about your magic?” | ask. Speople are really defensive about sharing that kind of information. | suppose it can lead to sharing your weaknesses which can be sort of awkward to tell a near stranger.

“I don’t mind at all. | so rarely get to talk about all this. So, as | mentioned | am a Banshee so my natural magic is to foresee when someone is about to die and... announce a warning.” He starts. | nod my understanding.

Announce is an understatement. Banshees scream to signal someone is about to die, the scream is supposedly so painful to hear that people burst into tears or even pass out because they're just so overwhelmed.

“Right, well my additional abilities aren’t normal for a Banshee. When | touch someone | can see the thread of their lifespan. | see what kind of looks like a light that follows down the thread and shows how close or far away they are from the end of their life. The only times that Lachesis has hadintervene | just had to use my natural abilities to warn the person about soncoming danger and then they managed to stay on track for their lifeline.” He explains.

2/4 162- Starting and spanning “Huh, so basically you see how long a person has left and warn people when you're asked to. How are you asked?” | follow up..

“I get visions, usually when I'm asleep. Then | just have to find the person and do my thing.” “That doesn’t sound too bad.” | observe.

“It’s not. I'm lucky that I've had it fairly easy. | don’t know all the details about the other two fates, my family have records about our own abilities, | could read up on the others in detail but I only know the basics of what they're meant to be able to do, not exactly how it works. So the other two are Atropos who controls the manner of a person’s death and Clotho who chose the start.” He sums up. Adeline has stayed quiet this whole tlistening attentively, nodding and occasionally humming and agreeing when something makes sense. But she finally steps in.

“Oh, that one’s mine. Clotho | mean, although I didn’t know that was what it was called. I'm a nature Witch, so my natural magic are the typical Witch things with a focus on nature, growing things, elemental magic, stuff like that. My additional magic is that | know when people will be born. If | touch someone | can see the threads that WILL cfrom them in the future that represent their children. | can then follow those threads and learn when the child will be born.” She smiles happily and | can tell that she enjoys that magic. It might be nice to be able to see future life. Now I'm almost glad to not have her here in person though. I'm not sure | want to know about any potential children | might have.

“Have you ever had visions and stuff?” | ask. She nods sagely.

“Yes, but only the once. | found the man and using my natural abilities as a nature Witch | was able to assist with sfertility issues that he was having.” She looks positively joyful now. He must have been grateful.

“So if you're the representative for Clotho Adeline and Collin, you're the representative for Lachesis.” Bellamy gestures to each of them in turn.

“Then that means Kiara must be the representative for the other one what was it again?” Bellamy tries to remember.

“CallAddie dear.” Adeline comments.