The man sat silently for a time as the boy recovered from the harrowing experience. The boy hurt, everywhere. Even breathing was painful and his heart felt as if it was being stabbed every time it beat. He sat there for some time unmoving until the throbbing pain subsided. Once breathing didn't send tremors through his body, he asked the man "What was that..?"
"Power. The power to carry out my promise. Albeit, it's much less than I once carried."
The boy only stared. He had heard before from his parents growing up that very few people get blessed by one of the gods. And have an ability to do something unexplainable. He once saw a man create a flame in the palm of his hand. But it was much to weak and small to do anything more than light a small fire.
"Were you blessed? Is that how you can do that?" It was the first and only conclusion the boy could make.
"No, I wasn't. If you listened all would be answered."
Still deep in thought, the boy recalling where the man stopped said, "I still think fate is unfair." Prompting the man to continue his story. The man stepped forward, and lightly caressed the statues face. As his hand fell he began once more "Yes. Fate may seem unfair, but everything that is to come was already determined.. there is no use in trying to fight fate..."
Josiah couldn't sleep. He had tried many times, it had already been several days since he had seen the crone. Yet the flashes of the future were still vivid in his mind. His scream still echoing in his mind, causing him to shudder. Every time he did manage to sleep the terrible images woke him again. He'd lay silent in bed. Sweating and breathing heavily until he became too exhausted to stay awake and the cycle repeated. Nyx and his advisors seemed to notice his fatigue and lack of sleep. Nyx even tried sleeping near him but nothing helped. If anything it burned the images deeper into his soul. So tonight he decided to take a different approach. Josiah checked outside from his bedroom window, the sky had turned a beautiful dark blue from the moon. Then he went to closet and retrieved the dark clothing and hood he recently had purchased. Donning the clothes and proceeding out his room. He decided he would get to the bottom of these nightmares by returning to the source.
He was going to find the crone.
The summer festival lasted for almost a week. So in theory the dark stall should still be up. Josiah was able to sneak out of the castle and get back to the streets of the festival with relative ease. The castle had no real use for guards and the men that typically watched over it during the day, had already gone to rest in their own homes. No the ones he had to look out for are the maidens that tend to the castle. As they report any and everything to do with him back to Nyx. Thankfully at this hour all the stalls had closed and majority of people had gone home. So there were not many if any people on the street he wandered. The few people he did encounter were oblivious to his identity and passed by him silently. Even then he was having some trouble finding the stall. To the point he considered lighting a lantern but decided against it because any light could cause trouble. So illuminating his way with only the light of the moon he continued forward.
Until eventually he found it.
The stall looked even more ominous in the nighttime. And he only noticed it because the stall was of such a dark material that it didn't reflect the light. Now that he inspected it closer some things weren't making sense to him. The stall was relatively small. Smaller than most, and though it had no torches or lanterns. He could see a faint ethereal light coming from beneath it. Not a burning hue of a flame. But a ghostly blue that seemed perfectly still. Josiah was puzzled. He had been in side the stall before and yet the size on the outside clearly didn't match that of the one within. So he cautiously began walking towards it when he heard a familiar voice.
"Ah, so you've returned sweet child, here for another telling of the future perhaps?"
He barely saw the crone coming out of the stall before she turned around and entered the stall again. Her voice echoing to the outside. "Come, Come. I'm sure you have questions.."
Josiah almost decided to turn back. However he needed answers, he needed to know how to prevent these visions from passing. But most importantly.. he wanted to know more about the mysterious crone. Who seemed to know everything about this world. So fighting against his instincts, that were screaming at him to run away. He stepped forward and entered the stall.