Side-Story – Celine's Mistake – Celine – Prologue – A Piece of a Prophecy

Just where was I going wrong?

I stood before a mess. Scattered snow was littered on what could only be a destroyed home… though it looked odd, even as it were. I'd seen a lot of burnt down and destroyed buildings in my life, and countless more in my dreams… but this one seemed odd… almost as if it hadn't been a home at all that had once been standing here, but instead some kind of other structure. It almost looked like a giant pile of just a collection of wood and leaves… maybe this hadn't been a normal home, but something built up in the trees? There were plenty of fallen trees around too, and they were both huge enough and in great enough number for it to have made sense…

Plus she was some kind of great hunter cat… Cats were often climbing trees, weren't they? Maybe it was part of their nature…

"Celine… The bodies are definitely as you described. One of them even had fur or something like it all over their bodies, we think."

I turned to watch one of my sisters walk over to me as to give me an update. She looked cold, wearing multiple layers of clothing and an extra cloak even. "Any sign of who did this yet?" I asked.

Sister Freya shook her head. "No… Hyacinth thinks there are signs of strange tracks all around, but she and the others haven't confirmed it yet."

"What kind of strange tracks?" I asked. If it was something simple, like hoof prints, or footprints from armored knights or something it should have been obvious to tell… Which meant her inability to figure it out yet meant it was something uncommon.

Frey gave me an odd look. "She said it looks as if something huge was dragged all around… like a giant tree."

Dragged…? "Show me," I said.

My fellow sister nodded and gestured back the way she came. Off to another section was a small group of us, Hyacinth and her older sister amongst them, but Freya didn't lead me to them… instead she took me around some of the collapsed home and to the edge of the area. Where the shorter grass met with the thick kind.

Sure enough… we found a weird groove in the earth. I frowned at what I could only explain as maybe a strange water-way system or something like it… since it was rounded, and deep, and had the obvious tell-tale markings of being forced into formation by something more than natural weather. The problem was there was no water in it… just snow and some debris… and…

"It almost looks kind of like what a snake leaves behind in sand," I said as I thought of the snake monarch that I had gone to meet a few months ago.

"Huh…? A snake…?" Freya didn't seem to agree, but as I followed the strange indent in the earth it became more obvious. The strange half-dug hole started to weave and shift, the same way a snake would move… though… "It'd have to have been huge, Celine…" Freya whispered as she finally realized I was one to something.

"Yes. A monarch," I said.

That was the only thing that made sense!

I stepped away from Freya and the odd mark and walked over to Hyacinth. She and the rest were near another similar groove, though this one had mounds of dirt all around it, implying something chaotic had happened in the area. Her group went quiet as I approached and the young girl turned and stood upright upon my approach. "Do you think it could have been a snake?" I asked her.

The girl with freshly transplanted eyes blinked at me… and then she slowly frowned as she nodded. "Actually… yes. Yes, I could see how a large snake could leave such grooves in the earth, yes," she said.

Damn!

I turned away and walked off, before she or anyone else could say anything to disturb me. I heard their worried whispers as they all huddled behind me, Freya's voice joining them as she hurried over, but I ignored them all.

Another failure…! And one that I desperately needed to not be, at that!

I tried to remain calm as I walked around a large fallen tree and all its broken branches. As I did I neared another small group, this time not of church-women but knights. Martin turned to look at me, but I ignored him blatantly enough that he didn't even think about coming over to ask if all was well.

Because nothing was well. Nothing was going well at all.

We were far in the north. Farther than I'd ever been, and likely farther than I'd ever go ever again. This place was a strange land, where not just humans… but even our kind, non-humans, rarely if never ventured. It was a place where oddities still lived. A place where the very earth, the weather and environment, was as deadly if not more so than not. The sheer cold we were feeling up here, even nearly in the beginning of summer, was a sign of this place's harshness. Odds are this whole area was under countless feet of snow during the winter. That fact only furthered the assumption that they had all lived up in the trees, off the ground… as to stay above the snow.

One would think a snake would never venture to such a cold place… but this had to have been a monarch. And maybe even one of the more powerful ones.

I couldn't imagine anything else threatening these people. I couldn't comprehend of any other existence that this Goddess could fear…

But obviously something had happened. And I had been too late.

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Why though…? Why show me dreams of my meeting her here, only for this to happen…? Why not instead show me of this disaster, as so I could potentially have kept it from happening in the first place…?

Maybe she was still around. Or just nearby… but how did I verify it, and how did I risk it? There was a large group of us here, nearly fifty of us, but about half that number were those like Hyacinth. Young women I'd not risk foolishly. Couldn't. They weren't just frail things, they were important… and had duties and prophecies to fulfill themselves. Which meant if I wanted to expand a search party in this region, I'd have to do so in groups and it'd bring great risks. Not only did I risk their lives from dangers, but getting lost or sick out here were also factors to consider. To say nothing of how much time I was willing to sacrifice here… In just two months I had a prophecy to fulfill down south, and it'd take me nearly a month just to get there from here…

I sighed as I kicked a small broken branch. It dislodged some stale snow as it did.

Many prophecies have ended in failures. More than I wanted to admit… but this was one of the ones that I could not have afforded to end this way.

We had needed her. Desperately. Without her, when the time came for me to meet the god slayer I'd be doing so alone. Which meant I'd be unable to convince him… and would then have to rely on chance and time. Neither were my friends.

Reaching up, I scratched heavily at the top of my head. Where parts of fur met normal hair.

What to do…?

"Celine."

I huffed as I turned to face Martin. "What? Leave me alone I'm fuming," I said.

Martin, my stoic knight protector, was as calm as he was strong. Even for as young a man he was, I felt comfortable and safe near him… as did many of us. He nodded gently at my words, though seemed not to care about them. "We're here to find someone, no…? Well… did we find them?"

"Of course we didn't. Or did you not notice the utter lack of life all around us?" I asked, snipping a little at him.

Martin didn't even flinch as he held my gaze and nodded. "So what do you want us to do…? The one here was important, weren't they…? You've been anxious the whole way. What do you need us to do?" he asked.

I want you to turn back time, so that I could come here sooner and prevent this failure from happening!

But I couldn't shout that. Even if I wanted to.

"Please get a few of your men and search the surrounding area. Leave a few here to protect us, though… just in case whatever had attacked this home returns," I said.

Martin slowly nodded… and then turned away. Without a word he went to both obey and to give orders to the rest of his knights. I knew not a one would complain or question, they'd just obey. But… that was the problem, wasn't it?

If the problems of this world could be solved simply by strong soldiers who obeyed without question, then there would be no need for anything else. They were useful, sure, but their usefulness only went so far.

They'd not find her. Because it wasn't meant to be. But I had to try anyway. They had to try.

As Martin left me, I sighed and looked back at the pile of rubble. Every so often I could see the hints of life. Of what one would call human touches. Some kind of cloth was stuck in a bundle of sticks to my right. A shoe or something was lying half torn to my left. Up on top of the pile, as if placed atop it on purpose, was some kind of thick drape… maybe a rug or curtain that had gotten tangled up there somehow.

All of the man-made stuff told me this was definitely the right spot… not to mention I'd seen it before in my dreams. Several times. I recognized the forest around me. The smell in the air. The cold chill that never left. I recognized enough of this place to know we weren't in the wrong location.

We had just been late.

"There's no way she's dead…" I whispered as I looked along the tree-line… as if I'd randomly just see her standing there beyond the horizon.

She would be a tad shorter than me, but would have big ears on her head. Similar to the other foxes and cats, but distinct enough to tell her apart from them. They'd be dark, a near black, but she'd have golden eyes. Pupils that shone, even in the dark… and most importantly, she'd speak with a voice that made one shiver. Or at least, would make me shiver.

In the back of my mind I could also imagine her smell. It was distinct… but, not too surprisingly, it was the same scent of this whole forest. It was so similar in fact that I knew I'd not be able to find her on smell alone, and neither would anyone else. Which was a tad odd, but not. Many of us smelled of our birth, of our homelands. Martin even smelled like the house he had been born in, not the village or mountain… just the house.

She had to be alive. Had to be nearby… I've had other prophecies about her just recently. There was no way this destroyed place, which looked months if not even years old, was something that recent.

At the bare minimum if I couldn't find her, I needed to ensure she at least wasn't here. I needed to ensure her body wasn't in the rubble.

Although finding her dead corpse would be gut wrenching, and turn so many of my plans upside down… it would at least give me a better and more grounded idea of our future…

"Celine…!"

Freya hurried over and I grew a tad excited, but the swell of emotion only lasted half a moment. She slowed and huffed in a way as she got close that I knew she'd not found her. "What is it?" I asked.

"They found a piece of skin. It was definitely a snake, or something like it. Come look, it's a huge piece of white scales," she said with a point back where she came from.

I perked up at the find, and found myself growing excited once more. Yes it confirmed a snake monarch had likely attacked this place, thus the destruction… but it also meant we now had a lead. I had people who could, with this piece of skin, track down and possibly find the snake or at least learn more about it… and that knowledge could then lead us to her. To fix this mistake. To stop this failure from becoming permanent.

Following Freya back to the other side of the area, I prayed this somehow ended well… otherwise I wasn't sure what we were going to do.

We needed Rennalee. Needed her more than we needed anyone else… even Vim, the god slayer.

Because without her he might as well not show up either. He'd be that useless.

He'd just be another Martin. Another great warrior, incapable of doing more than swinging a sword.

And that only did so much. Only saved so many lives.

Just like my prophecies. Like any of our prophecies.

You could be shown the end of the world, but if you didn't have the tools or capability… there was no point in having the knowledge. You wouldn't be able to stop it from happening.

"Found another!" another sister shouted nearby, and I glanced over to see her lift up a huge chunk of what looked like not just a very pale piece of flesh… but one that was even see-through. Even from here I could see what they meant by skin of the snake.

"Gather them up… and keep searching!" I shouted as I went to join them.

Maybe we could salvage this prophecy yet!