“They seem to be getting along really well. Watching them is like seeing two old friends talk.”
“Then that means my plan is working!” Azura said triumphantly. The trio had stolen away to a nearby bush, hoping to give Jay and Broderick a moment of privacy.
However, with the others out of earshot, their conversation was far from tame. “How long do we have to keep up this act, Jay?”
“Just until sundown. The girls don’t need to know anything of our past – not yet. It’ll all be clear to them soon enough. Until then-“
“-we act as strangers.”
“Right. A few hours of normalcy are all we get.”
Broderick sighed and stood beside her, as they looked at the girls trying to spy on them from a bush. “They’re trying to set us up, you know,” he said with some amusement.
Jay laughed at her friends’ antics. “You guys can stop spying on us now!”
Defeated, the trio rejoined Jay and Broderick. After a few minutes, they all settled down, happy with relaxing until sunset.
“Hey,” Azura finally said, breaking the long stretch of comfortable silence.
“No, I don’t think that cloud looks like a bunny,” Kaelin grumbled.
“That’s not what I meant this time!”
This perked everyone’s curiosity. “What were you going to say?” Roselyn asked.
“I was just sort of wondering, have you guys ever thought that we were supposed to be doing something with our lives? You know, like maybe our existence actually meant something?”
Jay and Broderick glanced at each other seriously, but allowed Azura to continue.
“I mean, all I really do is read and play video games. All the adventures I see on the page or on the screen seem so real sometimes. Do you ever think that we’ll have an adventure like that?”
Roselyn quickly picked up on the thought. “You’re saying that maybe there’s a reason we’re living in this moment, at this time, in this place, and that there’s a reason we are what we are?”
“I’d like to think so,” Kaelin said.
“Me, too,” Roselyn chimed in.
/They’re sharp./
Of course, only Broderick and Jay could hear the wind, and neither could respond without speaking out loud. Their only reply was a subtle nod.
/They speak of Destiny and believe it is Fate. They know much and have much to learn. Look to the horizon; the sun is almost set./
“Fate?” Broderick said to both the girls and the wind. “I don’t believe in it.”
Jay’s eyes darkened as he spoke those words, but she said nothing of it. Instead, she diverted the girls’ attention away from Broderick. “Hey, the sun’s almost down.” They tone of her voice made Roselyn look back at Jay, who met her gaze with indecipherable emotion.
And no one said a word.
The sun continued to sink below the horizon, bathing this false world with soft rays of gold. The light washed over the land like a wave flowing of a message carved onto a sandy beach, and as with all waves, quickly pulled back, leaving behind a blank canvas. However, painted on this canvas were five beings eternally imprinted onto the very threads of Time. The Illusion was gone, washed away with the golden sea of the sun. Left in the twilight were five painted figures, forever looking to the horizon.
