The woman in a brown cloak put her head down and held onto her hood, with Dilara spotting her. "I did that…"

Looking back and forth, Dilara eyed the old woman. "Wh-Wh-Who are you?!"

"Ah, forgive me for failing to introduce myself. How rude of me," the old woman replied. "My name is Rhydian, and I had a vision that a mysterious person would defeat the dark lord on his planet. And"-Rhydian pointed at Dilara's chest and her hand was shaky a bit, sensing Dilara's necklace hiding inside her dress-"I sensed your necklace as something special."

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Is she for real?!

Dilara looked down at her chest, then back at Rhydian, broadening her eyes for a moment. Once she pulled out her necklace, she examined it and returned her attention to Rhydian. What does this woman want my necklace for? "You mean this?"

Rhydian nodded.

Dilara chuckled. "You must be joking! My necklace doesn't contain any magical powers." Dilara laughed harder and wiped her tear off of her eye.

"Oh, no. I'm actually quite serious," Rhydian said. She put her hand out, chanting her spell.

Dilara widened her eyes once she saw her necklace glowed white. The medium-sized sphere exited from the crystal, displaying a black silhouette casting a spell on the dark lord, ending his reign.

"There was a prophecy that a person with this necklace would defeat the dark lord," Rhydian stated, "People in the aristocracy and royalty had this all over Aniva and, strange enough, you're one of the ones to maintain its possession.

"Legend says the gods throughout Aniva have possession of this necklace as divine gifts to help set them apart from the rest of society. Only they get to have contact with the spirits and the gods with them.

"Anyone, who's not aristocratic possesses this kind of necklace, would be put to death as it would not only dishonor the gods in Aniva by someone deceiving others to be part of the aristocracy and take advantage of its powers. Where did you get it? Are you a lost aristocratic person?"

"I don't know. I swear it," Dilara replied, looking down below her. "But I do have these visions of a little girl leaving a woman behind in a castle though."

"Ah, I see. I searched everywhere for the person to take on a task – galaxy to galaxy, planet to planet, kingdom to kingdom, yet I failed to get one just due to the aristocrats' fear of getting killed on a quest. The royalty's interest in protecting their kingdoms from the dark lord matters a lot more to them, than defeating him and the dark lord's dominance."

"Uh-huh. And you think it's me?" Dilara asked.

When Dilara's necklace stopped glowing, she placed it back inside her dress. She shook her head.

"It's a possibility," Rhydian said. "Will you please join me on a quest to defeat the dark lord?"

"I think you got the wrong person to do this. I think you're better off asking someone else to do it."

"Please come on a quest with me," Rhydian begged, placing her hands on Dilara's arms. "You could be the one to save Aniva from the dark lord."

Dilara wiped Rhydian's hands off. "And then what? Get myself killed for nothing? Absolutely not! I don't know how to use magic besides healing and I'm not even literate! No thank you!"

"I'll teach you how to do these things, but only if you go with me to defeat the dark lord."

"I said, 'No, thank you!'"

"But ma'am, please-!"

Dilara glared at Rhydian, her eyes just slightly open, crossing her arms. "I said no! Now go away and never come back!"

Rhydian sighed and frowned at Dilara. "Very well then. If you insist. I'll turn to those aristocrats and the royalty over there." She pointed her head at the people near the late king's coffin and got rid of her frown. "Let me know if you’ve changed your mind."

Rhydian chanted her spell and snapped her fingers. Hearing the crowd whispered among themselves around Dilara, including Mother and her daughters, she investigated her surroundings.

The funeral continued and the newly crowned king kissed the late king's forehead. Some aristocratic men wrapped their arms around the crying women leaning on them.

Others just stood there and watched, with their hands on the wen's shoulders. The children there just stood there and watched, showing no emotion.

The cool air hitted Dilara's cheek and made my cheeks feel cold. My nose sniffed its pleasant smell.

Ah, the funeral's back on.

Then she turned her head behind her and saw Rhydian disappeared, nowhere to be found. She broadened her eyes in her mild gasp. She didn't notice that people were watching her.

Noticing Rhydian was gone, Dilara wondered where Rhydian went and moved her head sideways out of search for Rhydian. She was sure Rhydian was here a while ago.

Mother's eyes searched for Dilara and noticed her not paying attention to the funeral. Mother frowned in embarrassment when she noticed people were watching and gossiping about her. She fought through the crowd and tapped Dilara on the shoulder, whispering Dilara's name.

Dilara turned to Mother and whispered, "Yes, ma'am?"

"What the hell are you doing?! You're supposed to be watching the funeral! Are you trying to embarrass and get us all in trouble?! Did you even see people staring at and gossiping about you?!" Mother pointed her hand at the crowd.

It didn't take long for Dilara to finally notice the crowd. She covered her mouth and her cheeks turned scarlet, when she watched the crowd being rude to her all around her. Mother's daughters turned to Mother, Dilara and the crowd, doing the same to Dilara. Dilara felt guilty for being too distracted over searching for that old lady and hoped she and her family wouldn't get arrested for it.

"Well?!" Mother impatiently asked in a low voice, crossing her arms. "I'm waaaaitttiiing! I don't got all day, you know!"

Dilara turned to Mother, whispering back, "I'm sorry, ma'am. I was searchin' for this old woman here named Rhydian and I thought for sure she was here a while ago."

Mother searched for Rhydian with Dilara and she also failed to find her, as most people around her were fairly young to middle aged. She returned her attention to Dilara, waved her dismissal hand at Dilara. "You're just imagining things!"

Dilara widened her eyes when she heard what came out of Mother's mouth, messing with her fingernails. "But, ma'am! I-"

Mother turned back to Dilara in haste and glared at Dilara. "I do not want to hear it! You will be punished accordingly when we get home. Do you understand me?!"

Dilara frowned and sighed. "Yes…ma'am…"

"Good!" Mother then smiled at Dilara out of relief, then she turned to the crowd to not only apologize but also added, "This woman will be punished accordingly when she, my daughters and I return home. Please don't report us to the authorities. She'll take full responsibility for this."

Once the crowd and Mother's daughters stopped what they were doing, Dilara and Mother continued to watch the funeral as normally as possible. Dilara frowned once more, believing that she would be whipped and do more extra work on top of that as her punishment.