A Severed Lifeline
"What? Death?"
The stunned silence at the sudden declaration lasted only a moment before Aidan exploded, grabbing Lokha by the collar.
"If you're serious about this, I'll end you right here! You're the one who wants to die, aren't you? What the hell does Bayul have to die for?"
His eyes had gone completely wild—his hot-blooded temper had clearly come roaring back.
"This palm reading thing is all a scam, isn't it? You just wanted a bit of attention at the start of the semester. I've seen guys like you a hundred times."
"Sorry, but no. And I'm actually quite good at reading palms."
"You little—!"
Aidan's fist shot up in fury.
"You're dead today! Go on, keep spouting that crap, see what happens!"
The very instant his fist was about to connect with Lokha's face—
"Aidan, calm down!"
Bayul lunged forward and seized Aidan's arm, holding him back.
"Let's hear the rest of what Lokha has to say."
"What did you say?"
"He's still got more to say—I can see it on his face. Isn't that right, Lokha?"
If anyone had the right to panic at the word death, it was the person in question—Bayul himself. No one could remain indifferent upon learning they were going to die. And yet Bayul was calmer than he had been at any point in memory.
"Bayul, you actually believe this guy?"
"Honestly, I don't want to believe it. But now I'm curious."
Bayul fixed Lokha with a steady gaze.
"You said you'd read my palm again later. There's a reason for that, isn't there?"
"A reason? What reason?"
"Not enough time to explain right now."
The moment Lokha finished speaking, the bell announcing the second period rang through the halls. Every fiber of Bayul's being wanted to pin the boy down and shake the truth out of him, but they were students, and class waits for no one.
"Forget food, forget everything—come straight to Bayul's dorm the second class ends. Got it?"
"Aidan, enough. I'm a Stone Lion. I share a room with Quinn."
"I'm a Stone Lion too. I know where your room is, so I'll find my way there."
Lokha didn't want to leave things hanging like this either. He, too, wanted to examine Bayul's palm more closely and talk things through.
If I'm right, there isn't much time left...
The moment death would come seeking Bayul.
That hour was not far off. But that one thing, he simply could not bring himself to say.
Why...? What on earth is going to happen to Bayul...!
"You'd better come."
Eli made a point of stressing it before they parted. Quinn and Logan said nothing, but the cold glances they leveled at Lokha carried a clear warning—break this promise, and they wouldn't stand by quietly.
The lifeline was severed.
Only the first period had ended, and already Bayul couldn't focus on a single thing all day. His friends were no better. Until the final class of the day let out, their heads were consumed entirely by thoughts of Bayul's palm.
Knock, knock.
The instant the knock sounded, Aidan—who had been pacing restlessly by the door—flung it open. There stood Lokha, right on time.
"Hello."
As the boy offered an awkward greeting and stepped inside, Aidan slammed the door shut with enough force to splinter it.
"Would you be saying hello in my shoes? I ditched my library shift to be here, you know. So you'd better choose your words very carefully."
"Aidan."
"What! What is it!"
Bayul shot him a warning look, but Aidan's anger had hardly cooled. The sheer nerve of Lokha—openly telling someone to their face that they were going to die—was something Aidan simply couldn't forgive.
"Come on, everyone, let the steam off later. Let's all sit down and listen calmly first. Sit. Sit."
Quinn and Logan stood side by side against the wall, arms crossed, watching Lokha. Eli pulled out a chair with his own hands and gestured for the boy to take a seat.
Bayul positioned himself across from Lokha, just as he had that morning, and held out his hand without being asked. For all that he tried not to show it, the most anxious person in the room was Bayul himself.
"Well then, let's take a look."
Lokha took Bayul's hand and studied the lines with painstaking care. In truth, this was the first time he'd examined them this closely. In the lecture hall, everyone's shock had gotten in the way, and afterward, the conversation had been all about the lifeline—leaving no room to observe the many other possibilities.
How long had passed like that?
At last, Lokha—who had been frowning down at the palm for a considerable while—lifted his head. His face was deeply troubled.
"Why the look?"
"Hey, if you're going to spout more nonsense, just keep your mouth shut! Huh?"
By now, Aidan's treatment of Lokha was bordering on outright thuggery. The one saving grace was that Lokha paid it absolutely no mind.
"It's just... something's strange."
"So what's strange? You've been saying that since this afternoon!"
"Well, first of all, Bayul's fate line is excellent. He was born under a fortune that flows smoothly throughout his whole life."
"A fortune that flows smoothly?"
"Mm. It looks like you'll have many people around to help you. Because of that, I'd even say you're capable of achieving tremendous fame."
"Are you messing with me right now? You just said he was going to die!"
Aidan fired off the accusation, suspicious of this sudden string of good tidings out of nowhere.
So what I was born with is the gift of communion with spirits, and what I forge for myself is the work of helping them grow?
Listening to Lokha's explanation, the thought occurred to Bayul quite naturally.
"What's your game this time? You saw the mood earlier and figured a few pretty words would smooth things over, huh? Your explanations don't line up at all!"
Aidan's voice carried a clear warning—he would tolerate no more games. Stop the nonsense and get to the point.
"Bayul."
"Yeah, Lokha."
"Have you been ill recently, by any chance?"
"...Ill?"
"I heard you suffered from sickness from a young age. But you don't give off the feeling of an invalid at all, so I wanted to ask."
"Ah, I was sickly once, but all of that's been cured. Why do you ask?"
Was this belatedly a check on his health, prompted by the severed lifeline?
"Priest Wagner, who treats me, said I'd grow even healthier than before from now on. And the longer time passes, the more I feel it myself."
"That's good to hear, but..."
Then it isn't illness—am I fated for an accident?
"...Good to hear, but I'm still fated to die, is that it?"
"I'm sorry, but... that's what the lifeline shows. Ah—of course, I'm not right about everything. No one can divine the future with perfect accuracy to begin with. And besides, fate may be set, but it can also be changed depending on how you choose to live."
"Starting to hedge your bets, are we?"
"Aidan, I understand why you're angry, but I'd like you to hear me out to the end."
Despite Aidan's endless goading, Lokha refused to rise to it. They'd only met today, yet the boy's composure and sense of responsibility made it abundantly clear that he wasn't spouting strange words or nonsense for his own amusement.
"Brace yourself and listen. The point where Bayul's lifeline is severed—it's not old age."
"...Then what?"
"Surely you don't mean there's barely any time left... you're not going to say something like that, right?"
"......"
"Oh for the love of—why does he keep going quiet like it's an omen!"
"Is Aidan right?"
Quinn had already uncrossed his arms and stepped forward.
"Are you actually saying Bayul's in danger soon—soon as in any day now?"
Crash!
The instant Quinn bellowed, unable to contain his fury, one of the cups on the table shattered to pieces, water spilling across the floor.
"...In terms of timing, yes."
In the end, Lokha admitted it.
"That's why I asked about your health. And if there are no unusual symptoms in your body... then the likelihood is high that it's an accident."
"So you're telling me an accident is about to strike me down?"
"Yes. But as I said before, fate can absolutely be forged anew. Divination exists precisely for when people want to know their future—so that when a bad one arrives, they can navigate through it wisely."
"So what's the conclusion? Just give me the conclusion."
"Bayul's fate line and success line are remarkably good—rarely so, even. Everything reads as though he'll achieve great success and make his name known far and wide. What I simply cannot understand is why the lifeline breaks the way it does."
"And there it is—the word 'don't know,' straight from his mouth. So you're finally admitting this palmistry thing is a sham?"
"Believe me or don't—that's your freedom. But that last remark of yours was insulting."
It was a discipline his family had studied and refined for generations. They were welcome to criticize his shortcomings, but to disparage the discipline itself was something even Lokha found hard to stomach.
"Aidan, don't push him so hard. Lokha is still a friend who came all this way to help me."
"A friend? You call someone a friend when he tells you you're going to die?"
In Aidan's mind, even if Lokha were some world-shaking prophet, saying such a thing right in front of the person it concerned was beyond the pale. As far as he was concerned, he was already restraining himself as it was.
"I'm not finished yet. I said it signifies death. I never said Bayul dies."
"That's the same thing."
When Eli—who had been listening in silence—sighed and answered, Lokha muttered his next words almost in a whisper.
"This is really going to sound insane, but..."
"......?"
"I thought about it for a long time. If I'm certain about what I read—the severed lifeline, the clear fate line and success line, all of it—then... I believe Bayul is going to die, and then come back to life."
I'm going to die... and then live again?
At Lokha's absurd declaration, silence fell over the room. What in the world was this nonsense? The sheer absurdity of it left Bayul momentarily speechless.
"Lokha."
Eli spoke through gritted teeth, forcing his composure to hold.
"How does a person die and come back to life? Even dragons—the mightiest creatures on the continent—stay dead once they're gone. The end!"
"I know that, but... there's undeniably a future written in Bayul's fate line and success line. This is my first time seeing such unusual palm lines too. Doesn't it strike any of you as strange?"
"The only strange one here is you."
Declaring the conversation not worth another breath, Aidan hauled the seated Lokha to his feet and dragged him toward the door.
"If we keep listening to this clown, we're just going to end up more confused. So, what do you say? Any objections?"
"Aidan, wait."
Bayul hurriedly stepped between them.
"Bayul, there's no need to hear any more. It'll only wear you down."
"No, it's just... he came all this way on purpose. I feel like I owe him a thank-you at the very least."
You're worried about THAT right now?
Aidan's face twisted with disbelief, but Bayul was already turning to Lokha.
"Thank you, Lokha. And I'm sorry on their behalf for the rudeness. I was so frail for so long that everyone tends to react... rather intensely."
"Like I said a moment ago, I understand completely. It wasn't good news, after all."
"You told me because you were worried about me, right?"
Lokha's gaze had never once strayed from Bayul.
"I can't say I believe palm readings without reservation, but I'm grateful for your concern, truly. I'll be careful, so no accident finds me. There's no harm in caution."
"Call on me anytime if you need my help. If there's any way at all I can be of use to you, I want to give it."
"All right. I'll do that."
Any longer conversation, and Aidan's patience was liable to detonate. Bayul opened the door himself and saw his guest out.
"So... shall we go get some dinner?"
"You think you can actually stomach food right now?"
Of course he couldn't. But for his friends' sake, Bayul tried his best to smile.
"Once I've got something in my stomach, my head will clear up. I'm trying not to take it all too seriously."
"Good thinking. I got a letter and everything, so I actually tried to be friendly with the guy, but he's clearly a few cards short of a full deck."
"Bayul, let's just forget today ever happened."
"Consider it bad luck warded off before the semester even starts, and don't give it another thought!"
"To believe the future can be divined from lines on a palm—humans truly are pathetic beyond words."
He was lucky, in a way, to have friends each offering their comfort in their own particular fashion. It wouldn't be as easy to forget as they made it sound, but Bayul wished with all his heart that it would be.
But that wish went ungranted. As if by cruel design, the very next day Bayul found himself in riding class—paired with Lokha. The ominous prophecy swirled up once more and clouded his mind.