it must be fate.

@ momentai.
Emma wandered around the museum she checked over each of the artefacts to find for any damaged that may have occurred when the class of middle grade students had their expedition. She was in the medieval room checking over the glass cases where daggers, swords and several other weapons were kept. Once she saw they were safe she moved onto the other artefacts in the room. Hanging on the walls were several flags which she knew were from jousting tournaments, shields from sword fighting and in the corner far corner of the room stood a full suit of armour. The brunette couldn't deny this was one of her favourite rooms, this and the ancient Greece and Rome rooms. Emma had always had a fascination with history so when she was offered a job at the local museum there was no way she was saying no.

Once she knew everything was intact and unaffected she left the room before moving onto the next one. The museum had been busy today, Emma had three different tours to do, the first one was at ten with the middle grade students, the next was at one thirty this one was with a few high school students which was fun as they all had a love for history and had so many questions that she was happy to answer. Then later in the afternoon she sat with Millie a regular elder woman who loved to sit in front of the glass enclosures filled with animals from all around the world. Emma knew she didn't have to do the last one but she loved the older woman's company and her ability to weave a story together.

Looking at her watch she saw that it was nearly time that she left the building so she quickly finished up her rooms before walking toward the exit and locking up ready for the next morning.

---

Luca walked through the town, he walked passed the fish market stopping to look at todays catch, there was a wide array of fish and other creatures from the ocean. He bid Mrs Harrow good morning before passing on. Luca passed every small stall and market that was scattered around the town centre stopping every now and again to simply look he was waiting for his friend to arrive. He stopped before a flower stand and eyes the brightly coloured blossoms. He knew that a naturalist must have been keeping them alive and thriving. Normally this time of the morning they were beginning to sink in the pots, but with the help of a naturalist that was not the case.

"Good evening sir," a gentle female voice caused the dark haired male to look up, standing before him was a striking female with hair the colour of a ravens wing.

"Good evening," he greeted smiling widely.

"Can I help you?" she asked, "If you are looking for a flower for your lover I would suggest a bunch of these roses, they are our reddest and most romantic. Red is a symbol of passionate love, or if you want something similar perhaps..." he began to spiel off about the flowers but Luca stopped her short.

"Thank you very much Miss but I am simply looking," the female closed her lips and smiled before nodding her head in understanding. She went back about her business while Luca moved on.

Where is he? he thought to himself, surely he can't be that far away!

Skylar exited her favorite antique shop with a few items, though she would have gladly gotten more had the store allowed her to stay past open hours. She was excited to show her friend, Emma, the new items, though, because she knew that both she and Emma shared their fascination with history and artifacts. The shop had mentioned that there would be more items coming in the next day, so she planned to tell Emma about that as well, figuring that they could visit if Emma was free from work.

Pulling out her phone, she went ahead to pull up Emma's contact before she called her friend, hoping to rambling with excitement about the discoveries. There was always something new to learn when it came to history, a new side to discover or a new fact coming to light. Every artifact had a story of its own, too, and that was something that she loved the most. Beyond that, she also loved sharing what she learned with her friend and learning things from her friend as well, since Emma did work in a museum.

---

Patrolling the world was something that Tareth took great pride in, as it was a responsibility that fell on very few people - himself and his friend, Luca included. They were in charge of protecting the world they lived in and Tareth could think of no greater honor, especially when there were so many possibilities of danger with the various types of magic that surrounded their world. Of course, there hadn't been any troubles regarding magic in a very long time, but it was still best to remain aware, just in case any troubles ever managed to come up.

It wasn't until he was coming to his last stop that he realized he was running late to meet with Luca, though he knew that Luca would likely understand, so long as there weren't any worries to bother them. He began heading in the direction of where he was meant to meet Luca, though he could hear whispers as he walked.

"It's so strange!" a woman murmured to her friend, "I've never seen that lake go dry and, yet, it was completely empty when I took my children for a swim this morning."

"That is odd," the woman next to her mentioned, "Plus, we received rain only a few days ago."

For a moment, Tareth thought to stop and question the ladies, but he was sure that whatever worries she had, it was likely nothing too worthy of concern. Perhaps some aqua-oriented user had decided to have some fun. Continuing on his way, he soon spotted Luca and waved. "Sorry I'm late," he called as he approached.

@ momentai.
Emma's phone began to ring just as she exited the building, it was late afternoon the sun had already began to set, as she pulled out her phone and headed to the car park she saw that it was her best friend calling her.

"Skylar! Hey!" she greeted into the phone as she tried to fish out her car keys while walking and making sure her phone stayed between her ear and shoulder. "How is everything? How did your day go? I had a busy one, two different tours with school kids... middle grade and high school... the highschoolers were defiantly a little more interested in things and then I sat with Millie and we talked for hours. God I love that woman!" Emma sighed as she thought back to the elder. She was another grandmother to her. "So did you find anything interesting today?" the female asked her friend knowing full well that she would have been to the antique shop today.

Emma finally made it to her car, unlocking it she jumped inside throwing her bag on the passenger seat and waiting for her friend to tell her about her day.

---

Luca had moved away from the stall and now stood near the outskirts of the town centre where there were less people and less noise. The male could feel the air a little more and smell the freshness a little better, sure it was still tainted with the smell of fish with the faint sweetness of roses. He looked out at dirt roads and across the horizon. It may not have looked like it from the town centre but things were changing. There was a shift in magic, things were slowly becoming worse. Even though the people knew this they did their best to continue with their lives, live it to the fullest extent and wait and see how everything would pan out.

Luca was a soldier so he knew the goings on with the kingdom, the disturbance that was occurring, the way lakes were drying up and many others things were occurring. The dark haired male was certain this was caused by dark magic, bad magic, perhaps a curse had been placed on the Kingdom by a banished person. Luca had yet to find out what was causing this but both he and his friend were determined to find it and when they did destroy it.

Skylar smiled as she listened to Emma talk, though she didn't interrupt her friend at all. It must have been a pretty good day if her friend was talking this much, but it was nice to hear, considering how she knew that some days could get extra busy for Emma and it might tire her out on occasion. "What did you and Millie talk about?" she asked with curiosity, figuring that Millie probably told her friend some sort of tale or that the pair talked about whatever they possibly could. Skylar was at least glad to know that her friend had somebody to talk to in Skylar's stead.

"I found a bunch of stuff. The shop stocked up on new arrivals. Some of the items were a little pricey, but, well, we both know that I don't hesitate to buy something if it catches my eye," she chimed with a quiet laugh. With a grin, she headed home, hoping to get there quickly. "I think you'll like them, really."

---

It didn't take too long for Tareth to find Luca and he wondered if Luca had heard anything weird as well. The news of the lake drying out did have Tareth worried, but he didn't want to overthink it. Perhaps it was nothing; or, perhaps, it was just something that wasn't quite serious. He could only hope that it wouldn't be something that would cause the Kingdom immense trouble. He didn't think any of them were prepared to face something dangerous right now, especially if whatever the problem was happened to come from something rather powerful. Hopefully, things wouldn't be that serious, though.

"Luca," he greeted as he approached, offering his friend a small nod before he stopped in place next to him and turned to look back towards the town center with a small frown. "Have you been hearing the rumors?" he asked after a moment before he glanced back towards Luca. "Do you think they're cause for concern?"

@ momentai.
Emma listened to her friend shaking her head with a smile spread across her face when she told her about the new stock. She knew she would have bought something, it would've been un-Skylar like not to buy something new.

"Well, we both know Millie is a wild story teller right? Well today she started talking to me about a magical far away kingdom where magic was a prominent force of nature or something like that, she was telling me that the Kingdom was slowly dying, the magic was changing and there was nothing the people could do... even though it was made up, she was telling it as if it were true, as if this kingdom was a real place. It was bizarre and I didn't have the heart to tell her it wasn't real... I don't know maybe Millie is starting to lose it... and I mean that in the nicest way possible... anyway I will be over soon and you can show me the things you bought. Talk soon." with that she pulled the phone from her ear and ending the call she started her car and took off heading toward her best friends house.

---

Luca turned his head when he saw his friend and fellow soldier coming up beside him, he nodded his head before speaking.

"I do, things are changing, I think this is just the beginning, I think it is time we went to the Seers, perhaps they can help us in finding a cure to what is happening to our Kingdom." Luca knew that the trek to where the Seers were situated was a three day trek, by horse, to the centre of the forest, it is one of the hardest journey's to make being that is so easy to get lost. However Luca knew one way that was a guarantee to get to where he needed to go. He looked at Tareth and waited to hear what his answer would be.

"Wow. Why hasn't Millie written a fantasy book yet?" Skylar asked with a smile before she shook her head slightly. It wasn't unexpected, though. She'd heard all kinds of strange things from Emma about the stories Millie told her. "Yeah, okay, I'll see you soon." She nodded once before she put her own phone away. Turning her attention ahead, she focused on getting home. It didn't take too long and she was quick to unlock the door and enter the house before she set what she had bought on the counter.

While she waited for Emma, she decided to go ahead and make a meal, figuring they could both use it. She made something simple, but made enough for two, so that Emma could eat before she inevitably went home.

---

Tareth wondered if Luca was right. He wasn't sure if the Seers had answers, though. It worried him that they could waste time going to the Seers, only to find out that the Seers couldn't tell them anything. And, what if they got back and things were even worse than they were when they had first left? Regardless, well... The Seers were the only ones that he could think of that might have the answers they needed as well. Sighing, he eventually nodded.

"You're right," he said firmly before he looked to his friend with a small frown. "Let's go see them."

@ momentai.
Emma finally pulled into the driveway of her best friends house after being stuck in traffic for what felt like a lifetime but had only been fifteen minutes. Grabbing her bag she jumped out of the vehicle locking the doors and heading toward her friends home. She kicked her shoes off at the door and grabbed the spare key from underneath the doormat and let herself in.

"Skylar?" she walked inside the smell of food cooking instantly made her stomach rumble and realise that it had been several hours since she had last eaten. Walking into the kitchen she sat down at the bench enjoy the aromas that filled the room. "That smells amazing, whatever it is," she stated truthfully her dark eyes looking over at the stovetop.

---

Luca nodded his head, grateful that his friend had agreed to come with him, even if had said no he knew he still had to go and seek out what he needed to find. The male nodded at his friend.

"Alright, we need supplies. We will leave at sundown," the thing that most people didn't know was that at nightfall the path leading to the Seers became alight, most would think it was the reflection of the moon on the dewy grass however to the trained eye it was more. It was a little known fact for selected people. Lucas bid his friend goodbye before heading back to the town centre he had several things to organise before the two set off.

"Chicken Parmesan," Skylar said with a grin over to her friend. "I figured we probably need a good meal to go with our storytelling and artifact showing," she joked lightly before she shrugged. "Lucky you, you came in time for it to almost be done." She turned her attention back to the food, focusing on it for a few moments, though it wasn't long before she went ahead to separate the food onto plates.

Setting one down in front of her friend, she set the other down, though she moved to get the artifact and set them onto the table for her friend to see.

---

Tareth nodded to his friend's words and watched him leave. Before long, he went off to deal with his own supplies. It would be a long trip, but it wouldn't be so long that it would be the worst possibility. Still, he knew he needed to stock up as much as he could, both for the trip there and the trip back. Hopefully, it would be an easy trip and they wouldn't have to worry about too much.

For now, though, he focused on getting what he knew for sure he would need. The necessities were always the most important when it came to stocking up on supplies.