Okay, calm down Mehr. Think… It took me some time to comprehend the situation properly. The dilemma of killing me or not. Well, if you ask me, the answer is pretty obvious. Of course, no.

But I can't just go ahead and say that please let me live my second life peacefully. Still, there is a very strong chance that the man in front of me had already decided but was toying with me to fulfil his sick fantasy. And also, The Star of this generation, he said? Am I the Star? What is it exactly? And why does he know that but I don't?

My mind raced as a plethora of questions emerged. I pushed aside other thoughts and focused on the major ones that would allow me to earn enough information to get out of this twisted situation. And for that, I had to know the basic reason.

“Um...Sir Ghost, why do you want to kill me? I swear that I only ran away from my Master's home because I was scared of fire. I will never do it again, I promise.”

I tried coming off as a helpless immature child and I thought that it actually worked. The man, who called himself a ghost, turned his eyes away from me and sighed slightly. He put down the wolfling, who seemed to be sleeping peacefully now, and walked up to me. I sat up attentively, ready to attack him at any moment. Even though I knew it was hopeless and I couldn't defeat him with my current condition, I at least had to try. However, the man just sat beside me quietly.

He looked towards me and said in a somewhat downtrodden voice, “There will come a time when you will stand against me. And we will have to try to kill each other. So isn't it better if I just kill you now?”

“Are you sure…. Sir? W-What I mean to say is that, I might not stand against you? If you take me in now, wouldn't I be your subordinate?”

I tried coming up with a solution after listening to his nonsensical answer. I will stand against him in the future? So kill me in the future then, you shit-face. I wanted to scream all my thoughts into his ear but decided against it.

The man sitting beside me kept looking ahead into the distance. He looked as if he wasn't even listening to me properly. I saw his lips move and leaned towards him slightly to hear him properly.

“No, Mehr. You are bound by fate. As long as you are within these chains of fate, you will become my enemy.”

My mind started racing again. I had been taking in all these sentences he uttered in his quieted voice and tried to analyse them. The basic gist was, I would become his enemy in the future because of my destiny, so he wants to get rid of me. Sounds very logical, if my life wasn't on line, that is. I moved on to the next piece of information that was vital.

“And.. why do you not want to kill me, Sir?”

As the conversation kept going, I noticed that the man had become slightly despondent. I realised that the chances of him not killing me were higher than him actually killing me. But I had to completely eradicate the possibility that he would try to get rid of me.

The man raised his hand and put it on my head and started ruffling my hair. He looked at me while smiling and said, “You sound fairly calm for a child that should be going through a trauma right now.”

He removed his hand as I started feeling a little panicked inside. I was just thinking of giving some sort of excuse for my behaviour but the man started speaking.

“Even if I told you my reason, you wouldn't be able to understand it anyway. But you can think of it as, `if I kill you, I would lose a part of me’.”

Well that was true. I didn't understand what he meant by that. But at least it was a positive outcome. I had to think of a way to get the man to believe that I wouldn't bring him harm in the future. But I also had to be careful not to divulge information about me.

“Sir Ghost, this is simple then. Isn't it? I would actively make decisions to side with you in the future. I would never allow it to come to the point where I become your enemy.”

The man laughed a little at my answer. I could see his long white hair flowing behind him as the wind flew past us. His smile seemed to radiate the surroundings. I had felt it back when I first saw him as well, but now that my nerves had relaxed a bit, I truly noticed how beautiful the man looked. I wonder what sort of life he has lived that would intertwine with mine.

“That is not possible, Mehr. As I already stated, the end to your story has already been written. As long as you are within Fate’s hand, your future is set.”

“Sir Ghost, if my future was already written, why would you even come here to get rid of me? Doesn’t that imply that fate can be changed?”

“It is possible. And you might be able to do it as well....”

I looked at him with a confused look in my eyes. He simply smiled and said, “It looks like I’m taking another bet on the future. I wonder where we’ll end up once all of this is over. Will the Hero of the village defeat the Evil Dragon, or will he be defeated yet again?”

He looked at me in a way that made me think he was asking for my opinion, but I knew he had already made the decision. I didn't understand his statement about the Hero and the Dragon but I relaxed when I realised that my life was not in danger anymore. He stood up and proceeded to take something out of his pockets. I noticed that it was a silver necklace with a blue gem embedded in it. He pushed the pendant in my direction and for a moment I stood there without thinking anything.

“Take it, child. This artifact will help you in the future. As long as you have it on your body, no one should be able to tell that you are The Star.”

As I was taking the pendant from the man’s hand, I heard the familiar term again. I had kept the term, Star, aside in my mind as I was more focused on saving my life. Now was the chance to ask him about it.

“Umm, Sir Ghost, what is this Star you keep mentioning?”

The man laughed a little when he heard my question. He ruffled my hair again just before saying, “You are the Star, Mehr. And in very basic terms, a Star is the Chosen One. Child of mana. The one born to bring peace in the world. And all of those terms... refer to you.”

The man pointed at me while smiling, and I felt that mouth was open while hearing his explanation. Me? A chosen one?

“Haha- hah. Sir, I think you might be mistaken on that part. I am just a slave after all.”

“A slave who can use mana at the age of four? Even the high geniuses learn the basic utilisation when they are around 8.”

Ah, but that is not because I am a chosen one or some hero. I just have memories of my past life. But I can't just go and tell him about that.

“But Sir Ghost, isn’t that a good thing? Wouldn't people like me if I tell them that I am a Star?”

“Hmmm? Sure. But you would also be touted as a figurehead or a messiah while the king that holds you will go about conquering neighboring kingdoms. I’m sure you will make a sound decision when the time comes. But first, let's get you out of here.”

“Where, sir?”

“Well, I would have left you if your diviner was fast enough but it looks like Ruvonne’s Army would reach here first. Put on that pendant. It will hide you from them.”

Diviner? What's that now? I was just going to ask him what it means when the world around me rotated. I felt like someone had twisted my insides. The magic that the man had applied on my wound had worn off. As I reeled in pain, I heard his voice from a distance, “We will meet again soon, Hero of the village.”