A knot ties in Soutas stomach wrenching his mind. 'What the hell does he mean it's about to start?' He thinks as he subconsciously begins walking towards the tent. 'Does he mean this weird ass circus'
Arriving at the tent he notices that there is no need to pay or even show anything for admission he starts thinking 'maybe the ritual I performed was in and of itself a form of admission to this strange circus'
"Time to see what this whole carnival is about" he whispers to himself as he enters the large circus tent noticing that there is a large ring of stands that, other than the entrance, completely encircles the stage area that is dimly lit. Souta heads into the stands that are jam packed full of people luckily finding a place to sit and watch the "show".
As a wave of whispers flowed around the tent unrelenting, he couldn't help but notice a man walking towards the center of the stage. Souta attempts to get a better look at the man through the dimly lit circus, suddenly two large spotlights suddenly turned on pointing directly at the man.
"Esteemed guests welcome one welcome all" the man bellows through the tent silencing any whispers that were still circulating..
Taking a better look at the man Souta sees that he is wearing a suit with a flamboyant coat that matches the suit a little too well and that he is also wearing a top hat and a half mask that covers only his eyes. However the strangest part was that the man's height, weight and all meaningful features seemed to be indiscernible, almost as if looking at a fake or an illusion.
However Souta had little time to ponder this strange occurrence as the show was beginning..
marking the night that would change his life forever.
The mans bellowing continues
"Tonight we have an exciting appearance!" His voice echos
A girl dressed in black holding an ever changing orb walks along the stage and meekly shouts "Hey this is my first time doing something like this so please don't expect too much!"
The girl shudders disengaging with the man
The man, now standing beside her , bellows
"Oh don't be like that! It's your first show! Let's show our oracle some appreciation!"
"AN ORACLE!" Souta stutters to himself in stupor.
The audience ovates her arrival and starts shifting in their seats, waiting for a show to begin.
The man gestures toward the crowd with an open inviting hand.
"First off let's pick a lucky one of you to have your future read before this audience by this lovely lady!" The man exalts
The crowd upheavals in riot wanting to participate in the show and have a glance at their own future.
Souta stays seated unwavering in the chaos around him.
The man from the stage locks eyes with Souta and smirks at him.
Souta's eyes dart in different directions, he ducks down in his seat trying to relinquish the idea of participating in something he just randomly found himself in.
However this attempt goes unnoticed as the man from the stage indexes toward Soutas position making the entire tent look at his seat…
"YOU! Come down here and you can see your future!" The Host roars
"Well- fuck.." Souta loathes.
He slowly repostures up in his seat now within vision of the audience, he slowly rises with the aid of his arms and trudges down the staircase locking eyes with the girl..
"How odd she looks around my age? What is she doing here?" He questions himself while squinting at her.
He makes it to the stage, and a commenced movement begins to happen.. The Host of the show grabs a table and a strange pedestal from behind the curtains setting it up in front of the audience, the girl sets her orb on the pedestal making it levitate and emit some sort of audible noise heard by only Souta and her.
Shortly after, seats are arranged on either side of the table allowing him and the girl to get the show started.
"Please place one hand on the orb and one hand faced up on the table." The girl directs Souta
"Umm. Sure-" Souta follows her directions and uses his left hand on the orb and places his right as directed.
The Girl gestures similar movements placing her right on the orb and laying her left palm down on his right palm.
The orb reacts binding both of them together as their consciousness meld becoming one with the future temporarily.
Feeling a familiar sensation to his dream from earlier, Souta becomes slightly unnerved, but out of curiosity however he stays put.
"Remain calm and focus on visualizing yourself in the present moment" the strange oracle whispers to Souta, following her directions he begins to visualize himself sitting in the middle of the stage across from the oracle.
Suddenly he feels lighter, his mental image begins to shift as he sees a myriad of different colors before seeing the ace of diamonds card clearly. As it turns over he sees a crude image that seems to represent himself on the back.
Suddenly he notices that many bestial eyes are looking at the card from behind it, and shortly following many toothy grins appear before he notices that the image of himself has began to smile?
A sharp toothy smile that keeps growing until it opens its mouth devouring everything.
Leaving behind nothing but darkness.
Opening his eyes Souta looks back at the oracle seeing that she is now smiling and staring intently at him. She then stands up before breaking eye contact with him and then begins-
"Your future is very uncertain. It seems that somehow you have caught the attention of multiple deities, whether that is fortunate or not has yet to be decided" she giggles ominously
As she spoke it seemed as if the audience didn't fully believe her and saw her words as more theatrical than real. But as she spoke Souta had a strange feeling that every word was more true than he would like to believe. She continued.
"However there is a silver lining" she says masterfully catching the attention of the audience
"A purpose befalls you in your future, you overcome adversities, and- perhaps, escape the scrutiny of the gods" she says with a sense of finality.
Receiving a standing ovation as she gets up and bows to the different sides of the audience even receiving the occasional flower thrown up, and yet despite the audience's cheers Souta was sitting there petrified by what he had heard.. Wondering if perhaps the oracle had learned even more than he would have wanted her to.
As the oracle began to walk off the stage Souta noticed a note left on the table, calling to him spiritually.
As the ringleader walked over to him he quickly hid the note in his pocket.
"Let's get one last round of applause for our esteemed volunteer!!" the man bellowed as he gestured towards Souta. After another round of applause Souta headed back to his seat feeling fearful that his identity as a transmigrator may have been exposed.
'No.. it's impossible' he thinks as he sits down again 'she could only have seen the same things i did right? -And there's no way they learned my secret from just that.. Did she?'. He ponders as the show continues however Souta's inner thoughts are keeping him too busy to pay attention.
'Oh right! The note' he thinks as he reaches into his pocket grabbing the small white slip that he picked up off the table.
Opening it as not to let anyone else see that he has it he slowly unfolds the small note.
'No way. This has to be some kind of joke' he thinks as he reads the note feeling petrified. It reads-
{If you wish to know more about becoming spirited? Come to the back of the tent after the show}