Chapter 331 - Dead After Five Years

"Interesting!" Mende murmured to herself. Some people can earn money by performing divination and telling others about their future.

One customer exited the door, and another entered for her turn to have her palm read by the psychic.

How lucrative is this kind of business?

'Palm reading and Fortune Reading Business, could be her future!' Mende told herself. Her grandmother told her once that she had a hidden talent of palm reading and divination that's waiting to be awakened. She also can read other people's vision, however, she needs to spend one year of total silence and cultivate her hidden talent to awaken its full potential.

And not only that, but she also needs to commit to chanting the specific spell every day for one year to awaken her hidden talent. The spell can be found in the black book under her sister's safekeeping.

If the fortune-telling business is profitable then why not? One year's sacrifice is worth it. Once she successfully awakens her hidden talent, it can give her sustainable income that is pretty beneficial given her current condition.

She stayed outside the door of the fortune-telling shop for the next fifteen minutes, evaluating her choices.

Aha!

She will try to have her future read by the psychic inside!

She waited for her turn, she's the 3rd customer in line.

Fifteen minutes later, it's finally her turn. She entered the door. What she saw inside the wooden room took her by surprise. The room was filled with wooden statues of the Gods that humans worshiped. The wall of the room was painted black.

There were three lighted black candles on the table. The male psychic was looking at Mende's face intently. He's old, his age is in the range of 70 to 75. "Grandma, please take your seat," he said in a friendly tone.

Mende lowered herself on the chair facing the psychic.

"Give me your left hand so that I can start my divination," the old man said.

"Okay," Mende replied and placed her hand on the table.

"Shut your eyes," the old man ordered and put his palm on Mende's hand and closed his eyes to perform his divination.

Mende shut her eyes.

A few minutes later, the psychic finished his divination.

"You can open your eyes now," he said and stared at the old woman in front of her.

"What did you see in my future?" Mende asked excitedly.

The psychic looked at his client in the eyes. "You will die five years from due to a serious illness..." he said casually as if he's used to telling those scary things to his clients.

Mende's eyes widened in shock. "Whaaaaat? Why too soon? I'm still so young! I'm still 17 years old turning 18 three months from now!" she protested.

The psychic erupted in peals of laughter. "Feeling young at heart, eh? Well, I can't blamed you. We all want to live forever! And stay young all the time. Me too... but you know...as humans we can't live forever in this world. It's better that we know the exact time we're going to die so that we can be prepared for that day. And we have an idea how are we going to live the remaining days of our lives. Let's be ready and be prepared all the time especially with our current ripe age, Grandma," he said.

Mende's face darkened. "When is the exact day that I'm going to die? do you know the date and month?" she asked.

The psychic shook his head. "Unfortunately... I don't know the exact date. I'm sorry about that."

Mende pouted, doubting the psychic's outrageous claim. "Are you sure that I will die in five years?"

"Grandma, don't worry too much. With your ripe old age, you will die sooner or later. But once you're reborn in your next life, you're no longer living a hard life. You will reborn into a family of royalty. You will become a princess, meet your prince charming and later on become a powerful Queen. Isn't that great? Your next life is fabulous!" the psychic elaborated.

"What is my illness? Can you tell me what is it so that I can prevent it?" Mende asked curiously. She wasn't buying his nonsense though. She can't accept it! She can't die too soon! It's either this psychic is a sham or a real one. There is no way to find out if he is indeed a gifted one or not.

The psychic shook his head. "You're not excited with the after life, eh? Your next life is so much better than your current life. You must not be afraid to die and embraced your destiny. You must be thankful that you still have five years to live in this world. It's now time for you to enjoy the remaining years of your life with your grandchildren, husband and family. Forgive everyone that maltreated you so that you can leave this world with a peace of mind and clean conscience, free from guilt and hatred. That is the best way to live this world, get rid of the grievances, anger and revenge in your heart. They're just negative feelings and emotions that will hold you down. Focus on your good fortune in the afterlife. That's all! Don't forget to drop your donation in the box over there," he said and dismissed her.

Mende rolled her eyes and to rose to her feet. She dropped one silver coin in the donation box.

"Next!" the psychic called the next customer.

The new customer entered.

Mende left the room. She stood outside the shop.

Wow! That's an easy way to earn money! She can't tell if the psychic was telling her the truth or not. Can he truly read the future of his clients?

Will she die after five years?

She finally arrived at a decision. She will awaken her hidden talent and stay in that abandoned hut hidden in the secluded place and cultivate her psychic skill so that she can read people's future and earn some money in the process!

Mende returned to Amed's side and smiled happily. She noticed that only six bundles were left to their vegetables. She gave him a thumb up. She left again, going to the stall selling noodles and then to the bakery. She bought one kilo of noodles and several variants of bread and biscuits. She also went to the stall selling dried chicken and pork meat and bought a few grams each, enough to sprinkle on the dishes.

Done with her purchases, she went back to Amed's side and saw that the basket was already empty. She was thrilled.

Amed gave all the money to her. "This is all the proceed of the sale, Grandma," he said.

Mende counted the money and gave five silver coins to Amed. "Go, buy something for your wife and children, I'll wait here for you. Then we will go home afterwards. We must reached the cave before the darkness arrives," she said.

"Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity, Grandma!" Amed said and walked away, going in the direction of the stalls.

A few minutes later, Amed returned with his purchases and put them in the basket.

"Let's go!" Mende said.

"Okay," Amed replied and grabbed the two baskets with his hands.

They boarded the passenger carriage.

A few minutes later, they dropped by on the same place, going back to the path leading to the forest.

They began their three hours journey back to the cave.

Two hours into the journey, suddenly the rain began to fall heavily. They scrambled to find a shelter nearby. Lucky for them, they found banana trees a few meters away and bolted towards the only shelter they can find around the area.

"Let's stay here for a few minutes. It's dangerous to continue walking under this heavy rain," Mende said.

"Okay, Grandma," Amed agreed. His face filled with worry. They have already arrived at the deepest part of the forest. If the rain won't stop and continue pouring until the evening, they will be dead. He released a deep sigh and began praying earnestly, begging God to perform a miracle and stop the rain. He's worrying about Grandma the most, she might catch a cold and freeze in the freezing temperature.

Mende heard Amed sighing. She knows that he's getting worried about their current condition. He must be confused about what to do since they can no longer return to where they come from, they can only continue walking surrounded by darkness or stay where they are.

She didn't expect that the rain will return because it's already blazing hot earlier. The weather was indeed unpredictable in this part of the forest.

She looked heavenward, judging by the dark sky, she had a foreboding feeling that the rain will continue pouring in torrents throughout the evening, and it will only stop in the morning.

If Amed is not with her right now, she will never have a problem with the rain. She can teleport back to the cave in just a matter of seconds. If only she went alone to the market, she won't be facing this simple problem right now.

Dang!

Why she didn't think about it earlier! She was conned by the shining hot sun thinking it will never rain again during the rest of the day. Ah, the truth is... she was not deceived by the sun, she was just overconfident that it will not rain again. She was forcing her belief on the mighty nature, disregarding the fact that the weather is tricky, it can change anytime and all the time.

She starts evaluating her choices.

She will wait for a few minutes more. Maybe a miracle will happen, and the rain will suddenly stop falling from the sky.

Shaking their head anxiously, Mende and Amed stared at the dark horizon, waiting for a miracle.