"Why is there a headstone with my name?" She was dazed. She checked the letters one at a time in case she got it wrong.
"She died twenty seven years ago." Dairon observed, equally shocked by the appearance of such a headstone.
"Twenty seven years ago. That's two years before I was born." Jasmine patted her chest in fright.
"But her date of birth…" She was even more horrified when she saw the digits engraved on it.
"The fifth day of the fifth month… thirty-five years ago!" Sinos was shocked.
"My birthday is the fifth day of the fifth month too. She was born on my birthday…just ten years earlier. Is this a coincidence?"
"There's no such thing as a coincidence." Sinos frowned. "The day she was born was within the last Lunar Symetoch. She is likely to be this century's demigoddess."
"Just because she was born during the Lunar Symetoch? How many babies were born on that day? We cannot draw a conclusion using just this fact." She retorted.
"Not just one fact. Demigods always die on their birthday. It narrows down the possibilities." Sinos pointed at the digits below the date of birth.
"She died on the fifth day of the fifth month." It was still not enough to prove that the dead Jasmine Cavendish was a demigoddess, but Jasmine was certain of it for some reason. At the same time, she felt it had something to do with her.
"Why would my mother name me after a dead demigoddess?" She wondered aloud.
"She is the only one who knows the answer to that." Sinos looked at her meaningfully.
"I don't want to ask her." She rejected the idea before it could be said out aloud. "I hate being lied to."
"We don't need to ask her. The truth will come out sooner or later." Sinos said vaguely, displeasing her. Another mystery had just popped up. She had no one to ask and neither could she stay in the village and investigate. How could she continue to be peaceful?
"It's no use." He stopped her before she could voice her thoughts of wanting them to leave her in the human realm. "When it's time for you to find the truth, the truth will seek you."
"Let's go." She spared a final glance at the headstone and stood next to him, waiting for him to open the portal.
"Dairon?" She called to Dairon who had spaced out behind her, realizing that he had been quiet for a while. "Are you alright?"
"It's nothing. Let's go." He stood next to her.
As soon as they teleported back to Dairon's library, she passed out.
"She is only in deep sleep. She will be alright after a few hours." Sinos sighed in relief when he checked her pulse.
"She is not used to teleporting. It drained her." He carried her in his arms. "I will take her to her room.
"How come you can stay close to her now?" Sinos noted that since the day before, he had been quite close to her and it didn't affect him even if she lost her temper.
"Things change. She doesn't hate me anymore." He kissed her forehead gently and carried her to her room.
After tucking her in, he still wasn't reassured so he sat beside the bed to watch her.
_
"Child…" Jasmine heard a murmur which made her restless. She was about to ignore it when the voice called out again, this time a little louder.
"Child, wake up." It was a commanding male voice. She opened her eyes, meeting a pair of eyes similar to what hers looked like when her powers surfaced—golden with flames in them.
"Who are you?" She asked. "Are you my father?" He had called her "child" after all.
Instead of answering her, he turned to walk away, looking back after a few steps as a sign that she should follow him.
"Where are we going?" She asked only to be met with silence yet again. He was walking but she could only run to try and catch up to him as the distance between them grew longer. In a few more steps, he disappeared into a huge clock.
She hesitated when she took a clearer look at the clock. It was nothing like any clock she had seen. Instead of hours and minutes, the sides were engraved with centuries and years. The innumerable hands of the clock hovered over them at a speed that almost blurred them.
"He walked into time." She muttered when she realized what it meant. Was he asking her to walk into time?
She took a deep breath and walked forward. The man was nowhere to be seen. She was on a long corridor with several turns. She picked one out of instinct, which made her puzzled when she recognized her location. Wasn't this Monten village?
"Father?" She joyously called when she saw Harry pacing outside a door. He looked like a young man but she recognized him. She ran to hug him, only to find that he was an illusion. She should have expected it.
A scream pierced from the room outside which he was pacing.
"Harry, calm down. Sophie and the baby will be alright." A woman patted his shoulder.
A baby's cry filled the air, making Harry kick the door open. "My wife!"
Jasmine followed Harry in, to see a sweating Sophie hold a baby in her arms.
"Husband, it's a girl."
Harry sat in the bed and hugged her. "Thank you, wife."
"Do you want to hold her?" Sophie asked.
"Can I?" He happily looked at the baby, and Sophie gently placed her in his arms.
"She is so pretty. She will take after me in future." Harry lowered his head to kiss the baby.
Take after him? Jasmine frowned.
If her instinct was right, that baby was her. If Harry hoped for her to take after him, then it confirmed her suspicion. Harry was her father. Sophie had lied to her!
"What do you want to name her?" Sophie asked with a smile.
"Jasmine. I have always wanted to have a daughter who will be dear to my heart. Jasmine, do you like the name?" His tears flowed as he asked the baby, who of course didn't have an answer to that.
Jasmine heard the loud ticking of the clock and the scene before her changed.
Sophie was trying to pacify the baby who was crying her lungs out. "Baby, don't cry. I will get your milk." She rushed out of the room. When she returned with a small bottle, the baby was lying on her stomach and there was a pair of glowing, golden wings on her back.
Sophie walked over in surprise.
"Baby, you have wings? They are so cute!" She bent over to touch them and immediately withdrew her hand as though she had been electrocuted. "You don't want me to touch them? Okay, I won't touch." She stopped in her tracks as realization dawned on her. "You have wings?!"
"Mother!" She shrieked.
Celeste ran over in panic. "Sophie, what happened?"
Sophie trembled as she pulled her mother into the room. "Jasmine has wings!"
Celeste rushed to the crib to take a look and was dumbfounded. "I'll call the priest."
Jasmine looked at her infant self in shock as she tried to make sense of what was happening. She had wings?
Celeste soon returned with the priest who was also shocked, but his shock immediately turned into excitement as he went down on one knee. "Greetings, Demigoddess."
"What? She is a demigoddess?" Sophie was not entirely shocked. She must have expected it when she saw the wings. "The legend of the Lunar Symetoch demi deities is real?"
"You have seen it with your eyes." The priest stood. "When the Lunar Symetoch is over, the gods will take her back and you will be granted all your wishes whether big or small."
"So I will have to give my daughter to them?" From an outsider's point of view, she felt Sophie's heart crush.
"She is not your daughter. She is a demigoddess." The priest corrected her. "Don't worry. You can ask for as many wishes as you want. Prosperity of the land, eternal happiness, immense wealth and power, love and beauty, a long life free of illness—anything you want, anytime you want it."
Sophie bit her lip as Celeste rubbed her back. "But how will I explain the disappearance of my child?"
"The gods will take care of that. No one will remember her—not even you." The priest responded, gushing about how lucky Sophie was.
"I understand." Sophie glanced at her child—who had just been revealed to be a demigoddess. Forgetting one child in exchange for eternal happiness, wealth and health… she was not losing out, right? Besides, she could get another child as long as she wished for it.
Celeste saw the priest out, leaving her alone with Jasmine in the room.
"If the gods can grant whatever I wish for…" She sighed, and looked up in realization when the little wings glowed. "Wait. You're a demigoddess too! Can you grant a wish as well?"
"I won't know if I don't try."
Jasmine held her breath as she saw Sophie go on one knee, mimicking the priest's actions from earlier. "Demigoddess, I hope you can forgive my greed and grant my greatest wish."