Destiny's Wrath (Destiny Series - Book 3) by Straight, Nancy (manga ereader txt) 📕

want me to start over with all the answers, or would you prefer to start with the questions?’

I didn’t say anything, so you offered, ‘Would it be okay if I got us rolling? I’m your destiny. I’m not a figment of your imagination; our physical paths have not yet crossed. They will soon, but when they do I want for you to be prepared. Before you began this life, you chose the difficulties you would be faced with throughout your natural life. Several of these obstacles you chose will be difficult to overcome. Many souls are not strong enough to continue on after an obstacle presents itself. They retreat into themselves or avoid it. Doing so only delays the inevitable. Each soul must learn certain things before it can retire, so to speak, and go to the eternal. These things you must learn are so important that choosing the wrong path will result in essentially starting over with the same obstacle a decade or so later when you are stronger or better prepared. The challenges you face in your everyday life are challenges that you chose before you were born. If you don’t learn from the obstacle the first time it presents itself, it will continue to present itself to you for as long as you live. We chose our obstacles for this life together.’

You waited for me to say something, and it was all a little hard to swallow, so I made fun of you a little and asked, ‘Alright, Destiny, is it? How are you going to help me if our, how did you put it? Our paths have never crossed?” Past lives, previous lifetimes, it all seemed like a poorly written greeting card and not anything I had ever considered possible.

‘There are many things you must do during life. The obstacles you chose will make you better from the inside out. To grow spiritually you must have learned much as a human. These lessons come in the form of exercising good judgment, the act of being just with others and ensuring that justice is dealt out equally, being decisive when required, having unequivocal integrity, being someone whom others can wholeheartedly depend upon for support, utilizing tact to spare others unnecessary pain, taking the initiative and not letting life pass you by, enthusiastically embracing the gifts that have been levied on you.’ By the way, that was one of my favorite parts.”

“You knew you had gifts, even back then?” Max asked, sitting here in the moonlight.

“I knew I could read people better than most, but I’d never thought of it as a superpower or anything.

You continued with, ‘There are many things you must master. Your mastery must be more than theoretically understood. They must become a part of you through your experiences as a human. There are no short cuts. The only way one truly learns is through experience. You experience an obstacle such as a situation with no clear correct paths: maybe as a firefighter who must choose to risk his own life to save another when the likelihood of his safety is miniscule. This obstacle would help him on the path to unselfishness and decisiveness.’

I argued with you a little, ‘I understand your example, but the firefighter’s carelessness with his life may be selfless or unselfish to a stranger, but his family might look at it as foolhardiness. And that list you just rattled off, how do I know when I’ve mastered the list?’

Your smile warmed the entire room. You told me, ‘Lauren, you are an old soul. You selected five obstacles for this lifetime, four we will meet together. I come to you in your dreams so that you might lead the way to our future. When we meet, my conscious mind will not know our impending fate. Only you will be able to put us on the right path. It is imperative that we meet and join in this life. It is important for your conscious mind to know the truth so that it may guide you. You will be the only one capable of unlocking the truth in my human mind.’

I had a hard time saying it with a straight face, but I asked you, ‘Destiny, is that really your name?’

You smiled at me, which is when I saw you were just as much of a smart-ass as I am. ‘Would you prefer fate, future, providence, divine intervention, maybe soul mate? The latter tends to be overused, but if you prefer to choose another title, I am not opposed.’

‘Well, if those are my only choices, I guess I’ll call you Destiny. I’ve got to tell you, I’ve never really been courageous in my whole life.’

Always Mr. Helpful, you told me, ‘I’m not able to provide you insight regarding the how, merely that you will be presented a series of challenges that will require courage. This won’t be like the courage to give a report in front of the class that you are ill-prepared for, or confessing to your mother that you just wrecked the car. This is real courage, the rip-out-your-heart-in-the-face-of-your-enemies kind of courage.’”

Max smiled, “Nice visual.”

“I can’t take credit for it. You were the one doing all the talking. I think this was where you finally had my attention, or maybe the part where you told me I could call you Providence. I asked you, ‘Wait, you said five, what are the other four?’ I realized that I was no longer playing along, but I was hanging on your every word.

‘Lauren, it’s vitally important, you must find me. You will not be able to find me until you are on the path to attaining courage. Once you find me, all this information that I share with you now is locked away from me, hidden in my human unconscious mind. You will have to follow your instincts, choose your paths wisely. I know you will recognize me. In all our previous lifetimes you have found me. You will have to bring me on