Blue characters were appearing one after the other in front of her eyes, like in those spy movies where they have gsses that double as screens. But Cyrielle wasn’t wearing any gsses and she certainly wasn’t a spy. She tried to look around her to see if she was the only one having hallucinations, but she couldn’t move. Or more like she was moving at an imperceivable pace. Time had slowed down. Or was it that her brain and those blue characters were moving too fast ?

  Anyway she couldn’t do anything but look. And as soon as she finished a word, it disappeared as if it knew it had been read. And then other characters appeared.

  [You unched the Path of Destiny ! This helper will guide you in order to reach the best foreseeable future ! To maintain the bance of karma, abilities surpassing your limits will only be delivered once every 365 days. A gift will be provided for the first unch.]

  [Error : you didn’t unch the Path of Destiny at the ideal predetermined time ! You have accumuted positive karma. Reserve of abilities : 23. Read the instructions for more information.]

  It didn’t stop, it continuously spouted out words that didn’t make any sense. ‘Is it a prank ? No, nobody can stop time like that.’ Cyrielle’s mind was just bnk. She had no idea what was happening. And then, it happened.

  [Sensing an opportunity for destiny. Acquiring ability : Singing.]

  Immediately, a burning sensation started spreading from Cyrielle’s throat to her mouth, tongue, lungs, diaphragm, through her whole body and her brain. And before she could react, time flew normally again and the introduction to ‘Padam Padam’ could be heard in the room.

  With a strange feeling, as if she was being pulled by something, Cyrielle started singing.

  -?

  Her tone was clear, but her voice was low, a bit raspy. It was powerful, even in that first verse where the volume is low, to the point where you could feel her voice resonate and make your insides vibrate. It was beautiful, with soft nuances bringing the emotions to the melody. With just one verse, everybody’s mouth was agape.

  “...”

  Even Julie had her eyes ready to pop out of her skull. She just wanted to do a little prank, to show Cyrielle that even if she sucked at singing in front of a lot of people, nobody would shame her and it wasn’t the end of the world. In fact, she even expected her friend to receive a few compliments. After all, she wasn’t tone deaf and some of the regurs here were way worse. But what she was witnessing right now was just impossible to comprehend.

  ‘When… How… Did she hide her ability all this time ?’

  Julie knew Cyrielle since she was an 18 years old girl who came from the countryside to Bordeaux to study. Now that Cyrielle was 23, it meant that they had spent 5 years together. Can you really hide your vocal ability for that long when you sing with your best friend almost everyday in her car ? It was impossible. But somehow it happened.

  Why did she hide it ? Was she afraid ? Well Cyrielle was quite shy after all, even if it didn’t seem that way in the eyes of others. But Julie felt a profound regret.

  ‘She was in so much despair… If I knew she could sing like that, I could have helped her.’

  Spending so much time in bars, Julie knew quite a few musicians and bands, even one or two singers that were moderately famous. Without a doubt, she could help Cyrielle meet people and unch her musical career. But maybe her friend was just too shy, or not interested in the entertainment industry, it was possible. After all, Julie knew the biggest dream of Cyrielle : She wanted to be an illustrator.

  Even if she had loved her bookseller job to the point where she was one of the best in all of Bordeaux, it wasn’t her dream and it didn’t pay well. Even now, all the clothes she wore were vintage, yes, but she had only three pairs of pants and a few shirts, and they all came from a secondhand shop. It was such a pity. Being poor and not even living the life you want…

  The chorus resounded in the pub, prompting the people smoking outside to come back in and listen. Some of them were whispering.

  “I thought it was karaoke night, why did you turn on that song ?”

  “No, look ! It’s her, she is singing !”

  “Who is that ? Never seen her before.”

  “Is she a singer on vacation ?”

  “I don’t recognise her though…”

  They were confused, but couldn’t look away from Cyrielle. She was grasping their souls, daring them to turn their back on her performance. She didn’t quite sound like Edith Piaf. Her voice was lower, raspier, more profound, but the sheer power was ultimately the reason people started shaking. She didn’t even need a mic.

  Ultimately, when the song finished there was just silence. No appuse, not even a breath. And Cyrielle, with everybody’s eyes on her, just gave the mic back to the hosts and…

  -Swish

  Promptly left the bar. Her aura seemed still present inside, people were stroking their arms trying to calm the goosebumps. Finally a man let out an excmation. It was Hyena.

  “What in hell was that ?!”

  Outside, Cyrielle was walking quickly with a stern face that made onlookers turn their heads. The pavement was uneven in the center of Bordeaux, being the ancient part of the city, and she almost tripped a few times. Without slowing down, she slipped away in the alleyways of old buildings. When she finally reached a pce where nobody could see her, she colpsed on the floor. ‘What just happened, what was that ?’

  Trying to calm her heart that was going crazy, she reflected on what she saw. First, the lights on her face made her blink a lot. She probably never blinked that much and that fast in her life. then the blue characters. Path of Destiny. Something about abilities, and then an opportunity and her singing who went from drunk girl at the club to worldwide diva. It wasn’t a joke, something happened to her. She was granted gifts for reasons unknown.

  Then she remembered something she had seen.

  [Read the instructions for more information.]

  ‘Instructions ?’

  Immediately after she thought of the word, blue characters appeared once again in front of her.

  [Welcome to the instructions section. Please ask any question. To read the general instructions, think ‘general’.]

  For some reason she could interact with this thing. ‘Is it something in my brain ? Like a microchip or something ?’

  [Path of Destiny is not a microchip.]

  It replied instantly. Cyrielle Laporte was shaking. ‘If it is not a microchip, what in hell is this thing ?’

  [You do not possess the authority to access this information. To read the general instructions, think ‘general’.]

  This Destiny whatever was clearly telling her to get her head in the game. Cyrielle took a deep breath, calming herself, and decided. It wasn’t anything bad after all. If it was capable enough to change the capacities of her body, it could have killed her anytime. But since it didn’t do so, it was probably an ally, right ? With that in mind, she steeled herself.

  ‘General.’

  Blue characters appeared again immediately. The quantity of information was absolutely tremendous, but Cyrielle read each character thoroughly. After a few minutes, she finally understood. Path of Destiny is something that appears when you are born. It is supposed to make you reach the best outcome in life. Of course, not everyone has this thing and somehow Cyrielle Laporte was chosen. It was supposed to get activated on the day of her birth but for some reason it didn’t. Normally, each year gives you a new ability outside of your range of competence, but being 23 years te, she now had 23 abilities in storage. Well, 22 now considering singing had been acquired. But you can’t learn things immediately, it must correspond to an opportunity that will lead you to the best outcome Path of Destiny has calcuted for you.

  For now, Cyrielle roughly got it. Singing well in that bar was necessary for something to happen that will lead her to a successful life. She didn’t know what yet, but she had the feeling that a huge thing was brewing.

  Far from the ugly thoughts she had on Marius’ couch, Cyrielle was now feeling something else for the first time in forever : Hope.

  “Cyrielle !”

  A high pitched voice resounded behind her. It was Julie. She probably followed her when she exited the bar.

  “How can you go like that ? Don’t you know it’s dangerous for a girl at night to be in this part of the town alone ?”

  She was pouting and nagging her friend, but her eyes were shining with excitement.

  “Since when can you sing like that ? No, I mean, I know you probably hid it because you are shy and you prefer to draw anyway, but don’t you know it’s better to have a job you don’t like than to suffer without money ? I could have totally helped you ! So stop getting all depressed and try to have a career in music, alright ? Who knows, maybe you will like it ?”

  While talking, Julie was bringing Cyrielle back in the car. She listened without interrupting. The fact that she hid her vocal abilities was a total misconception but she didn’t feel the need to correct Julie. She wouldn’t believe her anyways. In the end, she acted like she was hesitating and answered shyly.

  “Ok, if you say so… I trust you.”

  Happy, the cute girl sat in the driver seat. She was about to start the engine when she suddenly opened her eyes wide, remembering something.

  “Didn’t Marius tell us to not come back before midnight ? We’ve been gone for less than an hour…”

  He was probably still with his girlfriend. No way in hell would Julie and Cyrielle enter a home where a couple is probably having fun together. In the end, it was decided that Cyrielle would sleep in Julie’s apartment. She didn’t have a guest room or a couch, but they could yer bnkets on the floor to act as a mattress.

  With that settled, they took off with heavy metal on the radio.