A True Heart's Test: Chapter 1 – Finding Your True Heart

Chapter 1 – Finding Your True Heart

Today’s another day and it’s another day I don’t feel like living. Not because I have any kind of depression or because I feel physically ill. Instead, I feel mentally ill because of the repetition of my everyday life. It’s all fruitless community work. Help out so and so with their animals on the farm, help garden, help clean someone’s house, take care of the neighbor’s children, clean the floors of the church, and so on and so on. As far as I’m concerned, I’m a slave to my town.

“Oh, you’ll get used to it,” another community service member says.

“The people appreciate what you do,” I’ll hear said to me.

“It’s not easy, but it’s good honest work.”

Yada-yada-yada. The only time I felt appreciated for my work was when a random boy five years younger than me made a purple, red, and blue bracelet for me for helping him clean his house. It’s the one time I got anything extra for working and felt appreciated for my work because of his kind and appreciative words and want to know more about what I do, so it feels like an irreplaceable treasure to me and I wear it every day. It’s a shame that I don’t always see him since he’s at school, but I do try to see him when I’m not working, which is rare. My parents say I need to work as much as possible to be noticed and get a real job that has better pay and more honor in performing it. I do as they say, not because I want to do as they say, but because I want to live on my own as soon as I can though, at this rate, I’ll be an old lady just like the other girls that worked this kind of job. Actually, I might not even get out of this job since many old people still work it because they either love it or because they’ll be poor without it. Even if they get promoted and get to work for kings, queens, the Church, and the like, they’ll have to work till they’re old and have to have someone take care of them.

“Are you daydreaming again, Cornelia?” my mother asks me.

“Yes, I am. It’s not like I need to go to work yet,” I say while continuing to sit on the porch and look out into the forest and then up at the sky.

My mother says something to me, but I don’t listen. Instead, I just try to enjoy looking into the sky and in the forest as much as possible. I don’t even know why I waste my time doing this because it’s a small joy that makes me want to go back to it during work. It’s like the few times my parents and I go on vacation. The relaxation just makes me want it more and hate being at work even more.

While my mother is still talking to me, my father comes out presumably to say something else. He looks like he’s about to say something until he is stopped by a portal appearing in front of the house, which I ignore and continue to look up at the sky because I know who’s coming out of it.

“Cornelia! How’s it going?” the guy coming out of the portal says before the portal behind him closes.

“Eh,” I say.

“Cornelia! Get up and greet your best friend. I’m sorry, Eleazar. She’s in a bit of a mood today like usual,” my mother says.

Ha! Best friend. He’s nothing like that. You’re always in a mood too, mother, but you always deny it.

“It’s okay. I can understand Cornelia’s annoyed language. She’s glad to see me as I am to see her,” Eleazar says.

I think it’s better to say that he’s lying and he knows he is. Eleazar sits next to me to look up at the sky before looking at me. Now, whatever good feelings I got from looking up at the sky are ruined, so I stand up. Getting a better look at him, I feel so underdressed compared to him. His long black hair is in a ponytail and he wears a gold outfit with black and red trims and a heart necklace around his neck. This along with his black boots was given to him by the Church and the royalty that he serves as a sign of their thanks and his work. In comparison, my grey dress with light gold lines around my neck, sleeves, and waist and my grey boots make me look like I’m homeless.

“What are you doing here?” I ask.

“I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure that out. You know how my portals work now,” he says.

“It was better when your heart wasn’t completely dedicated to the Absolute. You could go anywhere you already were.”

“Hey, don’t say that. Thanks to my dedication, I can create portals to go anywhere and the Absolute brings me to where I need to go. When our hearts are completely dedicated to the Absolute, we are completely ourselves and can do what we were created to do.”

“Oh yeah? Then why don’t I have an ability like yours? I’ve done my fair share of praying and trying to be the best person I can and I’ve got nothing to show for it.”

“But you do! You help our hometown in so many ways. You’re so unbelievably talented.”

“I’m so unbelievably replaceable. There are tons of people who do the same kind of job that I do and many of them do it better.”

“I’m glad you said it,” my father as comes out of the house all dressed up.

“Don’t you have to go to work?” I say to him.

“I am. Love you and see you later.”

“Sure.”

“He’s just joking, Cornelia. Your father and mother really do love you.”

“Whatever. Look, I can’t make portals, pull swords out of nothing, breathe fire, summon animals, none of the special abilities that I hear a lot about and even see in this town. I’ll be just like my parents and their parents before them by being stuck working this thankless poor job for the rest of my life.”

“I didn’t get the ability to teleport anywhere until I was a teenager and my parents are hard workers just like yours with no magical abilities. Having parents with normal abilities doesn’t mean that you’ll have the same ones for your whole life. Don’t you remember the stories?”

“I know about them, but those abilities typically change around our age. There hasn’t been any kind of change in me.”

This is one of the reasons why my parents like Eleazar more than me. They always talk about him as if he’s some kind of hero I should follow in his example. He had a luxurious life handed to him by royalty when word of his heart’s ability reached them. Now, he’s an escort for all kinds of kings, queens, and high-ranking clergy members. He’s talking to me about the Absolute and how I should appreciate what I have, but I ignore it because I hate these speeches he gives me and I hate his overtly happy attitude to the point where I never want to see him. Why did the Absolute even make him come here? It could be…

“Shut up for a second,” I say to stop his ramblings, “Maybe you were brought here so I can discover my heart’s true ability!”

“I don’t know. Don’t you have to go to work and help take care of your family?”

“What’s more important? Becoming my true self to serve the Absolute in the right way or constantly walking in circles?”

“Becoming your true self.”

“Right. Besides, my parents don’t need me.”

“Yes, they do. You’re their daughter.”

“No, they never did. They only needed someone to make money for them,” I say before ducking my head into my house to say to my mother, “Mother! I’m going out with Eleazar! We’re going to find my heart’s Absolute ability!”

“Good, good! Make your father and me proud,” she says.

“Sure.” Turning to Eleazar, I push him along and then say, “Come on, come on! Portal us out of here!”

“Okay, hold on.”

A portal opens and on the other side, I can see a busy office. We go into it before the portal closes behind us.

Eleazar approaches the man dressed in gold like him that’s sitting at the front desk and says, “Hey, Mr. Adivino.”

“Back already, Eleazar? It’s a good thing your portals gently push aside people and open in open spaces.”

“It’s all thanks to the Absolute.”

“Sure is. Who is this with you? Your best friend that you talk about so much?”

“Yes, she is.”

“Who is this?” I ask Eleazar.

“This is my advisor or rather an advisor or mystic for those with a Heart Absolute ability. He, along with the other mystics, have the Absolute ability to consult to Absolute typically to ask if a course of action is correct.”

Great, another ability to be jealous of. If only it was so easy if me to get an answer to every question I have.

“So, you’re going to ask if us going to find my heart’s Absolute ability is correct?”

“Yep!”

“How long is this going to take?”

“This shouldn’t take too long, young lady. Just be patient while I get the help of the other advisors.”

Adivino goes away while I go find someplace to sit.

“I can show you around the place if you’d like, so you’re not just waiting here,” Eleazar says.

I take one look around the building to see all the people with fantastic Heart Absolute abilities such as turning objects into gold, sprouting wings from their back, and the ability to make copies of themselves. Not wanting to see other people’s Heart Absolute abilities, I decline the offer then continue to look at people using their abilities regardless and daydream about what ability I’ll get. My hope is that I get something different that’s unique to me since two people having the same Heart Absolute ability while both are alive is incredibly rare. Maybe I’ll be able to turn water into a solid substance, turn invisible, immediately clean things in the blink of an eye, or perhaps something simple like superhuman strength. I’ll take almost anything as long as it gets me out of my current job and life situation.

From a distance, I can see Eleazar talking to one of his friends that can teleport objects from one place to another. I don’t remember if he told me that she’s related to him in any way or a distant relative since I hardly pay attention to what he says during his visits. It’s also possible that she isn’t related to him and her heart’s ability is something new in her family, which I keep hoping is the case for me. Typically, a child will inherit one or a combination of their parent’s or grandparent’s abilities, but there are cases where a child or even multiple children in a family will have completely different abilities. Eleazar sees me looking over at him and his friends and motions for me to join them, but I shake my head. He then gets them to come over to me, the idiot.

“Everyone, this is my best friend, Cornelia. She’s a really friendly person,” Eleazar says.

Despite seeing the obvious sour expression on my face, Eleazar’s friends still introduce themselves with smiles on their faces and tell me about what Eleazar said about me. Is having a sickeningly happy demeanor a requirement for working here? Also, what am I some kind of pet brought to a show in tell? Eleazar must’ve been telling many tall stories about me if everyone is fussing over me as if I’m some kind of celebrity.

“Eleazar, we’ve come to a decision,” Adivino says as he comes back.

I push through the crowd of Eleazar’s friends and ask, “So, what is it?”

“You are to go with him to learn about your Heart Absolute’s ability by experiencing a few events that will teach you about it.”

“Yes, yes! Finally!”

“This is great, Cornelia-”

“Come on and make a portal already! Come on!” I say as I grab Eleazar’s arm and pull him out of his crowd of friends.

A portal opens in front of us and I try to get Eleazar to hurry up, but he’s resisting as he says his goodbyes to his friends.

“You’re her guiding light, Eleazar. Take good care that she learns what it really means to be herself and the true value of love, truth, and the Absolute,” Adivino says.

“Don’t worry, I will!” Eleazar says before going through the portal with me.

Finally, I’ll be able to get my heart’s Absolute ability and become truly myself. Then, I’ll be able to live a happy and satisfying life.