The Oracle of Realms

A man and a woman trudged along across the verdant plains beneath the blue skies above. The man wore all black, save for an opulent crimson cloak with golden embroidering draped over his shoulders, covering the sword and dagger he had sheathed on his hip. Long brown hair and a braided beard billowed behind him as they walked towards the wind. He kept a vigilant watch around them as he followed the woman, dressed in a brown robe with a series of scrolls on her hip. She studied an open scroll that seemed indecipherable to the man, mumbling to herself as she looked down at the strange symbols, occasionally squinting upwards to measure the rolling hills in the distance. For most of their journey they had travelled in relative silence, but finally the man broke. Clearing his throat, he spoke up, “Saraith, we’ve been travelling for days now, when were you planning on telling me exactly where we are going? You hired me for protection, but we’ve yet to find anything since we left the Laurelian mountains.” She did not respond at first, finalizing one more measurement before rolling up the parchment and saying, “You likely wouldn’t believe me if I told you… even if you would it would be better just to show you. We’re not far now, if that helps!” She marches forward with renewed vigor as the man looks around confused. There is nothing here, no signs of civilization, just more plains and hills… he thought to himself before shaking his head and catching up with her.

A short time passed before they reached a non-descript cliff-face, towering up above them at an almost perfect ninety-degree angle. Saraith pulled the parchment out once more to study it, comparing details before a large smile began to spread across her face. “This is it! Hayden, we’re here!” Hayden arched his left eyebrow, scarred above his white eye as he narrowed his good blue eye at her, “This? It’s just a cliff.” Saraith began touching the cliff-face, feeling along it’s length as if searching for something, causing Hayden to cross his arms, his brow furrowing even further as he watched her. “It should be here… somewhere…” Saraith muttered to herself, before finally pulling on a loose rock. The rock fell, revealing a dull blue stone behind it. “Gotcha!” She pulled her arm back and plunged it into the stone.

Hayden’s eyes went wide as he saw her arm disappear into the blue stone. The cliff-face then began to rumble as more grey rock fell to reveal a full wall of blue stone. Removing her arm, Saraith stepped back, let out a deep breath, and walked into the stone. “Saraith?!” Hayden called out, but received no answer. Unsure of what to do, he stood there, dumbfounded, until Saraith’s arm appeared from the stone, beckoning him in. Slowly, he stepped towards the blue wall. Expecting to meet resistance as he set foot on it, instead his foot went right through, and the stone seemed to ripple in his vision. Taking another tentative step forward, he went completely through the stone, emerging into a grand entryway, significantly larger than the cliff appeared to be. Looking around him with dumb-struck awe, he mindlessly followed Saraith as she grabbed a blue torch and delved deeper into the structure. “What in the realms is this place Saraith?” Hayden whispered out as he took in the opulent interior, blue stone adorned with silver and gold made up the walls and ceiling as they trod on grey marble flooring. The walls were also covered in a grand series of paintings and carvings, some of which he recognized, detailing some of the earliest heroes of the world and their mighty deeds, others he could not discern. Many of them had swords and armor he knew, but many bore alien weaponry he could not ascertain their purpose. One in particular stood out to him, though he did not know why. It depicted a man coated in ice, towering over a burning village as a shadow with red eyes laughs within his heart. “This is The Oracle of Realms, a grand refectory of knowledge containing a vast trove of lore and information from across the realms. Every world, every timeline, every possible history is recorded here. I have strived my entire mortal life to return here one day…” Her voice began to trail off as the duo entered an even larger room containing towering bookshelves full to the brim with various tomes, scrolls, and more strange metal devices the emitted a faint light of their own. Along with a multitude of additional blue flames illuminating the space, there were a number of small blue fairy like creatures cataloguing and sorting the items on the shelves “This is the bonus in your protection payment I mentioned. Feel free to explore knowledge to your hearts content, I have some business to attend to. Just hail one of the librarians if you need help, I’m sure you’d love to bring back some more monster-fighting knowledge to your fellow warrior monks in Laurelia.” With that, she waved her hand and one of the fairy creatures immediately stopped what they were doing to fly over and grab her wrist. Despite it’s size, it seemed to lift her with ease as it flew away.

Hayden couldn’t help but look around him in awe for an unknown amount of time as he perused the shelves, simply admiring the architecture at first. Finally he thought to himself, if this place contains all knowledge… maybe it has a list of the remaining demon lords. I’d be a hero of the ages if I could eliminate the last of those vile scum. Thinking back on what Saraith did, he raised an arm, and a librarian stopped what they were doing and flew over. When it grabbed his hand, time seemed to stop, and the creature spoke to him, “what do you seek?” Hayden responded immediately, “Demon Lords.” Time resumed and the fairy lifted him up and flew away, darting between shelves and passing grand columns before dropping him in front of a large shelf labelled “Demonic Lore.” At the end of the shelf was a podium with a book on it. Approaching the book, he checked the title, “Demonic Royalty and their Offspring.” Smiling, Hayden opened the book, skipping past the pages detailing the lore of demonic royalty, until he found the page that showed the first family tree. He went through the various names, ticking those off in his head he knew to be slain. Pulling out a piece of parchment, he recorded the names of these previously unknown demon lords and their half-breed children. As he furiously wrote, he dreamed of the glory he would receive upon returning home. Hayden… the Herald of peace! Parades, feasts, and festivals will be held because of him, the youngest monk to earn his place, a right of burial passing beneath the icy waters as he is carried into a tomb of honor. With these names he would muster the faithful to Lauriel and march headfirst into the Nether, invoking these names to bind the demonic leadership, and behead them once and for all. Names like this lord, Irratus, and his vile half-breed son, Hayden!

Hayden? What… He shook his head and lowered his shaking hands as he double checked the book. At the top of this family tree was a powerful demon lord named Irratus, a mysterious human woman, and a single son. He bore long brown hair and a braided beard, there was a scar over his blinded left eye, and his right eye shone icy blue as it stared back at him, and the name listed just below: Hayden. The room began to spin as he stepped backwards, dropping his quill and the parchment. A pair of librarians swooped down to remove the quill and place the parchment into his vest pocket before dutifully returning to their other duties as he began to hyperventilate. I never knew my mother… or my father… the monks had been my family I never… He looked down at his own shaking hands, which seemed to take on an unearthly red hue, his nails elongated into black claws. He slapped the side of his face and looked once more, and his hands were normal. “Hayden!!” Saraith’s voice entered his mind, echoing along with her crashing footsteps as she ran towards him, “Hayden, we’ve got to go!” Hayden turned his head, almost collapsing from the unbalance he felt, and his eyes widened. Saraith was running towards him, followed by a swarm of angered fairies, and just beyond them, a woman with flaming blue eyes. She had unearthly pale skin and an elegant dress formed of a wispy blue material as she ran after Saraith. Survival mode kicked in, and Hayden drew his sword, falling behind Saraith, fighting off the swarm of librarians as they ran for the exit. Even as he fought and ran, he could feel a fell icy grip clutch at his heart… spreading throughout his body. What monster am I?