“Will my plan to wake the Tuatha de Danaan succeed,” I asked. “If I go, will I come back or should I abdicate my Throne and install a Regent until Ryu is strong enough to rule?”

I had already decided that I was going. The Oracle didn’t refute any part of the prophecy that I had been given. Nor did she dismiss the repercussions to this Universe if Zeus’s and Odin’s actions were allowed to stand.

If the trick to absorb the Divine mantel of slain Gods could be limited to their own Pantheons, I would have refused immediately. But the Tuatha de Danaan would also perish in their mad scheme to become the one true God. To think of their Godhood stripped from them as they died in Sleep was abhorrent. They had already suffered enough, been subjected to such indignities that no other God or Pantheon had been forced to endure. They had sacrificed themselves, entered Sleep to protect their children, and I refused to treat that sacrifice with indifference.

Zeus and Odin playing the role of a pair of parasitic vampires that would drain cosmic forces that had been divided and distributed by the Alpha and the Omega was the height of hubris. It was insane, and I could not believe that when all was said and done, the Alpha and Omega would look at what they had done and allow the last spark, the last kernel of life in every universe to flicker and die.

They would try to remake all the universes in their image before the Alpha and the Omega intervened, and they were too deeply flawed to allow that to happen.

“The Tuatha de Danaan will wake, Zeus and Odin have cast the die that breaks the chains that bind.

Your task is daunting for you must face the Horai, Goddesses of Time

A task made possible using a Servant of Time found within the Cait Sith.

Sneak past Heimdall a God of Light to brave the Halls of Odin,

Made possible with the power of Shadow claimed by Cu Sith.

And restore the World Tree,

Only now possible that Irvin has restored Sithern and Tree.

Once accomplished, only then will Balance be restored,

Once accomplished, only then can you return.

Once accomplished will the Dreamers Awake,

The Sidhe, the Tuatha de Danaan, and the Worlds of Fairy protected.”

[Quest Created: Help Athena, Loki, Set, and Coyote to foil Zeus’s and Odin’s schemes.]

[Quest Created: Travel with Gwyn ap Nudd to Urt and stop the theft of the Divine.]

[Quest Created: Defeat the Olympus Goddess of Time and steal Zeus’s lightning bolt.]

[Quest Created: Avoid Heimdall and steal Odin’s Eye.]

[Quest Created: Replant the World Tree by planting and creating a new Sithern.]

[Rebuild the Sidhe and appoint a Council of Twelve.]

“There are no certainties,” the Oracle said her voice still heavy with the weight of prophecy, “but in those futures where you succeed, your success accomplishes what nothing else in the long history of Sidhe has managed.

“You restore balance to the broken. Punish those that would use treachery, theft, and deceit with real consequences. And give the Sidhe back their soul by restoring the Tuatha de Danaan.”

“Your prophecy triggered quests,” I informed her, and Tybalt by proxy, “I wonder if I should even bother with the Oaths I was going to use to bind Athena, Loki, Set, and Coyote?”

“They would find it strange if you didn’t,” Tybalt suggested.

“Not so strange that they would rescind their request, but enough that they would make plans to maneuver and circumvent any rewards fulfilling those quests might generate,” the Oracle agreed. “And they will know about the Quests. They will have gotten their own set the moment System took notice and active.”

“Set can be trusted,” I said thoughtfully. “He has always given succor and aid to both the living and dead. His principles cannot be corrupted, nor can he be intimidated.

“Athena, for all her vaulted wisdom, can be tricked. She acts with a purpose and sense of honor that she ascribes to everyone, even after all these years. Even after all these years, after all, those that have betrayed and broken trust with her, she remains steadfast. She cloaks herself in those principles and that honor.”

“Coyote often lives up to his reputation. He can be tricky and hard to pin down, but in this, he will remain steadfast,” the Oracle informed me.

“It is Loki that may represent a problem. The Oaths that you demand, he and the others swear to, will be the framework that determines his actions. Make no mistake, he will attempt to break those Oaths. To skirt the edge as an Oathbreaker without actually breaking them. He will not risk Gwyn ap Nudd’s attention for any reason.

“But he will test and push those limits. He will be the one that tries to wheedle out of the promises that you force them to make. But something to reflect on when crafting the words that will bind them, those that practice trickery expect it, they will be looking for it. That makes them predictable.

“Craft your words carefully, but make it appear you are the plebeians he expects at Oath crafting. Allow something, some part of the Oath, some subtle phrase obvious to anyone with talent, a clear trap or trick for those not gifted in the art of deceit. A deception that he thinks he can exploit.

“Loki knows the Sidhe cannot speak a lie and will work to use what they see as a weakness against you. Athena and Coyote might see through any deception you come up with, rely on Queen Brigda for this part. Loki will never believe you have the ability to defeat him in a challenge of lies.”

“Your prophecy spoke of Cait Sith, that I can only succeed if I face the Goddesses of Time with a Servant of Time,” I said, “do you have someone willing to brave another Universe with me? Or will I find a Cait Sith able to help once Gwyn ap Nudd has opened a path through the Summerlands?”

“I will send one of my daughters with you,” Tybalt informed me. “Send a message when you are ready, and I will facilitate the discussion with Gwyn and have her ready to join.”

I wondered what Tybalt was up to as soon as he made the offer. To send one of his people was expected, but to send his daughter? I could only hazard a guess that as a cat and a King he had fathered multitudes by children by this point, but an acknowledged daughter meant a Cait Sith that was the daughter of the Queen of Cats as well as the King.

In truth, most of the Cait Sith could trace their lineage to Tybalt in some manner, but for convenience’s sake, and to honor his Queen, Tybalt had long ago made it a policy to only claim an individual as son or daughter if they were the progeny of his Queen.

The quests I was about to undertake were dangerous, so dangerous that he was almost certainly sacrificing whoever he sent, and Tybalt was many things, but wasteful was not one of them. He would not risk sending a daughter to her death unless there was something to be gained.

I was certain there was prophecy involved. This excursion may center on me, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be ancillary actions, quests, and events that transpired that affected the people I brought.

The Oracle was one of his subjects, after all. It made sense that she had shared the prophecy with him, a prophecy that made it necessary for him to send a daughter that carried the royal Cait Sith bloodline to fulfill.