Epilogue III

Princess Larela Philipon, Sidherthan Capital

“It has been seven years and still no sign of your hero.” The mocking voice of the Ethereal calls out to Larela. The mere sound of that voice brings about fear. The voice is the voice of power, the one she listens to in order to gain insight. It is also the voice that haunts her in her dreams. Now that she has forgone her sight she has a hard time distinguishing between the reality of future sight, and the future sight of the dream worlds. Both worlds offer insights that could be possibilities of things yet to come.

She is powerful, far too powerful for one who has not officially gained her class yet. While her skills and initial ability were apparent for all to see, it was what she did with that ability that truly deserved praise.

“Praise? You want praise for being a selfish little brat.” The ethereal voice mocks her again, reading her thoughts and her deepest desires.

Only now that she has given everything to see the future is she afraid of the path she has treaded. There are portions of the mind that are not meant to be discovered. At least not by ones such as herself. She is now in line to be Queen, her grades are exemplary, despite not having her class. With her seventeenth birthday drawing near, everyone waits with bated breath. She is a late bloomer, but it is said that most of the truly powerful are. This is the gods giving a bit more time to see if the wielder can evolve their class once more. And she is close.

Her ability to control future visions has proven to be monumental in the invasion of the Azani. Traps, routes, and soldiers were placed in perfect spots to eradicate and wipe out forces the day the two year treaty ended. On that date Sidhertha repelled not one, but two invasion forces. One led by Ajimal the Great from the Northern border and a second led by his grandfather at the southern border. Of the two forces only the grandfather actually led troops on the front lines. Ajimal of course was too busy uniting the north under his banner and thus too busy to lead forces himself. Had he joined the field as well the victory would have been much different.

Yet, Larela had seen the lines of fate. She had seen that the Butcher himself would get distracted if news of an ancient ruin was discovered.

“There really are a lot of those ancient ruins popping up, aren’t there. Almost as if there is some pattern to them randomly appearing.”

“Hush you. They were always there.” Larela spoke back to the voice, this was of course what it wanted. It loved the dialog, it showed that it was winning. The more attention she gave the voice, the louder it got. But sometimes there was just no helping it, the voice had good plans and ideas.

“They were always there, but were they always so recently emptied of all forms of life? Life that had ruthlessly been slaughtered to the last creature? Also what of that cloaked man who is spotted leaving the sites as they open? Surely he is someone of importance. If only you too could see him.” The voice mocked.

Badump.

Larela’s heart beat at the mere thought of the stranger. Someone who had gone through and not only found lairs of the Titan’s but killed every last creature in the lairs. A shiver ran down her spine as she dared to hope that the stranger she couldn’t see was none other than him.

“I could tell you. Well better yet, I could show you, for a price.”

That was the thing with the ethereal voice, everything always came with a cost. The first was her eyesight, one she gladly gave up. She had been a foolish girl at the time and so she didn’t know any better. She had just been a girl in love with a man, a man who she could suddenly see the lines of the future from, for the cost of her eyes. Until she couldn’t see him any longer.

Now almost eight years later the same voice that made the original deal was back, trying to worm its way in even more. The voice was treacherous, but ultimately gave what they offered. The only problem was the product they gave came with side effects, effects that were not noted in the original bargain.

“How was I to know that your Dashing Knight was going to be cursed by the Gods and thus become immune from my sight that I gave you. How could your Dear Yaga know of such a thing?” The old voice crooned in her mind, her mental voice was a step away from being an ear piercing screech. As it was, the voice was still annoying, but tolerable.

Still Larela was older now, and far to weary of the tricks of the old voice of the ether.

Just when she was about to give up her conversation with the old crone of her dream scape, a vision filled her mind. In this vision the hidden doors and paths of an old Northern town opened all at once. Instantly piles of winter snow that had not fully melted in the early months of the year were seemingly swallowed up by the ground. Livestock that had been placidly eating suddenly cried out in fear as the ground shook slightly for a moment.

“What, what is happening?” A man cried out. This was part of the oddity of a vision for Larela, even if the people in the land were speaking a different language she would always know what they were saying. Yaga had described the process as the vision transmitting the intent of the vision, not the actual vision. So in this case she was meant to know that the people of the rural farming village were caught unaware of the sudden opening.

“The ground, it just opened up.” A second voice called out.

“A sinkhole?”

“I don’t believe so.”

Voices called out, many speaking over each other but as always Larela was able to make out each of the voices individually.

“Wait, who is that?” A man pointed. The vision shifted, but all Larela could make out was the shadow of a figure on the ground. That was what Larela had trained her mind to focus on, the shadows as the body of the stranger was completely hidden from her. Looking at the shadow it was the same tall thin form of a man wearing a cloak.

“What did you do?” A voice shouted out angrily at the figure.

The figure turned and must have said something, but all Larela could hear was an ephemeral singing voice that was indecipherable. At the words the people of the town paused for a second. Then just before they were about to say something all their gazes shot up to a point high overhead. Rather than looking up, Larela looked down to see the long tall shadow fade to a tiny ball and then disappear entirely. At that Larela let out a sad huff. She knew he was gone. The people would likely sit around for a while conversing about what they found, or the description of the cloaked man. But it was pointless to continue viewing, as he was gone.

As he left, Larela felt her chest tighten slightly. How could she see him, if he kept disappearing as quickly as he appeared. What was the fourth site he found and stopped?

“Fifth. Including the first one that is the fifth. I must say he is on a remarkable pace, five of those monstrosities in seven years. Quite the feat, really.”

“What are they anyways?” Larela asked.

“Oh honey. Are you really willing to pay for that answer?” The old crone spoke mockingly.

Hearing the words Larela just let out a sigh. “No.” She didn’t even want to pay for the chance to see him again, why would she pay for something that was clearly not that important.

“Not that important? Not that important, that is the sole driving force that gets your man to wake up in the morning. Without those sites your man would settle down for a bit, kick his feet up. Start a family.”

Hearing that word, family, Larela patted her stomach. She knew the price that Yaga wanted.

“Oh come on, it is a good deal and you know it. One child, that I will take the body of and you will be free of me forever.” Yaga said, her voice sounding almost sweet, given her sharp piercing voice.

It was a good deal. At least Larela had begun to imagine it not being quite so terrible. The bargain was at least reasonable. She would have a child, her first child would be a powerful female of her lineage. That child’s soul would be removed and replaced by Yaga's. Then Yaga would leave to the wilderness after her awakening ceremony, never to be heard from again. Despite the act of killing the soul of her own daughter, there was so much in the bargain that set Larela’s teeth to chatter. She felt nauseous just thinking about the deal, no doubt a sign that she was making a terrible mistake.

“There is always one way you can have your wish and foil me at the same time.”

“What, how is that?”

“You could always make a pact with me, then never sleep with a man. Claim celibacy or something. Claim that if you slept with a man you would lose your sight, or something equally as important.”

That was the most infuriating thing about Yaga, she always made sense. Then an idea hit her. “Are you holding back my Class? Are you making it so I haven’t been considered a true adult yet?”

“Hahaha. Oh you praise this one too highly. Surely I couldn’t be more powerful than the Gods. But in this case you are correct. I have been delaying your class selection for our transaction. If you have this final burst of power before you change, your class will be something truly phenomenal.” The old crone crooned.

Hearing the words and realizing that she was likely losing valuable sleep from the constant fighting and arguing with the old hag, Larela sighed.

“State the conditions of our agreement readily and fully.” Larela said, her resolve breaking as she could no longer tell if she was sleeping or awake. Yet, she knew that a deal made in either realm would be considered as valid.

“You wish to go through with it?” The old crone cooed, almost sounding giddy from the statement.

“No. I wish to hear the full bargain.” Larela asked through gritted teeth.

“Fine then. The terms are as follows. I will boost your oracular vision once more making it so it can even see those who have been cursed by the gods. In exchange your first born child will be mine. I will replace the soul of your child and once again be born unto the world. From there you will care for me until the time of my Awakening Ceremony, after which I will be gone and out of your hair forever.” The old crone paused, it was the same deal as before, but after so many years of mentally battling with the old crone Larela felt exhausted.

“And you will no longer bother me in my sleep?” Larela asked.

“I will no longer bother you in your sleep. Unless, you call out to me for another bargain.” Yaga said.

Larela wanted to say that she would never call out to the old crone again, not for any deal, but she stopped herself. Such were the words of a self-defeating prophecy. Those were the words one spoke when they wished to battle the wills of the other they were bargaining with, and Larela wanted to make no such statement, only to be proven wrong.

“I will think about it.” Larela said, this was usually good enough to get the old crone to shut up for at least a few nights. Perhaps realizing the dismissal when she heard it, Yaga spoke again.

“I can tell you where he will go next? A place he has been avoiding up until now, but will have to show up eventually?” Yaga said.

“Where?” Larela asked, her mind suddenly alight with a chance to see him again. The man who glowed golden even before the Gods.

“Not far from here, one of your neighboring kingdoms to be more precise.”

“A neighboring kingdom?” At that thought, so many places went through her mind. Piran was an obvious choice, as the discarded princess had been sent specifically to seduce him. Then fear ran down her spine as she thought about the betrothed Azani princess Nayali who had also been sent after him. Though she was slightly less worried about that one, as she had been in his hometown for years, he had never noticed. No, this was someone else. Then a thought struck her, a missive about his origins. About how he grew up for five years with the high wood elves. Then she remembered her, the harpy who ruined everything, the one who Lykan loved and she still broke him.

“Of course it would be her.” Larela hissed.

“I can tell you where she lives, so you can intercept your Knight on his way there.” Yaga said.

Before Larela had been resolute in her refusal to make another deal with Yaga, but now she could feel her resolution crumbling.

“I…I don’t know.”