Two days earlier.

Lucia Dracus was sitting on a fallen log just outside her party's campfire. It has been a successful few days as her group has completed some higher-level contracts, or quests, as some of the younger adventurers liked to call it. What was more important to Lucia is that her party did it almost without her help. Almost. They were still rookies, so some mistakes were to be expected. Still, she liked to see the progress. Seeing new and young adventurers learn and grow was the most delightful thing in the world for her.

Her good mood hadn't lasted long as she noticed a woman wearing chest plate armor over white robes and a helmet that covered almost her whole face, leaving only openings for her mouth, nose, and eyes. She recognized her immediately, which didn't do anything to stop her annoyance. The woman walked through the thick forest and stopped next to Lucia, sitting on the same log.

"Good morning, Lucia," said the newcomer, taking off her helmet.

Lucia proceeded to carry on reading her book, promptly ignoring the out-of-place-looking woman. The book wasn't phenomenal by any means, but she was willing to pretend it was to give the nosy goddess the cold shoulder. She thought she had read the exact same chapter in 50 other series, but alas, it was hard to find something innovative when you have been consumed by reading ever since the print was invented. The ease of access to books caused by the invention of print was both a blessing and a curse. On one hand, it was easier to get personal copies of whatever manuscript you wanted. On the other, she could get the books so easily that she started to run out of available options! Perhaps it was only her problem. Not everyone lives long enough to be able to spend so much time reading. That left her with new and unseasoned work, which were… new and unseasoned. There were some gems from time to time but Lucia got used to being the first reviewer of most newly printed books, and she wouldn't miss sharing her thoughts with the nearest bookstore, which would then send her review via raven to all other associated bookstores. She prided herself on being rather respected in the field.

The newcomer waited patiently for her to finish and finally acknowledge her presence. She smiled down at Lucia warmly, which couldn't mean anything good for her. It didn't necessarily have to be bad though. Most likely it was just going to be annoying and involve going very out of her way for a small favor.

Lucia sighed visibly and put her book away, crossing her arms and turning towards the woman.

"What do you want, Athena?"

"Well, a 'Hello Athena, good to see you' would be a nice start. It's very rude to not return a greeting, even up there." She pointed at the sky. "I should orchestrate some divine punishment for this disrespect," she said, her tone not at all threatening.

"Oh, please, you couldn't even if you wanted to. We both know that. Rules of the Universe and all that." Lucia put her arms beside her, leaning back comfortably. "But you are right, I'm sorry. It would seem like my mood gets easily disturbed these days. It is good to see you. It would be even better if I knew you were here just for a chat and not another favor that 'only I can achieve'."

"You wound me. Maybe I really was just in the area and wanted to say hello to a dear friend?"

"That's a good one!" Lucia stifled a laugh, causing Athena to raise one brow. After she managed to get her laugh under control, she said, "Your jokes are getting better. You still need to work on your sarcasm, though. Way too obvious." She wiped a test out of her eye.

"Thank you," said Athena, confused."I suppose."

"Don't worry about it. Good advice is what friends are for," she said, making Athena unsure whether it was a serious statement or another sarcasm.

Athena frowned and sighed internally. "Yes, that's true, indeed." She then took on a more serious tone. "While I wish I could spare some energy to project myself on the Mortal Plane to exchange greetings and chat more, I have to ration it for more… formal occasions. Strictly speaking, I need you to do a reading."

"That's what I've been doing all evening until you interrupted it."

"You know what I mean," she sighed.

"Alright, alright, I will stop teasing you. You do seem rather more serious than usual." She fixed her posture. "So what's the potential world-ending apocalypse that needs stopping this time?"

"There has been a new prophecy concerning this world and I'm inclined to believe that it contains our best route to saving this planet."

Lucia blinked. "That's… not what I was expecting, to be honest." She took a few seconds to organize her thoughts. "How specific is it?"

"Not more than any other regular prophecy," she admitted, "but specific enough to mention those who could be our 'heroes'."

“Right, and does it mention how they will deal with our problem?”

“No, it merely states that they will.”

“Hmm, this means that there certainly is a possibility where it happens, which is good news, obviously.” She leaned her head on her hand and started tapping a finger over her mouth, contemplating. “It also means that we don’t know what steps to take to help or even prepare them. How many is ‘they’?”

“Two, for now at least, prophecies can evolve if the path toward their fulfillment. When it comes to helping them; there is still time, we can let them grow and learn their own way. Maybe give a few pointers here and there. And when the time comes, we have to convince them to undertake the task we would present to them. We have to confirm their identity first, though.”

“You planned it all out already, huh? Confirming who they are; I assume that’s what the reading is for?”

“It is. I have a strong guess about who they might be, but I need to confirm it. Are you sure you don’t want to hear the complete prophecy?”

“Completely. It would only mess with my own divination.” Lucia took one of many packs of cards from her pocket and knelt beside the log, lacking in anything else that might serve as a table. “Let’s get to it then.”

They were tarot cards of kaleidoscopic colors with characters painted on, representing the Major Arcana. Tarot was mostly just a circus trick that some gullible townsman would fall for whenever a traveling fair would pass through their town. The cards didn’t hold any power within them, they were just used for entertainment purposes.

Unless Lucia was the one holding the deck.

Her Class wasn’t designed to help her make divinations or auguries, but it did make her almost ageless. Throughout her long life, she developed a Talent for Fate, one of the “higher elements” as some scholars in the Tower called it. Her specific affinity for it was making various games and tricks (such as tarot) become accurate. It wasn’t the most powerful or useful gift, but it worked when she needed it and spared her from having unwanted visions of the future, as she heard some other capable of Fate had.

“I will do a past-present-future reading. Just touch me while I shuffle the cards and convey to me everything you know about them, thinking in the context of our problem. One by one, not two at the same time.”

Athena moved to do exactly that. Lucia shuffled the deck while influenced by the cognition of Athena. After a few cycles of tossing and twisting the cards in her hands, she was ready and planted the first three cards down, representing the past.

“Reversed hermit, Reversed emperor, Reversed empress,” she stated, looking down at the cards. “There was a lot of cold despotism and suppression in their life that they were ultimately dependent on, causing them to be cut off from their community. Loneliness, depression, and no clear way of moving forward. Sound close enough so far?”

“From my limited knowledge of their early life,” Athena wondered for a second, “yes, it does.”

“Alright then, moving on to the present.”

Lucia drew another three cards from the top of her deck and placed them below the ones already drawn.

“The Fool, Death, The Star. New cycle, something ends, something begins. Start of a journey and a hopeful change. That sounds good. 'The Fool' is almost a ‘must’ for any heroic adventurers.”

“It does sound promising. The ‘future’ should all but confirm it, I think.”

“Right, let’s get to it then.”

Another three cards were placed on the fallen log.

“The Tower, The World, The Hanged man,” she mused over it for a few seconds. “The ‘future’ works a little different from the ‘past’ and ‘present’, I must remind you. While the previous six cards refer to a more general view of their life, the ‘future’ three cards refer to events that will shape who they will become. They don’t even necessarily need to be connected with each other.”

“Understood.” Athena nodded. “What’s the reading then?”

“Certainly a disaster that will break them in some way. Can’t tell if it will be permanent or only temporary. Sacrifice, the details of this one are a little cloudy, but ‘The World’ could mean the completion of a ‘Fools’ journey. If there is completion, then I doubt the sacrifice will impede it in any way.”

Athena pondered a minute on the readings Lucia gave her. “That… does sound like it fits perfectly. I think we hit the jackpot there.” She took a deep breath. “Now the second one.”

Lucia raised a brow at Athena. “You sound less confident about this one.”

“I am less confident. I don’t have as much information on this one, just a lot of guesses.” She shook her head. “But if those guesses turn out to be true, then we would have a real anomaly on our hands.”

“As if we don’t have enough of those already,” she huffed through her nose.

“This one wouldn’t be a bad one though… I think.”

“Damn, you really don’t have any confidence in this, huh?”

"Oh, shush, you!” She pouted. “I’m not omniscient and you know that!”

“I know, I know,” Lucia chuckled. “Just teasing.”

“Can we get to it, then?” she still pouted, trying to look angry and wounded by Lucia’s comments, which Lucia didn’t buy for a second.

“Let’s.”

Lucia collected the cards from the log and they repeated the process of shuffling the cards with Athena’s influence over it. It took considerably more time this time around. Athena didn’t know whether it was due to her limited knowledge of the person in question or some other Fate quirk that she had no idea about. Finally, though, opened her eyes and said she was ready, placing the first three ‘past’ cards on the fallen tree.

“Reversed Chariot, The Hermit, Temperance. There is a lot of finding oneself in their past, confusion and finding the truth or meaning. Mostly topped off with angst and anger toward the world itself for its unfairness. How’s that sound?”

“Honestly? I’m still not sure, but it doesn’t sound like something too far away from what they must have been through.”

“Let’s move on then.” She placed another three cards for ‘present’. “The Fool, Wheel of fortune, The Moon. Another ‘Fool’ which with your suspicion should already be a confirmation that this is the one. Or the half, I guess. Anyway, another start of a journey, but… this seems more like a change of journey, or a shift. Fighting with fate, not wanting to be its prisoner, but still acting on instinct and intuition, which is a little conflicting there.”

“Let’s see the ‘future’,” said Athena, somewhat sad. Or guilty? Lucia couldn’t quite pinpoint the emotion there, but it seemed like there was a story there. She drew the last three cards.

“The Tower, Judgment, The Hanged man.” She took a minute to collect her thoughts as she did in the previous ‘future’ reading. “Very similar to the previous one, both with ‘The Fool’ and with the ‘future’ as well. I think you were right about this one.” Lucia glanced at Athena and continued. “Another disaster, I would wager it’s the same one as the one that the other person will experience. But the rest… it’s cloudy, real cloudy. All I can see is that there will be an awakening in the sacrifice or release of some sort. Emotional release, perhaps? Can quite tell.” She looked at Athena. “That’s all. I think they definitely sound like they will play a major role in events to come, but what do you think? You heard the initial prophecy, after all.”

“I… yes, that’s it. It sounds almost exactly like something the prophecy was trying to tell.” A trace of sadness, while still there, started vanishing from her face.

“Then all we need to do is to ensure that we are walking on the right track toward the prophecy and our heroes will walk it as well. Sounds easy enough.”

Athena chuckled. “Yes, it does seem rather simple now that you had said it.” She sensed her Soul calling her Avatar back, signalizing the end of her visit. “I will be going now, Lucia. Seems like I’m needed.”

“Hmm, that’s a fancy way of saying that you are running out of Divinity to power your Avatar.”

“Can’t you pretend at least pretend to not know the secrets that any mortal shouldn’t have known?” she said in an exasperated tone.

“My bad, my bad.” Lucia chuckled. “Can you at least tell me their names and where they are so I can start guiding them or at least make sure that they meet?”

Athena obliged and told Lucia all she need to know before saying her goodbyes and walking back into the forest, presumably to look more mysterious while her avatar would be leaving this Plane. Lucia was left alone again, looking at the young adventurers behind her, oblivious to her short meeting. It will happen in their lifetime after all. She naively hoped that any group she taught would be long retired and old, sitting in comfortable big chairs and watching the young do the work. In the end, it was not to be. She watched them laugh as the short girl chased around the campfire after the swordsman, her face as red as a tomato while she tripped, sending the group into even more laughter. She also smiled and turned her face at the sky.

“Keziah and Annette, huh?”