Chapter 288: A Lost God

Late Evening - Mid Summer (Hemisphere Switch) : Goldenflower | The Holy Kingdom

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- Skuld, The Goddess of Oracles ~

"Haah..." I let out a controlled breath as I laid on the head of a half-broken statue of me and glanced over the empty prayer hall with a smile. -How long has it been since I've given a mortal an oracle...-

Currently, I was in one of my few remaining temples, in a town deep in the Holy Kingdom called Goldenflower.

Compared to how it looked in its glory days, the town was quite run down, now lacking the ethereal beauty of endless fields of flowers, and the temple most definitely reflected that, but shockingly the temple was still holding up and even had an elderly priestess taking care of it.

However, although I considered her a priestess, from what I could tell, she was simply a generous old woman who took care of what remained of the temple without even knowing who the temple was for.

But although it truly highlighted just how much the times have changed, my fall from grace was something I had already started to accept. Whether I wanted to admit it or not, the world had long since moved on from me, and it was time for me to accept that.

However, there was still one last thing I needed to do... -She should be getting close...-

Looking through the temple's walls, I focused on the horizon and saw a sizable caravan of knights with a few disguised dragons standing around a single young girl at their front.

That girl was Katherine Whyte, the key to my salvation. -No matter what it takes.. I need to make Odin take her as the hero... But for that, she must want it herself...-

Originally, deciding which way to push the young girl was extremely difficult. Part of me wanted to be selfish and succumb to the devil's temptations, while another part wanted to leave her be and let her grow to her true potential.

But after feeling Hel's presence vanish mere minutes after she left for Bahamut, that decision made itself. -No matter how I twist it, even if that 'Myles Kalfas' truly has 'that artifact', it couldn't have caused Magni, Tyr, or Hel's deaths.. their presences simply disappeared too abruptly for that...-

But crossing that out only left a few possibilities, one of which being Odin's worst nightmare, the return of one of the Ancient Fenrir. -But even if it isn't one of them, the fact that that possibility is very real means that Odin can't risk suffocating her growth like I had worried...-

There was just one slight issue with that.

-How in the world am I going to give her an oracle...-

I needed to give her a prophecy, even if it was fake, to try and direct her to the heart of the capital. The issue with that was she had a.. shockingly draconic personality. -What could I say... What could I say...-

I quickly fell into thought, but before I could even come up with anything decent, I sensed a new presence start approaching. -Huh?-

Looking up hurriedly, I saw a young girl with bright blonde hair and sky-blue eyes standing at the altar below me and looking up at my statue.

With just a glance, she looked like royalty; however, the light in her eyes was the contrary. -Who.. is this?-

Moving off my statue, I floated down the get a little closer, but as I did, she squatted down and bowed until there were only her fingers between her forehead and the floor.

-A.. prayer?!- It was exactly as I remembered it from before the Great War. -How does this little girl know that...-

"Goddess of Oracles, Skuld, the Goddess that reigns over time and fate, please accept my prayer."

I was simply frozen in place the moment she spoke. She recited it perfectly. -That prayer was lost thousands of years ago... Even the Holy Kingdom's records don't have it... How does she know it...-

Not wasting a single instant, I collected some divinity and instantly formed a tether with the girl's reserve, letting me finally speak to her. "Young one.. may I hear thy name..."

Her eyes went wide, and her heart rate picked up instantly. "T-this humble servant's name is Elizabeth!"

-Eliz..a..beth...- The name immediately caught me off guard. -What a foreign name...- "Young Elizabeth.. where is thee from?"

She responded with a bit of hesitation. "This young one is from the Southern Peninsula of the Main Continent."

-Huh?- It wasn't what I expected. -Why does her name sound so off, then?- I quickly started to zone out in an effort to catch the thought on the tip of my tongue, but before I could gather it, my senses heightened, and the faint sensation of a god's presence, somewhere over the horizon, suddenly appeared before almost instantly disappearing. -W..what?!-

I instantly looked to the horizon with wide eyes. -That presence...- Although I only felt it for an instant, it was a presence I couldn't mistake. -That was...-

But the young Elizabeth pulled me from my thoughts right away. "I grew up in the forest of Altair with my grandfather. He taught me everything I know, but he sent me on a trip to this temple to receive your oracle last year.. so I pray to receive thine blessings."

-Huh? She came here alone?- I immediately snapped back to the young girl, who was 16 at most, and noticed her state had calmed, and her aura had relaxed. -She really knows the entire prayer...-

Attempting to ignore the unusual, distant presence for a moment, I moved down to her and increased the size of my tether. -I need to address this matter first...-

With no exaggeration, that girl was a walking blessing. -What perfect timing...- "Young Elizabeth, thine fate is complicated, so I cannot provide you with complete guidance." I paused for a moment before noticing her heart calming. "However, your fate resides in the capital with a young demihuman girl named Katherine Whyte, the one destined to become the hero." I quickly looked back up to where Katherine was on the horizon. "She will arrive at this town soon, so please prepare to befriend her and guide her to me."

As I gave the 'oracle', I felt the sensation of a vision beginning to appear, but believing I already knew what I would see, I simply closed my eyes and suppressed it.

-If their fate is bound to become wrapped in tragedy... I would rather not see it...-

As the vision finally started to fade, my gaze slowly drifted over the horizon behind me, where I saw Freya floating in the air, staring past me. -The fate of those tied to Odin.. never ends well...-

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- Vasilias ~

*crackle-crumble* The noise of crumbling rock instantaneously filled the void-like silence that followed the explosion, but even still, I didn't even acknowledge it. 

*Crumble-Clink* As the splintered mythril beneath my paw crunched like millions of tiny metal filings, I finally turned around and stared at the deputy with dilated pupils. "I hope you can explain to me what the fuck that was..." At that moment, I had to hold back my entire being to keep myself from walking over and erasing him.

But he didn't react at all. He simply stood there.. frozen.

-This bastard...- Instantly appearing in front of him, I drove the top of my paw into his body.

*CRACK-WHAAAM* The wall exploded nearly instantaneously, blasting stone all the way across the room, but the deputy stayed completely still, even while embedded in the wall.

I quickly walked over to him and ripped him out of the wall with my aura. "Hey, fucker. Wake up." *VWOOM* Flooding his head with my aura, I went to force him awake, but immediately found dozens of tiny oath runes ready to kill him in an instant. -How troublesome...-

I quickly started to break them, but as I went to break the final one and wake him up, I stopped.

"~Even if you wake him up, he won't be able to answer that.~"

The goddess's voice made me stop in my tracks. "What makes you say that?" Looking over my shoulder, I met eyes with the faintly cloudy figure of a woman wearing some kind of red dress.

"~Well, first and foremost, an oath rune would kill him the moment he considered saying anything... Secondly, he simply doesn't know what it really was.~"

*CRUNCH* As his stiffened body finally fell over, the ground broke even more, and I turned to the goddess. "In that case, I hope you're willing to explain..."

"~It was a god.~" She responded bluntly. "~Or at least what was left of one...~" She immediately disappeared before reappearing at the center of the platform, looking into the hole of molten rock where the artifact once was.

"What do you mean by that?"

She quickly paused before glancing over her shoulder. "~Well, his name used to be Odr, the God of Summer, but shortly after waking up, Odin decided to.. make use of him.. and turned him into that mindless.. creature of divinity."

My disgust instantly worsened. -That thing used to be a human god?- Just thinking about it again made my skin crawl. "But what was it doing here?"

"~Well, it was being used as a tool to rewrite dragons' views of humans and, more importantly, the gods.~" She instantly vanished again before reappearing over the deputy's body. "~Disgusting, isn't it? To turn one's race over to another...~"

I felt as if I saw a smile on her face for a moment, but I agreed regardless. "It's as disgusting as it gets, but unfortunately, I can't kill that bastard just yet... He still has his uses..."

"~Hoh?~" She sounded quite surprised. "~What do you plan to use him for?~"

The air around me instantly turned heavy. "To gather the rats."