Chapter 229: A Guessing Game

Late Evening - Early Winter : Central Valtivar, Siratha

-----

*thump-thump-thump-thump* It had already been a few hours since I finished examining all the carvings I found, but I was still pacing around, wracking my brain with the innumerable theories I had come up with.

The issue was a majority of them were so complicated that they had practically become guesses. -Things definitely aren't as cut and dry as they seem, but they likely aren't as cryptic as I'm imagining...-

Thinking I was too far down the wrong path, I stopped my pacing, sat down, and let out a deep breath. "Hooh..." Immediately purging the details from my mind, I took my best theory and started over. -Let's try this again...-

-Okay.. my best theory is that these are ancient oracles about the Great War...- Knowing what I did about gods, higher dimensions, and time, I knew that genuine oracles most definitely did exist. -But this idea doesn't explain everything...- My focus quickly drifted to the bottom portrait of the fenrir.

Originally I wanted to believe that they indicated something along the lines of who came up with or supported the oracle or timeline presented, but after some additional thought, I decided the distribution was a bit too perfect, even if it was only a sample of 4. -But that would mean there is a more direct relationship between them...-

The issue was that I didn't have the slightest clue as to what that relationship could be.

It once again devolved into a guessing game. -Could the fenrir be what causes the differences between timelines? Or could they be what differentiates them?-

Trying to first make sense of that idea, I idly walked over to the wall with both wolves, sat down, and stared at it. -For that to be the case, they must all originate from the same timeline.. but if they all originate from the same timeline, there should be obvious patterns and correlations... So, why am I not noticing any?-

Getting a bit frustrated, I showed myself a mental image of the carvings and, once again, started overanalyzing them, trying to find patterns in even the most minute details.

It was exactly what I had just stopped myself from doing. -Sh*t, I'm doing it again...-

Quickly trying to calm my nerves, I took a moment to silence the calculative part of my brain and let out another breath. "Hooh..." -I just need to look at surface-level stuff first...-

Only projecting an image of the wall with both wolves and the wall with none in my mind, I started looking solely at the differences to try and find more general correlations.

-Okay... Ignoring the details.. the wall with no wolves has no human gods and no ovals, while the wall with both has no dragon dividing them, six gods, and many ovals...-

Attempting to apply those differences with context, I thought back to what I was taught about the Great War, even if I had reason to believe a lot of it was incorrect. -The human gods started a war with the dragons. If I assume the dragon between them is symbolic of Bahamut's order for dragons to cease excessive interaction with the human world.. that would make the humans trampling Bahamut's mutilated body make sense, but then why would there be no dragon on the wall with both wolves...-

It was a complication that threw a wrench in my theory no matter how I twisted it because it meant that the timelines didn't start the same. -Based on what I know, the Ancient Fenrir were probably on Bahamut's side.. so I can attribute the lack of human gods at the start and ovals at the end to the Ancient Fenrir, but...- Once again, I was at a dead end. Bahamut not dividing the humans and dragons was too big of a complication to ignore. "Haah..."

At least, I thought I was.

"Wait a minute..." -What if instead of them being oracles about the Great War itself.. they're oracles about something after it, and the differences in the first panels are actually because they ARE different timelines! Maybe the timelines are based on the possible outcomes of the Great War...-

Quickly bringing the image of all the carvings to mind again, the lack of obvious patterns in the initial variations in the first panels finally had a plausible explanation. -If the first panel was the outcome of the Great War.. it would make sense... The outcomes would then be based on which fenrir either lived or died.-

Quickly turning my attention to the wall with both wolves, Bahamut's missing appearance could finally be explained. -It doesn't show him dividing the humans and dragons because he probably survived in that timeline. Maybe that's him that comes out and destroys the humans in the later panel as well...-

But this theory also had some complications. -If they're all oracles about events that haven't yet happened, then one should closely resemble the current timeline at the very least.. but...-

The only one I considered plausible was the wall without any wolves since I Ilios and I's existence made the possibility that one of the Ancient Fenrir was alive impossible, but that wall couldn't be correct either since I already met and killed Magni, one of the gods displayed on the other walls.

-Even looking past the fenrir... Magni is only on Dagr's wall and the wall with both of them...- Glancing over my shoulder toward the damaged, Dagr's wall, I idly thought about the goddess carved over the dragons. -What if.. the goddess I know is her and not one of the six human gods? That would make that the right timeline...- What made it even more plausible was that a majority of it was burnt, so I couldn't look for things other than Dagr being at the bottom to disprove it.

But I still couldn't get my mind over Dagr being present.

-The only way that could be the right timeline is...- Glancing over at Ilios, I put on a serious expression and looked him in the eye. "Ilios."

He immediately turned to me.

I hesitated slightly, unsure about whether it was something I wanted to know or not, but went for it anyway. "Are you.. Dagr?"

There was a short pause that felt like an eternity as I waited for his response, but eventually... *tap* He just tilted his head, confused.

"Phew..." A mountain of anxiety in my stomach disappeared immediately. -Maybe the timelines are just wrong.- It was a bit of a stretch since, from what I knew, the Ancient Fenrir were nigh-omnipotent, but it was reassuring to believe. -Maybe the outcome of the Great War just wasn't one of the four the Fenrir predicted...-

Knowing firsthand how volatile the future was, I was pretty confident that things could have definitely changed, but I found it concerning that the wall with no fenrir and the wall with both, the only ones I believed could be possible depending on whether the fenrir shown were the ones to survive or die, were the least likely options.

"Haah..." My expression quickly turned troubled. -Maybe.. one of them did survive, but they died before Ilios or I were born...-

A rogue thought streaked across my mind like a meteor as I glanced over my shoulder toward the two, single fenrir sets of carvings. -I wonder if the voice Grandmother heard.. was one of the fenrir...-

But as destructive of a thought as it was, it wasn't totally unfounded. -The blessing and oracle were definitely about me.. but a human god would want to prevent me from being born, right?- The only thing I could think of was greed or vengeance, but even that didn't totally make sense either. -The goddess supporting me definitely isn't the source of the voice Grandmother heard.. so that would mean there are or at least were two gods, a god and a goddess, that have supported me for whatever reason...-

Projecting an image solely of Dagr's carving in my mind, I looked through the half-burnt first panel to look for anything that could possibly prove or disprove my ideas.

But there was nothing. Bahamut was dead and dividing the humans and dragons, and the human gods stood over the human side just like they did on the other walls.

The only thing I could find that was out of the ordinary, was the goddess that stood over the dragons.

"Haah... Damnit..." -Of all the carvings.. why was that the one I destroyed...- Looking up at the ceiling, I idly thought about what the dragon curled around the planet could mean, but devolved back into guessing. -That dragon.. does kind of look like me though...-