Marked To The Omen

The Prophecy read,

———

[Too long hast your world dwelled under the embrace of the noon sky, with gemini stars to clutch it in place.

Too long hast your world revelled in the light, with few need for more guidance.

But the truth oft not show itself in the light for others to know.

Oh creatures of Svarga, be aware that the night comes eventually.

The blue sky will be awash with darkness.

Your suns will disappear.

Your domain shall revert to black, and you will require torches to take a step at all.

But fear not!

For we shall send you more glimmering gems in the place of those suns, to fix your sky in place.

And a gleaming moon to cast the shadows of the truths that attempts to pass you by, so that ye may see,

Alas,

Just like the night shall come even in the world you call heaven, there are still things which ye do not understand... Things that touch the tips of your nose, yet that which ye have still failed to see.

Should man continue to fail to see this truth before the twilight of dawn, the night shall not go away when the sun wakes up.

Should ye fail to conquer the Omens of the Night, woe to your kind,

For your sky shall fall down on your ignorant heads.]

———

The first four paragraphs spoke with a warning tone. One that emphasizes on the ignorant comfort the people had been indulging in. They had gotten too at ease with the present, failing to think ahead and prepare for the inevitable future.

The next three chapters spoke of that future that was coming.

The three after that preached of the gods' benevolence, and their willingness to help the humans.

While the remaining paragraphs warned of the consequences of being ignorant to the world around them, to its truths.

The era of the Night was coming. And it would begin by midnight, after the chosen Prophets had come back from their first omens... Granted, some would not come back at all.

"Ooo~ Ominous indeed." The white haired man chuckled.

"Well, its not like any of this matters to me." He muttered. Suddenly feeling an itch on his back, he rubbed it on the wavy surface of the roof before jumping off.

Meanwhile, in a wide meeting room, three pairs of people sat across each other with grim expressions on their faces.

The Grand-oracle was one of the people in this mysterious group.

"What do you think the riddle is about?" A man sitting across the Grand-oracle asked.

The Grand-oracle sighed.

"It's just a conjecture on my part, but I think something might happen to our King soon."

"You mean, as one of the Gemini stars the Prophesy spoke of?" Another man asked.

[Too long hast your world dwelled under the embrace of the noon sky, with gemini stars to clutch it in place.]

Since the rest of the Prophecy also spoke of the moons, and the stars as representation of people, they assumed the suns to also be existing Prophets.

This assumption was even more probable, considering the current state of Svarga. There were two people at the absolute top, keeping the world in place. And one of them was the Emperor of the Svarga, their King.

But...

[Your suns will disappear.]

What did that line mean? Was the King going to die? Impossible! Him? What would kill him? What could?

"There is no need for much worry for now. The sun of Sumeru is still at noon. Hence, the Night is coming, but not anytime soon." The Grand-oracle spoke again.

Th Grand-oracle had figured out another part of the Prophecy.

Svarga had a sun and a moon, just like before Earth's cleansing. But Sumeru had its own set of sun and moon, albeit small, and hidden away in the sky. This sun and moon did not follow a constant rotation pattern, but seemed to indicate the time flow of how the Omen viewed the world... whatever that meant.

And currently, that small white sun was still high in the sky, hiding in the clouds, with the moon resting behind one of the five mountain peaks of Sumeru. When those two switched places was presumably the era of Night that the Prophecy spoke of.

Sumeru's sun had taken almost five years to reach the highest point of the sky, hopefully it would take five more.

That was plenty of time for them to figure out what the, 'Truth of this world' was, and then conquer the Omens of the Night.

"Aya~. Its not like the Night hasn't come many a time before. But this one sounds like it would bring more arduous omens." A small woman spoke.

Fortunately, they were promised that the hard times would come along with powerful individuals who would keep the world in a fair balance.

[For we shall send you more glimmering gems in the place of those suns, to fix your sky in place.

And a gleaming moon to cast the shadows of the truth that attempts to pass you by, so that ye may see.]

"It is quite interesting, is it not?" The Grand-oracle smiled slightly beneath her veil.

"It seems like this generation of Prophets will be the most promising yet. Surely, one of my heirs would be the glimmering Moon in this Prophecy. The true virtuous ones are of the ages to be blessed."

The others either scoffed or chuckled at her words. In their minds, only the members of their clans were worth that honour.

But they would see after midnight, after the chosen ones had been taken off to their first omens, and hopefully... come back alive.

***

The orbiting yellow sun finally turned to attend to the other half of the planet, as the moon came to watch the people of Sumeru in its place.

At a point in time, individuals from all over the world started receiving their Marks of Virtue, preaching of their ascension as Prophets. The streets of the Capital had long been empty as everyone had already entered their houses, either waiting to receive their own Marks or to see if their heirs received them before midnight.

The ones who would receive their Marks were going into a hellish world to conquer nightmares, yet, nobody seemed at all worried about this aspect. What was more important was the immense honour that they were going to bring should they conquer their omens.

The worry was even less, considering the amount of training that they had gone through to prepare for this moment.

And the Aristocrats had it better, with the amount of resources they could control.

However, there was always that one deviant, that one thing, creature or person that did not follow the usual norms.

Yes, there was a man who's eyes were widened, instead of joy, but with fear at what might happen to him.

A scrawny white haired teenager, seemingly at the age of eighteen, grabbed the wooden walls of his small hut, as an eerie rift in space opened up to swallow him whole.

Trying to resist the pull from the pitch black portal ahead of him, this man yelled out in panic. But who would hear him from this deep in the forest?

Who would want to help him?

Sadly, the devouring Gate was unforgiving; it swallowed this man along with the pieces of his fragile wooden house.