The Vorrgistadt Saga: The Shattered Oracle - III - As Oracles are Wont to Do

III

As Oracles are Wont to Do

- Page Four -

"You're losing me. I got that ripples can flow backward in time. I've learned about that at the Collegium. This is the ultimate source of divination. This is the crux of the Haeth arts. I, understand that. Are you trying to say that Mom, will die? That her shade could travel back in time to haunt us? Maybe she is warning us?"

Thraya took a seat in front of the twins on the floor. She was startled by how many words they had bothered to speak in such a short frame of time. Her father was equally as awestruck as it seemed his jaw was about to hit the floor from his perch on his chair.

"Hmm." Nesbinet mused for a moment while letting his hand move toward and then clutch his twin sister's. "Not a haunting. Not something as basic as what you said. More..." He trailed off.

"More like an echo from the possibility of what could be. It is not foreseen by us, or by Mother if she is to die. She could die. In one of many worlds like this, she will die. This is the ripple from the..." Jhulessi turned to look at her brother for the proper word.

"The Many; the One; the All; time and reality is like an onion that gets more complex with each layer you enter. You never know if you're going out or in if you break away from the layers and float above the streams. So many layers and so many times. So many choices of what could be, what is, what was, and what will never be."

The room went silent for a moment. Thraya leaned forward and extended her energy out to the twins so that they could transfer the complex thoughts and images in their minds to her directly. The thought of an infinitely complex onion of time was more than she could handle.

"What in Gehemol are you two on about? Time? Onions? Ripples?"

Their father's voice was filled with bewilderment, concern, and a bit of anger at the confusion that was happening. Ideas of Haeth had always been beyond him. He usually just referred to how strange his wife's lifestyle was, and thought of it almost as a disease or strange predilection that she passed on to her children. He always felt removed whenever magickal topics came up.

"So, we were a conduit in a way. This ripple in time and reality came after us, because of our powers. This was an omen, then. Perhaps Mom is right in her letter."

Thraya took the twin's hands in her own. Her father continued to lean his chin over the wooden back of his chair. He lifted his head for a moment to give it a furious shake, trying to get the nonsensical thoughts out of his mind. Serranos continued to be enthralled with the parchments being strewn on the ground in front of him as he finished reading them.

"It's the Ullthosian Temple. I think that is what is causing the ripples."

Serranos' voice was curt and monotone as he spoke. He didn't lift his head from the papers. He had two across his lap while he let his index fingers of both hands run across the parallel lines of both papers.

"The reason Mom said she would be gone for two years is because of the ritual she has to do to prepare for the Ullthosian Temple. Do you remember what she said to me before she left? She said she had to make a prophecy for some future King or Queen to save the world. Like Boulka had in the old Morthavi legends."

The rest of the children remained silent and focused on their brother's words. Thraya's father had returned to muttering under his breath as he sorted papers on his desk.

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