The King Trials 2: Beyond.

~Shadows Speak~

Seated on the armchair before a slumbering hearth. A bare parchment sits on my lap, pressed on a hardboard. A feathered quill in my grasp as I glide my bandaged hand over to the right to dunk the tip into an inkwell on the small table beside me. Harvested from oak galls. Since there is no sunlight to read the scroll with. I will rewrite it all from memory.

After the Ice Erus denied me. The entire 'outing' ended brusquely due to the abrupt change in his resign. Little did they know that somehow, that was my fault. We returned to Aelvebore as promised. The decision of a possible future union rests in the hands of Nivalis's powerheads.

Animosity builds up within, pressurised air begging to be set free.

I release a few drawn-out breaths.

It is difficult to tell time here. It's always dreary and dark. But from what I can gauge, it's late evening; the cusp of nightfall. Despite it, I am already dressed comfortably in a chemise night gown, a loose-fitting robe swathed over it.

Recalling every fateful line, I etch them on the parchment from top to bottom.

Darkness shall cover the face of the realms; the cause of its own destruction.

A world of one, torn asunder. Kings rise only to fall.

The cause of destruction as a consequence for all.

The cause of destruction had sealed the realm's fate. But only by His grace the providence of sorrow and desolation, He would then recreate.

A life given for the causes of destruction.

Woe to the guilty, for they will reap the destruction they have sown.

The Light arises, the new dawn.

As the Light strengthens, so shall the Dark.

The law of balance, one that cannot be overturned.

The Darkness will pierce the Light; the Light will consume the Darkness.

This time something new springs at me. A phrase that has been grimly repeated throughout the prophecy. The cause of destruction. The Ice Erus mentioned it as well, in passing, when he referenced to the misdeed of Cornelius Qhar. He sought to save the realm from the scourge of the Ulris, but he was the very cause of it, since it was he that opened the door for them.

Why?

....Greed. A thirst for unquenchable power.

My eyes inspect the first couple lines of the oracle.

The wording of 'Darkness' and 'The Dark' seem to symbolise two distinct entities. I naturally assumed that the 'Darkness' it spoke of was the Ulris, but it seems to be in consequence of the cause of destruction. Which means it is not about the darkness of the Ulris, but the darkness of our own. The darkness in the realms, in people, in our sheer nature that has led to our own demise.

The cause of destruction.

The Dark shall ascend, the corrupt and undead it shall send.

That must refer to Vilnus. It is he who wages this war, but only because the gluttony and selfishness of others—the cause of destruction—has incited this armageddon. If Cornelius had not dabbled with forces he did not comprehend. The Ulris would not have a key to our world.

Since before, the threshold needed to be opened from both sides. It seems the providence of our world has been made indelible. It cannot be rewritten. But another outcome can be authored.

The seed of hope burgeons, the one that will herald in the new age.

The Sagetai's metaphor is 'The Light' and I have noticed the capitalisations of the prominent figures in the oracle. The Light and The Dark. I find it interesting that the 'seed of hope' is worded in such a sequestered way. But one thing that confounds me most is the certainty of the destiny of 'The Light'.