Tales of the Pearly Kingdom (Pearly Tales Vol. 2)

10. Downfall of a hero

Shayley's heart dropped. She lightly touched Ophelia's hand. "...no..." she breathed.

Ophelia nodded, and her childish voice took on an ethereal echo.

"Papa's fate is tied to your heart." Her voice shifted again growing darker as her eyes glowed brighter. "Calloway Calphius is the hero of the Pearly city, but Guildmaster Cal will soon become its villain. He will fulfill both sides of his oath, with his left hand he will perform miracles, with his right he will facilitate tragedy. Alone he will save those he cares for, but he will be remembered as history's darkest sin. Unless the queen of peril and the priestess of past remain his close allies, the house of Calphius will be lost before it begins. Heed this warning, those who cherish him, to forsake the Saint of Peril is to invite his death."

Ophelia's eyes began watering as her hair turned back to normal. "I see papa alone in a dark room, mean men hurt him, then they leave him alone. Papa gets forgotten. He stays in the dark. Everybody hates him, nobody looks for him. Mommy, you said you can make the bad dreams go away." Ophelia sniffles. "Please, don't ever hate papa."

"Baby girl." Shayley squeezes Ophelia's hand.

"Promise."

"I could never hate him."

"Promise!" Ophelia's eyes glowed again.

"I promise."

Ophelia's eyes darted back and forth as if searching for something in the distance. "that's not good enough, it's still dark. Future mommy still... hates..." Ophelia's tears poured. "...papa..."

"I hate him?" Shayley was shocked. Everyone in the room was equally stunned.

"Promise better!" Ophelia pleaded.

"Ophelia I swear-"

Ophelia's eyes buzzed as they looked into the future.

"You have to do it for real, or else I can't call you mommy anymore..." Ophelia begged.

Shayley pulled Ophelia's hands off her face and held both her hands.

"I Shayley O'hiera Van Dravenkin hereby swear by the most sacred covenant of both my peoples to you Oracle Ophelia Calphius, both on my crown, and my mate mark. That even should the entire world, the council of elementals, my family, the Sylvan Knights my closest counselors, or even you turn against my beloved I will forever remain faithful. Even if he should betray me, I will heed all the words of the prophecy's warning and never forsake him."

Shayley bit her thumb with one of her elongated incisors until it bled. She turned Ophelia's hand over and started drawing on it.

"If I break this oath to you I will lose my ability to mate, my immortal life will be cut short, I'll lose the sight in one eye and my sense of smell. Most importantly, my huntress marks will disappear, a sign of losing my very soul."

Shayley folded Ophelia's hand close.

Ophelia's eyes continued to look into the distance. The teardrops turned from saltwater into blood.

She smiled and blinked. Until her eyes were back to her normal color.

"We did it..." Ophelia sighed in relief. "... we changed fate just like papa... For now."

"Is he still in the dark?" Shayley asked wiping away Ophelia's bloodtears as best as she could.

Ophelia sniffled. "Yes, but Papa's brother and sister save him."

Shayley's brow creased. As far as she knew Cal didn't have any family, he was from another world so the last place that he would have brothers and sisters would be here. Ten'lo, her brother, was his swore blood brother but that was only an honorary title for technical reasons neither her brother nor Cal would explain to her.

But that didn't explain who his sister was...

"Brother and sister?" She asked.

But Ophelia shook her head. "I only got a glimpse but thanks to mommy and past- AAAAAHHH!" She screamed while she pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes.

"Baby girl!" Shayley panicked as Ophelia rubbed her eyes and sobbed at the momentary shock of pain.

"You're highness." Tiki stood forward. "I insist that you stop pressing her. Ophelia is still my charge and developing as an oracle, this is the most control I've seen her display. But she is obviously at her limit. Are you going to be a mommy or a queen?"

Shayley took a second and watched the little girl rub her eyes with her tiny hands and knew what she had to do.

"Baby girl, you did good." Shayley picked up Ophelia and cradled her. "Let's both keep working hard so that we can be one big happy family. But don't hurt yourself. We know how Papa gets about your safety. If he saw you bleeding he might break time just to punch his future self in the face."

Ophelia laughed. While rubbing her eyes. "I think I dreamt something like that once, papa's future is so weird."

"Tiki... her eyes?" Shayley asked beginning to worry.

Tiki placed a hand on Ophelia's head.

"She'll be fine, she's very hardy. At the request of master, I have done and extensive amount of research into Oracles. If you had asked any more questions she would have been obliged to answer them since she gazed so deeply into his future already. But anymore would push her passed her limits. A few seconds is one thing but days, years, hundreds of years. Gathering one person's destiny is already a magic scarce few possess, but diving deeper to divine even the most trivial information of another's destiny, beyond their connection to the first, is difficult. Even for the most experienced and well-trained oracles. It's part of the reason vague prophecies stay vague I'm afraid. Cal, more than anyone, stresses how dangerous it is to know too much about ones future."

Tiki looked at the princess, "its a healthy reminder that he didn't adopt the Oracle to increase his power, he helped a child in need and fell in love. The poor guy is wrapped completely around her finger."

"So she'll be okay?" Shayley asked.

Tiki giggled, "Just watched this."

Tiki plucked a maple leaf from Ophelia's hair.

Ophelia flinched a little with a shocked cute noise, "Meeup." Then the leaf grew back.

Tiki plucked the same leaf several times. Throwing a dozen leaves over her shoulders.

"Meeup." Ophelia squeaked each time but it didn't seem to bother her.

Shayley blinked her eyes a couple of times. "Eh?"

Tiki pulled back Ophelia's hair revealing green earrings shaped like four-leaf clovers. "He gave you the ring of Gaia, Wendy a nametag that allows her to overwhelm Dravenkin, Seamus a set of earrings so he can stand by his side, did you really thing he was going to leave his own daughter out?"

"That's not all, look!" Ophelia showed off a silver charm necklace. A green four-leaf clover, a black skull, and a red fang. "That's me, papa, and you. He made it nice and long because he says he is going to add a charm for each member of our family."

"I wonder how many he is going to add through adoption like you." Shayley laughed.

"He said he might add Seamus if he continues to prove himself, but he says most of the space is for Mommy to decide. He said I can have as many brothers and sisters as mommy likes!" Ophelia beamed. "Mommy can I have lots of sisters?"

Shayley blushed and played with a strand of her hair. "Well, your papa and I will do our best."

Ophelia leaned in and whispered. "Don't worry mommy, Tiki already taught me all about men-penis. Good luck!" Ophelia gave Shayley a thumb's up.

All the eyes in the room turned to Tiki.

"Wait, it's not what it sounds like. When she asked I just-" Tiki was cut off by the oppressing bloodlust coming from Shayley, Clera, and even Fauna.

In sync the three of them cracked their knuckles.

Tiki's ears drooped. "Not again..." She whimpered.