Brianna garnered a little information about the red gem from the Scriptorium while Craig learned a lot more. After leaving the Scriptorium, they again appeared in that congested crypt and now they took the left path.
The doors carved with numerous designs opened and they both entered a different room.
"This is our Arsenal made up of four factions – The Seers Faction, The Astrologers Faction, The Alchemists Faction and The Shamans Faction. This particular chamber is for the seers!"
Unlike the Scriptorium, it wasn't grandoise. Rather it was a long, relatively narrow hall with tables scattered on various directions and shelves lining the walls of both ends.
Different tables had varying divination tools – mirrors, lots, dice, water pools, glass slides and domes, incense, petals, salvers, mud, candles, quills and many more.
On one side was a huge chart detailing the various rules and classifications of Divination for convenience.
A group of men huddled around a bronze plate, whispering and giggling. Craig raised an eyebrow.
Brianna who was taller than everyone leaned over and placed a strong arm on a man shoulder, "What's going on, pervs?"
All of them were startled and they instantly blew the candle, exitinguishing whatever they were seeing in the plate, "N-Nothing, we were observing the pattern of sunlight in Lady Castilla's bedroom to predict the future."
"Hmm.. Sunlight, really?" Brianna said in a long voice, "Then why did I see a pair of breasts?"
The men ran away in different directions leaving behind that one man in the middle – a wiry, middle-aged man with a shock of silver-streaked black hair, he wore an ill-fitting bronze robe which looked like it was patched more than it was washed.
"Well she was helping us okay? We read them too!" He said.
'They can predict future by... reading breasts?'
"You might loose your job if she finds out, buddy. Better erase the divination traces." Brianna said.
"Yeah, you're right!" He said.
He picked up a red quill and hummed an incantation.
"Meet him, he is Orlipus Rhett, leader of the pervy seers. A practicing shaman too. His biggest boast is that his wife is an actress." Brianna said.
Craig smiled and added, "I must say, that's a very practical application of divination, Mr. Rhett."
Rhett smiled embarrassingly and drew a red sigil on the bronze plate – he deleted the record of divination from the apparatus.
"Well now Rhett, where is Troy? Or Ovid would be okay too. Where are they?"
"They are re-attending the A-level divination exam, don't you know?" Rhett said with a raised eyebrow.
Brianna was taken aback, "Really? Didn't they pass the last time?"
"Nope. Both of their papers were cancelled for some reason, I asked them but they didn't tell me." He said.
Disappointed, Brianna focused to the original focus of her visit, "Can you help me with this?" She produced the red gem, "Be careful."
Rhett who already had past experience with sacred relics held the gem by the chains, "Looks pretty different, what is it? Want to know who it belongs to?"
Craig hesitated to interact as he didn't consider himself knowledgeable enough, he overthought for a moment and then added, "Metrodorus inspected it and said it is quite similar to Helios' Sun Pendant. It might be a sacred relic but he said it was above the Aurum rank itself and he didn't find anything else which was similar to it."
"Expert! the more mysterious the item, the more amusing the divination." Rhett spun the gem around his fingers.
"No, don't do it!" Craig almost jumped in fear while Brianna rubbed her forehead.
Rhett moved to a small room inside the hall, "Come in."
Outside the room hung a placard which held it's name. Craig said while observing the room, "Is this your room?"
"Yeah, senior seers are given their personal offices." Brianna said.
'This guy... a senior?'
A cylindrical tube with a round bottom and a green-blue symbol and two orbs replicated out the following words : 'This guy, a senior?' in Craig's voice.
Rhett smirked and looked at Craig, "Why not? All geniuses are pervs, you don't know?"
Now, it was Craig who was embarrassed, "Sorry."
"The four spheres of mind are essential to divination – Sphere of Thought, Sphere of Emotion, Sphere of Imagination, Sphere of Perception. What the great alchemist Tithonus once said,
"The mind's clarity reflects the soul's purity." holds true. Manipulate them and divine, that's it."
Rhett took a stick and pointed at a chart which detailed the spiritual components of a being's existence.
"Not that simple," Brianna added, "Safety Test before divination is a must if you want to avoid spiritual heating."
Rhett nodded, he kept the gem in one place and started the divination process, "Since this will be a Scrying type divination, it is obviously Centripetal Sense Divination,"
"Correct," Brianna said firmly, "Quick quizz for you, what kind of Centripetal sense will we use, Hydromancy or Captromancy?"
Rhett said confidently, "Since it is an object not an entity, we will use Hydromancy."
Brianna smiled in agreement. Now, she noticed Craig – dumfounded by the terminology, "Did you understanding anything?"
Craig shook his head, "The only thing I know is that we're trying to do something."
Brianna and Rhett laughed at Craig's answer. Brianna took a seat and told Craig to sit as well. Rhett went to the other end of the table.
She explained, "A result of a divination is called a phantasm. Based on how a phantasm is accquired, there are two kinds of divinations – Centripetal Sense, when the phantasm is forced to reach us and Centrifugal Sense, when we forcefully reach the phantasm. Generally, Scrying which is gaining information about an object, person, event or concept is Centripetal. When the medium of revelation is water, it's called Hydromancy, used mostly for objects. When it's a mirror, it's called Captromancy, used mostly for people."
What was looking like a table was soon revealed to be a deep well as Rhett removed the lid and kept it aside.
"The first step is to prepare the Seer's Salver. I will take Lord Hermes' help once again."
On a silver plate, he took three incense sticks and in a circular pattern, he arranged the following items along the incense sticks – a drop of tortoise blood, four petals of strawberry flower, a small candle, olympian mud, an envelope with a feather on top of it.
In between, he placed the humble drink made up of water, barley and wine – Kykeon and surrounded it with an olive wreath.
Rhett placed the gem between two candles and joined his hands to recite an Invoking Hymn in correct structure
"O Hermes, the problem solver, spouse of Maia, son of Zeus and Maria, I pray to you. O Hermes, I call thy name as the divine inventor and the guide of the night, enlighten me with phantasms of the red gem. O Hermes, I call thy name as the luck bringer, the remover of obstacles and the reporter of heaven, peel away the blazing layers and show me it's true identity. O Hermes I call thy name as my saviour, my Lord and my protector, shield me from all divinity that may burn my soul! I offer this prayer in the name of the Guide of The Night : The Messenger, The Divine Merchant and The Playful Side of Elysium, My Lord and Saviour, Hermes!"
Brianna and Craig peered into the well carefully.
Rhett who was confidently smiling with joined hands, opened his eyes and then screamed
"Oh my goodness! Save me! Oh lord!" He shouted while grabbing his head as the phantasm came one after another on the well :
The scene of a shattering, devastated world flashed upon the water. Chaotic sounds and images popped up while vehement earthquakes shook the land. Uncountable people through a sandstorm marched into an unknown land like ants do in their holes.
Then came another scene – a freezing land with nothing but snow in sight and pitch black starry sky, it was pretty quiet but suddenly, a war trumpet! Legions of armies from two sides clashed, snow was tainted by blood, fire and weapons.
Then came a cataclysmic female voice, as if the voice was of an indescribable horror, it said – "Give me that or else the Sun will be gone! O king of gods, protect your sun if you can!"
At last when the waters of the well calmed down, Craig looked at Brianna and Rhett to find out they were just as dumbfounded as he was.
Before fading, the well flickered for the last time, with the most mysterious scene till now : a young man with strong muscles and a blurred face held a curved sword. In another hand, he held he held a glowing yellow fruit. His blue-white cloak was drenched in blood. He was fatigued, breathless and coughed out blood.
He kneeled and showed the fruit to a figure who sat on an infinitely tall dais. The figure who sat on a golden throne, smiled with pride and cruelty and looked down at the young man.
"Well done... Asrunius." The figure said as the phantasm blinked away into ripples of water.