Caelum sighed deeply. "How many times have I told you not to call me that?"
"About 52,000 times now." The half-deity replied casually before waving his hand and manifesting a chair across from him.
Caelum sat down on the wooden chair leaning backwards and staying silent for a few moments before speaking again, "Are you gonna tell me what I really want or are you going to stall like usual?"
The dragon in human form gasped in an exaggerated manner, "How disrespectful! I am your patron deity, and you treat me like I'm one of your friends." He then smirked before speaking again, "Oh I forgot you don't have any friends."
Caelum's eyebrow twitched in annoyance before he spat out, "Says the literal embodiment of desolation and loneliness. Oh, and while I'm at it the only friend you can talk to is that demon general you sealed yourself with."
The dragon spoke in annoyance, "I'll have you know, I actually have a lot of friends back in the mortal realm, it's just that I can't talk to them while I'm sealed on the moon."
"Yeah right." Caelum smirked and took another jab at the deity, "You're more alone than a love letter to a demon."
"Pft, as if you're one to talk about love considering you haven't had a crush in 5 years." Suddenly the dragon seemed to remember something and he grinned deviously, "Oh wait, now that I recall you have talked to that healer more than you usually talk to your fellow adventurers, maybe the flowers of love are finally ready to blossom in your adolescent heart."
Caelum's face remained in the same neutral expression, "I have no need for love at the moment, what I need is to take my first steps already. My lifespan is destined to run out in a few months. If I don't take those steps soon, I'll die."
Caelum looked at his own rough and dirty hands, they were still but for how much longer could he keep his composure? 'I have to remove this affliction from myself, and until then I cannot rest for a moment.' Caelum thought to himself, steeling his resolve.
The half-deity stopped smiling and glanced at the moon in the void. He of all people wouldn't want to hear those words at all, "You should really learn to live a little, you've been possessed by this goal for 5 years straight, by the time you achieve it you'll have nothing left."
Caelum followed the dragon's gaze, looking at the flower that served as the deity's physical prison knowing that his patron was sealed in that made his blood boil a bit.
"So what?" Caelum spat after refocusing back on the conversation , "I'm fine with burning out after my source of flame is extinguished; as long as I can live to see another day, it'll be worth it. Now, are you finally going to tell me what I need to do in order to advance or are we going to keep berating each other for no reason?"
"Caelum, are you sure you want to go down this path?" His patron deity spoke in weary words, "Once you start, there will be no going back."
Caelum looked at his teacher, his chosen patron, and even if he'll never admit it, his only friend.
"I've been ready for a long time." He spoke with absolute confidence, "Tell me what I need to do in order to advance, Vareth."
Vareth sighed. Then he said, "Listen to me closely, you need to keep all the members of your team alive, that won't be too difficult because it's just a goblin hunting mission but after the mission your team will find something unique something that was never meant to be found, you need to convince every member of your party to go in it or else everything will fail."
Caelum waited a few seconds before speaking, "Is that it? I thought it'd be a lot more difficult than just that."
"As always, I can't tell you the whole future in fear of causing it to change but if you do the things I told you to then it'll be fine." Vareth paused for a few seconds, "Also do not try to contact me after this meeting, I need some time to recover myself after peeking into so many timelines. You'll have to rely on your individual power from here on out."
"Alright well, I guess this is goodbye for now Vareth." Caelum said, resolve etched on his face, he stood then smiled at his deity, "Thank you for giving me this opportunity."
The dragon rolled his eyes at those words, "Go then. Ascend, and take back your life from fate."
Caelum didn't speak after that, instead he lifted his burnt hand to the sky once more, injecting mana into the atmosphere, "Conference, End."
And just like that, the prophet had left the nothingness to return back to the real world.
Vareth stared at the empty space where his follower had just stood, his face morphed into something darker, more unreadable.
"I hope you find what you're looking for." Vareth spoke quietly before staring at the large crystalline flower on the moon and suddenly speaking again, "I know you're watching Elaric, there's no point in hiding your presence."
Suddenly, a majestic presence descended near Vareth, wearing nothing but a silky red cloth that draped down from his right shoulder to the left of his waist, revealing his well defined chest, abdomen and left shoulder muscles.
The man had long silk-like vibrant red hair that flowed down to his shoulders, every strand was in place as if carried by divine will.
The legends had underestimated his beauty, even the half-deity's appearance paled in comparison to the majestic demon.
The demon's face held nothing but pure neutrality, as if existence itself had long lost the ability to entertain him.
"You've crafted that boy for so long now, so why are you bringing him to ruin?" Elaric spoke in a dry and almost dead tone.
Vareth looked at Elaric with unhidden contempt, "What I plan for my prophet is none of your business but if you must know, if he knew the cost of his journey he'd never even take his first step."
Elaric paused for a bit before looking at the moon and continuing to speak, "You're right, humans cling to purpose but let feelings rip them away from it, for the sake of your goals you must be willing to sacrifice everything."
He continued looking at the moon and then spoke once more, "Five years and our prison has only grown stronger in appearance, but I know in my soul that it is a facade, you're fading with each moment."
Vareth stayed silent, he knew in his heart that the demon was just trying to get under his skin.
Elaric eyed the half-deity's expression before speaking once again, "I wonder if our kid's ar-"
"Don't you fucking dare." Vareth glared at the demon with nothing but hatred, "Those children have nothing to do with us."
Silence stretched on in the planes of nothingness, neither person spoke, their animosity for each other only deepening.
"When I break free from this prison, I'm going to kill your little pupil." Elaric said, and for the first time emotion was apparent in his voice, pure unadulterated hatred. "And then I'm going to slaughter every member of that royal capital you're so proud of."
With that, the demon disappeared back into the nothingness leaving Vareth by himself once again.
"By the time this prison cannot hold you anymore, my apprentice will surely surpass you." Vareth said with confidence.
Caelum was extremely bored, what should've been a 1 day journey has now stretched into two as the muse proved himself to be too unathletic to keep up with the other members of the party.
The man with spiky black hair and long sideburns apologized extensively, "I'm sorry guys, I'm just not as strong or fast as you all."
"I-it's okay, Thomas we understand." Leo, more known as 'scaredy cat', was the first to speak up.
The party had shared names with each other after Caelum had gone to sleep the night prior.
Thomas timidly smiled and turned to Caelum, "W-will the delay end up changing the prediction you made yesterday?"
"No, my god must have already foreseen this happening." Caelum shrugged and sighed, "I'm going to sleep, don't disturb me."
He stood up from one of the logs surrounding the makeshift campfire and returned to his tent, he then sat down on an air mattress letting out a yawn before speaking again, "I thought I said not to disturb me."
"Sorry." Tina, the confident healer, stepped inside the tent, letting the flap fall down behind her. "I was just wondering about something."
Caelum looked at her skeptically, "…No my god is not accepting any new scholars, he says that humans are too boring and untalented to interest him."
'Recently, there's been an increase of people seeking to be accepted by a god in order to advance further down the pathway.'
"What? No, I don't really care about that." Tina replied, "You're The Child Seer aren't you? The one that worked with some elvish priests during the Rogonda raids."
Caelum facepalmed, sighing even deeper than before.
"God I hate that title." He rubbed his temple softly, "I led an entire team of priests in a ritual yet all people remember of it is my age."
"I remember a little more than that." Tina spoke, "I remember my brother saying that without the strategy your team had created, the raid would've failed at the very first step."
"Oh please, I'm not a hero or anything." Caelum waved his hand dismissively, "those eleven priests would've been able to foresee the same strategy regardless of my interference, I just sped it up a bit."
Tina smirked a bit, "A whole month's worth of work in a single day is a little more than just 'a bit' much less from a ten year old that hasn't even taken his first step."
Caelum smiled softly at her words, "Well, I try to be humble."
"How'd you even know that I'm The Child Seer in the first place?" Caelum asked her, tilting his head slightly
"My brother said that while The Child Seer was a genius, he was also arrogant and expectedly childish." Tina shrugged softly.
Caelum grimaced as if recalling embarrassing memories, "Yeah I guess that would be an accurate description of how I acted back then."
Tina grinned slightly, "My brother also said that this child refused to be healed after using excessive amounts of mana to maintain the ritual, in fact he insisted that his god refused wouldn't have harmed him if it was necessary, kind of like how you did yesterday."
'Conference can only be used if I'm injured, that's the only reason I don't usually get healed after rituals' Caelum thought to himself, 'If I knew it could get me tracked I would've been less stingy about getting healed.'
He then eyed Tina, his expression didn't change but his mind was already moving, 'I assume she won't tell anyone considering she's been so nice thus far but… maybe I should threaten her just to be careful- No. I'll play nice for now.'
Dismissing those thoughts he spoke to the healer, "About that, I spoke to my god and he said it's fine to let you heal my fingers."
"Y-you… actively spoke to your god?" Tina looked shocked, "I thought that was something reserved for only Saints of the highest caliber." Although she was shocked, someone as experienced as her was quick to regain her composure; however if someone like a priest knew of this, they'd probably quit their job in frustration.
Caelum lifted his hand up, allowing the mage to hold his charred fingers with her own hands, allowing her to infuse her mana into his wounds, healing them rapidly.
"Well, when you're the only patron of your god, the rules can be bent a bit." Caelum shrugged.
Eventually Tina left, letting Caelum fall asleep.
In the makeshift campsite, The mage's tent:
"What are you talking about Selene?" Jarod asked his mage skeptically, "Why would he lie about his prediction?"
Selene sighed softly, taking off the hood that she's kept on the entire time, her violet hair flowing down to her shoulders.
"John's constellation does not represent freedom or movement, he lied to us about what it means." Selene continued on, "You do recall the legend of John Doe do you, The God of Stories?"
"Uh yeah, that's the reincarnator right?" Jarod spoke out, "The one that died and came to our world."
"Correct, and for what reason is this constellation named after him?" Selene pestered, trying to get Jarod to figure out the answer by himself.
"Because he pointed at it once right?"
"No! It's so much deeper than just that." Selene was growing annoyed at her loyal companion, "Jeez it's like you traded all your brain cells for strength, this is 2nd year level history."
"Fine then if it's so important then you just tell me already." Jarod said in frustration
"It's important because when the God of stories came to this world, he pointed to that exact constellation and swore to change, he swore that he would never make another mistake."
Jarod narrowed his eyes, "And that's important because why exactly?"
"Because the constellation doesn't represent freedom or movement, it represents permanent change." Selene said, raising her voice with each word, "It's saying that something will happen in the future that will change all of us so fundamentally that we will never be the same again!"
"A-are you sure he said it wrong on purpose?" Leo who had been silent until now, "what if he just made a mistake?"
"An almighty prophet making a mistake? As if I'd ever believe that." Selene grimaced, "much less would I ever trust the words of one."
Jarod spoke up again a bit confused, "So? What does it matter? You said it yourself, it's like what you just said: the constellation represents a major change for all of us- including this prophet."
"If you ask me, that sounds like a good thing." Jarod continued, "It could mean that all of us will take our first steps."
Selene and Leo both looked at him in utter annoyance, "Gods you may be one of the stupidest people I've ever met."
"What? What's wrong with what I said?!" Jarod said in frustration.
Leo spoke this time with a rare tone of confidence within his voice, "You know that the god of stories is more than just that right? He's The God of Stories, Humanity, Freedom, Hunger, and cruelty." He then added quietly, "I guess that's why Thomas didn't think anything was wrong, the constellation could've represented freedom under different circumstances.
"There's absolutely no way this 'change' will be a good one for us." Selene stated after Leo finished talking, "When he was doing the ritual, he asked his god for blessings in the near future. So, this must mean that he's asking for protection in the near future."
Jarod spoke, "And?"
"And that means we should absolutely never leave his side, if his god is protecting him then if we are near him we'll be able to leech off his good luck." Selene continued clearly being proud of her plan.
In the makeshift campsite, The Muse's tent:
Thomas was still, a small book laying on his lap. He flipped through the pages every few seconds, his eyes taking in every detail.
If someone else were to go through this same exact book, they would see that there were absolutely no words on these pages And yet, the faithful muse kept his lingering eyes on the pages as if the blank canvas was giving him true knowledge.