Eiji had survived the royal prophecy fiasco—barely. His feet still smelled faintly of pigeon and smoke, and Pyra hovered sulking, flicking sparks at his shoulders like a tiny, judgmental sun.
"Your next mission," announced the royal assistant, holding a scroll with an air of grim importance, "is to deliver this prophecy to the town of Grimbriar. The local mayor requested guidance about… um… a suspicious outbreak of missing livestock."
Eiji blinked. "Missing… what now?"
"Livestock," Pyra muttered. "Cows, sheep, goats… apparently they vanish in the middle of the night. And of course, you're the expert."
Eiji groaned. "I'm the accidental Oracle of Misfortune, not a detective!"
But before he could protest further, he was swept out of the palace on a magically hovering carriage. The road stretched endlessly, twisting around glowing forests, rivers that sparkled like liquid gemstones, and trees that whispered secrets in strange, unintelligible rhymes.
"This is… kind of beautiful," Eiji admitted cautiously.
"Stop daydreaming!" Pyra snapped. "You're about to mess up your first real prophecy. And you will."
Eiji's first stop was the mayor's office—a crooked building with a crooked roof, seemingly leaning more with each gust of wind. Inside, the mayor, a stout man with a permanent frown, greeted him:
"Oracle Eiji, thank goodness you're here. Last night… the goats—they disappeared!"
Eiji nodded solemnly, trying to look authoritative. He unrolled his floating scroll. Words shimmered and twisted, as if the scroll itself were giggling:
"Beware the shadow that moves without feet… the one who eats more than it should… the culprit lurks under the crescent moon."
The mayor's eyes widened. "Yes! Yes! That's exactly what we feared!"
Eiji frowned. "…I don't actually know what it means."
Pyra snorted. "Classic Oracle move. You just say ominous things and somehow people take them seriously."
That night, Eiji patrolled the town under a crescent moon. He tripped over rocks, accidentally startled the mayor's cat, and sneezed so hard that the scroll flew into the air and landed in a suspiciously glowing bush.
A shadow moved. Eiji froze. Something was… definitely under the bush. Carefully, he peeked…
It was a goat. With glowing eyes. And an absurdly smug grin.
Before he could react, the goat… spoke.
"Finally! Someone notices. About time an oracle paid attention!"
Eiji staggered backward. "Wait—you can talk?!"
Pyra hovered above him, muttering: "Welcome to Zorynthia, where goats are smart, fires are sentient, and you're still completely doomed."
The goat explained that a group of mischievous elementals had been stealing livestock for their experiments—and the Shadow Guild, the same mysterious organization hinted at in the palace, was behind them.
Eiji's accidental prophecy had… actually led him to the first real clue in a kingdom-wide conspiracy.
He groaned. "Why does my bad luck keep uncovering actual mysteries?"
Pyra winked. "Because, Oracle, you're the only one stupid enough—and unlucky enough—to survive long enough to see the truth."
And so, under the crescent moon, Eiji Sora took his first steps into the deeper mysteries of Zorynthia… while still tripping over everything in sight.