I have relived my past and faced it head on. My heart is unmoved as I looked over the corpse of my false father. My will unbinding when I saw my uncle shot and killed before my eyes for the second time. I have shunned all belief in those people, those Aidoshians. Even so, one thing bothers me. When I saw the destruction of Allaco in my vision my heart sunk. I could feel pure and undeniable terror even though I no longer believe in the Oracles or their Gods. If I’m to truly shed my fabricated life as an Aidoshian I must face the home of the Gods.

I perch myself on the shoulder of the Myrmidon as Aihl flies me to Mount Kyro. Looking down from the sky I see the whole city. Entire streets are leveled, homes destroyed and the skeletal remains of people left to rot in the sun. Nature begins to take claim on the desolation, sprouting life into this wasteland. I look up at the mountain ready to face my demons. Aihl lands the Myrmidon just outside of the remaining gate around the destroyed temple. I jump down and climb up the few stairs that remain of what was once the grand entrance to the temple grounds. Grass and young trees separate the scarce stone tiles along the grounds. The temple itself is a pile of scattered rubble and craters.

Aihl follows behind me in the Myrmidon as I enter but he stops at the entrance; the weight of the metal golem could destabilize what’s left of the temple. I continue without him further to the remains of the first crater. I slide down to the center and rummage through the wreckage. I don’t know what I expect to find but, I feel an inhuman grip on me telling me to search.

“What are you doing?” Ailh asks from the Myrmidon, his voice amplified.

“Why don’t you come and see,” I say.

“I can’t leave the Myrmidon vulnerable,” he responds. “Just hurry up.”

“If you are searching for something maybe you should try looking elsewhere,” an unfamiliar voice calls from behind me. “Perhaps you seek the treasure that will lead you to your truth.” 

I look up and see a thin, well-built man in an all-black suit and sunglasses. He has slicked back jet black hair and a pencil-thin mustache. He doesn’t show any apparent fear of being seen by Aihl and talks as if we have known each other for a long time.  I try not to look too concerned though I am on high alert because he was able to get past Aihl without being seen. 

“Who are you?” I ask as I continue to search the wreckage.

“I am Kestrel,” he replies. “I was known as the Scribe of Order.”

“Impossible,” I say as I drop the stone in my hands. “Kestrel died with the Pope.”

The Aidoshian government was divided into three main parts known as the Head’s Order. Being a theocracy, the Aidoshian’s had a Pope as both spiritual leader and head of government. He was the Head of Order. The Pope would have an adviser who would transfer the will of the Pope into the laws of the land. The adviser was the right hand of the Pope and the Scribe of Order. The Oracles were the eyes and ears of Univer if the Pope didn’t follow the will of the Gods. The pope would then face persecution or execution by the hands of the Head Oracle who was the Judge of Order. 

Kestrel was the Scribe of Order, a position like in all Aidoshian government offices, which could only be held by an Aidoshian. I saw him and the Pope assassinated on the news years ago.     

“I can assure you I never lived in the first place,” Kestrel says.

“What do you mean?” I ask.

“For now that does not matter,” he replies as he starts to walk out of the crater, “but if the truth is what you are after, than you should follow me.” 

“I won’t follow an Aidoshian ever again. You will be coming with me and the Myrmidon in chains,” I say.

“If not an Aidoshian, how about a Cosmial,” Kestrel says. “Whether you trust me or not, you have no choice. Bow to fate,” he commands. 

As soon as he orders me, I bow before him unable to control my body. Why is he calling himself a Cosmial? Is he really so conceited he would call himself an angel in Latianeus?

“Now follow me, Kai. I will put fate in motion and prepare this world for the return of my Lord.”

My body stands up on its own and follows right behind him as he walks out of the crater. The world seems to have stopped completely and my Black Seed is not active. Kestrel must have a Black Seed as well. What Seed would allow him complete control of so many different things—my body, time, and the ability to deactivate someone else’s Black Seed? If he is the real Kestrel from the war, I should try to take him to base for questioning but as long as he controls my every muscle, what can I do? If he wants to show me the so call truth then let’s see it before I ring his neck.

He leads me further into the temple grounds where once the Oracles prayer chamber stood. He lifts the stones of the fallen walls with a hand gesture revealing to me he has even more powers. The stones float weightlessly in the air exposing a hatch. I feel Kestrel’s grip of control on my body lessen then stop completely.

“There’s the truth you seek,” Kestrel says. “Go and find out what made your heart shake when the Oracles died. The passage will be open to you this one time only.” 

I inch over to the hatch watching him closely as I pass him. When I approach the hatch it flings open. Inside a ladder descends into the darkness. 

“Let there be light,” Kestrel says.

The passage lights up but it seems to have no sources. I clime down into the belly of the bunker and am greeted by a collapsed tunnel. As I walk towards the caved in section the passage reforms before me. I walk through the now long corridor to the metal vault door at the end. The door unlocks as I get closer and slowly opens revealing the skeletal remains of five people in a circle. By their white and gold apparel I can tell they were Oracles, and by the broken bones and cracked skulls I can only deduct they were crushed to death. 

The vault must have given out on them and the stones crushed them. I walk to the one in the center of the circle after seeing something glowing through the clothing. I pull up the shirt on the skeleton revealing in its shattered rib cage a glowing orb. I grab the orb and see roots inside. The same as when the Seed was removed from Reaka’s corpse.

Dr. Genome was right. The Oracles were using Black Technology not divine gifts, but I already knew this. It does not explain why the death of the Oracles shook me to the core. If this is Kestrel’s truth, it is coming a little late.

“That is the Seed called Nation,” I hear Kestrel say from behind me. “And this is the tomb of the Head Oracle and four of the five Hierarchy Oracles.”

I see light coming from the skeletons of the other four. One orb floats up from each of the shirts the Hierarchy Oracles. All of the orbs have roots inside them. They all glow with an unnatural light. They float to Kestrel and circle around him.  

“These are the Eyes of Univer,” Kestrel says. “The Six Oracles could see all that is, was and will be. They even prophesied their own deaths and the fall of Aidon, even the end of time itself.”

“There are only five here,” I say.

“Fantasia is the sixth, truly the last Oracle,” Kestrel says. “But the Head Oracle is different. His Seed is the heart, not the eyes. The Black Seed Nation connects the will and beliefs of people, making him to appear to be a Messiah, king, or right hand of God. The Pope had a similar Seed within him called Liege.”

“And what does that mean?” I ask. “The Oracles and the Pope weren’t prophets of Univer but they made up Univer in themselves?”

“In a way yes,” he says. “What you felt shake your heart was the death of the Head Oracle and the disconnection with his Black Seed. A feeling felt by any and all that believed in his words. You may have claimed to have denied the Aidoshian beliefs but still you believed deep in your heart. Faith is like a cancerous disease. This is why I showed you your past. Now you have been purged of your impurities.”

“Why are you telling me this?” I ask.

“For the same reason the Oracles came here even though they knew they would die. Fate. We are all bound to it. We must all bow to fate.”

Suddenly I’m back outside in the crater exactly as I was before Kestrel appeared. I look around and nothing is changed. The world moves in normal speed and there is no sign of Kestrel anywhere. I look down at the rock at my feet. Underneath I see a light shining. I lift the stone and see a glowing orb with roots inside. The name of the Seed Nation suddenly enters my mind. Was Kestrel really here, or was he some sort of manifestation of my imagination? He can’t really have existed. Kestrel died, killed with the Pope years ago during a summit with Aidoshian allies. 

However, it was too real to be a fantasy. I run as fast as I can to the place where Kestrel lead me in my vision. I move the rubble out of the way and I see the old hatch right where Kestrel took me. I turn the lever to open it. The inside is completely caved in. 

“What in the world is going on here?” I say as I look down at the glowing orb.

“That is what I want to know,” I hear Aihl say, but don’t bother to turn to look at him.

I know he is standing over me. I feel his Seeds within him roaring to be activated fully. They have a dreadful wail. 

“I thought you could not leave the Myrmidon?” I challenge.

“Yeah, that was a lie,” he says as he walks out in front of me eyeing the Seed Nation I have tucked under my arm. “I felt if you thought I could not leave it, then I could sneak up on you if need be.”

“You don’t trust me?” I ask. I take the orb from under my arm and start tossing it back and forth in my hand.

“No,” he says bluntly. “But you can start to earn my trust by handing over that Black Seed you are carelessly tossing about.”  

“I will do more than that,” I say as I toss the orb over to him. “I will take you to that fake Oracle.”