Amaryllis waited for the oracle to speak again, but she didn’t.

“That’s all?” Amaryllis asked, incredulous. “I think I understand it even less now.”

The oracle shrugged. “I can’t explain it to you either. My understanding of this is just as vague as yours.”

Amaryllis didn’t doubt her words. She could also feel the oracle’s burning curiosity, thanks to her extra perception. She thought hard for a moment. “The only position greater than being a monarch is to be an oracle.”

On top of that, she had jeweled eyes as well. She met all the qualifications of being an oracle candidate. Is this what the gods are trying to tell her? That she is to be the next oracle?

“I am getting old.” The oracle admitted as she finally took a sip of her tea, but her calmness and steadiness of her mood didn’t waver. It was clear that the oracle doesn’t fear the end of her life. “Soon, another will take my place. But I’m afraid that doesn’t guarantee that you’re my successor. Who are we to determine the will of the gods?”

“How exactly do we know who the next oracle is?” Amaryllis asked, taking a sip of her tea as well.

“It is believed that the next oracle is already decided from the moment of her birth. She will be born with the blessing of Delphine, which takes the form of clairvoyance or premonitions. Once she is old enough, the ability to commune with gods will manifiest.”

Amaryllis pondered on this for a moment. “Then, since I have never heard the voices of the gods nor received any kind of vision, does that mean I’m not the chosen one?”

“There’s a small chance that your powers simply haven’t manifested yet, if you are the next oracle, but I’m afraid it’s not likely. In addition, we don’t know which god’s blessing you have received, but I doubt it’s Delphine’s.”

“I see.” Amaryllis sighed. She wasn’t exactly ambitious for the position of oracle, but she felt that she wouldn’t hate it either. And while she was curious about which god gave her the power to read other’s emotions, she was not in a hurry to find out. 

It has been said that those who received a god’s blessing are destined for something, whether it be greatness or simply more responsibilities. Others said that they are just pawns for the god’s plans. Either way, Amaryllis felt that her destiny would come to her on its own, whether she chose to seek it or not.

“Did you come here today to ask me a specific question?” The oracle asked.

“Something like that.” Amaryllis nodded. “I certainly did not expect a second part to my preordained fate. I was wondering about the war. Now that the Eastern Alliance has surrendered, will the war end soon?”

The oracle sighed, and Amaryllis could feel a wave of exasperation washing over the old woman. “Do you know how many people have asked me that question? When does the war end? How can we end this war? They never listen. I’ve been telling them for years that the war is being prolonged by humans themselves, not the gods, and they must be the one to make the first move for peace. But no one is willing to do it. After all, this is a matter of pride to them, and they aren’t willing to end this war with anything other than a victory. This war is no longer the gods’ will. This is now the humans’ will.”

Amaryllis’s hopes were crushed. “Oh.”

“I’m sorry that you youngsters are caught up in the mistakes of your ancestors.”

“Why did this war start in the first place? Who wronged who?”

“That’s the biggest mystery.” The oracle replied. “All my intuitions are telling me that none of the kingdoms is to blame. None of them instigated this on purpose. None of them is in the wrong.”

“Then how does a war happen out of the blue, spanning for over a hundred years?”

“The movements of the gods guide the fate of the mortal realm, Princess.”

Amaryllis was silent for a moment. That was a fancy way to say that she also didn’t know the answer either. Whatever happened a century ago, it was now long buried in the past. 

Still curious, she decided to change the conversation in a different direction. “How many gods are there in the pantheon now?”

“There are currently seventeen gods, although some of their identities are still undeclared.” The oracle responded.

“Seventeen gods, but we only know the names and domains of thirteen of them?”

“Fourteen now.” The oracle responded. “One of the newer gods is revealed to be Wylien, the god of trickery. We are currently constructing a statue of him as we speak.”

From what Amaryllis had been told, a god doesn’t always have a name or domain when they come into existence. They have to discover what they are the embodiment of on their own, and once they are enlightened, they will tell the oracle, who will then announce it to the entire mortal realm. 

Sometimes, long after a god already chose a domain, they will pick up another. Astraeus was the god of truth for millennias, then one day, he announced to the world that he was the god of justice as well. Erebos was the god of destruction for thousands of years, but just over a hundred years ago, he took on the domain as god of war. From the pattern of things, the two domains must be compatible with each other.

Wylien was a newer god that had emerged sometime this century. And now, he finally has a name and domain people can address him by.

In the first period, the seven primordial gods appeared: Chronos, the god of time; Astraeus, the god of truth; Aurora, the goddess of light; Maona, the goddess of earth; Dyaus, the god of the sky; Neptis, the god of water; and Aidan, the god of fire.

In the second period, in the establishment of natural order, four more gods appeared: Delphine, the goddess of destiny; Sylvana, the goddess of wisdom; Elethea, the goddess of life; and Erebos, the god of destruction.

In the third period, around the time human existence began to emerge, gods whose domains were closely associated with humans appeared: an unnamed goddess; an unnamed god; Fatir, the god of innovation, and another unnamed god. For some reason, three of those four gods had not yet chosen a name or domain, despite existing for far longer than Wylien, who was currently the youngest god in the pantheon. Is it because humanity is too complex for them to settle on a final choice?

The usurpation of Astraeus’s throne is what marked the end of the third period and the start of the fourth period. The fourth period revolves around the further development and complexities of humanity. Only two gods had emerged in this period: Lyrica, the goddess of arts, and Wylien, the god of trickery.

“God of trickery.” Amaryllis thought aloud. “Is that… bad? Trickery is bad, right? I don’t like what this means for us. Is the current situation of the mortal realm taking a turn for the worse?”

She wondered if Wylien, the new god, took on that domain because he was born in a time of war. But before Wylien, the second youngest god was a goddess named Lyrica, and she was the goddess of art and beauty, so perhaps it wasn’t the case after all.

“Trickery is not necessarily bad.” The oracle responded. “Haven’t you deceived someone recently?”

The image of Evan suddenly came to her mind, causing Amaryllis to flush red. Just how much did the oracle know? She could feel the small spark of amusement in the oracle’s emotions. Amaryllis couldn’t help but feel like a naughty child caught doing something she shouldn’t have done.

“Don’t worry,” the oracle smiled at her. “You will see him again.”

Amaryllis’s heart leaped with hope, then she felt embarrassed for feeling hopeful over such a thing.

“Thank you for your advice, divine oracle,” she drank the rest of her tea in a single gulp.

The oracle only dipped her head in response. “We will meet again soon, Your Highness. Your parents will arrive in Elysara by tomorrow.”