The group followed the dragon into a portal and found themselves in an underwater city. The ocean was held back by a clear energy shield and each building was a Large floating sphere made from some form of shining white stone. What had fascinated Null was similar to the trials none of it was using technology. All of it was using self-powering true magic. Something he had yet to master.
The group was surprised to see Littleman was also with them.
"So, you succeed in the trials. Good, I was worried for a while." Littleman was happy that he was going to get some answers and didn't have to take a trail but he was also in awe of his surrounding. "what is powering all this magic?" He couldn't contain his curiosity any longer.
"All of this is powered by consuming a fragment of each of the three suns. At the current rate of consumption, the suns will die before we use even a 100th of their mass." Pamphilos was happy to answer their questions.
Littleman wanted to ask some more questions as he wanted to see how a tier 1 race lived but they had reached their destination.
"Welcome members of Absolute Horizon you have been through quite a trial to meet me, it has been a long time since anyone has succeeded in getting this far" Pythia greeted the party as they entered her sphere. Pythia was a 100-foot green and gold serpent dragon that seem to float in the air. Pythia was currently circling the party.
"We haven't named our party yet. Are you saying we will call ourselves Absolute Horizon? but now if we do, is it our idea or yours?" asked Chris, he hated thinking about time paradoxes and could see this was something said to put them off tilt.
"Or maybe you were always fated to come here and find your party name, so it would always be so" answer Pythia.
Null wanted to take issue with that statement as it implied they had a destiny. Except the system had seemed to imply the same thing. Some events were fixed in time. Null knew the system could see the future but wanted to see if this dragon really could as well.
"But the Primordial told me, that the future can be changed and that destiny doesn't exist. He also told us that no one can see the content of future events. So can you actually see the future? and are you stronger than a Paragon?"
"Yes, Yes and No. you can change the future but some futures are far more probable than others and are resistant to change. Yes I really can see the future and no I'm not stronger than the Primordial but I am an ability user with an affinity to the time field so I am stronger in that one aspect." Answer Pythia as she continued to weave around the group.
"Does that mean you can tell me about the galaxy-wide event I'm responsible for?" asked Null, this was the question he wanted answers to the most.
"yes, and no. It is only the scope of the event that is fixed. A galaxy defining event will occur but the context of the event changes drastically depending on your choices. I can't tell you what that event will be as even I can't see it. I can tell you much will be decided by your choice over if you visit Ollhelian. It should be noted that all futures where you choose to ignore Ollhelian end in the death of everyone in the party but who can say if that is good or bad for the galaxy. At Ollhelian each of you will be faced with a difficult decision. That will solidify each of your futures."
Pythia continued her reading. "Every member of this party has a highly flexible future due to their close proximity to Null as he is also a wielder of the time field. Once you have visited Ollehlian your possible futures will be reduced to a mere handful of possible outcomes"
'Infy, is that true?'
'I don't know, this event and being so close to a time anomaly has completely shut down my abilities. I won't know until after this meeting'
Chris had already gained a bounty of information from this conversation and wanted to milk it while it lasted. "Ollhelian is the place that Phosphoros wants us to visit, what will we find there and can he be trusted?"
"You will find your future there, as for Phosphoros, he can become either your greatest allies or your worst enemy, I would recommend you investigate what motivates him. My last piece of advice to you all, decisions made that align with your true self are easier to live with. Use what you learn during your trials to assist you. It had been a pleasure by that is all I can say" After Pythia finished talking the Chris, Lisa and Jania were teleported to a different location.
"Gah, I had so much more I wanted to know" Chris was frustrated, He suspected the meeting would end like that but they never got any direct advice.
As if Pamphilos was able to read Chris mind
" I know you wanted more direct information but we aren't gods, we don't get to decide which outcomes are the best. Pythia only tells you what may happen but not how to get there," explained Pamphilos.
Lisa was beyond curious about the dragons she and had to ask.
"Where are we and who are you, I mean your race not just you in particular?"
"As I'm sure you worked out we are the dragon race. This is Delphi the last lands of the dragons," replied Pamphilos he was happy to give a history lesson.
"Why is it the last lands? is it because you practice true magic?" asked Chris.
"No, we are being punished for another crime. There seems to be a misunderstanding we don't practice true magic. We are abilities users. Abilities users can channel a single field and usually for a specific purpose. This specialisation allows us to maximise the power of a spell but it comes with many drawbacks"
"such as?" asked Jania as an ability user herself she wanted to know what weakness she might have.
"Once our abilities have been unlocked we can't create spells using technomagic that don't match our field affinity so we require time and multiple casters to create complicated spells. This does allow us to create many marvels but they have to be static."