After Pope Eiran asked him about his resolve, Aeon replied without hesitation. "I am ready, as it is what I trained my whole life for, your holiness."
Hearing his resolve, Pope Eiran then began to shift his tone to a more serious one. "Lord Accasha, what you are to hear is the prophecy that was delivered by this girl, Neviah. It has been kept a secret within our church that no other people know about yet. You are to keep what you hear a secret unless the person you share it with is the Royal Family, your family through the records of the Accasha Family, and God's Avatar. Will all of you swear an oath under the eyes and ears of the Goddess of Time to keep it a secret until the passing of the disaster has come?"
Aeon and his companions then kneeled and swore. "We do."
"Then it shall be so. In the name of the Goddess of Time, Kronia, we shall bear the witness of the oath taken by thee. Now then, Neviah, could you please tell them of the prophecy?"
With the Pope's order, she steps forward to tell the prophecy. While holding her hands in front of her chest, she tells the prophecy she foretold a few years ago.
"I shall now repeat the words I had spoken when I had awakened my ability." She paused for a few seconds, and then she continued. "The world will one day meet its end at the hands of a chaotic god on its descent. The God of Probability will bless a man with his powers for humanity to have a chance."
A minute of silence enveloped the room in order to take in and understand the prophecy. The silence was broken by the Pope.
"It has been a bit more than two and a half years since the prophecy has been foretold. During those years, we tried to understand what it meant, which led to the discovery of the Guide, Seer, and Key. I shall now tell you our own translation of the prophecy. I advise you to consider your own thoughts and understand the prophecy on your own and not let our own understanding cloud your judgment, Guide." He paused to give Aeon some time to understand before continuing. "Our church believes that with the Chaotic God's descent, our kingdom's end will ensue, and we also believe that the Key has most likely already appeared as the Seer has awakened. We believe that the God of Probability, Forte, has blessed a person who stood against all odds, a person filled with hope. The Seer will serve as a compass with her visions; please find the Key and become strong, strong enough to kill a god." The Pope then stood and bowed his head, which flustered everyone in the room.
Aeon then asked the pope to raise his head. "Please don't lower your head, your holiness. I understand your worry, and I assure you, as long as I am alive, I will do my best to fulfill my duty, for that is what I have trained myself to do, and I have already made a promise and an oath for it."
Pope Eiran raised his head. "I apologize for having to entrust the situation to you youngsters; if only I were younger, I would have joined to help you in your journey. I will do my best to aid your party in your travels with my power. Take this token; it will serve as proof that I support you. It has a similar effect to the Royal Decree, but it is weaker than it, but it will help you in times when you don't want to use the Royal Decree. I will also bestow on you a few gold and potions that could aid you in your journey." He expressed his desire to help, gratitude, and apologies.
Aeon bowed after hearing his words. "I thank your holiness for your kindness."
The atmosphere within the room felt weird, so Aeon then asked a few questions about the prophecy. "Moving on, I would like to ask about the chaotic god. Is it the same sibling of the God of Probability, Pandora?"
The mood returned to a serious one after the question.
"We believe so, as Pandora is the only god that was described as a chaotic god. It is indeed strange to hear that a god would aid someone to defeat their siblings, but it isn't entirely impossible, as there was once a war amongst the gods in the past." Pope Eiran sighed.
"I see.. I'll move on to my next question. As you have already assumed that God's Avatar has already been chosen, might I ask if you suspect someone?"
Pope Eiran looked at Neviah before answering. "We indeed have someone that we already suspect to be the one. Neviah had visions in the past year of a man surviving his fights against the strong." His face darkened.
Aeon took notice of the change in the pope's face. "Might I ask what is wrong, your holiness? Although the news is good as we won't be lost in our search like before when we had to look for the Saint, it sounded like it wasn't."
"No, it is good news. It is just... pitiful.. The child that was blessed was a child that was enslaved to fight until he died. He was a gladiator. There has been news of a gladiator who suddenly became a dark horse a year ago. We aren't sure about it, but we believe that it might have been him. News of him had begun to reduce until there was only news of him gaining his freedom. There has been recent news of his return to the Colosseum, and I would advise you to head there."
"A gladiator hero, huh? Not completely unheard of, as it is a common trope in the songs of the bards." Aeon said in his thoughts.
"Might it be right to believe that it is the colosseum within the City of Debauchery?" Aeon asked.
Pope Eiran nodded. "You are correct; it is indeed the colosseum within the City of Debauchery. I do apologize in advance that the token that I have given to you won't be of use there, as it is a territory that believes in freedom and pleasure where only a few gods are prominent."
"That would be alright, although I have never been there, I am familiar with it as it was a city that one of the heroes of the past had been to."
The pope's eyes widened a bit. "Is that so? I have to say, I am interested in the tales of the heroes of the past. Care to visit me once it is done?" He smiled.
"I would like that." Aeon smiled back.
"Now then, you may now go. Please wait for Neviah to be ready by the entrance or the prayer hall. Neviah, you may now prepare your things and say goodbye to your friends; they'll miss you as you'll be gone for a while." Pope Eiran said with a smile.
Aeon and his companions bowed and said their farewells to the Pope while Neviah remained in the office.
"What's wrong Neviah?" The worried pope asked.
She remained silent for a few seconds before saying anything. "Your holiness, I'm still going to go but.. Do I really have to be the one to go..?" She said with a sorrowful face that was also showing a hint of fear.
Pope Eiran stood up and walked towards Neviah to pat her head. "Neviah, my dear child, it is normal to feel that way.. It is normal to be afraid, to be doubtful, to worry, and to question.. We are only humans.. You are also young and have a lot of time to live.. I won't force you to follow the fate of the Saint of Prophecy. I am sure that the Guide, Lord Accasha, has already taken into account that there will be a chance that you won't go. I also doubt that he's the kind of child who forces people to do what he wants, even if he has the power to do so.. All I have to say as advice is to follow what you think is best. Everyone has a set amount of time in this world, and it could be cut short depending on your choices. Just like many of our brothers and sisters, we serve the Goddess of Time to make sure we live our lives to the best that we can so that when the time comes for us to rest, we will not regret our choices.. It is your choice, child; just do what you think is best for you." he said in a gentle tone while stroking her head and then smiled.
Neviah cried for a bit, and Pope Eiran hugged her to comfort her. It took several minutes for her to calm down. Feeling embarrassed, she stopped crying, wiped her tears, and pushed the pope away.
"Thank you, your holiness. I have decided that I should go; I would regret it if I didn't help them." Neviah smiled and then waved at him before leaving.
Pope Eiran waved back for a few seconds before stopping. "Are you sure you don't want to go with her?" The Pope asked the bishop who guided Aeon and the rest to his office, Aira.
She just smiled and said, "It's alright; I'm sure this is for the best.. It's not like this will be the last time we'll see each other. I'll just pray to our goddess that her time won't end soon and that she'll spend it with no regret."
Pope Eiran could see through her; he knew that it really wasn't fine for her, but he just remained silent while stroking her head and saying, "It's alright; everything will be alright, child." She broke into tears after hearing his words. "It's alright.. Let it all out.. Just make sure you see her off.." He hugged her to comfort her.