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Chapter 9 - Prophecy Of The Echoes

The story had come to an end, with the underdog making it to the top. It's a classic one, isn't it?

He had fought against a hundred hungry children and elderly, surviving in the end by slipping through them and allowing them slide to their own demise.

When that maw of death opened up to gobble him up in turn, he had sacrificed a literal arm and leg, only to get a breakthrough and escape with a pitiful bit of his life.

He was then thrashed around, torn up, beaten, cursed to a fate worse than death, died with his mind still conscious and then thrown towards danger again, as a decapitated zombie.

His bloody tears weren't the reason he was still alive, his knowledge was clearly still on par with an educated grade school child, and it was by no good deed, prayer, assistance, wish, or even his cursed body that he was the last one standing.

Was what saved him the true, unruly natures of human beings? Was it his cunning, greed or stubbornness as he clung to life that singled him out amongst the Sins?

No, Equinox... Nox had given up on life too. His mind was not too rigid compared to the others. He had also succumbed to the seduction of the painless afterlife.

But,

"You must not die by their hands. Live on your own terms till the day you get to watch them... to watch their corpses from above as their graves are filled with dirt."

What had saved him was the continuous chant of those words in his mind. What had saved him was the blessing of his mother on his head, and the great curse she had spat on those who wished him harm. Those tears of hers that woke up even the highest from above were the exact reasons he was still alive!

No calamity from Svarga, the Realm and the higher heavens can touch him so long as that one blessing continues to shine through the countless curses he bares.

[Your body is not yours. Will it to be.]

[You survived one of the most extreme of trials. A feat impossible to many, it would sound like a myth. And as boundless as your potential is, so is your Virtue. Hence, you have awakened with the First grade, Mark Of Myth.]

The 1st/ Mythical/ Dream Grade Mark was a privilege bestowed only to the most worthy of Prophets. It was proof of their superb potential to survive the most extreme of stories.

A Mark grade is a symbol of a Prophet's cumulative abilities and powers. The higher the Grade, the better the worth.

Ikky had expected nothing less from the Omen. From living through the worst of conditions to experiencing death and then conquering it, getting a Mark less than one of the highest grades would be greatly unfair.

Still, even he was surprised he had gotten a First grade Mark. To think, someone like him, a pest would be one day regarded as better than the rest. He had one of the highest capabilities there was, and there was no grade above him.

[You also reek of a sad, pitiful fear and loneliness that spills to your Totem. Like a jump scare that was made to be funny while not—]

"What the! Who says I'm sad and lonely?" Ikky was baffled.

[You are a nobody...]

"Wow"

[... yet known by thousands. But despair not, and they shall soon know you by your Virtuous name: Echoes Of Night.]

"..." Ikky's eyes widened.

A Virtuous/ True name was another sign given to Prophets. It was attached to a Virtue trait that prophet had, and granted that Virtue more base spiritual essence and more essence capacity. A Virtue on its own can store essence, but a Virtue with a Virtuous name can store even more essence and possesses essence of a nature unique to only that Virtue.

For example, the true nature of regular spiritual essence is like water— a tasteless fluid. While the spiritual essence made from a Virtue with a Virtuous name is like a coloured fluid with distinct taste.

"What Virtue is it tied to?" Ikky asked himself, rereading his prophecy before it burnt away.

"Ah, it must be the second one I just got." He guessed.

[Virtuous Name: Echoes of Night

Hierarchy: Seer

Mark: 1st-grade - Mythical

Totem: Living Totem - Farthest Night

Virtues: Seed Of Nyx, Night Chant

Augur Spirit: Yaga.]

Since he had only just conquered his first omen, Ikky was still at the bottom of the Prophet Hierarchy, a Seer.

Now, the only things that were unexplained from his Prophecy were, the new trait, Night Chant and his Augur Spirit. But those informations were acquirable by just asking his Augur Spirit about itself and then deciphering the prophecy for what the Night Chant could do. Ikky wasn't really in the mood to read any more poems, so he just set the Night Chant aside for a different day.

"Yaga. That's your name?" He asked, sitting on the moist floor of the dark cave.

"Yes. But you can call me Yu if you wish." She answered.

She sat on a black disc, floating in the air.

Yaga was a fairy-like creature with a pointy black horn and long white hair. Her fair skin looked to be made of snow, pale and ethereal, but covered by a black tattered cape. Her face, although round and beautiful, had one black hollow eye, and the other with grey iris, as if blinded.

Looking closely at her, Ikky pretty much realised how people saw him as. Make no mistake, she was multiple folds more beautiful than he was, but her eyes looked like a part you wouldn't want to look at, and the small smile on her face hid clear contempt and mischief.

He looked away and asked, "Why Yu?"

"Why Ikky?" She asked back with a slight cackle.

Ikky scratched his head as he explained, "I had to pick a name out of Equinox and Nox, but I couldn't. So I just mashed them up and cancelled the letters, 'N, O and X'."

"Oh! I understand now. Equi got turned to Ikky!"

"Hm mh." He nodded. "Plus, it sounds really friendly." He added.

"It's a pathetic attempt."

"Yeah! Uh? Right? Ha... haha."

The two laughed and then fell into silence.

'... Mmmmmmmmmm! That hurt bad! But it is pathetic. It's still a good name, isn't it? —"

"Deep breaths. Compose yourself, child. Our minds are linked now, so if you don't block me out, I'll hear you."

Ikky's breath seized as soon as he realised that she had heard his thoughts.

"Right..."

"It's okay." She said, staring indifferently from one wall to another, with her head resting on her palm.

"Ah..." He turned away and scratched his head. Sighing away the awkwardness, he asked. "How the heck do I get out of here?"

"We open up a gate with our totem."

Hearing her words, the answer suddenly came to him. "Oh, right. Totems are keys to the Realm right? They should also lead out."

He said. The part of Totems being an access to the Realm of Augury was common knowledge, so he guessed that it should also lead out of it.

Having the key at mind, he unexpectedly turned around and went to pick up the Knight's dying blade from the ground.

Staring a bit in silence, his voice echoed,

"It's a lie, isn't it?"

Equinox asked with his thoughts slowly beginning to wander into past memories as he swung the sword in the air.

"This world, who I am... and that mighty king, are all just parts of this trial of the Omen?"

The cave went quiet again before Yaga frowned and asked her own question instead of answering his,

"What are you planning on doing?" She was surprised... She didn't know. That was quick. He had blocked her out of his head already.

Nevertheless, Yaga shouldn't be surprised, as she had seen Ikky's frighteningly quick understanding at play. He had deciphered the poem that hid the properties of his first virtue as quickly as he had figure out how the spider spirit worked and learn how to survive it.

He had an adaptive mind.

Ikky continued,

"If yes is the answer, then I'll leave, if no then..." He thrusted the sword in the air, making a sharp slicing sound echo around them.

"... what's one more murder compared to the hundreds of lives I've just taken. That bastard must die!"

Yaga looked him in the eyes with a slight pause, then finally replied,

"It's fake! This entire world is only a trial from the Omen. So the moment you leave, it will all cease to exist.

Now child, let us return to heaven."

———

But...

Weeks had passed after that moment in the land of Nocturni, and the nation was finally convinced that they had been relieved from their catastrophe, and with such few losses at that!

Just a few of the 'proper' citizens had died. Still, the loss of too many knights did impact them greatly.

But life moved on, and there were always delusional youths around who wished to become heroes. Those harvested children, with time would later come to replace the old rotting knights.

"Where did you go, Lady Bright?" A man in a fairly lightweight brown armour and a mask asked as he approached another heavily dressed soldier sitting on a rock.

"I just went for a stroll." The female knight answered through her helmet.

'For six days?' Knowing that the little female knight had definitely been off doing something she shouldn't, and sensing an unusual tone in her voice, the man knew she wasn't in the mood to talk about it.

"Well. It's not like you've ever disappointed us before. Do as you please." Sitting on the ground beside her, the man looked into the distance, viewing the large portion of the land of Nocturni from atop the mountain.

After a while, the female knight whispered again, her voice bouncing around her bucket-like metal helmet,

"The forces of Nocturni are weaker than ever. I surmise that even the both of us could raze it all down to ashes."

The man laughed. "You really are itching to go at them. This is just one of the many we've conquered, so what did these people ever do to you?

With a sharp glint of silver burning through her visor, the female knight stared at the far away kingdom before answering indifferently,

"Nothing... to me."

The man was aware of there being a deeper meaning behind those words of hers, yet did not ask what.

Bright stood up and turned to the hundreds of soldiers standing just behind the mountain. With a deep breath, she yelled out to them, her voice ringing with power and might that was unusual for someone her size,

"Ready yourselves and polish your blades!" She drew out her sword and pointed it at the sky

"For we attack Nocturni at night!"