Chapter 26 - Prophecies and Quest (Patreon)

"Within the Aurbis exist a multitude of different planes of existence, from the well-known mortal realm of Mundus and the planes of the Daedric Princes, to the mysterious Oblivion pocket realms and the magical planes of Aetherius. The term Outer Realms usually refers to Aetherius and Oblivion together, but may also include a number of "other, less structured forms" in the Aurbis.

It is said that there also exist planes beyond Aetherius, and harder to travel to than it, where even powerful Magic such as that of the most powerful Archmages and Demigods can't reach, and the location of which is unknown to even the Daedric Princes.

Yet the Lucians, due to their origins, are the research force in the aspect of traversing the Planes of Existence. Due to the efforts of the King Yhwach Adnyeus and two of his Queens, Annabeth Chase and Latia Astaroth, the Kingdom of Lucis and by extension the entire Grand Alliance have the means to freely travel through several Realms of Oblivion and Planes of Existence."

- On the topic of Dimensional Travel by Ritemaster Iachesis and Grand Arcanist Yhwach Adnyeus

***

Camp Half-Blood

'Those should be the members of the Hero Faction... who knows what they are plotting here, but if they are here, then it would probably be the most prudent to either deal with them or prepare some trap for them. Certainly they are interested in the Masterbolt or whatever it is...'

Yhwahc was aware of the Hero Faction because it was the second-largest faction in the Khaos Brigade, and it consisted solely of humans. 

All members of the Hero Faction were either Sacred Gear, Holy Sword, Demon Sword, and or Longinus wielders.

Sometimes, they were neither; they were just extremely talented humans with a very strong aptitude for Magic or anything else, which allowed them to attain much higher power than average humans in the supernatural world.

The motto of the Hero Faction was to fight and defeat "evil beings" such as Devils, Fallen Angels, and Dragons that bring harm to Humans. The Hero Faction possessed a large number of Sacred Gear wielders who were either abducted and brainwashed or followed willingly. 

Due to their ideology, Yhwach placed them as one of his priorities for capture and death.

The leader of the Hero Faction, Cao Cao, descendant of Cao Cao, was also the bearer of the strongest Longinus-tier Sacred Gear, the True Longinus, and something that Yhwach wanted to get his hands on at any cost.

"That's good... those rats have been escaping us too long."

Yhwach stated that he was really keen on capturing and exterminating the Hero Faction due to their human supremacist views. They were too dangerous, and god knows what they could or would do to achieve their goals.

Not to mention, he was God, an essential part of the Supernatural World; it was only logical that he would be in direct opposition to the ones that wanted to promote the human interest and destroy the supernatural parts of the world, as they were a threat to humanity en masse.

"Whatever helps you..."

Dionysus didn't really care that much who would end on the prince's kill list, while Annabeth was curious about whom they were talking about, so she made a mental note to pester Yhwach about it at the altar date.

Another reason why he was going after the Hero Faction was that most of their members had some really nice Sacred Gears. And those Sacred Gears were in place for grabbing...

Most of the Pantheons refrained from forcibly collecting the Sacred Gears as the news of Yahweh's demise wasn't publicly known yet, so many feared possible retaliation from Yahweh's side if many of them started collecting the Sacred Gears en masse.

But for Yhwach, who knew about the death of the God of the Bible, there was no such fear.

Most of the members of the Hero Faction were too indoctrinated for his tastes already, so there was no point in reasoning with them as he planned to grab their Sacred Gears solely or to take their bodies for the experiments if it was possible.

"I fold."

Yhwach folded as he foresaw that Dionysus had much better cards than he right now... even the casual games between the Gods or other supernatural entities always involved the usage of their powers in one way or another.

As they were playing the cards, Yhwach noticed that a centaur was approaching them. 

It was Chiron, though this time, he wasn't in a wheelchair, but he was in his true form as a centaur. His lower body was that of the white stallion, which was the appearance of the centaurs.

"You look much better right now... than in the wheelchair."

Yhwach said as he looked at the legendary Trainer of the Heroes, who was a very famous actor in the Supernatural World by this title. 

"And it also feels more comfortable than that, but as you would have guessed, you can't go exactly into the mundane world like half-man and half-horse."

Chiron said as he came to the table where they were playing cards.

"I see that you are already recuperated, young godling."

Yhwach just nodded his head to Chiron's statement, as he used [The Almighty] to predict the next moves of Dionysus in their game, as he was determined to win. Losing to the God of Wine and one of the Olympians was not an option, as it was already a matter of personal pride.

If anything else.

"After you finish the game, I would like to speak with you in the Big House."

As they were playing the cards, suddenly a small, purple Magic Circle materialized on Yhwach's shoulders, and from there a silhouette of the dragon appeared. Both Dionysis and Chiron recognized the dragon based on its appearance, but what shocked them was the fact that the dragon was alive.

It was Vritra, one of the Five Great Dragon Kings, who, during his peak, was near the Level 8 Havenly Dragon Level. He was the Evil Black Dragon known as the Prison Dragon, Envelpor and Black Dragon King.

Formerly allied with the Asura Gods, he helped them fight Indra until Indra killed him, and his soul was sealed in the Vritra-type Sacred Gear after Indra traded him to Yahweh. 

Though what was in front of them was...

Vritra.

Alive.

Again.

Once more.

Even though he was right now, just an Ultimate-Class Dragon, it was undeniable that he was still at least a Level 6 Ultimate-Class Dragon, judging by the amount of Magic in his body. 

It seemed that the Hindu Pantheon had gone even further and revived one of the Five Great Dragon Kings. 

The Five Great Dragon Kings were known as "Great" was because they were closest to the ascendance to the Heavenly Dragon Level and crossed the threshold between the Lower Dimensional Lifeform and Cosmic Lifeform.

Seeing one of the not only revived, but also recuperated a lot, was...

Disturbing.

The Greek Gods were already previously very nervous about the close relationship of the Celestial Court, Asgard, and the Hindus.

Enough for some of them to not sleep quietly during the night. 

"Vritra?"

Both Dyonisus and Chiron looked at the former Great Dragon King on Yhwach's shoulders, but didn't comment on anything, as it was clear that this was something related to the secrets of the Hindu Pantheon.

"Yes... he was resurrected not long ago and right now, he is in the process of recuperation."

Yhwach stated as he pointed at the Vritra that was on his shoulders. Deciding to end the game, he followed after Chiron to the Big House.

The Big House has four or five floors in addition to the basement and an attic, the first of which is completely wheelchair accessible. A deck wrapped around the outside. It was painted red during the 1980s through the early 1990s, but has since been painted baby blue with a white trim. On the roof is a bronze eagle weather vane, and by the porch are wind chimes that turn into dryads as they spin.

It is located about half a mile away from Half-Blood Hill, and about a mile away from the coast. Chiron has his room and does official business from his desk in his office. It has a record player and a full-screen video where new campers watch the orientation film. He also has a computer and a boom box.

"So, what do you want to talk about, Chiron?"

Yhwach asked as he sat in the seat across the centaur.

"Well, we need to talk about the presence of your group in Camp Half-Blood."

The Son of Shiva wasn't surprised by that; he was already beginning to imagine how much chaos must be right now in Olympus. The presence of members of different Pantheons has effectively torn apart the meticulously crafted image of the supremacy of the Greek Gods.

And the fact that they were the sole Gods in existence.

"As I told you in the museum... Poseidon's choice... he wants us to protect his son and now, seeing the appearance of several other Pantheons and Factions, including that of Hades, it seems that the God of Seas made a correct choice."

Yhwach stated that he didn't really care about the opinion of the Greek Gods, not like their opinion even mattered in the first place. He knew that the Greek Gods wouldn't dare to do anything against him, because of the fear of the Hindu Pantheon.

"So we need to recover the Master Bolt and return it to the God King."

Chiron sighed because he, too, understood the gravity of the situation and the need to return the Master Bolt to Zeus. The disappearance of the Master Bolt was already something that was attracting too much attention...

Not to mention, there were basically no clues about the place where the Master Bolt could be, but Yhwach already had some idea about who had the Master Bolt due to the [The Almighty].

When he used [The Almighty], he was able to see that the Master Bolt was very close; unfortunately, the visions were very clouded, as he was technologically divining the location of the Ultra Divine Tool and Divine Symbol of God King.

That was above his current stance.

Yet... now that he was much stronger than before, he was able to divine through [The Almighty] that the Master Bolt was at the Camp Half-Blood with 99% probability.

Using [The Almighty] to foresee the future allowed him to discern the fact that the Master Bolt was in the Camp Half-Blood, and he was also able to foresee that the recovery of the Master Bolt was related to Percy Jackson.

"Yes... But that will take some time, and we need to proceed carefully. Whoever stole the Master Bolt of Zeus is not an ordinary person. Even though Zeus is not the most powerful of the God Kings and apparently the security around Olympus is not the best, still... stealing the Ultra Divine Tool and Symbol of Power."

This was something that even Chiron agreed on. The fact that Zeus was not the most powerful God King around was rather common knowledge, but still... sneaking into Olympus and stealing the God's Symbol of Power, which was also the Ultra Divine Tool.

Yet it happened.

And somebody managed to steal Zeus's Master Bolt.

"The Oracle has called for young Percy. It seems that there is a Prophecy related to him."

A prophecy, or prophecies in general, is a prediction of events about to happen in the future. Prophecies can appear in a number of ways, but almost all are cryptic, and their true meaning will not become clear until after the events of the prophecy have come to pass.

Also, those with the ability to see the future are unable to reveal what a prophecy means, as giving the answer would make the answer irrelevant, meaning that the events in the prophecy could change if the events are told. It is also said that trying to figure out what a prophecy means or trying to force a prophecy to come to pass may result in disaster.

The most common way for a prophecy to be told is from an oracle, most notably the Oracle of Delphi. Even in ancient times, people came from all over Greece and beyond to see the Oracle, who spoke the prophecies of Apollo.

Over time, the spirit of the Oracle went from host to host, eventually arriving in America. The Oracle would speak prophecies for quests for Demigods, and even spoke the first Great Prophecy, warning of the possible destruction of Olympus. 

"A half-blood of the eldest Gods. Shall reach sixteen against all odds. And see the world in endless sleep. The hero's soul, cursed blade shall reap. A single choice shall end his days. Olympus to preserve or raze."

In the Greek culture, the Prophecies were a big thing.

And they were taken extremely seriously and Yhwach was aware of the Great Prophecy of the Oracle of Delphi that foretold the destruction of the Olympian Gods at the hands of one of their Demigods.

This resulted in tremendous paranoia among the Gods toward the Demigods.

"Prophecies... such a fickle thing."

Yhwach muttered but didn't say anything regarding the topic, because he himself held a great disdain toward the prophets. 

Prophecies themselves can take two forms. The ones given by the Gods reflect the will of the gods. They decide when they are revealed and often know their meanings. The ones given by the Oracle are independent of the gods.

They cannot always understand what the prophecy means, nor can they control when it is given. Sometimes a prophecy can be spoken without the permission of the Gods.

Regardless of how a prophecy is received, they all have one thing in common: they are cryptic. A prophecy will never say exactly what will happen and there is usually some level of choice given to those involved that will affect how a prophecy will come to pass.

People who usually try to defy or attempt to prevent it from happening will often unintentionally set it in motion. While it is not a requirement, prophecies usually rhyme as well.

Yhwach, as someone who bore the ability like [The Almighty], knew very well that prophecies were not absolute, and because of their vague description, sometimes it was even extremely hard to foretell who the object of the prophecy was.

"Then send him there... just remember to tell him that he needs to tell us the prophecy... word for word."

The Son of Shiva spoke with an extremely serious tone in his voice because he knew that the prophecies were problematic, but at the same time, Yhwach, with his [The Almighty], could use the obtained prophecy to divine the future properly.

The inner workings of [The Almighty] were rather complicated, but once he obtained complete prophecy, he could use the complete prophecy to use [The Almighty] and see the truth behind the prophecy.

Yhwach wanted to use [The Almighty] to divine the truth behind the prophecy that Percy Jackson would receive, because he believed that it would lead them to uncover the truth of the Lightning Thief.

***

Originally, Delphi was a spring that whispered the future to those who listened.

The Greeks called it omphalos, meaning navel of the world, since it was at the geographic center. Gaea was the first Goddess to possess the Oracle of Delphi. Her daughter, the Titaness Phoebe, lived there and was the first to figure out how to hear the voices.

Currently, the Oracle of Delphi was dwelling in the Attic of the Big House, where Chiron had sent Percy to receive the prophecy. Now, Yhwach was waiting together with Chiron and Valiana in front of the Big House as they were rather anxiously waiting for his return.

"He has been there for a rather long time."

Valiana muttered as she was growing rather bored, and she regretted her choice of waiting here for the young Demigod to return. Meanwhile, Yhwach was speaking with Annabeth, as the blonde-haired daughter of Athena was once again bothering Yhwach about various things. 

She was very curious about the wider Supernatural community and the knowledge that was within it. 

"Do you think that he would receive a Quest?"

Annabeth asked with excitement as receiving a Quest was a huge part of the Greek culture.

At Camp Half-Blood, a quest can only be given if a camper receives a prophecy from the Oracle. A quest is also one of the few times that a camper will be allowed to leave the safety of the camp, unless a Demigod wants to live in the mortal world during the school year.

There is an Olympian quest board where demigods can advertise their services in quests for the gods.

A rule for quest completion is that at the end of each quest, the Demigod in charge must white-glove deliver the item that they have recovered, meaning that it can't simply be shipped via Hermes Express. 

"Surely..."

Yhwach muttered as he then noticed that the star of the day had returned from the Big House with a rather disturbed expression on his face.

"So... what did the corpse tell you?"

Yhwach asked as he looked at the Demigod Poseidon and noticed that the boy was rather tense when he heard Yhwach asking about the prophecy as Chiron threw the son of Shiva a bad look, because of how he addressed the Oracle of Delphi.

Seeing how uncomfortable the boy looked made Yhwach frown, because it confirmed his suspicion that it was something bad, at least for the Demigod son of Poseidon.

"You shall go west, and face the god who has turned, and You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned."

As he recited the prophecy, Chiron pondered over the meaning, while Yhwahc frowned heavily, because he found something suspicious. As someone with the Clairvoyance-based ability of his and also that of his father, or that of Indra, he was very well acquainted with the art of prophecy.

Frankly speaking, the prophecy that the young Demigod received was too simplistic and too easy, not to mention it was also too short. Yhwach was extremely sure that this wasn't the whole prophecy that he received.

"Are you sure that this is everything? Is there anything else to add? Some more words? Or, perhaps even more sentences?"

Yhwach asked as he looked at Percy, as the young Demigod visibly shook his head in denial, as even Chiron looked at this rather suspiciously. The centaur son of Kronos was very old and had heard many, many prophecies, and now that he thought over it, he too found out something weird about the prophecy.

"No, no. The Oracle didn't say anything else, just this..."

Seeing him immediately deny the fact that the Oracle may have said something else, made Yhwach not, but not at Percy, but at Valiana, who was standing behind the young demigod as she appeared behind the son of Poseidon.

Immediately, she took his hand and put it behind his back, as he screamed in pain. Valiana was rather fast and she rather expertly twisted his arms in a way that it was especially painful, but didn't leave any lasting or even temporary injuries. 

Valiana extensively studied medicine and biology on the various species in the Draconci Dues. This was so she could have a much better understanding of their various weaknesses and biological vulnerabilities.

Something that only came from a very extensive study and understanding of the anatomy of the various races. For example, Yhwach was sure that Valiana was able to understand the anatomy of humans much better than most of the scientists on the non-magical side of the world.

"Speak the whole prophecy. Even a blind man could tell that you are distressed and tense, meaning you are lying about the prophecy and its content. So, now the last chance to speak the entire prophecy unless you want Valiana beating the shit out of you."

Yhwach said as the teenager squirmed, as he quickly surrendered because the pain was too much for him to withstand.

"Okey, okey, I will speak, just let me be."

Percy immediately shouted as everyone looked at him, and Valiana let him be and returned to Yhwach and Annabeth, as Yhwach had perception and thought that Valiana had finally made a friend.

"You shall go west, and face the god who has turned, You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned, You shall be betrayed by one who calls you a friend and You shall fail to save what matters most, in the end."

Chrion frowned as he listened to the prophecy, because he was equally disturbed, more than enough to completely ignore the mild hints of torture of his student, because this was rather serious offense.

Meanwhile, Annabeth also pondered over the stupidity of the newest addition to Camp Half-Blood, because this was a really stupid decision. Withholding complete prophecy was beyond stupid and it was rather idiotic.

"And you kept such important information for yourself... even though using such barbaric measures is not to my tastes, this time, it was a rather good decision. Now that we have a complete prophecy, we need to break it down completely."

Chiron stated because even though he was rather angry that Percy decided to withhold the most important parts of the prophecy, especially the one that was regarding the betrayal by a friend, which was something equally dangerous. 

Yet, it could also be something excessive, trivial, and unimportant.

"You shall find what was stolen, and see it safely returned... clearly means that the Master Bolt would be found and returned, that much we can conclude. You shall go west, and face the god who has turned, which means that we need to go West and find God who betrayed Olympus. Turning most probably means the betrayal, but the problem with this interpretation is that... who is the God who Turned?"

Yhwach analyzed the first two lines of prophecy, even though it was pretty vague, he planned to use [The Almighty] alter tonight, to decipher the meanings of the prophecy and landmark the location of the Master Bolt and also uncover the concept of the betrayal in the prophecy.

"Which God is at the West? It would be Hades, but would it be possible for the King of the Underworld to betray Olympus even though he is not technically part of Olympus?"

Hearing Annabeth's analysis made Yhwach ponder and agree with her statement, because he was sure that God who Turned wasn't Hades.

"If Hades wanted the Throne of Zeus, he would have taken it long ago. Compared to Hades's might, Zeus is like a small child, and even with the Authority of God-King, he can't match Hades... not to mention, Hades is not one to use such underhanded schemes to obtain what he wanted."

This wasn't much of a surprise to Valiana, even though Chiron frowned a bit, as this was another public secret that nobody in the Greek Pantheon spoke about. Meanwhile, Percy looked as confused as it could get, and Annabeth was shocked, but most probably less than he had anticipated.

"Then that could only mean that we would need to find Hades, and during our journey to Hades, we would find the God who Turned."

This was the common conclusion by the group.

"So... what does the betrayal part mean?"

As everyone was discussing the heavy topics, suddenly Percy asked, as this was something that was bothering him very much.

"This is rather tricky, because we don't even know what the betrayal means in this... it could be something really trivial and unimportant, or it could be something critical and essential related to your life. We don't know and won't know... this is the reason why I hate prophecies. Always so vague."

Yhwach stated in annoyance as he held his head.

"Logically speaking, it couldn't be Yhwach, Valiana or Bikou as they are paid for your protection and are not considered as friends in the meaning of the word. That only leaves the other Campers as the most probable choices, even though I loathe the idea that one of ours would be betraying the Olympus."

As much as Chiron tried to hide it, Yhwach was able to notice a subtle change in his expression as he spoke about the betrayal of Olympus. Yhwach was aware that Chiron knew more than anyone that there was no particular deep and true loyalty toward Olympus. 

Considering how the Gods of Olympus treated their children, it wasn't any surprise.

It wouldn't be any kind of surprise, if most of the Demigods held some sort of hostility toward the Olympians. Yhwach thought that if he was in the position of the Greek Demigods he certainly would hate the Greek Gods.

Though that could be just him, because he was rather vengeful, petty, and not a forgiving or merciful person.

"Well, this also means that we would need to prepare for the departure, and considering the fact that we would be eyed by the different factions and Pantheons, the trip toward Hades would be challenging."

Yhwach said as it was already set in stone that they would need to go find Hades, and during their journey, the prophecy would be fulfilled. He planned to use [The Almighty] tonight to confirm his own suspicions about the prophecy that Percy has received.

He was sure that with [The Almighty] he would be able to see beyond the prophecy. In the end, they agreed that it would be an absolute necessity to deal with the cryptic prophecy.

After Chrion dismissed them, they returned back to their quarters as Yhwach retreated to the place where he was staying as he was speaking with Valiana about the prophecy and the Quest that Percy received from the Oracle.

"The fight would be brutal... utterly hopeless... Hades won't give up, most probably and there is also the topic of the different factions that are eyeing the Master Bolt."

He frowned, hearing Valiana speaking about these things, as he knew that she was right.

The moment they left the safe confines of Camp Half-Blood, hell would break loose, and they would also be protecting weak Demigods of the Greek Pantheon.

This wasn't something that he thought was favorable.

"I know. But there is nothing much we can do about it... the situation would be far worse if someone else got their hands on the Master Bolt. Can you imagine the chaos that Zeus would cause once he realized that someone else is holding his precious toy? Especially if it's someone like the Hero Faction or Grigori?"

Yhwach asked rhetorically because he was aware that if the Master Bolt was obtained by someone other than the Greeks, it would be hell on earth, and the apocalypse would come early.

Especially as far as they knew, Hero Faction was just a prolonged hand of the Rizevim Livan Lucifer, and they were also a bunch of human supremacists, so that kind of people that were the public enemy number one of the entire supernatural world.

"Ts... there are too few of us... five... six if we count in Vritra."

Indeed, the numbers were against them. 

"No... only three... the enemy doesn't know of Arjuna and Karna, not even of Vritra and of the fact that they are ready to reinforce us and that's our advantage. That kind of advantage that must remain known only to us."

Yhwach planned to leave on the Quest with Valiana and Bikou only. It was from a rather simple reason... a moment of surprise and information. If their enemy isn't aware of their true numbers and strength, it would lead them to underestimate their strengths, which greatly played into their hands in the end.

That was why they would send a much smaller force to attack them, and that would increase their chance of success. If they were attacked by them, then he could simply call for the reinforcements in the form of Karna, Arjuna, and Vritra, who would come and finish the enemy in one sweep.

"Well... that's actually rather good strategy in fact..."

Valiana muttered because she found Yhwach's idea a good thing. It would be their moment of surprise, and perhaps that way, they would be able to lure the enemies in the dark out and destroy them in one go.

"Now, if you would let me, there is still something that I need to handle and perform divination."

Valiana nodded as she knew that Yhwahc had very powerful Clairvoyant capabilities and she understood that he was most likely going to use his Clairvoyant abilities to divine the future and decipher the prophecy Percy Jackson received today.

More than anyone, she understood the severity of the situation and let Yhwach alone as he then started using [The Almighty] to decipher the prophecy that Percy received. Once the prophecy was known, it was rather easy for him to divine the future using the [The Almighty].

What was slightly problematic, though, was that the more people were aware of the entire prophecy, the more variables there were and the harder it was to divine the future properly, but due to Yhwach's increased power and calculation capabilities, he could support the usage of [The Almighty] much longer than before.

Not to mention, [The Almighty] was also much more efficient.

When Yhwach started using [The Almighty], he constantly recited the prophecy that Percy received from the Oracle of Delphi and focused on the lines about the Master Bolt and the betrayal of a friend. 

Suddenly, a glint appeared in his eyes as he finally understood the prophecy, because he saw there a silhouette of the betrayer. It was a rather vague appearance, but something was sharp about the silhouette...

He recognized it because he had seen the teenager just a few hours ago.

Though when he wanted to use [The Almighty] on the betrayer once more and more intensively, he suddenly found out that something was blocking him.