Lord Shadow

The sun is already up, and the world felt like it is alive. 

On some parts of the world, night arrived and on other part, it welcomed the arrival of dawn.

Here, in this area of the Stonehenge, it is hard to determine whether it is day or night. The cold make it felt like it is still night and fog fills the area around it

Azief and Will had already arrived at the Stonehenge area.

Azief was a little bit shocked to be honest when he arrived here and seeing the appearance of the Oracle.

It is nothing like he had expected. He of course had seen the photos in the report that was sent to him.

But clearly, the photo is outdated.

She looks thin and there is certain paleness that shows her life force is low but for some reason that went against the contrary, ripples of power could be seen erupting from her thin body.

It is weird and strange. maybe to one who could not sense the Laws, they would feel that nothing is amiss. 

But Azief could see it and could feel it. There is certain power around the Oracle.

A willpower.

And there is this certain premonition that does not bode well fills his heart the moment he sees the Oracle. 

But he suppressed all of these feeling and then he walks forward to meet the Oracle. 

Azief did not notice the gaze that clash between Will and the Oracle. Before this they have met with each other in Santorini.

They talk about a once upon a future. 

In another life, he was the handsome man and she was the beautiful woman and they were together. 

Since things have changed, they should not meet again. But fate and destiny always like to make fun of people.

Today, they meet again. And even though she had advices him that day, still, today after all of that, he is here beside Azief.

Is fate inevitable? Or could it be change? Who knows the answer to this question?

Azief walk forward and he look around the area 

It is clear there is traces that the oracle has been living here for a long time. With one glance he could see there are other people living here. Knowing the report that he had read yesterday, the other person must be the oracle loyal bodyguard slash emissary, Antonius.

Since he did not sense anyone other than the Oracle here, that guard might be somewhere else in the world.

He then stops only a few meters away from the Oracle. 

This is probably something that would one day become a story in taverns where they would tell the story of how Death Monarch and the Oracle meet each other.

What Azief could not possibly know was that the meeting between him and the oracle in Loki future is considered by many to be the changing point of the history of the world.

The story is mentioned in the Holy text of people who worship the God of Life and Death. 

Azief calmly look at the woman in front of him. This is the woman that could kill anyone with the help of fate and destiny 

This is the woman whose words could shake the world and bring down empire and kingdoms. The Seven Warlords of Greece, all of them bloodthirsty and vicious in their bid to conquer the land all follow the words of the Oracle like what she said is some divine proclamation

This is the woman the world called The Great Oracle. 

And to his discomfort, as he looks at the woman eyes, he felt that the eye is very familiar to him.

And his frown become deeper

And as Azief was looking at Erika, Erika is also looking at Azief.

To her, this is the man that have been haunting her dreams and her every waking moment. Even after she knew why she gave her eye to him, that did not mean it did not haunt him

Now, that man in her dream, that man in her vision finally is in front of her. And she could not help but feel her eyes twitch.

‘I heard you have been waiting for me from Loki’

Erika nodded

‘He is always a blabber mouth. Though I am surprised he tell you that easily’ Azief did not intend to start a banter with this woman, instead he asked

If you know that I am coming why not put down all the tricks? Azief said.

She then said

Sometime thing has to happened exactly like it would play out. It would not be called destiny then. And you are not the only one looking for me. Now, that you are here, I do not need the cloaking formation anymore. If you did not come and if you did not break it, things would change. Never underestimate a simple difference in reading futures’

She said smiling at him. 

Azief could not really feel at ease even though she smiles. That is because he was absorbed in that woman eyes. 

The more he looks at her eyes, the more he is convinced he had seen the eye before.

It is the eye that he sees inside the Time Tunnel, he realized. 

And realizing this, he felt more worried. Why would that eye be now Erika eyes? What would happen between him and this woman?

There is this silence between them as they both stop speaking. Will just stand there beside Azief, pretending not to know the woman

The meeting between him and the oracle is something that he wanted to keep a secret

There is the fact that the matter was not realized as such he did not need to add to Azief problem. There is also the fact that his matter and Azief matter is quite different

So, he just stands there silently

It is very hard for Azief to say anything right now. It is not because he doesn’t know what to say, but he fears what he is about to say has already been predicted by this mysterious woman of precognition power.

Erika probably knows what Azief was thinking so she said

‘Don’t be that afraid. It is not like I could see every second of every one life. I see many things. But I do not see everything’ she said

He come closer to her.

‘I want to see my future. Could you do it?’

Erika smiles and then she said

‘You have to pay a Price.’

Azief did not hesitate to answer

‘Tell me the Price then’ Erika smiles a bit. Behind Azief, Will is looking sharply at Erika. But in her eyes right now is only Azief. And while Azief and Will could not see what she could see, she saw it clearly.

What she sees in front of her is the powerful God of Life and Death in the future. It was like that image of that titanic god that rules the era is superimposed with the current Azief. She quickly shakes the thoughts of her mind and then she answers him

‘My pain’ 

Azief clearly did not understand what Erika is saying. 

‘What do you mean?

‘You have to take my pain. I would tell you your future, and I turn, you will take away the source of my pain’ She said, with a smile on her face, like what she said make sense

Azief frowned and then he asks her

‘What is the source of your pain?’ Once again she smiles. And then she said

‘It did not matter what is my pain and how to solve it. You have to take it regardless. That is the price’

And then she laughs. Her laugh did not sound like Loki grating laugh that would get on people nerves. But it is equally annoying as Azief thought to himself

‘How could I agree without knowing what kind of pain should I take? Isn’t that kind of unfair transaction?’

She then casually said.

‘That is the price. I don’t have to specify what it is. I just need you to agree to it. Fairness has nothing to do with it. And fairness coming from your own mouth, that sounds a little bit hypocritical. Pausing for a moment she then continues

‘The moment you agree to it; I would quickly perform what you wanted of me. To see your future and see what your mind try to deny’

Once again there is silence between them

‘I could kill you’ Azief said casually like he is talking about what to eat for lunch. 

Erika then without any shock or fear then reply

‘Then, you will never know for sure’

‘I have Will.’ Erika smiles because she understood what Azief meant when he said he has Will. But even then, she was not afraid. If anyone could see this conversation between Death Monarch and The Great Oracle Erika, they probably would admire Erika.

There are not many people in this world that could be fearless in front of Death Monarch and talk so calmly with him other than the few companions that follow him since the beginning.

Erika reply with the same tone of casualness

‘Then, you should have gone right now’ Erika reply.

‘Why would you need me?’ She asks back. Azief frowned.

A moment of silence passes between them and then Azief curiously ask

‘Do you not fear death?’ Azief ask

Erika simply said

‘It is nothing about not fearing death. Truth be told, I still wanted to live. But what I offer, that is the price. I state the Price and you could decide whether you want to take the price or not. If you don’t take it, I could only say that you have make a fruitless journey here. And I have done a wasteful thing waiting for you here.’

Azief then did not ask anything else. 

He thinks to himself as once again silence settles between them, the only sound that could be heard is the sound of the wind.

He did not ask her to change the Price. Because in Azief mind even if he asks, maybe the Price could not be changed. 

Once spoken, it could not be taken back.

And his hypothesis is correct. 

Erika when determining a price of her divination always think twice before laying out her price. If the divination people, ask her to perform is not that hard she would ask only simple things. 

If she thinks it would take her a lot of life force, she would ask more valuable things. 

These valuable things could range from precious herbs to a favor in the future and in the case of Death Monarch, her source of pain. 

Erika rarely ask for thing that is to hard for people to fulfil. Because if she did that, then some people could never get divination from her. But she knew who Azief is. And she knew who he going to become.

And as such, there is no price too high for the man in front of her.

Azief calms himself down. It is clear that he is too anxious. He then takes a deep breath and then after sure what he is about to do, he said

‘Fine. I agree to your price’

And she smiles and nodded. Then she said

‘And so it will be fulfilled’

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