THE FIRE OF AEDON

CHAPTER2:ORACLE

Another gust of wind blew as the big palms furiously tossed their branches this a way and that a way. Children whose faces tattooed with black paint, were cold, their arms wrapped around them, and one of them was buried in his mother's arms because he was scared. The gloom that had descended on Aedon had swept over all the races like a great hurricane and swallowed them whole. As the coal-black clouds rolled towards them from the city of Fengium, the Oracle, his fingers wrinkled with age, continued his story, interrupted by the strong wind that had just blown. The boy sitting next to him, thinking that he looked like a pumera fruit with the juice drained out of it, shook off the urge to laugh and fidgeted in his seat, looking at the oracle's bruised lips.

"When Imera created Aedon many, many years ago, Urea knew nothing of it." After his words, he watched the trees around him. It was as if he was questioning how beautiful such a creation could be. He put the pine wood with peeling edges which he held in one hand alongside him.

"Urea would have known about this, but there was a big problem." He cleared his throat, wetting his lips with need.

"Kselano tuferia de mentahorus." He knew that he could not understand what he was saying because he was the only Oracle who knows this language in the Pathrick Kingdom. He began to translate what he had said so that he could continue his story. Alisa, sitting at the far end, was so engrossed in the story that she was trying to piece together the apocalyptic scenarios in her head. In contrast, a strong wind was still blowing, tearing down the tents at the other end of town.

"Urea will eventually confront Aedon and all the races will melt away like crumpled pieces of paper, turning a blind eye to his tyranny."

"And what if he never knows?" Alisa's father stepped forward, waiting for an answer to his question. He knew that what the oracle had told him was not something that had been told in public, and that frightened him greatly. His fingers, cold from the cold and covered with wooden rings, twisted together as he continued. "And if we make him forgive us?" A few more people jumped in from the back. "How can he destroy Aedon after all this, just because of his godly arrogance? There must be a solution. Can't we talk to him? We should deal with this now rather than look for a solution when the day comes."

"I don't think that will happen," said the Oracle. "When Imera created Aedon, he also used some of Urea's power, and their conflict grew even more. When Urea comes here, we will not have the strength to resist him. And we won't have the courage to convince him."

"So you're saying he's going to destroy us for no reason? In a sense, it's all for nothing. We live for nothing, we fight for nothing and there is no point in protecting ourselves. Have I misunderstood?"

"Who knows," said the Oracle with an expressionless smile. "Aedon was miraculously created and has survived for close to a thousand years by chance. Perhaps his continued survival depends on a tiny miracle. I guess we will never know." After a few seconds of silence, he smiled slightly again. "Not forgetting the two emerald crowns. "

Unlike the others, the wind blew warmly and quickly shook the tent in which people were sitting. As everyone moved quickly in their seats, a loud sound like a scream was heard from outside. A huge tree collapsed and fell on the water well, and no one moved, knowing they could do nothing. The wind that had been ravaging Aedon for several weeks had increased in intensity and a torrential downpour was busy flooding the fields of the Pathrick Kingdom. The darkening air was throwing cold snowflakes onto the misty lands of Eremisas as the dark clouds thickened. Alisa stood up, the darkness making it hard to see. Alisa felt as if Aedon was already fading from reality. The feeling spread through her body like a flame, she wiped the wetness from her eyes with her fingertips and tried to feel the fierce wind on her skin.

"You can feel the catastrophe approaching," the Oracle said, as Alisa brought the crushed strings of huge candles made of honey clay to the fire. Instantly a hot, orange fire filled the room. The flames flickered at the same time in a unique rhythm. The largest candle near the door, almost the size of a human child, was about to be extinguished by the wind, but the flame instantly revived, like the dead rising from the grave. Everyone could feel the tension rising in the darkness, but no one made a sound. No one would have cared if it had been a prophecy told in public, but everyone knew that one day it would be fulfilled before their very eyes. Perhaps it was already happening. This was a much more frightening hypothesis than the one before.

The Oracle listened to the long silence. Everyone was looking around for a long time, as if they had accepted what they had been told, and many were listening to the sound of the wind and the small drops of rain. "And where was Imera when all this happened? Did he create this universe and then just leave us in the palms of Urea?"

The Oracle tapped his old pine stick lightly on the ground three times. "Be careful when you mention his name!" he said, raising his voice a little. "Imera understood what would happen the moment he created this unique universe and Aedon. Perhaps it was one of the biggest mistakes he ever made, but it was too late. He trapped almost all of his power in three emerald crowns and hid them in three different parts of Aedon. The Humans found one and the Feng found the other. Let's hope the Slergs don't find the third! "

"I must run," whispered one of them as she rocked back and forth in her seat. She seemed very frightened by what the oracle had told her, and the oracle did not seem to find it strange. "I must run, I must run, I must run." The Oracle watched her for a while, not angry with her, because when the fear of death coursed through one's veins, the heart rejected it, stopped working. This was true not only for the human race but for all races.

"It is useless. What you are running from is not an animal or any species. You cannot hide from God." With the words of the Oracle directed at her, the woman cowered even more where she was, as if that were possible. She had been trained as a warrior, but she had not learned how to fight God. No one could know how to fight God because God does not fight but destroys. Couldn't God destroy even the term "fight" if he wanted to? Or was Urea, whom they considered fit to be a god, not really a god? How could anyone know that?

The man sitting next to the woman stood up angrily and started walking towards the old man. By this time all the children sitting on the ground had scattered in fear all over the tent. The man reached the Oracle's side, crushing people with his fury. He reached out his hand, but remembering that he could not touch him, he stepped back. He knew what would happen the moment he touched him and he would not do it.

"You do nothing but scare them! All you do is sit there all day long telling tales of doom!" His voice was so loud that it drowned out the sound of the storm outside. The wind began to blow harder and harder, and the candles went out, unable to hold out this time. The old Oracle stared at the man standing before him, at a loss as to what to do. He had clearly not expected such a reaction. This time he turned his body towards the bodies scattered around the tent, watching him. "Are you just going to stand there and let him scare us? Can't you see he is playing with our minds?" He seemed to want to draw strength from the other people in the tent, but apart from the howling of the wind, all was silent.

Alisa's father moved towards the man who was shouting angrily. "Calm down, Eorlyn. You are scaring the children." Then his gaze traveled over the people around him. "If it's going to happen as the Oracle says, Aedon won't just stand by." He turned him gaze last to the grizzled woman swaying back and forth. "We were raised to be warriors, we will not run like cowards. We will try everything we can. Whatever happens, we can't just give up. " Alisa watched him without moving, understanding what he was saying but not wanting to react.

"He's right," a boy from the back row said. He was tall and looked much older than his age with black tattoos covering his well-built body. "We cannot let the land we have lived for all these years, the land we have carved out for ourselves with our fingers, become a grave for our people!"

At young Peter's words, many others were heard from behind. The passionate voices of the young warriors filled the tent. Meanwhile, the old Oracle, who was right next to them, smiled. It was not the same expressionless smile as before, but rather one of delight at what he had heard. The god Urea might be stronger than them, but who could predict the outcome of the battle? The Oracle, having seen many battles, knew that in every war there were unexpected events and he hoped that this unexpected event would be in Aedon's favor.

As all the voices mingled together, a loud crash from outside suddenly silenced everyone. Immediately after the crash, a chilling scream was heard. With this sound, all the people of Pathrick came out into the lightning-lit valley. A tree had fallen on the tent because of the strong wind, and the candle inside had set it on fire. As the wind strengthened the flames and the tent was quickly reduced to ashes, the owner of the tent lay on the ground screaming, interspersing her screams with all sorts of pleas. By the time other people realized what she was saying, it was too late. Even though they had put out the fire with the water they were carrying, they could not save the five-year-old child inside.

As the surroundings grew quieter with the impact of what had just happened, a huge bolt of lightning split the palm tree ahead in two. Most of the people were outside when the rain quickly tore the skin of the sky and descended to the earth. The tent, already engulfed in flames, slowly went out. The silhouette, as if its skin had been covered in ashes, was visible even on the rubble of the tent. The woman with her hair stuck to her face looked around, screaming.

The rain hit them in the face with the increasing wind, piercing their skin like bullets, the drops burning their skin like fireballs.

That night, even though everyone went into their tents, not a single person could sleep. All night long, the woman's pleas spread throughout the kingdom. As Alisa listened to the woman's pleas throughout the night, she knew that nothing would ever be the same. She knew what the old Oracle had said was true. At least most of it was true. She wished she had the courage to stand against Urea when it came and burned everything to ashes. Aedon may have been a place made to be destroyed, but it could not let everything disappear in an instant. It didn't think any creature on Aedon would either. Urea might be a god, he might be stronger than them, but she believed that all the races on this planet would fight. If they were to be defeated, they would be defeated by fighting.

Aedon existed years before creation.

And it had no intention of being defeated.

Even if it would be destroyed.