FALLEN ORACLE

**Chapter 4: About the Goddess (1)**

Almost as soon as he discovered that he could freely purchase things—including books—Chen Yi's curiosity about the mysterious goddess Tiya quickly consumed him.This was based on a simple logic: she was from the upper realm, so the upper realm must have information about her.So, at the same time as he gathered necessary background information on the upper realm's history and politics, Chen Yi began collecting information about Tiya.In fact, one could say that the former was merely preparation to help him better understand the latter.Fortunately, Tiya was quite famous in the upper realm. Even stopping a random person on the street, he would likely have heard her name.Unfortunately, ever since she was convicted, most records of Tiya's past had been burned, leaving only her crimes and the condemnation of her.To avoid raising suspicion about his specific interest, Chen Yi visited many bookstores and bought a number of old books from previous years. From them, he pieced together a rough outline of Tiya's life up to now.---Tiya Apfel was born in 2061 of the Rift Era. She and her brother Jeff Apfel were fraternal twins.(When Chen Yi learned this, he felt an inexplicable joy. That meant the goddess was only twenty‑four, just two years older than his own twenty‑two.)The siblings were born into an ordinary artisan family. Their parents mainly made a living by crafting magical items for nobles.Sadly, when Tiya was two, her parents died in an explosion caused by a mana core purity incident.After that, she and her brother were sent to a social welfare home on Cuckoo Road in Capon City.At around age five, Tiya showed astonishing magical talent.That year, through Divine Communion, she fully mastered all the spells known to the welfare home's staff. That same year, she was admitted—on an exceptional basis—to a noble magic school, with her tuition fully covered by the federal government.But only a few years later, her teachers discovered that at just ten years old, she was teaching herself the notoriously difficult Arcane Tongue in her spare time. And, unbelievably, she actually learned it.Thus, Chaos Academy—the upper realm's equivalent of Rongqi Academy—extended an invitation to Tiya. The average age of her future classmates was eighteen.At Chaos Academy, Tiya fully realised her gift. At eleven, she mastered her first high‑level Spirit‑rank spell. (The upper realm's magic power system extended far beyond the lower realm's categories: after Shock and Wondrous came higher ranks: Anomaly, Spirit, and Saint.)At twelve, without even wearing a magic ring, she gave a severe beating to three male students—all over twenty, all skilled mages—who had tried to harass her.At fourteen, for her exceptional research achievements and magical prowess unprecedented among her peers, she was called the "Chosen One"—the one selected by the god of chaos who created magic. The Suss Federation government placed great importance on her.At sixteen, Tiya graduated from Chaos Academy. While staying on as a professor, she also officially joined the "Project Enlightenment," heavily supported by the federal government.Project Enlightenment aimed to recreate lost Saint‑rank spells from before the God‑Demon War. Tiya was assigned to tackle the project's most important spell: teleportation.Because the teleportation circles had been deliberately destroyed, the upper realm had lost the ability to travel between stars. Though some wreckage of the Demons' starship technology remained, the Celestial Race could not understand its principles, much less repair or replicate it.In the eyes of the Council of Elders, while society was still relatively stable, social tensions would inevitably erupt as the population grew and magical research stagnated.Thus, using every possible means to achieve interstellar travel—and thereby gain access to more resources—became a top priority.Among all the options, teleportation magic was the most efficient and powerful. So assigning Tiya to this task showed just how highly the Council regarded her.Moreover, for political purposes, she—with her good image and humble origins—was promoted as a model citizen, earning her great popularity among the general public.---But the following year, her brother Jeff was killed in action during a mission to survey ruins.The official media, like wolves catching the scent of blood, seized on this new p********a angle. They widely publicised the heroic sacrifice of Tiya's brother while claiming that Tiya herself was enduring the grief of losing a loved one and continuing to serve the federation.This event further won her sympathy from the masses. Thus, an idol embodying "beauty," "strength," and "tragedy"—the complete package—was born.Then, in 2079 of the Rift Era—six years ago—everything took an unexpected turn.One day, the government suddenly announced that Tiya had committed a grave crime and had been sentenced to life imprisonment.The charge: "Long‑term use of psionic magic to manipulate others into committing crimes."According to the announcement, more than a third of the inmates in Sinking Prison—the most notorious prison in the Suss Federation—simultaneously testified that their crimes had been committed under Tiya's magical compulsion, not of their own free will.This terrible woman supposedly mastered powerful psionic magic and delighted in manipulating others to commit crimes. Afterwards, she would keep the victims' memories but erase those of her scapegoats.Why did these criminals suddenly "wake up" all in the same year? Because Tiya's former mentor, Professor Tim—a psionic master from Chaos Academy—had discovered abnormalities in the inmates during an inspection of Sinking Prison and had lifted the Forgetfulness spells Tiya had cast. Only then did this shocking truth come to light.