Rise of the Nightmare Crestmaster

Aldrich recalled his terrible experience on the ancient land bridge and bit his lips. He was indeed suspicious and a little apprehensive regarding the blind priestess.

The main reason was how easily she disolved the situation and how she made him lower his guard towards her.

Even that was only because he knew he logically should not trust her. Not because he actually felt malice or ill intentions from her.

His senses was only a feeling and it could be wrong which is why Aldrich used a logical approach to weight her in his mind.

Even then it was hard, considering that she saved his life and her general impression, trustworthy and kind that was the kind of feeling she gave off.

But to Aldrich the thought that she might be tbe oracle simply never occurred to him. In fact if he was asked he would think that banshee was more likely to be the oracle.

This was not an arbitrary guess, her words and knowledge of things that she could not know is proof enough. But then again according to the blind priestess it was due to an item.

The blind priestess also somehow knew his name and she offered no explanation, instead she acted dumb and he was stupid enough to give her a pass.

"H-how do you know? I mean last time I asked, you said you didn't find the oracle. And now you claim that this priestess that you haven't met is actually the oracle?"

"You don't have to get so defensive about it, jeez." Ayemon laughed, unconcerned. "It's just a guess."

*Phew*

Aldrich sighed in relief, this asshole almost scared him to death casually. As long as it's just a guess then there's room for wiggle!

This has to be a joke! Aldrich already had enough on his plate he didn't need any more shit to do. Getting involved with someone like the oracle was bad news.

"Oh, yeah. One more thing…" Ayemon cleared his throat, "I did say it was a guess but actually I have a way to make certain. How about it want to try?"

"No." Aldrich decisively replied.

"Well, that's fine. The choice is yours, I would never force you to do anything." Ayemon conceded.

"Thank you, I appreciate that." Aldrich nodded smilingly.

"I mean, I don't know how you will live with the uncertainty. You know, the questions. Is it her? Is she not? How exactly are you involved?"

"I mean its a brave choice don't get me wrong, I wouldn't know how to sleep if I were you. But, but, at the end of the day, it's up to you."

"Bastard…"

"Hey, hey, did you just insult a nobleman to his face? I could have your head for this, peasant!"

"You're a snake—"

Before he could insult him even more Ayemon elbowed him in the ribs, "shush, now. The show is about to start."

The lights all around dimmed considerably and the lights on stage grew brighter, a man in a blue and white suit walked out of the curtain holding a scepter.

He was well mannered and his beard was well trimmed. His gait was steady and not too hasty, he tapped on the scepter when he was at the center of the stage and spoke.

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen! It is my pleasure to welcome and be host to you, good people of Voryhrm!"

His voice boomed and somehow it was heard in the entire theater. Aldrich was not in the mood for this anymore but since he was here he might as well forget about it.

After the show, Aldrich and Ayemon returned to the mansion. In the backyard, which was actually a whole forest, they hunted for dinner in the special beasts that were brought to grow here.

"Remember no Ether, if I feel even the slightest fluctuations you're done. The first one to catch the Horned fox wins. Go!" Ayemon was about to head off on his horse but Aldrich stopped him.

"Hold on what about the loser?" He asked.

"The loser? I don't know, what do you have in mind?" Ayemon curiously asked.

"Oh, I'm not sure," Aldrich put on a pondering expression, "how about an admission."

"Explain everything already, enough stalling."

"I just want you to say, "I'm sorry, I was wrong and you were right" it's just a simple request."

"What was I wrong about you little twerp?" Ayemon asked unable to conceal an angry smile.

"Nothing. It's just an empty statement. It's not a big deal, nothing to worry about. You can admit defeat if you're too scared of losing to me."

Aldrich looked at the setting sun. He was afraid that he would be intimidated by Ayemon's glare.

"Fine, a fine idea. Let's see. How about this then if you lose you will come two days later when I host my guests and you will be a manservant for the day?"

"Let's do it. A fair warning, I am a decent hunter." Aldrich taunted.

The race started, Aldrich urged the horse into a gallop he pulled an arrow, nocked it and searched with the full extent of his senses.

Ayemon had the home-ground advantage but he had the experience. He was not an expert but he did well enough in the nightmare realm for more than three months.

Ayemon was admittedly a powerful Crestmaster whose exact limits were unknown but Aldrich was still willing to take his chances. He was a Crestmaster himself now.

Aldrich scoured the woods and was impressed, from the outside it looked big but once you were in there you begin to realize just how big it really is.

He got an idea and used the Eyes of insight, with that the names of everything appeared floating to his eyes alone. He was able to see beyond his vision and after a while he saw the magic name.

[Horned fox]

Aldrich smirked and with the horse he made through the woodland to his target. That was not using Crestmaster powers so it wasn't cheating.