The Oracle Paths

A flash of light illuminated a barren disk of earth and four humanoid figures and a pack of giant felines appeared before a modestly sized Yellow Cube.

The island was as austere and desolate as ever. The planet B842 was facing the lower, non-habitable side of the metallic disk and was therefore not visible. As for the space around them, it was practically devoid of stars and galaxies. It was a genuine sidereal void desperately waiting to be filled.

His gaze drifting about, Jake surveyed his humble fiefdom with a slight embarrassment. Now that he had guests, he really could have built a decent house.

Actually, it was a good thing that Lucia and Gerulf had been proactively invited to join the Myrtharian Nerds by Will, or Lucia would probably have suffocated when she got here. Her Aether Consitution and Vitality gave her decent stamina and lungs, but the sidereal vacuum was not easy to resist if one did not know what to expect.

Lucia and Gerulf were visiting space for the first time, and even the Kintharian, who didn't really need to breathe, began to subconsciously panic when he tried to inhale air as usual. The absence of stars and moon lent a claustrophobic edge to the surroundings, and it only made them feel worse.

"Don't panic." Jake placated them apologetically, while immediately re-establishing a breathable atmosphere.

Hovering around like a house fairy, he placed his Aether Sun Core high above them in the center of the island. Daylight filtered through the first force field isolating his training area and gently illuminated their faces as the temperature soon rose.

"My apologies for that little blunder, hehe." Jake laughed nervously to get rid of his embarrassment. In terms of hospitality, one could hardly make worse host.

Curious, Gerulf sniffed the air, knelt down to pick up a handful of grey earth, which he rubbed on his hands, then closed his eyes to enjoy the touch of the fake sun's rays.

"This place is not bad." The giant grunted in contentment, recognizing this place as his new home.

Jake understood Gerulf's character as if he were his own twin brother. Seeing him relax spontaneously, he happily invited him into his training area, where the bulk of the rocks and minerals collected on B842 were piled. Because it was essentially cooled lava, these were currently forming a mono block of dark obsidian.

With or without the help of the Aether Sun Core, Jake could then alter the parameters of his Floating Island to make the temperature inside scorching and melt the rock again.

For added surprise, he let Gerulf go through the energy barrier and set the temperature at 2000°C. The cooled lava began to glow rapidly, then liquefied, becoming active magma again.

Gerulf, who was like a silly child, marveled just as Jake had imagined, swimming happily in the lava. Unfortunately, his leather clothes didn't last long inside, but thankfully, his armor was unusually resilient.

Seeing him close his eyes and breathe a sigh of pleasure, Jake let his first mentor take a well-deserved warrior's nap in front of a bewildered Melkree and a nonplussed Lucia.

Lucia was a much more demanding customer, and a lava bath was obviously not a viable solution to satisfy her.

Luckily, she showed none of her princess nature and calmly sat cross-legged in a spot that was not too dirty. The disk had only gray dirt and randomly collected rocks, so the choice was relatively limited.

Jake had indeed erected a bunker-style dwelling in a hurry, as he had a talent for it, but the place was devoid of furniture and windows. Might as well stay outside and enjoy the view.

"Do you really live here?" Lucia asked as tactfully as she could, but her frown spoke volumes about her opinion.

"I train here, so I live here. When I'm not in an Ordeal though." Jake replied laconically.

She asked a few more innocuous questions, but he could tell by her discomfort and fidgety eyes that something else was bothering her. Jake could vaguely guess what it was.

No matter how many Digestors she had killed, no matter what hell she had been through, no matter how many loved ones she had lost, it had all happened back home, in a world she understood.

The case of Lucia and Gerulf was similar to that of Svara and the other Nawais. Their technology, their customs, their religion were far too primitive to understand the intricacies of the Mirror Universe. Although magic itself did not impress her, there was something eerie and unnerving about an island floating in the cosmos.

"Come with me." Jake took her hand, yanking slightly to lift her up and coax her to follow him.

The felines and Melkree had a good idea of what he wanted to show her and followed them calmly. They walked to the edge of the disk and gesturing for her to lean over the void, Jake gave Lucia a chance to broaden her horizons.

The immense sphere with patches of heterogeneous color stared at them with all its immensity. There was green, blue, white, brown like on Earth, but also swirls with warmer or colder hues. Sometimes, there were even flashes of distant lights, also of various colors.

Studying with great interest the dumbfounded and wonderstruck face of Lucia, Jake smiled,

"It is the planet B842. This is the place where we were a few minutes ago. In terms of size, it is billions and billions of times larger than the known territory of the Myrmid Empire. Your home world is also a planet that has been assimilated by B842. If it hasn't already been, it won't be long now."

"The Myrmid Empire... is somewhere down there?" Lucia found it hard to believe. When her world had begun to be assimilated, places she knew had disappeared bit by bit without any logic.

Jake replied in the negative, but concurred with her reasoning.

"Your whole planet will merge with B842, but it will be split up randomly. The only criteria I know is the climate. Bits of planet with compatible environmental conditions tend to clump together."

To Lucia, this was a lot of information and still heavily confusing, but she tried to cram everything he was telling her into her memory. Her thin eyebrows locked in concentration, her nose wrinkled up, she tried not to miss any details.

By the time the B842 and Mirror Universe 101 lesson was over, Lucia had regained her serene and noble demeanor. When they returned to the Yellow Cube, she no longer found the place so hostile and unwelcoming.

They could finally tell each other freely about the hardships they had gone through since their separation. When Jake told her about his origins, what had happened to Earth and what he had experienced before meeting her, it shocked her deeply, but the story also stirred her soul.

His adventures after their separation shook her even more. The gruesome fate of the hero Myrmid disturbed her deeply, so much so that she refused to believe it at first. How could a near-god revered by the entire empire end up in such a dire state. The Digestors were, however, the most irrefutable evidence and she reluctantly accepted Jake's testimony.

She knew that an otherworldly agnostic like him had no reason to lie to her. It wasn't as if he were a Throsgen or Eltar Priest on an evangelical mission.

The rest of his adventures were even more outrageous, but they soon realized that the Oracle System's censorship prevented him from telling her everything. Technically, Lucia and Gerulf had not yet completed any Ordeal.

Even with an incomplete story, she could imagine the danger just by his voice. Jake told these anecdotes casually, but she could tell by his cold, watchful demeanor the impact it had on him. He laughed often, but his heart wasn't in it.

Lucia couldn't imagine how a human even more normal and helpless than she had been could have gone so far when pushed to the limit. But thinking about it in all seriousness, she laughed bitterly. Hadn't she been through the same process?

When Jake had finished, it was Lucia's turn to relate her adventures. Gerulf was done with his lava bath and he joined them smiling and completely invigorated.

"The first thing I remember after you disappeared in the temple is Gerulf knocking me out." Lucia gave the giant a brief fierce, but not resentful look before continuing. "When I woke up, Heliodas had fallen. Gerulf managed to gather the other gladiators and a handful of guards with Khazus to fight their way out of the city.

"Gerulf will be able to tell you in detail what happened at that moment because I was unconscious, but it was basically chaos. Citizens, slaves, and even pets controlled by Brain Eaters suddenly began to devour and parasitize everyone. Wives were strangling their husbands, children were devouring their mothers, it was absolute madness. People didn't know how to react, thinking of an infection or a divine curse punishing them for their impiety. The parasitized Myrmid Templars and priests didn't help matters, turning people against each other. It was carnage.

"The one thing I remember with extreme clarity, however, is the dream I had while I was unconscious. Gerulf was awake, but he also underwent a similar experience. It was as if time had stopped and a distant voice offered me a deal that I could only accept. It was as if I was hypnotized, but on the other hand I probably would have accepted even if I were perfectly lucid."

Jake had a vague idea of what she was going to say, but he was still shocked when the words came out of her mouth.

"The voice wanted my blood. For you."