Eighteen years ago, a few weeks before the birth of their first born son, Rowan Amadeus Lucios Polaris, the heir to the throne, the heavily pregnant empress and her most trusted maid set out to see the oracle so they would know what was to come for her child. As many mothers do, the empress wanted to make sure that her child would live well and prosper in this world and that he would never need or want anything that she and her husband, his majesty, the royal emperor, could not provide.
As she and her maid stepped out of the electric hover car that all royals who wanted to be inconspicuous rode in, she could already sense that the air at the oracle’s home was different. The empress had never liked the oracle, but she knew in her heart that this was what a good mother like her should do. However, the air seemed more wicked than normal and uneasiness. The empress’ maid told her it was most likely due to pregnancy hormones but the empress still felt convinced that it had something to do with the news the oracle would be giving her.
They stepped inside the disheveled palace of the oracle, long not well taken care of as no one would want to willingly work in such an area besides the oracle. The empress was half convinced that the oracle was not in the right mind.
“I had been expecting you to come here soon, Your Majesty, Empress Nadia Delo Lucios Polaris, the shining star of our empire. I see that you are far along with your child. A boy.”
The empress nodded,
“Yes, the doctors told me that I will be having a son.”
The oracle smiled, she was quite beautiful, despite her very old age, with long pale white hair and light blue eyes, she looked to be roughly the queen’s age. However, she was far older than anyone else alive and always seemed to have a strange air around her,
“Yes. I assume you came for me to read his fate.”
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The empress nodded as the oracle beconned for her to sit down,
“It seems that your son will be your sole child, but he will be very powerful. He will have some of the strongest powers in your family for generations to come.”
The empress’ eyes widened in shock, but she said nothing, her maid putting a hand on her shoulder,
“And what else, oracle?”
The oracle nodded,
“I’m not sure if I should say what is next. It may hurt you, especially since you are in such a vulnerable state, your majesty.”
The empress and her maid gasped in horror,
“You must say it anyway. I have to know. This is the only way that I can protect my child.”
The oracle nodded,
“Your son will be born ill, with a sickness incurable and unheard of by any doctor that you will ever find or see. The sickness will lead to his death-”
The empress began wailing in horror that her sole child would suffer and die so agonizingly,
“Wait, my empress, for there is still hope for your son and the heir to the kingdom. The sickness will lead to his death unless he finds the girl of death and manages to get her to kiss him by his nineteenth birthday.”
The empress dried her face,
“But how can we find her? Has she been born yet or-”
The oracle laughed,
“That I cannot help you with. It must be a kiss from true love, though, my empress, so even if you did find her, she may not even be so willing to help you. She must willingly kiss him and even then, I have no idea of the side effects or how long it will save your son. The fates do not reveal all.”
The empress stood up abruptly, walking away with her maid, not even saying a thanks or a parting word, the rotting floorboards creaking under them as they headed back towards the electric hover car. As the two sped away, the oracle laughed bitterly,
“Don’t worry too much, my dearest young empress. You’ll wish your precious son had died from his sickness soon enough.”