Chapter 14 : Lunaris

On the other side of the singularity, on a planet on which revolves 3 moons around it, a young girl was climbing a seemingly endless mountain.

After going to the Lake of Truth on the sly with her friend, they got terrified by the power of the Oracle which seemed to originate from another world.

While listening to her last words, the earth shook, the sky darkened, the air thinned and the two children were unable to move a single muscle. They had to wait a few minutes after the Oracle disappeared for them to regain their senses and rush back to their village.

Of course, all the villagers from their clan woke up and were already aware of the Oracle's presence. They saw the rays of blue light piercing the dark night sky and felt the earth shaking when the Oracle disappeared. The entire region was aware of the Oracle's appearance.

When the kids arrived at their village, the villagers as well as the chiefs of the neighboring villages were all present and waited for them. Before being lectured for their stupidity and what they have done which was unconscious and dangerous the kids, still frightened, decided to admit everything and they told the adults word for word what the Oracle said.

Each of the members of their clan was feeling different, the joy of knowing that the prophecy in which they had all believed for so long was real. Anticipation, for this same prophecy to soon come true. Sorrow, to learn of the death of the one they revered and awaited for so long. Hope, when they learned that another savior had taken his place. Apprehension, because they didn't know if he would help them.

Each of the villagers who listened to the story of the two children went through a roller coaster of emotions, nevertheless, they all shared the same resolution : even if it was not the one their ancestors saw in their vision, they were all convinced that he is the Chosen One, and will arrive as the Great Savior. For this reason, they were all determined to wait for him and do their best to honor his coming.

After that night, the two children have been punished by one of the village chiefs, who was the girl's father. They couldn't go out for a whole week, before the girl could convince her father to let her explore the mountain and to let the boy explore the forest.

If this had happened before the Oracle's appearance, the village head would have punished them for one more week just because they shamelessly asked to explore a dangerous area. However, after hearing his daughter's story, he couldn't bring himself to stop her.

Although he is a father before being a village chief and he cares about his daughter more than anything else in the world, he is also one of those who have the greatest faith in the Oracle words, in the ancient prophecy and in the Chosen One they call their savior.

If the oracle advised her daughter to climb the Hydra mountain, he was confident that nothing would happen to her until she reaches the summit and meet the being living there.

So, instead of punishing these children, he decided to trust the Oracle and help them. He prepared everything they needed for their expeditions and asked the vigilante corp of the village to escort them to the edge of the forest.

A week later, the two children separated and each took a different path. The boy left to explore the forest while the girl left in the direction of Mount Hydra.

After two more weeks of intense efforts, the girl managed to almost climb the entire mountain ; she was only a dozen of meters from the top.

Pausing on a ledge to nibble on slices of smoked meat with a piece of bread, she couldn't help but think of the past month. She felt driven by an unknown force, and since the oracle revealed to her that the prophetic was about to be fulfilled, she couldn't help but feel more alive than ever.

After spending the night in a small cave near the summit, she resumed climbing the following day early in the morning. This last month of walking and climbing has exhausted her, she has been injured along the way and she even met an adult Rock Tiger. Fortunately, she escaped before the Tiger could chase her. Despite risking her life and getting out of breath, the closer she got to the top, the less she couldn't contain her excitement.

After the last meters which seemed to be the longest and most difficult of her life, she finally managed to reach the summit of Mount Hydra. The wind blowing vigorously on her skin, the sun drying off all the sweat she shed to get here ; this sense of accomplishment made her feel good.

Above the clouds, on the summit of Mount Hydra, the girl stood facing a dark cave that seemed to sink into the mountain itself.

Before she could enter, a low and extremely deep voice resounded.

"Who may thou be, little cub?"

The girl got surprised as she was not expecting this. She tried to hide her fear and responded.

"You can call me..."

She remembered the words of the Oracle to not reveal her real identity, and decided to use the name of her deceased mother instead of her own.

"...Marie. May I know to whom do I have the honor of speaking with ?"

"Trying to act thoughtful, but still being respectful, such a brave child thou are.

Tarasque is my name. Why did thou come here, little cub ?"

"I have climbed the mountain for weeks to meet you. I wish to become your disciple, venerable Tarasque !"

"Thou do not need to worship me, little cub. Why did someone as fragile as thou went to such lengths to meet me ? Is it because of the recent appearance of the one thy people call oracle?"

"Do you know the Oracle??"

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"I do. If she told thou to come here to be my disciple, my answer is no. This being is not as pure as thou might think she is."

"It is true that the oracle guided me here, but I came out of my own volition ! While we are talking, someone extremely important to us is fighting evil beings whose power we can't even imagine. This person will soon need our help as much as we will need his, I want to be ready when the time comes. Please, venerable Tarasque, let me at least live here for a few years and learn from you !"

"Hm...Brave indeed, but so stubborn thou are...

I like it."

After a brief pause, Tarasque said.

"I allow thou to stay here, but thou'll have to survive on your own, be it for food, water or anything else I won't help thou.

As for teaching thou, I'll accept only if thou can pass my test. Come forth, little cub."

And so the girl, happy to have convinced Tarasque but still afraid of this unknown being hiding in the cave, engulfed herself in the darkness.

___

Meanwhile, a little boy was running through the forest, purchased by a bunch of playful Spirit Monkeys.

Like his friend, he also started a quest to find his own path to follow. However, finding a unique plant in the huge forest surrounding Hydra Mountain is the same as looking for a needle in a haystack.

The forest was wide and dangerous, a lot of magical beasts were roaming in the region. The deeper you go into the forest, the more likely you are to meet powerful beings.

After running for hours, the little boy finally escaped from the monkeys, who probably got tired of chasing him and didn't want to cross the territory of stronger beasts.

Tired from running for so long, the boy decided to take a break next to a river that flows from the mountain to the Lake of Truth. The villagers call this river the "Death Border" because behind it resides terrifying wild beasts.

For some reason, none of them crossed this river since the boy's clan started living in the Hydra Mountain. The elders think that this river serves as a border for the Oracle domain, and no beasts, no matter how dumb they may be, would overstep the border and antagonize the Oracle.

The only ones who could roam the Oracle domain freely were the small and harmless beasts such as the Spirit Monkeys, the White Rabbits or the Horned Dears.

Facing this river, the boy was hesitating to pass it and leave the Oracle territory. He already spent weeks looking for the plant around the villages in the safer areas, but he knew that if the oracle gave him this task it wouldn't be easy.

Deep inside of him, he knew that he would need to explore dangerous areas.

After spending an hour to rest and recover from the chase, he finally resolved himself and decided to cross the river.

While he was swimming through the water to reach the other side, he didn't notice a few eyes popping out inside the bushes and looking at him.

No matter how dangerous his quest may become, the boy was determined to find the Reciprocity Leaf.

And so were the beings watching him.

___

The Hydra Mountain was located in the center part of the continent. Compared to Earth, this planet had only one huge continent, with many small islands surrounding it. If Earth was considered medium-sized and Kar-goth large-sized, this planet would be larger than both of them and be considered a giant-sized rock planet.

The native population of this planet all had a different name for this continent, the humans living in large kingdoms and empires called it 'The Middle Land', the beast-folks forming tribes 'Sacred Grounds', the elves and fairies residing in the wide forest 'Astaria', the dwarves and goblins hiding underground 'Surface World', as for the dragons and other ancient or mythical beasts, they called this land 'The Gate'.

Each of the native species of this world used a different name and even if they all claimed their own way of calling it to be the right one, they still agreed for a single name : 'Lunaris', in reference to the three moons which according to them hosted three of the four deities present on this world.

The humans believed in Zenon, the God of Wisdom. Living on the smallest but oldest of the three moons, he was the deity of wisdom, scholarship, knowledge, and logic. He is also the god of perfect balance, controlling both light and darkness.

Being a pragmatic and logical race, humans always tried to understand everything surrounding them. We could say that both these humans and those from Earth were the same when it came to seeking the truth of the universe, except for a major difference : while humans on Earth developed their knowledge by the mean of science, the humans on Lunaris had access to mana and followed the path of magic to seek the truth.

Humans formed powerful kingdoms, huge empires and they were the most numerous race on the continent. Since ancient ages, the best explorers, scholars and charismatic leaders came from the human race.

Often waging war against humans were the elves and beast-folks. These two were the pillar of an alliance called 'The Federation' reuniting many different kinds of races, mainly to form a power capable of rivaling with the Humans militaristic might.

The territory of the elves was formed of large forests, the largest of which being the capital of their people: the Forest of Arthemil, which takes its name from the goddess Arthemil, protector of nature and mother of all living beings.

Both the elves and best-folks believed in the goddess Arthemil, known as the younger sister of Zenon and living on the second moon. She is the deity of nature, hunting, plants, fertility and elemental magic, capable of controlling all the elements as if they were her own limbs.

Far from the quarrel at the surface were living the dwarves, goblins, and other underground races. While they may occasionally fight between themselves for resources or territory, they still stood united whenever an outside power tried to invade them.

They were living in huge galleries and underground cities, if the Hive on Kar'goth was big enough to be the size of a country, on Lunaris it would only be a small part of the entire underground world.

All the races living beneath the earth were believing in Hephcain, the youngest of the three gods. His domain is the third moon which is also the biggest. He is the deity of fire and earth, craftsmanship, blacksmithing, and engineering.

It is said that Hephcain is a simple-minded god, he spends his time drinking, inventing new items, and fighting with his siblings when he isn't in a good mood. Obviously, all the underground races who worship him have taken the same traits and are all short-tempered, great drinkers and brave fighters.

A fourth god is revered on Lunaris, but compared to his siblings he refused to leave the planet that gave birth to him and decided to reside in the ocean. He goes by the name of Nepton and controls all the oceans on Lunaris. Even if the continent alone is larger than a few planets Earth stuck next to each other, it is still smaller than the large oceans surrounding it.

All the intelligent races living underwater believe and worship Nepton, as well as a few people from the other races, especially the fishermen, the sailors, the navy seamen and even the pirates roaming the coast.

While the mythical beings acknowledge the four Lunaris gods, they do believe in something much greater. No one knows the secret of the universe, but these beings have a special link to the universe itself

Even if they aren't linked to another dimension like the Oracle or the other Scyllas, they still figured out that their world was just a tiny part of what they call 'The Great Dimension'.

None of them knew the reality behind the event which created the Singularity and the Void as a bridge between their dimension and another unknown place, but like the Scyllas these beings have a special link to both of them.

They know that they all originate from another place, and joined this world a long time ago after a huge cataclysm took place.

All these races and species living on Lunaris, a rocky planet almost as big as Jupiter, all have different beliefs.

But none of them could have predicted the danger that is going to befall them.

Nobody, except one.

A lonely Scylla, currently floating in space, staring at the stars.

Her gaze sweeping through the galaxy until it landed on a very hostile planet in the Singularity, Kar'goth.

"May you survive the next ordeals and join us soon, Lucky Child."