Sleeping Flame (7) - It Was Mercy, Not a Curse
When the prophet finished speaking those words, Veronica murmured as if deeply moved.
──It wasn’t a curse, but mercy.
“While searching the ruins of humanity, I learned of the gods’ downfall, yet I never once imagined why it would not harm our own clan… I truly never even considered such a thing.”
“If our outward form is stolen and prohibitions are placed upon us until we fall, we cease to be gods. We escape the fate of the divine.”
The prophet’s avatar spoke to Veronica, who was carefully turning over this new truth.
“We were a divine clan whose death was not fixed in the prophecy. The destruction of our kind did not appear in my dreams. Therefore──as the representative of our clan, I accepted the mercy that was called a curse.”
“…So that was it.”
Veronica’s eyes widened as if she had realized something profound.
“That is why a trace of regret lingered in the prophet’s reminiscences. You, who foresaw an inescapable ruin, received salvation for your own life and clan from the very gods who would perish in that ruin. Am I correct?”
Odin had once said that the moment a future is observed, it becomes fixed. In that sense, it was as if the prophet had handed the gods their destruction. Whether she wished it or not, because she had foreseen their fate, Ragnarok had come to pass.
Having pieced together Veronica’s thoughts, I opened my mouth.
“No. Veronica, that isn’t it.”
“What?”
Leaving the startled Veronica behind, I studied the prophet’s avatar. The construct could not move with the precision of true life; it fidgeted helplessly. The ‘real regret’ embedded in the prophet’s spirit must have been that heavy.
“Your words contain contradictions in several places. Small dissonances on their own, but when gathered together they form a massive error.”
“You? What do you mean by dissonance?”
“Think about it. That person’s prophecies could not be escaped even by the gods. Her accuracy was high enough that even the absurd future of the gods’ destruction came true.”
Veronica looked bewildered. I explained bluntly.
“But if that is so, then why did she place such importance on ‘qualifications’?”
“…!!”
Veronica’s eyes flew wide open. She seemed to have grasped what I was driving at. Simply put──if the future was already fixed, what meaning could the intermediate steps possibly hold?
“A prophecy has been handed down among the Bicorns that one day they will be saved by a savior.”
It was a foresight powerful enough to decide even the destruction of the gods. There was no need to layer barrier upon barrier, leave behind an avatar, and test a savior’s qualifications. If left alone, a deliverer would appear on their own, do everything required, and depart. So why go to such lengths?
“That prophecy made your salvation certain. Yet if that were true, why did you consider yourself a descendant who had suffered? Why, upon realizing you were a descendant who had wandered the world apart from the prophecy, did you still doubt?”
A prophet confident in her own foresight should never have thought that way. I stated it plainly.
“How could the one who gave her clan a prophecy that would absolutely come true know, the instant she saw you, that you were a Bicorn who had rejected the prophecy and roamed the world instead?”
Imagine someone dominating the stock market. Every investment succeeds, and everyone around them knows it. Yet after giving information to a trusting friend, that person is convinced the friend will fail? It makes no sense.
The prophet had left her descendants a prophecy of salvation and a holy land where they could rest. Therefore, when she saw Veronica, she should naturally have thought her a Bicorn waiting for the savior in the holy land exactly as foretold. That is the natural state of an ‘absolutely infallible prophet.’
“Th-that is… because the prophet saw a future containing me through her foresight…”
“If that were truly the case, there would have been no reason to test qualifications. You did not appear in the prophecy.”
I dismissed the excuse Veronica had grasped at.
“That person does not know you. If the guide of the savior in the prophecy had been you, there would have been no need to question your qualifications. She could simply have announced that the expected one had arrived and spoken according to the prophecy.”
When the one you sought finally appears, you should welcome them with open arms. To interrogate and probe instead──can only mean the prophet herself lacked certainty in her own vision.
In other words, upon seeing us, the prophet’s avatar had wondered, Are these people truly the saviors?
If “doubt” sounds too harsh, we may call it anxiety.
“B-but then… does that mean the prophecy passed down to our clan…!”
Veronica could not finish; her throat seemed blocked. The prophet’s avatar spoke to her urgently.
“It was not a false prophecy meant to comfort the clan. The prophet’s foresight does not depend on the power of the divine race. Even after receiving the curse, I did not lose that ability. Therefore, on the day twilight fell upon Asgard, I clearly saw a future in which our clan would be saved.”
“…Then allow me to ask this.”
I cut off the frantic words with a short reply. Honestly, I felt like I was doing something cruel, but this was not a matter I could overlook. It would be deception toward Veronica.
“Prophet. Do you know my name?”
“…!!”
The prophet’s avatar bit her lip. The more the avatar of the ancestor she revered fell silent, the more tears gathered in Veronica’s eyes.
“Please answer. Am I the savior of the prophecy that appeared in your foresight?”
Only my voice echoed through the cave.
Wow, this world is seriously fucked. My conscience is stabbing me so hard I might actually die. A pathetic grad student isn’t supposed to be a creature that torments women.
When Veronica looked ready to cry, it made even me feel utterly depressed.
“If it is true, I would be glad, yet the moment you saw us you first examined us with magic to determine our qualifications. From my perspective, that inevitably makes me skeptical.”
The prophet’s avatar had shone with magical light in her eyes the instant she saw us. Recalling how she had read something from us and only then seemed relieved enough to explain──we were clearly not the certain subjects of an absolute prophecy.
The prophet’s avatar remained silent. I suppressed a sigh and continued.
“Child of Chaos. You called it a term for humans unbound by fate. For thousands of years after the mythic age waned, it has been humans who have shaped the world’s course.”
After the end of the mythic age, after Ragnarok, the gods had almost completely withdrawn from the earth. Humans then built ancient civilizations and ushered in a golden age. Of course, even in that there remained one critical contradiction, one question. But that could wait. It was not important right now. What mattered now was the future of the Bicorns.
I voiced a speculation I truly did not want to make.
“…Prophet. Did your foresight lose its accuracy after Ragnarok?”
The silence was so awkward that if Larilura had been present she might have died of discomfort. At last the prophet’s avatar confessed the truth.
“…The day of salvation I foresaw passed five thousand years ago from the present.”
“…No.”
Veronica seemed to lose her soul from the shock. The prophet’s avatar lowered her eyes exactly as she had when first hearing Veronica’s self-introduction.
The reason the prophet had left the holy land and wandered was likely an attempt to somehow reconcile a prophecy that had already missed its mark by five thousand years.
“Then… then what becomes of our clan?”
Veronica asked in a trembling voice.
“There is still a way to lift our clan’s curse, isn’t there? Even if the prophecy missed, we can escape our fate by our own strength, can’t we?”
Having lost her spiritual support, Veronica reached for the hem of her ancestor’s avatar. But the illusory body simply let her hand pass through coldly. Her hand fell limply. It was the first time I had seen her look so fragile.
Perhaps the reason Veronica had always seemed so resolute was because she had believed in the prophet’s prophecy that deeply. Come to think of it, yes. Even when I revealed the truth about the rune stones, she had been happier at the thought that I might be the prophesied savior than at learning her own research had been in vain.
“We… will not have to remain trapped in the holy land forever, abandoned by the world, will we?”
…Thud.
Veronica, fallen to her knees, murmured as if to herself.
No one spoke, so there was no one to embrace her shock.
“Hic… hic… Hiiiic…”
Clutching her chest, Veronica’s breathing grew strangely rapid. She seemed to have begun hyperventilating from the shock.
I quickly took out the imperial seal. I had no talent for comforting words, after all.
─Swish!
I poured the mana of all nine runes stored in the seal into a single rune I possessed. I did not consider it a waste. Though the rune would have been useful for Seidr or battle, I would have spent any number of them if it could soothe her wounded heart even a little.
The true realization of the rune signifying peace, safety, and rest pierced through my mind.
"──ᚦ(Thurs)."
⟨ Sleep of Peace ⟩
…Thump.
Veronica, whose mental shock had been severe, offered no resistance to the sleep magic and simply fell asleep. Of course, nothing would change when she woke. But at least it could give her time to calm the shock.
I caught her as she toppled sideways and gently laid her down.
“…Thank you, Child of Chaos.”
“I didn’t do it to be thanked.”
I answered indifferently. There were plenty of excuses, but in the end the prophet had lied using a prophecy that had already missed its mark. At its root there must have been guilt and goodwill born from never expecting such an outcome, yet the fact that she had become a fraud could not be denied.
Perhaps sensing my thoughts, the avatar offered an explanation.
“Fate is self-fulfilling. Even if my prophecy missed, if those who share the same conditions grasp the threads of fate, it will align with the mold and be fulfilled as foretold.”
“I will not ask how such forced alignment differs from manipulation or fraud. Even with the prophecy having missed, is there still a way to lift the curse?”
“…If you petition a god possessing mana that surpasses Lord Odin’s curse, it should be possible.”
“In other words, we must beg complete strangers for mercy. And from opponents who have been utterly ruined since Ragnarok and have no leisure to help others.”
I hadn’t noticed it myself, but it seemed I was quietly furious. Only after realizing it did I notice how rough my tone had become.
“…Haa.”
I exhaled, shaking off the irritation. What sin did the prophet truly bear? A real prophet probably never possessed the power to decide the future. If the divine race moved according to fate, then even her foreseeing Ragnarok had been fate. A life spent leaving her homeland—whether by fate or coincidence—trying to save at least her clan yet failing. A life wandering distant lands to clean up that failure, only to die an obscure death in another world. It felt too much like the “if” future of some pathetic grad student living somewhere, so getting angry felt pointless.
Thinking there was no use getting angry at an avatar, I decided to shift to constructive thoughts.
“To refresh the mood, let us change the subject for a moment. Prophet. Do you happen to know about a Seidr material called the ‘Burning Branch’?”
I had better secure it before I completely forgot. If anything happened to Veronica I might have to rush upward, and it would be too late to ask then.
At my question the prophet’s avatar pointed nearby.
“If it is a branch that grew by receiving the mana of flame… would that one suffice?”
There grew something that was either a completely dried tree or branch. It looked almost like well-dried firewood simply stuck into the ground. Whether it could be called alive was debatable. For now, I cast my vote for “dead dried wood.”
“Even if you ask my opinion, I wouldn’t know. Let’s pull it out first.”
─Crack!
I seized the dry wood and yanked it free. The branch, twisted like an old man’s arm, did not look like something that should be called a “Burning Branch.” Despite its rough shape, its texture was that of a smooth limb. It had the appearance fantasy mages would favor for a staff. Good for showing off, too.
“You must handle the Burning Branch with care. If you wish, I will impart several pieces of knowledge.”
The prophet’s avatar had returned to basic explanatory mode. As expected, a program is a program. Unless the trauma keyword was triggered, it seemed to return to its task like an AI. The gloomy atmosphere had been exhausting, so this was for the best.
“I understand. I’ll take notes, so please speak.”
“If you permit it, I will transmit the knowledge directly through magic.”
“Magic? …Well, I ask you to.”
Considering the magic that currently raised my fire resistance, it should be trustworthy.
The prophet’s avatar drew up the mana stored in the stone stele.
“This magic can transmit only knowledge related to magic. I will send part of the magical knowledge left by my original body. Please remain still.”
“You can send all of it instead of only part.”
“Rune magic holds no meaning if you possess only the knowledge, but you are still willing?”
“Yes. If there are no side effects, I will take it all.”
Even if rune magic knowledge is useless without realization and rune mana, it is still better than nothing.
The prophet’s avatar activated the magic as if in understanding. It was the rune magic that summoned a mandala behind the back—the same one Veronica had used several times in her divine form.
─Whoosh!!
A mandala rose beneath my feet as well. It was the rune of ᚨ(Ansuz) that conveys speech. Knowledge poured into my mind as if PDF pages of a book were being saved directly into my brain.
After taking time to absorb it all, I frowned.
This is going to be a whole ordeal just to study.
Now I understood why she hadn’t recommended it. It felt like having an entire major textbook USB-implanted into my head. The problem was that I hadn’t actually understood the content, so it only gave me the effect of an open-book exam.
Still, it’s not a loss.
From the newly gained knowledge I selected one familiar spell. Not the usage method for this branch, but one of the magics I had used while in a rampaging state.
The knowledge had come from the previous magic. My body, which remembered the usage, automatically reproduced the technique. Originally, without the knowledge, I had been like an amnesiac and could recall nothing; but with the overlapping information, my body moved on its own. Exactly like handing a knife to a cook suffering from memory loss.
─Whoom.
I floated a green mandala above my palm. It was a higher application of rune magic. Originally a high-difficulty skill that would require months of basic training! Yet the combination of transmitted knowledge and traces gained in cheat mode made it surprisingly manageable.
For now I could only insert ᚨ(Ansuz) and ᚦ(Thurs) into this mandala, but it seemed I would eventually be able to add other runes as well.
─Flash!
I dispelled the magic. The original purpose and the main objective had been reversed, but when I thought about it, obtaining Seidr materials was also about finding answers to such questions.
With the intention of hearing everything possible before Veronica woke, I asked.
“Prophet. I once met Odin’s avatar in a dream.”