"I can’t stop you from falling," I said, "but I could stand in your place. I can’t... let men like this to win, no matter the cost."
The words hung in the air between us, and the phantom of the Jade Oracle went still; even the silver fire in my hands seemed to pause, as if the world itself was waiting for her response.
The Jade Oracle is quiet for long enough that I think the phantom has faded, then her voice returns, and there was a note of seriousness in it that had not appeared before.
"You would do that? You would take my place?"
I shrugged, "In my own way, I have been doing this for a while now, and I cannot let all my efforts go to waste. What is one more sacrifice?"
She laughed, and I don’t think it was a mocking laugh. "You are a fool... but is that not the nature of miracles, to do the things that no one else could. Tell me, Miracle, what can I call you?"
I cocked my head to the side, "Are you not able to tell?"
The hand of the massive phantom waved above my head, "Only a remnant of my will is with you here, and your body is shielded from my sight. I can taste the Celestial Essence flowing in your veins, but I cannot see inside your being."
I blinked. The Jade Oracle had no issue seeing into me the first time we met. Was it because my channels had been completed and were evolving into something new that she could no longer see the core of who I was?
The fox nudged me, and I emerged from my head, "My name is Elric Voss, and I am here to stop the Pale Matron from breaking free of the Caelith and ending my world."
"Elric Voss," she said, as if she was tasting the name, "You have the power to walk away, to leave this pyramid and never return. Unlike the natives of this world, the taint of the earth does not stain your soul any longer; you have the power to live and explore the immensity of forever, and you are choosing to stand in the place of a dying machine?"
"I’m not choosing to stand in the place of people who would break this world for power," I said.
She was silent again, then her phantom drifted closer, her headless form looming over me, and I felt the weight of her attention.
"Before you offer again, let me tell you what you would be agreeing to, because I do not think you fully understand what you are asking for, and I will not take something from you unless you understand what you are giving.
I frowned before nodding. What she had said made sense, "Then tell me," I say. The last of the blood was thinning, and soon there would be no more blood flowing from the portal.
"Very well. Listen, then, to the decision you are about to take."
∞
"The Caelith Mourne is a prison," she says, "and I am its lock. When I fell into this world ten thousand years ago, I was shattered into ten places, but my essence remains, and that essence keeps her bound. Not even the Void wants the Pale Matron to be free."
My head suddenly hurt, and I shook it like a wet dog, "What do you mean you were shattered into ten places?"
"Five of the Caeliths on this continent are the same as this one, and the rest are scattered all over the world. This prison is a single mirror shattered in ten places, and so too is its prisoner. If you are going to take my place, Elric Voss, you are going to be shattered into all ten Caeliths, and although you are a miracle, your soul is too weak for this purpose. You have a year, Elric, nothing less and nothing more."
I shuddered, "So, the path for me remains the same. If I cannot stop you from dying, then I have to kill everyone who would use your death for their benefit. I will judge them all."
Although the words I said came out flat, a storm was raging inside of me. Something was shifting, as the weight of what she had just told me pressed down on my soul like a mountain.
I had only one path forward, and that path would be filled with blood and lightning.
"Elric Voss," the Jade Oracle said, her voice softer now. "You are not the first to offer yourself to great burdens, but you offer without wanting something in return. That is why I am telling you the truth so that you will know the full weight of it."
I looked at her phantom, at the headless form that was slowly dissolving, and I felt something in my chest crack, as if my heart was a stone that had been struck too many times.
"Tell me more," I said. "Tell me about the other Caeliths."
"The other prisons are like this one. Three Caeliths fell to this world, and then we were shattered. I do not know the fate of the others, but I know that each of my pyramids holds a fragment of the Pale Matron’s body. Her limbs. Her torso. Her heart. I do not know if this was the intention of the void, but this world is small, and we fell near each other. Close enough that the fragments could feel each other, and if one prison falls, the others will follow."
"Like a chain reaction."
"Yes. I do not know if the mages of your world know of this truth, or if they had been deceived by the demons... their tongue is as sweet as it is poisonous. This world would fall if they are not stopped in time, and it may already be too late."
I shuddered; the scale of this madness kept growing, and I am sure that it was all connected, all part of a terrible plan. Surely there were sane voices in the Conclave; either they had been silenced, or they had not been told the full truth, and they were all chasing a power that was vastly beyond their reach.
"How long before the other Caeliths are breached?"
"Years. Decades. Perhaps centuries. The other Caeliths have not been poisoned like this one, but if I fall, the others, especially the rest of me, would fall more quickly. And when they do, the Pale Matron will rise whole."
I looked at the portal. The last of the blood had stopped flowing, and I brought my hand down. "Then I have a year to become strong enough to stop it."
The Jade Oracle laughed, "Then you would..."
A cold wind suddenly blew past me, and the phantom of the Jade Oracle vanished, as a chill covered me and a chill filled my heart. Slowly turning my head, I looked at the portal of blood, and the shadow of a man stood there.