The Oracle's Prophecy: The Oracle, #5

A NineStar Press Publication

www.ninestarpress.com

The Oracle’s Prophecy

ISBN: 978-1-64890-561-2

© 2022 Mell Eight

Cover Art © 2022 Jaycee DeLorenzo

Published in October 2022 by NineStar Press, New Mexico, USA.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form, whether by printing, photocopying, scanning or otherwise without the written permission of the publisher. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact NineStar Press at Contact@ninestarpress.com.

CONTENT WARNING:

This book contains depictions of suicidal ideation and depression.

The Oracle’s Prophecy

Oracle, Book Five

Mell Eight

Table of Contents

Prologue

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Part Four

Part Five

Part Six

Epilogue

About the Author

Prologue

HIS SISTER WAS multitude, yet she still managed to speak with only one voice. Hundreds of Oracles before her had lived and died and then lent their strength from beyond the grave to their successors. Every time he spoke with her he got a headache from all the minds pressing against his own.

The world will not end prematurely, she said, parting the veils of the present to connect with his mind. The last time they had spoken, she’d had the voice of a young girl. She was almost a woman now, sounding adult and mature in tone. Time had taken its toll on her. While he sat in his Tower, unageing, she would grow old and die and another child would take her place.

You have stopped the sickness of corruption and death? he asked, remembering the vision her immediate predecessor had shown him when she had explained why her life was ending so early due to the birth of the child growing inside her. The green miasma had crept out of her part of the world in the vision, smothering her Monastery and her acolytes as it clawed across the land and through peoples’ hearts. It would have even reached his Tower eventually, but by then his purpose in the world would have become moot thanks to the death of the people he sought to protect.

He could feel her nod through their connection. It is contained by love, she insisted, and a fleeting image of the child she had borne slipped between them. So, she had been successful after all, despite the pain it had caused her and her followers. I am turning my attention to rebuilding my Monastery, she continued. Arrogance and laziness have taken root during my distraction, and it is poisoning my Castes. She shared an image of her Dragon of Earth, willingly entombed beneath her mountain, another of her Dragon of Water, her body broken and defeated at the foot of the cliff she had jumped from.

She was the third Oracle in a row who had been working against the miasma, although most of the preventative actions that needed to occur had been during her own short lifetime. Still, three generations was a lot of time for her Castes to learn how to misbehave. They had considerable power and prestige at their fingertips, but they were still only human, and humans often couldn’t help themselves. Only her Dragons had remained pure, if the images she had shown him were true. Her Dragon of Fire had begun the process of saving the world, followed by her Dragon of Ether. Her Dragon of Earth and Dragon of Air had removed themselves from the Monastery entirely, and her Dragon of Water had killed herself to escape from it all. It was beyond regrettable that the Monastery had fallen so far from their purpose while she worked so hard to ensure their survival, but he knew she and her Dragons could put it back to rights.

He passed on that sentiment through their bond and felt her smile of relief in return. Thank you, Sentinel. We will speak again soon.

He was sad to see her go, loneliness encroaching into his mind again even though she hadn’t yet left.

Look to the east as the sun rises, her voice echoed with a hint of prophecy as her mind faded from his. Then she was gone, and the Sentinel was once again alone at the top of his Tower.

He settled into his nest of pillows and thick blankets, pulling a corner of cloth up to cover his freezing nose. He looked to the east on his left, but all he saw was endless snow in the endless night through the thickly paned windows that circled his room.

The fire’s gone out! Elda gasped as she bustled into view. She was a spark of light in the otherwise totally darkened room, brightening the space with her very presence as magic coiled around her. Elda’s eyes were the bright blue of a powerful light mage. She was a petite woman, but the strength of her personality exuded a presence that made her one of the most powerful people in the Tower. Elda struck flint together and rekindled the large firepit in the center of the room. The smoke drifted upward into the chimney suspended overhead, and warmth began to filter back into the room. "Breakfast will be served in about ten minutes, if