No, I wouldn’t

“No. I would be too scared. Too nervous.” I whisper to Charlotte. “I think I would rather run away.”

Charlotte’s smile gives way to surprise. I guess she expected me to be to adore all of the attention, but I really wouldn’t. She then guides me and my girlfriends to some door to the side and leads us to a room.

“Let us wait here until the Priest finishes his sermon.” Charlotte says. “Would you like some tea or some biscuits?”

“Tea, please.” Kiara says.

“Biscuits for me, please.” Amelia answers.

After we are all settled in, I decide to ask Charlotte about this so called prophecy making the rounds.

“Oh yes. It’s an old prophecy that we have discovered.” Charlotte tells us. “It was made shortly after the fall of Zrephia by a Lady Petra. She had red eyes, just like you, Darx. And she was the mother of a great warrior named Eldrin.”

Eldrin. I remember reading that name somewhere

“Do you mean Eldrin of Dackon?” I ask.

Charlotte’s face cheers up and says, “Yes, you know of him?”

“I read about him recently.” I say, recounting the history I read in the book about the Princess of Calamity. “I recall that his grandfather was the bastard of a Zrephian king. But those since it was a bastard with red eyes he was allowed to marry into the Dackon Ducal family. Then he should have had a daughter, whose name I can’t recall, and she was the mother of Eldrin of Dackon.”

“Exactly.” Charlotte replies. “Eldrin was a great hero and was supposed to marry the princess. But then he was slain by the demons at the onset of the war. Many of Imris’ descendants died at the fall of Zrephia. Lady Petra of Dackon was the only one who wasn’t there at the time. Unfortunately, she had already gone through menopause, so she could no longer pass on the blood of Imris. However, she did have the rare class of ‘grand cleric’. With it, she also had the ability to look into the future. It was not an exact skill. She could only see in symbolism. She looked into the future many times, hoping to find a resurgence of the descendants of Imris and on one of her last days on this world, she finally gave us this prophecy.”

Charolotte clears her throat, then she starts to recite the prophecy.

“One day, when the world lies broken and the faith in gods is covered in rust, the great goddess with plant her light to barren soil and bare a man of crimson eyes once more. When eventually, the horns of fire travel south once more, the sinful will melt and turn to ashes. Only the true believers remain untouched, protected by the herald of Imris.”

Ok, now that sound smore like an actual prophecy then whatever Alica said last night.

Charlotte then looks into my eyes and says, “I don’t know about you, Darx. But I feel this prophecy refers to you.”

I sigh and say, “Look, I get that you are **** for a descendant of Imris to come back, but that is just not me. I …”

“The great goddess will bring her light to barren soil.” Charlotte interrupts, repeating a part of the prophecy. “Your mother was never supposed to have a child, right?”

She did sometimes say that she has had an accident that prevented her from getting pregnant, and that my birth was a miracle but …

“And you are a man with crimson eyes, no?” Charlotte continues. “Would you not consider the oncoming demon invasion as the horns of fire coming south? Or for the other races to be divided?”

Well, crimson is a reddish color, and the demons do live north from us. And …

“I can assure you that the people these days have been less religious by far.” Charlotte continues on. “So to me, that at least comes across as the faith in Imris being covered in rust.”

I look over at Amelia and ask her for help, but she doesn’t know how to counter this prophecy. Kiara too has no way of finding falsehoods in the prophecy, so she can’t deny it either.

“I get that this is a lot for you to deal with, Darx.” Charlotte says. “From your perspective, you are just a normal guy going through his life like all other people do. But sometimes, people who are fine with living in obscurity are called to a higher purpose. Take the hero Riledo that this city was named after. Once upon a time, he was a little child playing in the river and getting into trouble like all kids do. But then he was called to saving humanity and answered the call. It is not arrogant to think you were meant for something greater when you are.”

I lean forward and place both my hands on my face with a big sigh. Suppose for a moment that Charlotte is right. What if I really am meant for something greater but I choose to ignore my destiny. Would that really doom the world? My mother did say she was supposed to be infertile and I do remember her once describing her pregnancy of me as a godsend …

Before I can finish my thoughts, the door opens and the Priest comes inside.

“Ah, Darx. Thank you so much for returning.” The old man says. “My apologies for making you wait. I’m sure you understand I cannot simply leave in the middle of a sermon.”

“Yes, no worries.” I say, as I regain my composure. “I heard you had a solution for my dreams.”

“Yes, of course, my son.” The Priest says. “But first, allow me to tell you about Petra’s prophecy.”

Even though we tell him that we have already heard about the prophecy from Charlotte, the Priest insists he tells us about it anyways. At the end, he once more tells me that should I wish it, I can always switch my guild from the Dark Dragons to the Church. In fact, he even extends the offer to Amelia and Kiara as well. Kiara says that she has spent most of her life with the Dark Dragons and is happy there. She will not leave that guild for any reason. Not even for me. Amelia on the other hand hugs my arm and says that she will follow me whichever guild I choose to join. For a moment, I imagine Amelia dressed like a nun and I fear it may have awoken something inside me. But Kiara breaks me out of my thoughts by telling me that if we don’t go to the castle soon, the Royal Guard may be sent out to look for us.

“My apologies. I was not aware you were summoned to the castle.” The Priest apologizes. “Quick then. Let us meet the cleric that will help you with your visions.”

We follow the Priest through the Cathedral’s halls until we get to a fancy bedroom. In the room a mature man is waiting for us. Despite his attire making him seem to be rather bookish, he physically also appears to be quite tall and well built. He introduces himself as Ralf and he is an A-rank dream cleric. It is not the first time an A rank cleric has attempted to help me with my nightmares. Mom invited a few over, promising to pay them if the nightmares really stopped, but they never succeeded. But this one seems promises that he is far more capable than any other. He at least has lived and studied amongst the elves.

The cleric instructs me to lie on the bed and get comfortable. Charlotte informs both Kiara and Amelia that since the procedure is going to take a long time and the cleric is not supposed to be disturbed, it would be better if the lot of them go out and enjoy the festival a bit. Amelia wants to stay and wait, but I tell her I will be fine and that she should enjoy herself.

After my girlfriends have left, the cleric leans over me and says, “Alright. I will start by casting a spell to make you fall into a deep sleep. Once you are fast asleep, I will search into your dreams. Once I discover what you are dreaming about, I will project a version of myself in your dream and then I will see what I can do. Are you ready?”

The last time a dream cleric worked on me, they said something similar to this, so I was kindof expecting it already.

“Yeah, I’m ready.” I say, and close my eyes while thinking of Ophelia.

Shortly after, I sense the effects of his magic on me and I drift into a deep sleep. When I lose consciousness, I feel like I am floating in the darkness. Suddenly, I feel a sense of disorientation, and all of a sudden I am standing rather than lying on my back. I look around and in the distance I see Ophelia. Well, the mage has certainly brought me to the correct dream. Or perhaps I brought myself here because it is so much easier for me to contact Ophelia since my awakening.

I walk over to Ophelia and call out her name.

“Darx.” Ophelia says. “I missed you.”

“I know, it has been a rough couple of days.” I tell her.

When I get close enough, I notice she is on her knees again. She is really losing power. I need to find out where she is and quickly. I try to get closer to her, but the same invisible wall from before is there once again and is preventing me from touching her.

“Can you tell me about it?” Ophelia asks. “I think it would do me well to hear a good story.”

I look around and see no sign of the cleric as of yet. So I might as well talk to Ophelia as I wait.

“Yes, well. Ophelia …” I start. “Do you think you could imagine 2 people being in love with you at the same time?”