My vision went black. Everything became nothing, as I saw nothing but stars—as its name indicated. They became nothing but streaks of life as things seemed to spin and change, some became colorful and others died off, and with a final spin and a bright flash. I saw a planet, for the first time in my life, I saw what one looked like; impossibly big, impossibly mesmerizing, blotches of black that served as clouds, ink-like oceans and dark red landmass with patches of dark green.
I blinked, only to see the soil, and everything else became nothing but a blur. In an almost impossibly slow motion, I saw a seed drop and burrow, and then as if it was cutting parts of its life— I saw it slowly grow into a small sapling, then into a small tree, and then slowly turn ashen and golden; an Osthus Tree.
Everything went black once more, and I saw the same thing, but this time there was greenery around. And this time, it was a darkened seed. It cut and it sprouted, but after every cut everything around it seemed to progressively die, the seed—the plant that was ugly and wretched twisted, but seemed full of life while its surroundings seemed to slowly die off. Eventually I saw a tree, it was as big as mountains, it reminded me of a World Tree. However, everything around it was nothing but dried land. Ashen and devoid of life, the ground itself was rotten, and animals constantly perished.
A sudden thought forced itself into my head. Dark Plants. And then. They take, not give.
Visions changed, and I saw more plants, they continued to pass and then— a voice entered my ears.
“Ehh, you’re quite inefficient with things, you are just letting it take you along and show you whatever you want,” she scoffed. I turned only to see a familiar person, her skin was just like mine, but her eyes were a bright crimson and her hair was white. She smiled. “Now, we don’t have much time.” She grabbed my hand, or I felt it rather than be able to see what she was grabbing,
It was Lumina.
“You aren’t lacking anything right now, so I fail to see why you would need to use a Guidance. You haven't even decided what you want to know about, you don’t have the Knowledge to know what you want.” She shrugged as she walked me through a void. “But I suppose that for someone like you the simpler the better?” she asked the air shaking her head. “Do you want to follow my path?”
She turned to me with a grin, it was mischievous but happy. I nodded, though my vision did not actually change. Her eyes curled with glee.
“I am glad then.” She stopped and snapped her fingers—
My vision changed to see a poisonous swamp. “You see, Dark Plants have something fatal within them.”
As she said that I saw a small spark with my vision, it slowly touched the poisonous air surrounding me. And like an instant reaction, the spores went ablaze. Everything went white, as an explosion of pure fire engulfed me. I felt the ground shift, the earth itself tremble, and then with a small skip of time everything had become ashen.
“Of course, it's not universal, but just like normal plants, dark plants burn— though they do so quick.” She shrugged. “But well, if you grab a Lyco Mushroom, and make it explode while setting it ablaze—well you get quite the colorful result.”
Lumina chuckled. But I wanted to ask.
Why are you here?
She snorted. “My memories were dying of boredom. But you did good with the Monarch of Frost and the Empress of Crystal. I suppose that I want a proper inheritor that can live to my name— anyway.”
Before I could say or voice my opinion she continued.
“Even Elasia told you to not disappoint me. Unfortunately for you, among the three Prophecies that were created by me, and connected to me. This has been the only one to be taken, and moreover one seems to have been destroyed.” She shrugged. “Some memories are missing because of that. However, between the two, only one has been taken, and moreover you are a good inheritor so I choose to show myself to you.
You should be grateful, you know?” She looked at me skeptically. “A lot of people would kill to have even a fraction of my memory. And yet you have about two-thirds of it. Well, I am just what the original Lumina wanted me to be. I do know she made the destroyed Prophecy after, but I don’t know what happened.
And well, I don’t know how I died either?”
Huh.
She nodded. “Anyway, it doesn’t particularly matter. What matters is that you should consider yourself lucky since I am about to enlighten you!”
Her fingers snapped as I saw the visions of a person, they held a Lyco Puff within their hand. They stood in a city, tall buildings of stone surrounded them, and with some self doubt they pushed mana onto the puff and threw it at a building.
“See?”
The person clasped their hand and the mushroom exploded into thousands of spores. They opened it as I saw some spores bloom before quickly clasping once more— as a huge cloud enveloped everything, with a flick of their finger a single spark was thrown and—
A fiery torrent erupted, consuming everything around it and burning it to cinders, burning and carbonizing everything in its path. In the end, only the rock remained charred in a black coal-like color. Smoke billowed constantly and the person ran away.
“Well that’s always nice to see,” she mused. As everything returned to darkness, the light around slowly vanished. She nodded once we were in the black void. “And, time is up!”
What?
“See, Guidance normally would show you a single vision in thirty seconds, but we’ve seen quite a few. That said, another issue is retention.”
Before I could ask, she elaborated.
“Just like waking up from a dream…” She walked towards my vision and extended her hand towards my eyes. “You’re bound to forget most of it, only left with random notes to work with. That said, please understand that this is quite intensive for your mind.” She smiled. I felt a tap on my forehead from her finger. “That said, I think you’ll remember most of it.” With a smile, everything vanished.
◇ ◇ ◇
I blinked and I stood back on the clearing. I wobbled and fell down on the ground. Huh? I blinked a few more times feeling as if I had just spaced out, and then I touched my forehead—
Explosions.
“You’ll remember most of it,” I muttered. And then with a painful headache, I remembered everything.
Lyco Puffs could explode… Literally?
My head felt as if it was about to explode, but at the same time I remembered everything clearly, and based on the timer not even a minute had passed. What? Lumina had said that it was intensive for my mind. But I could handle it. I calmed down for a few minutes slowly understanding the information that I was fed, namely just replying to the vision inside my head over and over again.
The more that I saw it, the more I felt an odd desire within me. I understood from Lumina that fire was bad for my Prophecy, but if I could have Explosive Shot somehow ignite it… Wouldn’t it be amazing?
A torrent of fire just like the one that collapsed the ceiling.
I stared at the sky seeing the fires still ongoing, though they had gotten much worse. Unsure of what to do, I grabbed the next Guidance, the 1 minute one. The headache had subsided.
[Guidance Of The Stars: 1 minutes (Epic item) — Seek the guidance of the stars themselves to show you the path of your Prophecy.]
And once more I got immersed.
◇ ◇ ◇
I saw the stars once more, but then they shifted and I found myself looking at the floor. I saw coiling branches of pitch black wood as I lifted my vision, the room expanded as I saw a myriad of different trees, and on the floor was a trail of red wood leading to the center of the hall, where I saw her sitting on a throne of trees. This time around I had a body as I sat down on the ground, appreciating the grand hall.
“So eager to learn.” Lumina smiled. “Unfortunately, you aren’t strong enough to see more yet. See, it can only show you things you can do and maybe things that are close. But it cannot show you your fate or your future.”
Lumina stood up from her throne. She had a draping black dress that streamed down as she walked towards me. The dull sounds of her steps echoed for a few seconds before she finally reached in front of me.
“You see, you are quite weak at the moment. There isn’t a limit to when you can learn your Prophecy but The System will adamantly refuse to let you learn anything that is outside of your reach, or rather things that you might be able to use but not at your level. Otherwise imbalances occur.” She smiled and leaned towards me, close to my ear, she whispered.
“But I can at least show you a small glimpse of what lies at the peak of your current state. Consider it a gift from your mentor.”
A glimpse? I wanted to see…
I looked up to her only to see her grinning. She had called herself my mentor. I didn’t understand how to feel about it, but… I felt a strange feeling towards the word, it wasn’t a bad one, and at the same time her will just seemed to dwell within me now. I could trust her…
Mentor…
I wanted to see what I was going to be capable of in the near future…
Her crimson eyes stared down at me, her aura felt different. She was a Monarch. Or the memories of one. I didn’t understand what a Monarch was, but she stood in the same rank as The Illusionist.
A rank…
Mentorship from someone in the same status as The Illusionist… I needed that.
I swallowed, even though she was long dead. I was just speaking with the remains of her will.
“Please…”
She grinned. “Then do you accept me as your mentor?”
“I do…”
“Then let us embark on the path to steal life.”
The hall cracked and all the trees dried. Everything became nothing but a black void. All the dark plants had vanished into nothingness, and her appearance shifted to what I was used to. Rags, and slightly more friendly.
“Let us not waste time.” She smiled. “First thing you need to know about is sentience. Dark plants should serve their ruler, after all.”
“Ruler?”
“Attunement,” she elaborated. “It allows you to rule over an element. Perhaps not right now, but as it increases it will become more free. And once you reach a certain point you’ll be able to take from them.” Her eyes met mine, the crimson bore into me. “See, Blair. I don’t know if you know this, but Dark Plants are universally hated by every civilization that has experienced them, and it also falls under the forbidden attunement list. The Illusionist may not care, but those outside his faction?” Her voice trailed to a whisper. ”They will hunt you down.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“Enemy of life, taker of vitality, a rotten death,” she mused. “It doesn’t matter, though. The Illusionist will treat you well, I won’t ask you to trust him or anything, but at least know that he isn’t bad for you. Meanwhile, I am your mentor, and the world is your enemy. The forsaken, the initiated, the rulers, the owners. Dark plants are unfortunately, the enemies of life, the creators of rot, and the vanquishers of vitality.”
She continued.
“Unfortunately, it’s an attunement that brings death.” She walked in front of me. “Do you still want to tread this path, or do you wish to forget?”
I am not following.
She shook her head and a vision shifted. I saw a planet, it was brown and falling apart, a tree sprouted past its orbit, and into space. It was dead and full of thorns. Then, it shifted once more as I heard screams, begging in agony as the plants consumed everything. Draining people of their flesh as soon as they touched them. No blood was spilled.
I saw hulking trees walking as if they were alive. Attacking anything in their path. And everything was beautiful. Purple, dark blue, deep greens, all mystical and every plant laced with poison. But the screams echoed in my ears, and at that moment.
I saw fire. The vision shifted as I saw everything burn within my very eyes. My heart stopped as I recognized everything ongoing, and then my vision shifted to my parents. But—
Vines. Sprouted from the ground and killed them, and at that moment I just stared. My heart bled for the briefest of seconds before it became nothing but a dead serenity.
I had lost everything. I felt empty.
Everything had been wiped — erased. I had nothing left. No one to be around. I was lonely. Revenge? I hated the elves, but in the end. I just missed everyone. What thoughts were there for revenge? I was… alone.
I wanted to forget. I wish things never happened… There were things I didn't wish to remember, even now.
“Do you wish to forget pain, or do you wish to turn your back on the universe?” Lumina asked once more and a prompt formed in front of me, her voice echoed in the abyss that was my mind.
[Forsake the (D Grade) Prophecy: Scarlet Bloom?]
Azrie
You can read up to Chapter 108 on patreon!
Blair now has a discord server, join here!
My vision went black. Everything became nothing, as I saw nothing but stars—as its name indicated. They became nothing but streaks of life as things seemed to spin and change, some became colorful and others died off, and with a final spin and a bright flash. I saw a planet, for the first time in my life, I saw what one looked like; impossibly big, impossibly mesmerizing, blotches of black that served as clouds, ink-like oceans and dark red landmass with patches of dark green.
I blinked, only to see the soil, and everything else became nothing but a blur. In an almost impossibly slow motion, I saw a seed drop and burrow, and then as if it was cutting parts of its life— I saw it slowly grow into a small sapling, then into a small tree, and then slowly turn ashen and golden; an Osthus Tree.
Everything went black once more, and I saw the same thing, but this time there was greenery around. And this time, it was a darkened seed. It cut and it sprouted, but after every cut everything around it seemed to progressively die, the seed—the plant that was ugly and wretched twisted, but seemed full of life while its surroundings seemed to slowly die off. Eventually I saw a tree, it was as big as mountains, it reminded me of a World Tree. However, everything around it was nothing but dried land. Ashen and devoid of life, the ground itself was rotten, and animals constantly perished.
A sudden thought forced itself into my head. Dark Plants. And then. They take, not give.
Visions changed, and I saw more plants, they continued to pass and then— a voice entered my ears.
“Ehh, you’re quite inefficient with things, you are just letting it take you along and show you whatever you want,” she scoffed. I turned only to see a familiar person, her skin was just like mine, but her eyes were a bright crimson and her hair was white. She smiled. “Now, we don’t have much time.” She grabbed my hand, or I felt it rather than be able to see what she was grabbing,
It was Lumina.
“You aren’t lacking anything right now, so I fail to see why you would need to use a Guidance. You haven't even decided what you want to know about, you don’t have the Knowledge to know what you want.” She shrugged as she walked me through a void. “But I suppose that for someone like you the simpler the better?” she asked the air shaking her head. “Do you want to follow my path?”
She turned to me with a grin, it was mischievous but happy. I nodded, though my vision did not actually change. Her eyes curled with glee.
“I am glad then.” She stopped and snapped her fingers—
My vision changed to see a poisonous swamp. “You see, Dark Plants have something fatal within them.”
As she said that I saw a small spark with my vision, it slowly touched the poisonous air surrounding me. And like an instant reaction, the spores went ablaze. Everything went white, as an explosion of pure fire engulfed me. I felt the ground shift, the earth itself tremble, and then with a small skip of time everything had become ashen.
“Of course, it's not universal, but just like normal plants, dark plants burn— though they do so quick.” She shrugged. “But well, if you grab a Lyco Mushroom, and make it explode while setting it ablaze—well you get quite the colorful result.”
Lumina chuckled. But I wanted to ask.
Why are you here?
She snorted. “My memories were dying of boredom. But you did good with the Monarch of Frost and the Empress of Crystal. I suppose that I want a proper inheritor that can live to my name— anyway.”
Before I could say or voice my opinion she continued.
“Even Elasia told you to not disappoint me. Unfortunately for you, among the three Prophecies that were created by me, and connected to me. This has been the only one to be taken, and moreover one seems to have been destroyed.” She shrugged. “Some memories are missing because of that. However, between the two, only one has been taken, and moreover you are a good inheritor so I choose to show myself to you.
You should be grateful, you know?” She looked at me skeptically. “A lot of people would kill to have even a fraction of my memory. And yet you have about two-thirds of it. Well, I am just what the original Lumina wanted me to be. I do know she made the destroyed Prophecy after, but I don’t know what happened.
And well, I don’t know how I died either?”
Huh.
She nodded. “Anyway, it doesn’t particularly matter. What matters is that you should consider yourself lucky since I am about to enlighten you!”
Her fingers snapped as I saw the visions of a person, they held a Lyco Puff within their hand. They stood in a city, tall buildings of stone surrounded them, and with some self doubt they pushed mana onto the puff and threw it at a building.
“See?”
The person clasped their hand and the mushroom exploded into thousands of spores. They opened it as I saw some spores bloom before quickly clasping once more— as a huge cloud enveloped everything, with a flick of their finger a single spark was thrown and—
A fiery torrent erupted, consuming everything around it and burning it to cinders, burning and carbonizing everything in its path. In the end, only the rock remained charred in a black coal-like color. Smoke billowed constantly and the person ran away.
“Well that’s always nice to see,” she mused. As everything returned to darkness, the light around slowly vanished. She nodded once we were in the black void. “And, time is up!”
What?
“See, Guidance normally would show you a single vision in thirty seconds, but we’ve seen quite a few. That said, another issue is retention.”
Before I could ask, she elaborated.
“Just like waking up from a dream…” She walked towards my vision and extended her hand towards my eyes. “You’re bound to forget most of it, only left with random notes to work with. That said, please understand that this is quite intensive for your mind.” She smiled. I felt a tap on my forehead from her finger. “That said, I think you’ll remember most of it.” With a smile, everything vanished.
◇ ◇ ◇
I blinked and I stood back on the clearing. I wobbled and fell down on the ground. Huh? I blinked a few more times feeling as if I had just spaced out, and then I touched my forehead—
Explosions.
“You’ll remember most of it,” I muttered. And then with a painful headache, I remembered everything.
Lyco Puffs could explode… Literally?
My head felt as if it was about to explode, but at the same time I remembered everything clearly, and based on the timer not even a minute had passed. What? Lumina had said that it was intensive for my mind. But I could handle it. I calmed down for a few minutes slowly understanding the information that I was fed, namely just replying to the vision inside my head over and over again.
The more that I saw it, the more I felt an odd desire within me. I understood from Lumina that fire was bad for my Prophecy, but if I could have Explosive Shot somehow ignite it… Wouldn’t it be amazing?
A torrent of fire just like the one that collapsed the ceiling.
I stared at the sky seeing the fires still ongoing, though they had gotten much worse. Unsure of what to do, I grabbed the next Guidance, the 1 minute one. The headache had subsided.
[Guidance Of The Stars: 1 minutes (Epic item) — Seek the guidance of the stars themselves to show you the path of your Prophecy.]
And once more I got immersed.
◇ ◇ ◇
I saw the stars once more, but then they shifted and I found myself looking at the floor. I saw coiling branches of pitch black wood as I lifted my vision, the room expanded as I saw a myriad of different trees, and on the floor was a trail of red wood leading to the center of the hall, where I saw her sitting on a throne of trees. This time around I had a body as I sat down on the ground, appreciating the grand hall.
“So eager to learn.” Lumina smiled. “Unfortunately, you aren’t strong enough to see more yet. See, it can only show you things you can do and maybe things that are close. But it cannot show you your fate or your future.”
Lumina stood up from her throne. She had a draping black dress that streamed down as she walked towards me. The dull sounds of her steps echoed for a few seconds before she finally reached in front of me.
“You see, you are quite weak at the moment. There isn’t a limit to when you can learn your Prophecy but The System will adamantly refuse to let you learn anything that is outside of your reach, or rather things that you might be able to use but not at your level. Otherwise imbalances occur.” She smiled and leaned towards me, close to my ear, she whispered.
“But I can at least show you a small glimpse of what lies at the peak of your current state. Consider it a gift from your mentor.”
A glimpse? I wanted to see…
I looked up to her only to see her grinning. She had called herself my mentor. I didn’t understand how to feel about it, but… I felt a strange feeling towards the word, it wasn’t a bad one, and at the same time her will just seemed to dwell within me now. I could trust her…
Mentor…
I wanted to see what I was going to be capable of in the near future…
Her crimson eyes stared down at me, her aura felt different. She was a Monarch. Or the memories of one. I didn’t understand what a Monarch was, but she stood in the same rank as The Illusionist.
A rank…
Mentorship from someone in the same status as The Illusionist… I needed that.
I swallowed, even though she was long dead. I was just speaking with the remains of her will.
“Please…”
She grinned. “Then do you accept me as your mentor?”
“I do…”
“Then let us embark on the path to steal life.”
The hall cracked and all the trees dried. Everything became nothing but a black void. All the dark plants had vanished into nothingness, and her appearance shifted to what I was used to. Rags, and slightly more friendly.
“Let us not waste time.” She smiled. “First thing you need to know about is sentience. Dark plants should serve their ruler, after all.”
“Ruler?”
“Attunement,” she elaborated. “It allows you to rule over an element. Perhaps not right now, but as it increases it will become more free. And once you reach a certain point you’ll be able to take from them.” Her eyes met mine, the crimson bore into me. “See, Blair. I don’t know if you know this, but Dark Plants are universally hated by every civilization that has experienced them, and it also falls under the forbidden attunement list. The Illusionist may not care, but those outside his faction?” Her voice trailed to a whisper. ”They will hunt you down.”
I frowned. “Why?”
“Enemy of life, taker of vitality, a rotten death,” she mused. “It doesn’t matter, though. The Illusionist will treat you well, I won’t ask you to trust him or anything, but at least know that he isn’t bad for you. Meanwhile, I am your mentor, and the world is your enemy. The forsaken, the initiated, the rulers, the owners. Dark plants are unfortunately, the enemies of life, the creators of rot, and the vanquishers of vitality.”
She continued.
“Unfortunately, it’s an attunement that brings death.” She walked in front of me. “Do you still want to tread this path, or do you wish to forget?”
I am not following.
She shook her head and a vision shifted. I saw a planet, it was brown and falling apart, a tree sprouted past its orbit, and into space. It was dead and full of thorns. Then, it shifted once more as I heard screams, begging in agony as the plants consumed everything. Draining people of their flesh as soon as they touched them. No blood was spilled.
I saw hulking trees walking as if they were alive. Attacking anything in their path. And everything was beautiful. Purple, dark blue, deep greens, all mystical and every plant laced with poison. But the screams echoed in my ears, and at that moment.
I saw fire. The vision shifted as I saw everything burn within my very eyes. My heart stopped as I recognized everything ongoing, and then my vision shifted to my parents. But—
Vines. Sprouted from the ground and killed them, and at that moment I just stared. My heart bled for the briefest of seconds before it became nothing but a dead serenity.
I had lost everything. I felt empty.
Everything had been wiped — erased. I had nothing left. No one to be around. I was lonely. Revenge? I hated the elves, but in the end. I just missed everyone. What thoughts were there for revenge? I was… alone.
I wanted to forget. I wish things never happened… There were things I didn't wish to remember, even now.
“Do you wish to forget pain, or do you wish to turn your back on the universe?” Lumina asked once more and a prompt formed in front of me, her voice echoed in the abyss that was my mind.
[Forsake the (D Grade) Prophecy: Scarlet Bloom?]
Azrie
You can read up to Chapter 108 on patreon!
Blair now has a discord server, join here!
