Dragon of Endless Evil

*Domain of the Sorcery Clan, The Great Library*

The glow of the moonlight filtered through the tall windows of the black stone tower, casting shadows on the walls of the circular room. In the center of the ritual basin, the water slowly calmed after Agath had removed the Oracle from her forehead. Agath let out a long sigh as her eyes, milky white during the trance, regained their piercing blue shade.

The midnight ceremony had just ended. A decade had passed without any birth with celestial signs or ominous omens being detected.

Luci’El stood a few steps from her mother, motionless in her long white woolen robe whose silver embroideries caught the reflections of the stars. Her golden hair, long enough to brush the floor, undulated under the glacial wind that rushed in through the balcony. The white fabric headband covered her closed eyes.

She followed her mother into the labyrinthine aisles of the library, between the rows of shelves that rose up to a ceiling lost in the shadow. Each section bore an engraved blazon: Sword, Sorcery, Shadow, Spear, Venom... And each of the parchments held the destiny of the person inscribed.

"As you can see, Luci. The parchments are arranged by date, by clan, by region... It also depends on the origin of the newborn."

"I understand, mother. But I always wonder why we keep this for ourselves. Maybe if we revealed their destiny, it could change things. Avoid deaths for example. If Daemon knew that he was the bearer of the Mark of the Beast, he would do everything not to become the one you fear, right?"

Agath stopped short. She pivoted toward her daughter, a light smile on her lips, and raised a hand to caress her golden hair. The gesture was meant to be maternal, but it carried a certain aggressiveness.

"Fear?"

She laughed softly.

"Why would I need to fear him, when you are here? Daemon exists to be killed by The Midnight Star. That is to say you, my treasure..."

Luci’El remained silent under her mother’s hand, but a shiver ran through her. She then asked the question that had weighed on her since she had perceived Agath’s intriguing movements in the cave of relics.

"Is that the reason why you gave that man the Lance of Destiny?"

Agath’s hand froze in her daughter’s hair. Her fingers clenched for a second before she resumed her gesture, more slowly. She set off walking again, her silhouette blending into the darkness of the shelves.

"You have become much more insolent with your mother... Tell me, why have you changed? I hope it is not adolescence. You are a bit too big for your crisis..."

The tone oscillated between jest and warning. But Luci’El saw everything, through her eyes: her mother’s chi, usually of a serene gold, had tinged with pale red, a sign of an annoyance that no composed voice could conceal.

"Even if the whole world knew his destiny, it would change nothing. It would only cause more chaos. The result would always be the same."

Agath continued her walk toward the shelves of the Spear Clan, passing several parchments, before stopping in front of a scroll set apart from the others.

"Let us take for example... the parchment of Kellen Strain."

She seized it and unrolled it. As for most ordinary destinies, it was not a detailed account, but a single sentence.

"Kellen Strain will kill many swordsmen before giving up the ghost on the blade of a sword."

"This destiny is quite explicit... Kellen has grown up in hatred, ever since Persephone killed his father. He lives only to avenge himself on the Sword Clan. So do you think that knowing his destiny would change anything?"

She closed the parchment and put it back in place. For her, Kellen was only a tool, armed with the Lance of Destiny to ensure that her plan unfolded without hindrance.

"It is true that, by his birth, it is practically impossible to free oneself from this destiny. But mother, giving him the Lance of Destiny is excessive. If the other clans learn of it, we will no longer be neutral, and they will have proof to strip us of the protection of the Doom."

"You worry for nothing much. With the lance, he will just kill a few more swordsmen before being killed by one of them. It is his destiny."

Luci’El lowered her head, her hands clenched on the fabric of her robe. She turned her face toward a recess in the wall, where rested a sealed parchment, isolated from all the others of the Spear Clan.

"Who is that one for?"

"You will meet him when the time comes. Just a little arrogant brat from the Spear Clan."

Agath answered with nonchalance, tucking the document into one of the pockets of her robe.

"If you are so curious to know why I made this choice... And not only that one, but several choices that are still incomprehensible to you. Like keeping you here."

Luci’El remained silent, then answered:

"It is no doubt to protect me. With my status, if I am not strong enough-"

"That is not the reason."

"!?"

Agath took her daughter in her arms. The embrace had something brusque about it in contrast with the coldness she had displayed the moment before.

"I was young, and I made far too many mistakes. I hope that by keeping you here, you will become more mature with more wisdom before facing this cruel world. But until now, you have only shown me that you are still naive."

Luci’El gently freed herself.

"Mother, you are wrong. I am not naive..."

"Oh really? And your idiotic questions about the bearer of the Mark of the Beast? You even question the Oracle. Do you think that if Persephone’s son knew that you are destined to kill him, he would not kill you first?"

Agath sighed...

"My daughter, your mother has made numerous mistakes. And she is obliged to make sacrifices, like using the Lance of Destiny, to achieve her objectives."

"Even if it means causing the death of someone who has nothing to do with all this?"

A silence settled, broken only by the distant crackling of a candle.

"Making mistakes implies sacrifices to compensate for them... That is why I will not let you make any. You will thank me, once you are grown."

While Agath did everything so that her daughter would fulfill her destiny, even if it meant imprisoning her to make her more lucid, Persephone had done everything so that her son would struggle against his, even if it meant exiling him so that he would keep his ignorance.

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