Interlude: Curse
A few dozen kilometers outside the imperial capital, an observation outpost sat silently on a hill. It was built to observe the stars and rested along a ley line. Though it was hidden among the flora, it was a sturdy institution that had supported Zebrudia for many years.
It was the Astral Divinarium, also referred to as simply “the Divinarium.”
Within a building defined by its unique domed roof, a young man and an older woman, both clad in blue robes, were having a discussion.
“I hear that with the help of some hunters, the trouble with Nine-Tailed Shadow Fox was resolved smoothly enough,” the man said. “However, now some knights want us to explain why we couldn’t foresee a disaster capable of devastating entire nations.”
“They think an Eye of God could detect something like that? Nothing man-made could possibly make a splash large enough,” the woman scoffed.
In the center of the room was a crystal ball a few meters in diameter. It was a Relic that drew upon the power of the sky and all beneath it in order to reflect phenomena in its many forms.
The woman nodded to the ball and scowled. “Those lot could learn a thing or two about patience. This place handles any and all mysterious occurrences and even we have to take extreme caution when handling prophecies.”
The Divinarium’s prophetic abilities could hardly be called infallible. When talented astrologians harnessed the forces of nature, accurate predictions could be made, but not at will. On numerous occasions, the Divinarium had accurately predicted a disaster and thus allowed the military to move in advance so that they might mitigate the damage.
On the other hand, there were also many disasters they had failed to foresee. This gave the Divinarium a reputation as the oddball among the empire’s public institutions.
“Prognostication isn’t possible through sheer determination,” the woman said.
“You’re quite right. That’s what we told them, but then they asked why we couldn’t foresee it if the Thousand Tricks could.”
The old woman sighed when she heard the name of the free-spirited man who had been entangled in every recent major incident in Zebrudia. “Him again? I’d hazard that his predictions come from somewhere quite different from ours. That’s the man who gladly subjected himself to Tears of Truth, isn’t he? If I had my wish granted, he’d become one of us.”
She raised her head and looked towards the crystal ball—then jolted. “This reaction!”
“I see it too!”
A black dot, almost like a stain, had appeared on the otherwise transparent ball. Like a cloud of fog, it expanded until it covered the entire surface. The crystal had many different ways of conveying the future, but this was leagues more foreboding than anything in recent memory. The younger astrologian’s eyes were as wide as they could go.
The older member steadied her breathing and said, “It’s a strong prophecy if you can see it too. This is much worse than the Fox incident. Just what the knights were hoping for. Report this to the capital! Tell them it’s a shadow big enough to blanket the entire city!”
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