Nephis stared at the two skeletons for a few seconds. Then finally, she asked:
"Why are the two of you nailed to this tree?"
The one who called himself Azarax growled:
"Don't you know where you are, abominable creature?! I am here because I led my armies into the great war, slaughtered a myriad of souls, and was punished for my strength and my pride!"
She shifted her gaze to the other one.
The first skeleton answered succinctly:
"I have angered the gods."
Nephis tilted her head a little.
"How?"
The skeleton sighed with regret.
"Well, if you must know…I slit a god's throat. My, oh, my! One could say that it was a misunderstanding. Was there really a need to be so petty."
Lucien frowned, his red eyes passing through the two skeletons. As the enchantment of Nightveil flared to life, two visions were pushed into his mind.
In the first vision, two men were engaged in a duel to the death. On one side, was a middle aged man, whose hair had already begun greying. He carried with him the weight of a thousand shields. The sword in his hand pointed towards the other.
On the other side was someone much younger, yet undoubtedly related to the older man. He did not carry the immense weight his opponent did, but the conviction in his eyes was far sharper.
Lucien watched as the two of them fought. A lone blade against an avalanche of shields, an impenetrable defense. He watched as the blade bounced off the shield wall again and again, all while the older man made no move to attack his opponent. There was a hint of sadness in his eyes.
His defense was absolute, so much so that even great and supreme creatures would struggle to find a way through. But in this world, nothing was perfect, everything had a flaw. And who better to know his flaw, than his own son.
Then, something shifted in their battle. The lone blade of the younger man found a gap in his fathers defense, and it passed through the wall of shields, and the green grass below was stained red.
As the younger man held his father in his arms, impaled on his blade, there was only satisfaction in his eyes.
On the other side, his father felt nothing but regret. He opened his mouth to speak one last time, but his flame extinguished before he could.
And so, the Plague of Steel was born.
In the second vision, Lucien saw a temple. Inside the temple nine figures were gathered in front of a stone pedestal.
Among the nine people, there was a woman wearing deerskin. There was a noble young man with calm and wise eyes. A boy with red hair. A scholarly woman with a long black braid, her graceful beauty both subtle and bewitching.
There was a tall warrior with broad shoulders, his towering height making the others seem puny. A slender man in elegant clothes who looked like a sculptor. A ship captain whose rough skin had turned bronze in the sun, his eyes the same color as the sea. A blind poet whose songs were renowned across the realm. And a woman who was either a priestess or a courtesan, or perhaps both.
Atop the stone pedestal, three figures sat behind a veil.
A young girl, a mature woman, and an old hag…
All three of them were blind, but saw much more than anyone with sight could.
They were the Oracle.
The young man kneeled before them.
"I, Eurys, greet you. We have arrived to answer your call."
The three women smiled and answered, their three voices becoming one:
"Greetings, brother!"
"Greetings, my son."
"Greetings, child."
The young man–Eurys–took a deep breath.
"Our homeland is in grave peril, oh Oracle. And so, we beseech you…please, show us how to save our realm."
The young girl seemed sad. The woman stayed motionless. The old hag laughed.
"Have you finally learned manners, naughty child?"
The young man stayed silent for a few moments, then repeated his words:
"We beseech you."
The young girl moved, as if wanting to cross the veil and touch him, but the woman held her back. She turned her head to face the kneeling prince, and then said calmly:
"I am sorry, my son. But that is not why we called you."
The eight people behind him paled, while Eurys himself pursed his lips.
The three women continued, their voices fusing with each other.
"This land of ours…"
"Cannot be saved."
"The tapestry of fate is vast, but it is also cruel."
"The empire won't be stopped."
"Our cities…"
"Will burn,"
"Our people will be enslaved."
"Our kingdom will fall, it's very name forgotten."
"We cannot stop it."
"But…"
There was a moment of silence before the Oracle spoke again.
"We can avenge ourselves."
"The nine of you can."
"The nine of you will."
"The Empire of War…"
"Must be destroyed."
Eurys looked up at the Oracle, his eyes full of darkness.
Eventually, he looked down.
"...My, oh, my. How can nine people destroy an empire? It is protected by a god."
There were a few moments of silence, and then the little girl leaned forward.
Her childish voice resounded in the silence of the ancient temple, echoing under its roof:
"Then you must kill the gods."
With that, Lucien was pushed out of the vision. Beside him, Nephis was talking to him, but he wasn't listening. He couldn't, not after what he just saw. A major part of his mind working overtime to realize the implications of it.
The nine of them…had killed the gods? Or at least, were responsible for their deaths.
But how? How could mere mortals kill the gods?
The first skeleton did tell them that he had slit a god's throat. Was it him in the vision, the young noble, Eurys?
"How?" He asked, staring at the skeleton, "How did you kill the gods?"
The skeleton looked down at him, head tilted in curiosity. He had only told them about slitting one god's throat. Yet the boy spoke of multiple.
"Oh my, whatever do you mean dear boy?"
Lucien stared up at him for a few more seconds, and then turned his gaze away.
"Nevermind," He sighed and turned to Nephis. "What were you saying? Sorry, I was a bit out of it when you were speaking."
Nephis frowned, "Did you use your attribute on them?"
Lucien nodded, "I'll tell you what I learned later."
She stared at him for a moment, before finally saying, "Fine. Who do we pick?"
Lucien glanced back at the two skeletons. Azarax, the prideful one who had killed his father. Or Eurys, who was probably responsible for the death of the gods. The answer was rather obvious.
"The first one." Lucien said, turning back to Nephis, "He reminds me of Sunny."
Nephis nodded, "I had similar thoughts."
The two of them turned to look at the first skeleton, who simply stared back at them.
"We choose you," Nephis said, "You remind us of someone."
The skeleton cackled.
"Very well, vile creature. Even though you are revolting, I will keep my promise."
"What do we call you then?" Nephis asked.
The skeleton remained silent for a bit.
"A name? I used to have one of those, before. What was it? Oh!"
He moved his jaw a little and then said:
"Eurys. Eurys of the nine."
'The nine,' Lucien narrowed his eyes, is that what they called themselves? He had to say, their naming sense was…lacking.
"I'll release the nails," Lucien said, pushing those thoughts away, and the wind picked up around him, "Be ready to fight if he attacks."
Nephis nodded, the Dream Blade and Nameless Sun manifesting themselves from a whirlwind of sparks in her hand.
Floating up to Eurys, Lucien grabbed ahold of the first nail and pulled. Surprisingly enough, it came out with no resistance. He stored it inside the soul sack before doing the same with the second nail.
And soon after that, Eurys slid off the tree and landed on the white sand.
"Ah, freedom," He took a moment to adjust, tentatively taking a step forward before nodding in satisfaction. Looking up, he found both of the awakened staring at him, weapons raised.
"Is that really necessary now?"
"That depends," Lucien replied, "Are you going to attack us?"
Eurys shrugged, "Not unless you want me to."
Lucien shared a glance with Nephis, before hesitantly putting down his sword. He looked at the skeleton standing in front of them.
"We have followed through on our part of the deal. Now it's your turn. What do you know of her?"
Eurys nodded, "Of course, I am a man of my word after all."
Then, the skeleton made a show of scratching his chin, "Hm, where to begin? Oh right!"
"She came to us a few months ago. Can you believe it? A lone sleeper traversing this hell alone?" He sighed, "Truly a brave soul."
"She came here? To this tree?" Lucien asked, getting a nod in response. "What did she want? Wait no better question, how did she look? Was she injured? Did she tell you where she was going?"
"..." Eurys stared at him for a second. "I am getting there. Goodness, young people these days really have no patience."
He shook his head, "Anyways, where was I? Oh right. She came to us in the middle of the night. Have you ever seen someone appear out of thin air? Nearly gave poor Azarax here a heart attack back then."
"She did not!" Azarax protested, "You vile creature! Stop spreading such lies!"
Eurys chuckled and continued, "She wanted to know where the remains of Storm's realm were. Sadly, neither of us knew anything about that."
Lucien frowned, "Storm's realm? Why would she be looking for that?"
"Exactly," Eurys said, "I asked her as much, but she refused to answer."
"Still, out of the goodness of my heart I offered to help her find it, if only she released me from this tree. But alas, she saw my kindness as malice and refused to set me free." He put an arm over his chest, "To think I would have such vile motivations."
Remembering the vision Lucien had just been shown, he couldn't help but scoff, 'Yeah, I wonder why she would think that.'
Choosing not to voice his thoughts, Lucien stared at the skeleton and said:
"What else do you know?"
"Not much," Eurys admitted, "You asked if she was hurt. Why, she looked fine to me. A bit tired perhaps, but who wouldn't be tired after travelling through this hell? Oh and one more thing."
He turned to Lucien, "She knew you would come looking for her. In fact she left you a message."
Lucien froze, staring at the skeleton. His heartbeat quickened, and the deafening roar of blood filled his ears.
"What," he began, swallowing to wet his parched throat, "What did she say?"
"Oh nothing much, just that you should stop looking for her."