"Let me find this scroll," Hiral said. "There is something that I should show you before I divulge how we figured out Neel was the Champion, or rather, the Savior."

With that, he went to his precariously stacked bookshelf again, and this time it did look like he would tip it over. So, Meera went along with him, just in case he started a hail of books on himself. Thankfully, only three books fell on him, which he somehow caught with masterful grace, as if he had practiced it. With the way they were stacked, she wasn't surprised.

He set the books down and opened one whose title she couldn't read. It looked like it was written in the same language as the prophecy, and for some reason, this language seemed very familiar. She should be able to read it, but the letters were just out of reach.

He flipped through one book until he stopped on one page that held an illustration of a sword.

"Pretas Arak, the sword of kings," Hiral said in amazement. "I've only had a few chances of gazing upon its majesty. Once when my sister wed the God King, and second, when your brother walked in here, acting all high and mighty."

"It wasn't enough to stroke your curiosity to let him know about the great prophecy?" Meera asked.

"What? Of course not, you think a divine weapon would be enough to buy my time." He leaned in, squinting one eye. "I'm not so easily bought, miss. If that were the case, then you could have just given me one of your chakrams, and I would have divulged everything. But no, I'm an academic man, who craves knowledge in all forms, and an uppity teenage brat who had been living it up in the palace couldn't do anything to stroke my curiosity."

Meera couldn't find fault with him. Neel, at the best of times, could be a handful, and she was sure the royal treatment they must've been giving him at the palace would've gotten to his head. So, he must've gotten an even bigger head.

"I see your point, professor. So, this sword is how they identified him as the Champion?"

"Precisely. A thousand years ago, this sword was given to King Rakazhar, the first king of the Varsha empire. It is said that Kraldir, the god of weapons, himself came down from Mirithia and handed this sword to him, and with it, Rakazhar carved his way through the Kundae Empire. He won his first battle when he was just a boy, merely fifteen years old. They say it was his divine right to forge his empire. Within two decades, he had conquered the Kundae empire and hence started a dynasty that has ruled for over a thousand years."

Meera figured Hiral liked to talk about all things, but the actual thing she wanted to know was. She wondered what his students felt when they asked a question about one topic and he launched into a lecture about something else entirely.

"If this is the sword of kings, then what does this have to do with Neel?" Meera asked.

"You see, Kraldir has ordained it that only the Kings of the Varsha empire can wield this sword and no one else. But a decade ago, the royal oracle prophesied that the Champion of the great prophecy would come and take this weapon for his own. And that it would be this very blade that would pierce through to the heart of Aetheron."

"So, you're telling me that Neel picked up the God King's sword?" She asked, incredulously.

"Oh, yes, like it weighed less than a weathered quill." Hiral grinned. "Even Arhazhar couldn't wield it as efficiently as your brother can. The whole court was stunned. It was quite the spectacle. I wish I could've seen it, but I've heard that they were all dumbfounded when a boy appeared out of nowhere right beside the case where the sword was, in the middle of the court, and picked up what he thought was a shiny sword."

Meera couldn't help but grin at that. The way Hiral described it, she almost wished she were there to see it. It would have truly been an epic sight. Neel picked up the sword, and everyone finally realized that he was the Champion.

"Wait, how do you know about the royal oracle?" Meera asked.

Hiral smiled a sly smile. "My lass, I know about the queen's many magical feats, because it was I who told her to explore it, for she is my sister."

Meera's jaw dropped. "What?"

"Oh yes, I'm actually quite a high-ranking noble, but I don't care for the court's nonsense. I never have. However, it is convenient that it opens many doors that would usually remain closed. So, it's nice to have a sister who is a royal, and people think I would put in a good word for them to my sister, who then, in turn, can talk to her husband."

"And my guess is that you don't put in the said good word," Meera said.

"No, unfortunately, sometimes I have to, as the person who's doing me a favor is in turn someone powerful as well, and I would rather be in their good graces than not."

"Okay, getting back to the topic at hand," Meera said. "So, with the queen's prophecy, he was proclaimed as the Champion. Then, how did you guys figure out he was the Saviour?"

"That would be my doing," he said with a smile. He flipped through the same book until he stopped towards the end, where there was what seemed like another prophecy, but thankfully, it was not.

"These lines were written down by King Rakazhar himself," Hiral said. "It said that he had a vision from the gods, in which he saw a man lift this sword, who was not a king of Varsha. This man would have powers that would defeat the purpose of the Gateway Mirrors. That this person would be a shining warrior so powerful that even the gods would look to him to defeat a foe long held caged. He would be the Savior of the worlds."

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"I see…" Meera mused. "And the people believed you? No one contested your claim?"

He drew a sharp breath and peered down his nose at her. "I will have you know that I am the most highly decorated historian in all the worlds. The people of the other worlds may hate us, Varshans, but they still respect my mind. When we proclaimed Neel as the Champion, they didn't believe us, but many of my contemporaries in the Universities across the worlds did. They are the ones who spread the message that the Champion had been found. However, the people still wanted proof, so Neel traveled to the myriad kingdoms until everyone knew who the Champion was. Even if they didn't believe him to be the Savior, it is because over the centuries the prophecy has been so twisted and morphed that most believe that there is only one Champion. However, there are still scholars who study history and know that it is not true."

"Sorry, professor. I was just being skeptical," Meera said, shifting uncomfortably.

Hiral's rant confirmed what Neel had been doing for the six months before her arrival. It also confirmed that by now, he must've been so spoiled that whatever Domina told him must've shaken him to the core, for him to leave all these luxuries behind to hunt for the Reflectora.

Domina…That name swirled around in her head. She was the oracle working with her old pals, who were also hunting down Neel. A pair of Cosmarians working with an oracle who fooled people with Misidentify.

Like what I am doing...I truly am their pupil, after all.

She could only imagine what they would say to Neel to win him over. And they could. They had won her over quite easily. They were quite charismatic, and a part of her wished that they weren't like the Cosmarians she had warred against, but they were after Neel, which automatically made them her enemies.

But why send Neel after the Reflectora and not search for it themselves?

Questions like these swirled in her mind. It was as if she were working with half the knowledge, and she was so far behind the Cosmarian brothers that by now, they might even have caught up to Neel.

"You looked troubled, lass. Is anything the matter?" Hiral asked.

"Nothing, I was thinking about the oracle Domina who made Neel leave on his quest," Meera said. "She was working with a pair of Cosmarians."

"Yes, I've heard about them," Hiral said. "My sister told me about that meeting. To tell you the truth, I figured the Cosmarians would have a part to play in all this. After all, he might be caged, but that doesn't mean the King of the Cosmarians would sit idly by as the worlds fell. He must be up to something."

That jolted the memory of the village of Ebonton.

"He is," she said. "In my travels, I came across this village that was burnt out and destroyed by his Charred Riders. They left behind these hounds to clean up their dirty work. Apparently, that wasn't the first one. The Charred Riders had been seen in the area close to Rothedon's forest quite often."

"That is quite fascinating indeed. I'll admit that my knowledge in that subject is somewhat lacking, but what I do know is that they are a scourge upon the worlds. Rothedon's minions who do his bidding as he and his ilk are imprisoned beyond the barrier past the boulder, which is called Rothedon's Fist. But regardless, I will read more about these Charred Riders. Do pay me a visit in a few days."

Meera shrugged. "Sure thing. It's not like I have anything better to do. Unless you have a way to cross the White Ember."

His face fell. "Unfortunately, no one we know has been able to cross that threshold, besides the cultists, and they would die before they share their skills with us."

"Oh, believe me, I know. Well, anyway, I'll take your leave. Thank you for sharing so much information with me."

"Knowledge is one of the few things that grows the more you share it," Hiral smiled. "And you're welcome back any time. Though, may I ask one favor? Do not come wearing that armor. Yes, this time it was fortuitous that you were in armor, but usually I'm not being attacked by the Cult. It might put off some of the younger students, seeing such a warrior as yourself."

Meera snorted. "No problem, professor. Will this be okay?"

She willed her armor to take on the shape of the long shirt and loose pants that most women wore.

His eyes widened. "By the gods…How did you do that?"

She smiled. "Thanks to this little necklace here." She tapped her necklace, which stored her armor. "It was made by a vile man who experimented on people and animals in order to attain the power of a god. He made this for someone who, at the time, I hated, so I took it for my own."

He stood with an exasperated look. "Did you…Are you saying that you stumbled onto the secret laboratory of Edwyn Toller?"

Meera frowned. "Did you know him?"

"Know him? I helped him create his penultimate creation, the Crystal of Darthin."

Meera was stunned. "You did what?" She armored up immediately. She almost wished she had let the Cultists finish him off, but that feeling passed in a moment. She had to be sure how involved he was. "You were his partner in experimenting on humans?"

"What? No, I never did anything like that," Hiral countered. "He just sent me his notes from time to time, and I provided insight. I helped him create some failed crystals of Darthin, but once I found out what he was actually up to, I cut all ties. Are you saying he succeeded in his mad attempt?"

"Oh yes, he did, but he paid the ultimate price for it," Meera said. "The god cursed him and he couldn't leave the cave and turned into a wraith himself."

"I see…" He was quiet for some time.

She broke the silence. "You know, I have a Failed Crystal of Darthin with me."

"You have what on you?" Hiral asked.

Meera reached into her Hoard Belt and pulled out the Failed Crystal of Darthin. The crystal twinkled in the sunlight filtering through the open window.

"Oh my, how did you ever get your hands on one of these?" He asked.

"This? He made many of these," she replied. "I used one of these before. I kept this to use for later, and to be honest, I could never find a combination of skills that I wanted to join together."

"Can I see it?" Hiral asked.

Meera handed it to him, and he looked at it as if she had handed him the most precious diamond in the world. He turned it from side to side, looking at it from all angles.

"He never sent me this, you know," Hiral said. "He said he would, but knowing Edwyn, he got greedy and didn't want to share. But to think, he went on to perfect this. Though even this is an achievement in of itself."

"Oh, believe me, I'm saving it for something truly special."

He dropped the crystal on the table, where it landed with a loud thud. The professor didn't even care as he turned towards the bookcase. "I'm sure I have my notes somewhere."

Meera nearly had a heart attack. But the crystal was fine. She would've finished the job for the Cultists if he had cracked the crystal. After all, it was truly one of a kind.

Hiral returned with a large, messy stack of papers and dropped them on the table.

He grinned at her like a madman. "These are all the notes I have from when I helped Edwyn create this thing. You know, I might be able to duplicate it."

"You can?"

"Oh, I'm fairly certain I can. But to do so, I would need to keep this crystal and work backward to ensure I arrive at the same result. So, what do you say?"

Meera pondered that statement. She weighed the pros and cons. The pros were that she could get another Failed Crystal of Darthin, and the cons were that she would lose the crystal if his experiment didn't work out. She didn't have a pair of skills that she wanted to fuse at the moment. If the eccentric genius could work his magic and recreate the crystal, then all the better.

"Okay, but I want two more crystals," Meera said. "After all, I should get something for the risk."

He grinned. "My lass, once I figure out how this works, you can have as many crystals as you want."

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.