"How did you know that?" Zidvyda asked of Menien, whose knowledge of the Ancestor Moth priests was suspciously extensive and accurate.
"Savilla was an Oracle as are all of her bloodline, including our generous host Indira."
"What is an Oracle?"
"I find it quite amusing that suddenly you are interested in what I have to share with you, Captain." Menien scolded the impatient Steffan. "Had you chose not to cut short my lesson, I would have gladly shared this information with you days ago."
Steffan bowed his head.
"Enough with the I told you so's." Connor pressed the conversation forward. "Just get on with it, eh?"
"An Oracle is any mortal who possesses Lorkhan's Element of Awareness. Oracles are born with the gift of Transcendence, precognition and prophecy. Their knowledge of the Universe is ultimate and their ability to Transcend the realm comes without consequence. That is how Indira is able to control the gypsy moths. She is in complete spiritual harmony with her ancestors who are as much a part of her as she is them."
"Your companion is quite the flatterer." Indira blushed.
"Is he correct though?" Martin asked. "Are you truly an Oracle?"
Indira kissed Martin's cheek.
"When I was thirteen years old, I was taken away from my home in Hammerfell to this monastery. Karyn, the midwife who raised me since birth, held my hand tightly the entire journey. She detailed my future as a priestess of the Ancestor Moths and as an Oracle. Five years earlier, I foresaw that same conversation knowing the exact year, month and time of day it would occur."
"What was it like when you met Savilla?" Menien interrogated, his tone of voice making it seem that he already knew the answer and was merely testing the priestess hoping to catch her in a lie.
"When I met my mother it was much different than say, the way you and I all met." Indira began.
"You mean she didn't press a sword tip against your throat?" Connor laughed.
This comment made Indira blush and a number of the priests chuckle as well.
"Savilla came to me while I danced among the cosmos, experimenting with my new found powers of Transcendence. Such an experience is difficult to convey in words. I was carried like a feather caught in a breeze. I soared above the stars, the sun and moons, carried up from this world into Oblivion. Through the ash, smoke ridden ambit of Malacath, I was a glimmer of Light. In the Moonshadow of Mehpala's Grace where colour and beauty was overwhelmingly ambient, I was Dullness. I was an oddity, otherworldly even to the Daedric Spirits as I individually passed through each of the Sixteen Princedoms."
"Upon entering Aetherius, I was greeted by the Aedric Spirits. These mighty deities seemed bothered by my presence as Oracles are the spiritual vestiges of their hated enemy, the Spirit Lorkhan. I was promptly sent on my way to the edges of Their Dominion where I glanced upon the Universe safely from behind the veil of Time. Here, Savilla first revealed herself."
"She was a woman of indescribable beauty and poise. When she spoke, her lips did not move but I heard her gentle voice in my mind. I took her hand and together we surpassed Time and ventured out into the unknowns of the Universe. Together we witnessed the Genesis of Existence, the creation of Creation, the lost years of the Dragon Break, the struggle of the Two Dominions, and the Five Divisions of the Universe."
"Five? I thought there were only Three." Jiles questioned.
"Actually, not even Savilla knows truly how many Divisions of the Universe there have been. Menien has told you of the Three. There are still two more to come in the next millennia or so, give or take a few years."
"Oracles can see the future?"
Indira shook her head. "To see the future would incorrectly imply that Time is a linear pathway that can be viewed backwards and forwards. Remember that Time is an artificial boundary imposed by the Mightiest Auri El to bring order to the Universe. Savilla has taught us to Transcend and see the Universe without Time – a glimpse of all the Universe is, has been and will be."
Grasping such a foreign concept was difficult for many of the travelers, evident from their blank but eager stares.
"So if Oracles are the only mortals than can Transcend realms, why do the Moth priests even try?"
"Theoretically anyone is capable of Transcendence." Menien answered, again demonstrating his ample knowledge of the topic. "For thousands of years there have been attempts by mages, wizards, scholarly professors, even clergy to leave the mortal world behind and connect with the Totality of the Universe. The Ancestor Moth priests have come closest, chronicling their successes and failures using gypsy moths to achieve near-Transcendence. Even with aid from the Oracles, the ill consequences are unavoidable. There is only one way, a technique that if performed correctly will allow one to Transcend Space-Time and return safely to their physical shell. To all others but the Oracles it is a mystery – the Mysterium of Xarxes."
"Xarxes? That's the name of Mankar Camoran's text." Martin realized. "I could hear the name whispered in my head over and over again."
"Were you of any lesser blood Martin, those whispers would be piercing screams." Indira spoke. "The Xarxes would overwhelm your brain and leave you a shallow husk devoid of any higher thought. Your senses would dull and eventually fade altogether. No one but you must handle the book." The priestess was stern and momentarily gave an unfriendly glance back towards Menien.
"Who was Xarxes? Was he a Spirit of some kind?" Baurus asked.
"When Auri El sought to expand his Dominion, Five Spirits accompanied Lorkhan on his journey into the unknowns of Far Space. Menien shared with you the names of Four. The Fifth was Xarxes."
"Yes, the professor seemed to have left that out. It might have been useful." Steffan narrowed his eyes in frustration.
"I thought it best you hear it from the Oracle." Menien defended.
"So you knew the whole time?"
He nodded. "Xarxes served as a scribe of sorts, and catalogued the entire process of Creation. Auri El could not see past the boundaries of Time and so relied on Xarxes to relay the events back across the Universe, like a messenger. This was how Auri El discovered Lorkhan was molding himself a New Dominion. Xarxes was the Element of Universal Knowledge. To know Xarxes is to have complete and absolute omnipotence. There are even those who believe that he predated the actualization of Auri El."
"I'm no Daedric professor, but I understood Hermaeus Mora as the Keeper of the Infinite Knowledge." Zidvyda added. "A vision granted by this Daedric Prince is the reason we came to Cyrodiil in the first place."
"It is unknown how or why but shortly before the destruction of Lorkhan, Xarxes faded entirely from existence. Before his disappearance, Xarxes passed along the Universal Knowledge as detailed in the constellations and astral bodies of the Universe. With this knowledge, Auri El could restore the Totality of the Universe as it once existed. It wasn't until after Lorkhan was undone that Auri El and the Spirits realized they needed the Element of Awareness to interpret Xarxes' Knowledge. After many failed attempts to decipher the Mysterium Xarxes on their own, Auri El decided to pass this Knowledge to the spawn of Lorkhan's Creation."
"You mean us? Mankind?" Martin asked.
"Yes. Auri El and the Aedric Spirits agreed that perhaps at a subconscious level we are all imbued with the Element of Awareness. So the Divines delivered unto us select portions of Xarxes' writings which we know as the Elder Scrolls in hopes that someday Lorkhan's Creation might prove itself useful and mankind would decipher the Universal Knowledge. Until then, the Divines protect our world and essentially the last hope of returning to Totality." Menien coughed and took a long sip of wine. "At last we have come full circle, to the culmination of why I have taken you so far into these northern mountains, through blizzards and harrowing winds to a humble monastery of blind ideologues. Look around you, for we are in the presence of those who have achieved that which is coveted by Gods themselves!"
"Indira, do you know how to defeat Mehrunes Dagon? How can we recover the Amulet of Kings?" Baurus inquired of the priestess.
"Even now with my waking eye I see the False King, Son of the Usurper is almost ready to bring forth Invasion from Oblivion. Mankar Camoran thinks himself untouchable in the paradise of his own making, but he will learn that you have come to me and that soon, one of you shall come for him. The text you recovered is written in the language of the Elder Scrolls and the Moth priests are the Keepers of the Scrolls. As such, I can interpret the writings and open a portal to Mankar Camoran's realm."
"I eagerly await the opportunity to learn, High Priestess." Menien grinned with overwhelming delight.
"No, not you."
Menien's eyes flared with rage. The elderly professor raised his fists in the air as if to slam them down upon the table, but quickly stopped himself before doing so.
"Martin is the key to salvation and with him alone I will share my interpretations of the Xarxes…for a price."
Martin straightened his shoulders and spoke with confidence to the majestic Oracle seated beside him. "What would you ask of me Indira? I am prepared to do anything to bring an end to this Crisis once and for all."
"Tonight you shall lie with me and I will bear you a child that the bloodline of the Dragonborn shall not end with your passing."