— Chapter 8 —
Oracle
Oracle honestly thought he was done for.
He'd been hiding 3 main secrets since he appeared on this world: his real identity as a human, or scavenger as the dragons would say, his knowledge of future events due to literally reading them, and what he plans to do thanks to having that knowledge, namely stopping Darkstalker from ever being freed.
All things considered, the latter being revealed is the lesser of his big secrets, maybe he could still make up something, if only he hadn't confessed earlier to Turtle that he was hiding stuff of a caliber even beyond someone hiding being an Animus, but he had the slight hope that having some honesty instead of being pure lies might make Turtle less likely to force stuff out of him.
But even if the sea prince won't turn this interrogation into a magical interrogation, Oracle knows that now he's got some new questions to answer.
Based on Turtle's expression, for the first two seconds Oracle was guessing his mind was racing to remind him of all details and stories about Darkstalker, and then when his expression shifted as if he had just swallowed a whole lemon is when the Nightwing guessed he remembered who the Darkstalker was.
"The Darkstalker? What do you mean? What does he have to do with anything?" Turtle now asked.
"E-E.. Everything…" Oracle managed to mutter, gulping a bit.
"That sure is ominous… but I don't think "everything" really tells me something, so maybe you could elaborate?" Turtle questioned.
Oracle took a deep breath, trying to get his thoughts straight, thinking of what to say exactly.
He cannot know my real identity, nobody can, dragons and scavengers are not on the best terms!
He cannot know what I know, it's already bad that we have the dragon with the second strongest future vision just some miles away underground, with me possibly on many futures already, the more people that know exactly what could happen means everything could change so much in just one day, and then what?
Oracle must stop debating himself and tell a half truth, only revealing part of what he knows and what he can do while keeping the most dangerous secrets to himself.
The Nightwing had that latter thought, considered it odd that his own mind was speaking in third person, then he decided to go with that.
"Y-You know about the… Nightwing powers?" He decided to ask, having a bit of an idea that might be satisfying enough.
"You mean the mind reading and future sight that are supposedly all fake?" The Seawing replied, clearly wondering where he's going with this.
In the regular timeline you believe Moon, please believe my arguably more outstanding ability here… Oracle thought desperate as he spoke now.
"I… well, maybe it's not all 100% fake?" Oracle tried weakly, words barely escaping his mouth.
Turtle looked at him in the eyes and Oracle felt sure there was a small flash of surprise in his expression, and Oracle felt like he didn't need to be Moon to guess he's probably thinking something akin to "He can't mean that he…?"
"I… know a-a lot of things that will happen in the future, and I don't mean in the vague prophetic way… actual knowledge with details…" he muttered slowly.
This is a relatively safe option, being a Nightwing means that there's room to believe what he says, and he knows of Darkstalker and Clearsight, which were able to weave around the futures they saw and focus on these paths, he cannot do something like that and only has 5 books of future knowledge, and if things diverge too much then he could be lost.
"How can I know that you aren't lying right now? Because the topic about Nightwing powers has surely been complicated lately since that reveal came out," Turtle questioned, at least not immediately ignoring him, he's just asking for something simple: proof.
"... What if I tell you… of stuff that's going to happen very soon like… tomorrow? Like so specific that it would prove that I can do these things…" Oracle whispered, trying to remember Moon Rising the most he could, he was glad he'd just read the second arc less than a month ago in a row, and had even reread some of the books so even specific fun lines of dialogue like Peril saying "Moose" to Turtle are there in his brain.
Turtle brought a claw to his chin and seemed to be considering it "I guess that would work? If you are specific enough and it's not things that you could affect in the meantime to make sure they happen," he accepted the idea.
"O-Okay, so hmm, tomorrow… you'll have your first class alongside your Winglet with…Tsunami," he began to recall this particular part of the story "and among the talking, Winter will say he wants to know more about Nightwings," Oracle saw a curious look on the Seawing's eyes, and he quickly continues "Tsunami will bring you all out to hunt and Moon manages to catch…"
Oh gosh I am really being way specific, it all has to go exactly like that, the animal must be in the same place and Moon must catch it… and what did she catch?
"Moon will catch…?" Turtle repeated, and Oracle realized the more he lingers on before talking about the future, the more doubtful the prince will be.
"... A goat, and she'll share it with others like Qibli the Sandwing," the Nightwing felt a rush of relief, he's very sure that is how that scene went!
"Okay that really is sounding quite specific," Turtle admitted.
"A-and that's not all! One more thing, hm… there'll be a bit of a panic in the academy because some time after you all eat… Peril, the former champion of ex-queen Scarlet is going to come in to join," he revealed and Turtle actually looked shocked.
"I can see why there would be a panic based on what I heard about her. So to get this right, you predict we'll have a class with Tsunami, Winter will want to talk about Nightwings, Moon will catch a goat and share it, and Peril will appear," Turtle declared, clearly taking mental notes.
"Y-Yes… technically the Moon catching a goat then sharing it are two different predictions so…five random specific events from tomorrow, if they are true… would you believe me?" Oracle asked sheepishly, looking at the quite bigger dragon.
"I… yeah, I guess I'd have to believe you can see the future in such detail," the Seawing admits with a slight nod after some moments, making Oracle feel very relieved.
"Although that's tomorrow, for right now I still have questions, like what's this whole deal with Darkstalker? If you prove that you know stuff tomorrow, I'd rather already know what the issue is now than to get onto more questioning the next day," Turtle said, shifting a bit on his feet, and based on his expression Oracle guessed a bit what he might be feeling.
He does not like this, this whole interrogation was awkward and tense for the two of us, but knowing how he feels he might also be wondering if he could do something, maybe he realizes some tragedy with the most dangerous dragon in history could be prevented without Darkstalker even getting to do anything… he could finally get to do something big while on the relative safety of being with a so-called seer like me…"
Needless to say, Oracle had always liked Turtle's character in the books, always so relatable, so that had made this whole thievery and distrust situation even a bigger gut punch for him. But at least he assumed he might be able to guess his thoughts at times.
But before revealing yet more things, the Nightwing remembered a big issue: Moon. Right now at this very moment, Darkstalker must've foreseen the possibly existing futures where Oracle ruined everything for him, and with enough convincing and smooth words then it's possible he could get Moon to distrust him, or act against him, outsmarting an actual seer that can realize when the future is shifting would be a massive problem, so he had an idea.
"I… will tell you more but… o-only if you… cast a spell first and right now?" The dragonet said in a weak tone, knowing that Turtle won't really like the idea.
"You want me to use my magic right now? I really don't know if you can just casually ask me for some magic trick after everything so far," Turtle replied, and Oracle knew he wouldn't even think about revealing his gift until about a week later when Peril burned Winter, but he needs it now.
"It's not something for me, it's something for the safety of both of us… Turtle there's a thing about Darkstalker in specific you should know about… he sees you as the striking image of Fathom," Oracle commented, and after a moment he could see realization dawning on Turtle.
"Oh…" the Seawing muttered.
"Yep… and I am feeling very confident that he's not very happy about me either, you see… sooo hm, Darkstalker can read the minds of nearly everyone in the academy, but his reach only extends to some miles away from the mountain… and huh, he can see all the futures and knows when they start to change or diverge, and I think I am a bit of a recent point of divergence…" Here he is, explaining Darkstalker's powers in detail, although he winced when he said the latter part, that was a bad slip up.
"Huh? As in, he couldn't have foretold you'd be doing stuff?" Turtle asked perplexed and Oracle sighed.
"T-that's part of another thing that I absolutely cannot explain, sorry, but anyway… he'll be even less happy about us the more we might be heading towards a bad future for him the more we talk…" The dragoned responded sheepishly, and he could see fear on Turtle's expression, he probably wanted to cower, to not deal with this the more that Oracle explained.
"But with some highly specific wording of your gift, we could be able to confuse him, to stall his powers…" Carefully, Oracle picked up a small random rock that was near the lake.
"Here's my plan, if you want more answers, you need to cast this spell with wording like so… "I enchant this rock so that when it touches the water, this cavern will become a sanctuary against Darkstalker's foresight, and any conversation that happened, currently happens or will happen in this place will not be accounted for when he looks into the future and he will forget about them. This rock will also make Turtle and Oracle look insignificant to Darkstalker even when outside this room."
It might have been Oracle's imagination, but he felt like there was the slightest of movement in the cavern's floor, and he imagined Darkstalker currently looking in shock at the present and nearest futures, realizing that if Turtle accepts, two of the biggest threats against him and the futures he's been looking at lately, will vanish out of his mind.
Turtle looked conflicted at the rock held close to him by Oracle's small talons, that would be the biggest spell he has casted since he found out about his powers, not just a small convenience like some tablets or a bowl that will greatly annoy Qibli in the future, this is something else, and seeing his hesitation, Oracle spoke.
"If you want to know something else… your soul will be fine, you will remain a great dragon that does a lot of good deeds, and get an amazing group of friends, these are parts of your future that you should always remember, Turtle will always be Turtle, not an Albatross or a Darkstalker," the Nightwing said softly, managing to bring out a smile to the animus dragon, whose eyes sparkled a bit upon hearing such positive news, he still hasn't confirmed if Oracle's predictions are right or not, but he clearly wanted to cling onto the thought that him and his soul will be fine.
"Okay… I'll do it," Turtle accepted, and now both him and Oracle were quite sure the ground had shaken ever so slightly.
Turtle took the rock from Oracle's talons, holding it tightly and whispered "I enchant this rock so that when I throw it into the lake, this cavern will become a sanctuary against Darkstalker the Nightwing's foresight, and any conversation that happened, currently happens or will happen in this place will not be accounted for when he looks into the future and he will forget about them. This rock will also make Turtle and Oracle look insignificant to Darkstalker even when outside this room."
The Seawing looked at the rock for some more seconds and threw it into the lake.
The ground stopped shaking.
Looking incredibly relieved, Oracle smiled more "O-okay now… I guess I can tell you some more things, I won't go super into detail in case that might somehow make decisions go differently… but Turtle, listen to me, you'll see tomorrow when my previous predictions happen, but I was able to look into the future, and if things don't change, you and your friends will go through a lot of pain, fear and traumatizing experiences, several dragons will die, an entire tribe will face great suffering…"
"And Darkstalker will come back."