— Chapter 23 —

Oracle

To say that Oracle was completely, utterly, absolutely terrified would be the understatement of the century. He's been thrown into a whole other world filled with dragons that can breathe fire, ice, have big claws and teeth and could easily rip him apart, he fought Sora and nearly ended up exploding, he fought Icicle, he fought Cirrus/Chameleon and half his face had been melting down… well, okay, the last one will forever be the scariest and most painful.

But yet just realizing how badly he had presented this and being surrounded by the whole group, somehow it felt like one of the worst and scariest things yet. Winter, Moon and Qibli had approached him quickly and first in wariness, Kinkajou took some moments to approach and Oracle assumed she mostly did because the others did that, and Turtle looked in shock with wide green eyes for several moments before stepping closer.

Idiot, stupid, fool, moron! You BLEW IT! Why'd you have to reveal it THAT way? That might have been WAY too smooth for once, give a whole eccentric performance, reveal a source of about infinite power, and then write down a spell on it in front of everyone, if I were a villain that would've been the perfect timing to say "And now Darkstalker's scroll is mine, all thanks to you! Now I enchant this rock to BREAK PYRRHIA!"

Not his smartest move, and now he was being looked down by everyone, except Kinkajou who just looked straight ahead at him.

His instincts were shouting at him, both human and dragon instincts, telling him he's in great danger, which looked obvious. But he didn't want to instinctively get onto the defensive at all, to look like he'd fight back in any way while holding the scroll.

"Talk. Now," Winter snarled threateningly and menacingly, his eyes glaring at him and the piece of super magical paper he's holding, Oracle knew that if he didn't give a satisfying answer, he could die right now.

It didn't look very assuring when he looked to a side and saw Qibli clearly had his tail subtly ready and partly uncurled, that hurt… especially after the talk he just had earlier with the Sandwing to help him understand, but Oracle is aware that the situation looks bad enough that ever-ready Qibli decided he had to be cautious when there's magic at play.

"I-I… this is literally not at all how you may believe this looks… I was just showing a story to all of you with a magical reveal… A-and yet here, you're looking at me as if I was bad, as if I would hurt any of you…" Oracle whispered, the first thing he experiences again in his small Nightwing body is… fear as he shakes, "I-I realize I could have made it less dramatic, I… just got carried along…"

Winter gritted his teeth at that, "You know that it's more than just that. It's very obvious that since the beginning you must have been dragging us along to get this," he said, glancing at the scroll on Oracle's talons.

"A-and why do you have to assume the worst out of someone first? What sense would it make if I always had some evil plan to get this scroll, just to reveal it to all of you at the last moment and make a harmless spell?"

Qibli shrugged, "A not too well thought out dramatic reveal?"

Oracle looked both hurt and annoyed by that," Oi! I thought about how to reveal this to y'all for days, and it was a dramatic reveal, and most importantly a good one, not an evil dramatic reveal!"

"And how can we know there won't be a bad reveal later on?" Moon had asked, and Oracle eyed her, why must half of the group distrust him so much?

"This is getting tiring," Oracle said, sighing. "It seems like no matter what I do, most of you are just not willing to believe me, and we just keep repeating this whole song and dance because detailed foresight and knowing all these events factually is something that must be revealed with caution."

"Alright I agree! Can't we just stay friends with him? How many evil bad guy things has he done so far?" Kinkajou agreed, well, at least that makes Oracle feel slightly better.

"Be honest, if I had said some days ago that on the way we'll try to get the strongest Animus object in history to help us, would you have actually trusted me more? Or would I've been pushed out of this group because no matter what, having any interest on this scroll seemingly makes me evil?" He said, glaring at Winter.

Oracle was rather sure that he at least made Winter run out of words to say for a moment given he just said the truth. No matter the point of time where he talked about the magic scroll, they quite certainly would just doubt him.

"N-now, can I get two minutes to explain myself without being scoffed at? And Qib, could you lower your tail please? It makes me anxious and I'm not writing anything else. I know you can kill me the fastest" Oracle said, dropping the scroll down on the ground below him, so at least he can still reach it first if someone else tries to take it.

The Sandwing at least had the decency of looking slightly ashamed after the Nightwing had noticed the subtle movement on his tail, and he relaxed it a bit.

"Thanks, now on my defense… Have you forgotten that I've seen Moon's prophecy and how it unfolds? I know how bad things get. And that's not even accounting my prophecy that I could not plan for. You've heard the ominous words from both prophecies? Of course I'd try to get us the best tool to deal with two prophecies. And I was trying to help Turtle so that in this new timeline he didn't have to reveal his powers for longer so my plans were accounting for only the scroll's magic. By the way Winter, in the other timeline, Turtle heals you after you nearly burn down to death so you're welcome." Oracle said that almost without stopping, the words just flowed out of his mouth as he defended himself from such allegations.

"I… am the one that burns down?" Winter said, actually getting quite shocked by the way he was just told of something nasty from another time, probably remembering Oracle's words from before they left the mountain.

"Yes, given the total change of circumstances this time, you most likely won't this time so, once more, you're welcome," Oracle said with a little huff.

"I don't think the prince would fare very well with being burned down, as far as I know, fire melts ice," Qibli said in thought, but his tone did show worry for the alternate Winter.

"Either way, you can't just expect others to keep believing in whatever you say, you already took such a powerful object, your knowledge can cause plenty of issues," Winter said looking down at Oracle.

"And my knowledge can solve plenty of problems too… I've seen the most likely timeline, just how much will you all argue to someone that's been only trying to help? Shall I mention how I almost ended up in the middle of an explosion to help? I can't foresee Moon foreseeing things or having earlier visions, that was do or die, and I still can't get the benefit of the doubt?" Oracle shot back, standing his ground.

He could see their gazes shifting, and honestly the Nightwing felt tired, why does this keep happening? He honestly was thinking by now he was bewitched to have trust issues.

There was a short silence until…

"I… said it before after the prophecies, but I will say it again I still trust your guidance," a voice had said now, and everyone looked at Turtle, who seemed to have realized he'd just spoken up.

"Why are we still on these topics? Have we all forgotten his warnings? Aren't we trying to also prevent the death of a queen? One of us losing… family?" Turtle reminded them and there was some shifting coming from the other dragons. "We've followed his instructions and plans and came here due to his words, yet at the same time we keep arguing all the time about him, so… I say by this point you should already decide if you actually trust him or not, because otherwise I think this group won't be holding very well if we're always against the guide. Earlier we agreed on following Oracle, now let's see if we agree on trusting him."

As Turtle actually stated that ultimatum, everyone was giving awkward glances to each other, and after some moments, Qibli was the first to speak. Turtle had seen the Sandwing and Oracle whispering a lot earlier, he hoped Qibli trusts the small dragon.

"Well, logically after everything, looking at the pros and cons coupled with our conversations and the information shared, I think Oracle is trustworthy despite these hiccups," he announced, and Oracle looked quite cheered up by that.

"I didn't even doubt! Queen Glory could be in danger in the future as he simply said "a queen", so I'll stick around and help! And even if it's not Queen Glory, well, I don't want other queens to die either," Kinkajou quickly chimed in.

Winter huffed at this. "Are we really doing this? Expect everyone to jump in and agree? And then you'd like what? A group hug?" He said slowly, and Oracle's mood dampened once more.

"I'd be all into giving you hugs if you really want them," Qibli mentioned. "But not quite when you're being a party pooper. C'mon Winter, why do you argue so much against the one that'll get back your brother?"

Winter gritted his teeth at that, looking at the Sandwing. "Because I can still look at the bigger picture without letting my personal feelings cloud the truth, which is that a Nightwing that has confessed on constantly keeping secrets from us should not be anywhere near that scroll. It's the Darkstalker's powers, and we're just letting a sneaky Nightwing that seemingly knows it all about him get to use it?"

Oracle remained silent, he looked at Moon, and based on her expression, he could tell that she did not really trust him either.

And then his expression lightened up, he suddenly had an idea.

"Okay, if that's the issue… what if we do something so I can't just freely use the scroll and do whatever evil spell I totally would want to do?" Oracle offered, and Winter looked with slight curiosity.

"And what would that be? Hide it where you can never find it?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No, something much safer, for all of us, so nobody can just abuse its power in a wrong way, I propose… a spell to affect future spells," Oracle stated now, all eyes focused on him.

"A spell that affects spells?" Turtle repeated, confused, not getting it at all.

"How about writing down a magical ruleset within the scroll? So that one can only do certain types of spells like any harmful ones with specific circumstances?" Oracle said.

Qibli perked up at that, Oracle assumed his mind must already be thinking of all kinds of wordings for a perfect ruleset.

"That sounds like a great idea, it's not fair to expect only you to do some spell wrong, anyone could, even if by accident due to wrong wording, so if we can make the scroll safer to use in the day to day with bigger spells only happening at times, wouldn't that be good?" The Sandwing said, mostly directing this at Winter and Moon.

"I guess that depending on the rules, it might work out?" Moon said still with some uncertainty in her tone.

"Hm… rules that have to be followed due to actual magic does sound like the best possible security measure…" He had to admit now. "So if you actually come out with something that makes this a lesser danger then I might… believe you."

Oracle stood up with energy and determination in his face, and took some steps back.

"O-Okay! I'll leave the pouch with the scroll right here in the middle so nobody uses it until the rules are written on it. C'mon Qib, help me think of the rules and words," he said, calling the desert dragon with a talon, and he looked surprised by that, but then quickly nodded and followed at some distance from the others, who could only sit and stare at the scroll and to the duo at the distance.

After the talk from earlier, I bet that he didn't expect me to ask him for help with Animus magic, let alone a literal ruleset. Oracle thought.

And so, Oracle and Qibli sat down still at sight for the others, whispering to each other excitedly with their heads close and writing down on another scroll, talking for 10 minutes before approaching the group.

"Okay, we believe that we've got an amazing idea for how to use the scroll, one that everyone should be satisfied with," Qibli announced.

"Yeah, because we all literally have to agree with it," Oracle added now.

"What's this spell? How does it work?" Turtle asked with significant curiosity.

"Okay, well so basically… writing down big spells will need council approval," Oracle announced.

"Council? Like in court meetings? How would a spell work with that?" Winter questioned.

"With very precise wording, basically Qibli would write it down like this…" Oracle cleared his throat, and tried a regal tone as he read from the scroll he and Qibli had written on…

I enchant Darkstalker's scroll so that now spells being written down in it require council and agreement between Oracle and Moon the Nightwings, Qibli the Sandwing, Turtle the Seawing, Kinkajou the Rainwing and Winter the Icewing with the following guidelines written below:

Either of the 6 sides will begin the enchantment offer by saying "I propose this spell" and then say it, the other sides then can reply with "I accept" or either "I refuse" or not respond, then the written spell only works if the wording is the same as agreed.

Spells that are meant to be basic enchantments of general use that cannot actively harm someone else, or enchanting objects for uses as stated above meant for self and unable to do damage requires no agreement and can just be made by any of the sides.

Spells that directly affect someone else in particular in any sort of general way need the agreement of 3 members of the council for them to work.

Spells meant to cause direct harm, either physical, mental or spiritual, on a specific individual requires the agreement of 4 members of the council.

And making a spell that is meant to outright KIll someone else needs the agreement of 5 members.

If every member of the council dies, then this scroll's power will be locked for a full year before it can be used again.

Then Oracle looked up the scroll towards the others.

Everyone seemed to be contemplating this, and Oracle quite liked seeing Winter's expression, it was obvious that the prince was struggling to admit that this spell was solid.

Finally, the Icewing spoke now. "Fine, I actually cannot see something wrong with this ruleset, deliberating for more dangerous spells might be the safest route…" He began to admit. "Although I want to ask why the part about our deaths?" He questioned.

"Well if something wipes us all out, then due to the rules the scroll would be completely useless, so instead it'd be powerless for a year so if someone kills us then they can't just freely use it," Qibli explained, it did feel morbid to think of such possibility, but it just added to show Oracle wanted things to be safe.

"I like being part of big decisions! We'll be like a magical court!" Kinkajou said, hopping excitedly.

"Well, not much else that I could say besides "I accept"," Turtle said with a small smile.

Oracle looked at Moon, he felt like lately she just resented him. Normally he would think it's due to him just giving massive lore exposition regarding Darkstalker and she'd clearly be very conflicted about that.

But the way she looked at him, he felt there was something else, he had felt her stare even before getting into the theater antics, and so now he was worried.

Finally Moon answered too now, giving a nod. "I can't think of a safer option than to get rules to follow, I agree."

Sighing relieved, Oracle gave Qibli a nod. "Alright Qib, write it down!"

With a big grin, the Sandwing took a pen and grabbed the magic scroll from the ground and wrote for a minute, reading out loud each word he wrote to show he's following the script, and eventually he stopped writing.

"Is it done?" Kinkajou asked, very curious.

"We'd probably need to do a safe test spell to check," Turtle commented.

"Hmm… Okay, how about…" Oracle said in thought, tapping his chin with a claw, then he smirked. "Qibli, just write "I enchant this stick so that when it touches Oracle the Nightwing, his scales will be of many colors for a minute," he said handing the desert dragon a short stick, and that made Qibli's grin grow wider as he quickly wrote that down, holding the stick and tapping Oracle, and nothing happened.

"Well, it seems like the rule of directly affecting specific dragons is working," Qibli commented. "So in that case… I propose this spell, so that I can enchant this stick so that when it touches Oracle the Nightwing, his scales will be of many colors for a minute."

Oracle could tell the tension had quite defused after the first proposed spell for this "magical court" was such a silly one, hearing some chuckling around, and he was sure that Winter looked slightly less grumpy for a moment. Kinkajou was of course the first to say "I accept!", followed by Oracle himself, then Turtle, then Moon, then Winter.

Qibli wrote it again, tapping Oracle on the snout with the stick, and the Nightwing looked down at his body and he had to squint and close his eyes for a moment, he looked like a very indecisive Rainwing! Each one of his scales was a different color and hue! Kinkajou laughed and changed her scales to follow the absolute wild pattern and looked as rainbow-y as him.

"Three moons, my eyes! Maybe I should've just turned you a single different color!" Qibli said, looking bewildered at this and covering his eyes.

Turtle squinted at this, with Oracle and Kinkajou side by side, it was like an explosion of color. "Maybe a bit bright for the night?"

Moon now giggled, her expression actually having a smile from this.

And Winter let out a short scoff that Oracle assumed was meant to hide a chuckle.

After a minute, Oracle's scales shifted back to black with splatters of silver beneath the wings as the Nightwing laughed, Kinkajou remained like that for some extra moments before shifting to more regular colors.

"I believe that this first meeting of the Magical Court was an absolute success, well done everybody," he said.

"Ooh, we're actually calling it the Magical Court?" Kinkajou said giggling. "I guess if we are the next Dragonets of Destiny, that name is as good as any."

"Rather sure you say so because you were the first to propose a name," Qibli pointed out. "From my part I say that we should vote for the name at another point."

"I won't be taking part of a group called "The Magical Court," Winter assured now and Oracle looked at him.

"So what should the group's name be, oh great prince? The Winter fanclub?" Oracle joked and Winter stared down at him.

"I'd be the first to join that, before even Winter himself," Qibli said, raising a talon.

Winter rolled his eyes. "Anyway, fine, I guess that with all these security measures, it'd be unlikely for the one that proposed them to try being the next Darkstalker with these limitations. So with the previous question I guess I'll trust him, slightly."

Oracle cheered up a lot, Winter trusts him! Even if just a bit, that's such a change, and he promised to himself that he won't disappoint this group.

Only Moon was left, the two Nightwings met eye to eye while everyone else observed, there was silence for some moments while Moon appeared very deep in thought, but eventually…

"I… will trust Oracle."

That was all that Oracle wanted to hear, and he was feeling truly happy.

"Thank you, all of you, I… I promise I will keep trying to be a good guide, and get us to a better place. Tomorrow we'll begin with more changes by giving Winter back his brother," Oracle said, standing up confidently.

Two hours had passed since then, nearly everyone was sleeping besides Oracle, who had walked up to Qibli some time ago and told him to sleep and that he'll keep guard for now.

Oracle's eyes were darting around in the dark, next to him below a talon was the pouch containing Darkstalker's scroll, given that the one that's staying awake would obviously be more able to keep the scroll in sight.

Oracle was deep in thought, thinking about the latest events. The previous day had gone terribly for the most part, the new prophecy, getting shot down by other humans, nearly dying painfully by Rainwing venom…

But now he felt that at least at the end of the day, it was worth it, he had managed to get the group's trust, a trust that he wasn't planning to break, he wouldn't disappoint them.

As he thought about the group, he turned his neck back to look at the sleeping dragons near the campfire. It looked like the fire was about to go off so he approached and threw some more sticks into it.

And that's when he realized afterwards, looking at the group, that there were only 4 figures resting on the ground.

Moon was gone.