It wasn't a cozy home but it did well. That was Igneous tried to tell himself anyway – no matter what, the fact that he lived in a large addition built onto the temple was enough to immediately make his space feel void of any personality because it used the same grey stones. It wasn't homey. He had to his own touches to the room he called his bedroom, including a large bed full of pillows, a vanity with a mirror, and a red rug that sure felt expensive. Red was his favourite colour – it was the colour of his long hair, except his hair was orange at the tips, the colour of the baggy pants he wore, the colour of the flame-embroidered top with no sleeves, and the colour of the gems in his jewelry.

His entire life was revolved around fire and it made him feel powerful in a strange way, like he was the flame itself. Apparently, that was the way it was with the two oracles before him, or so he heard. Vulcan, judging by his statue, had short flaming hair, but the head priest in the temple was a caretaker of Vulcan and he described him as similar to Igneous. They shared the golden eyes, the red hair and the tan skin, traits seen in the first oracle, Mayon according the records that the temple kept of her. Her statue made her look tall and she was in a dancing pose.

Igneous was putting jewelry on when the head priest knocked on his door. "Igneous! Are you awake? The king sent a messenger and he wants to see you shortly."

"Got it!" he shouted back through the door and followed with a sigh. It wasn't that he hated King Jarid – the man was old but he was kind and pleasantly plump. He had short grey hair but he kept his face shaved and he seemed to always wear expensive looking robes. However Igneous never got along with Darren, his oldest child and heir to the throne. He must have been the spitting image of his father, just twenty years or so younger, with dazzling green eyes and long brown hair that he tied back. He was also a warrior by all appearance, donning the red and yellow trimmed armour of Adoss. Igneous tried his best be nice and calm around Darren but the other man was adamant that his abilities were nothing but glorified fortune telling that you get from the streets.

Jarid's daughter often came as well but she seemed to refuse to speak for the most part so Igneous didn't even really know her name. He had the idea that she thought the whole thing was dumb but she didn't say anything, just folded her arms in front of her chest and huff whenever Igneous said something she didn't like. He didn't know what he did to her. She looked a lot her brother, though her hair was tied into a bun and she had blue eyes instead of green. She also didn't seem to care much for fighting – there was no way one could fight with such a tight dress on.

Either way he got ready quickly and made his way to the front of the temple. The temple wasn't as nice looking as Igneous thought it could be. He thought that the light grey stone walls should be painted to look like fire, thought that the temple could use some more curtains others than the one the blocked the front of the temple from the living quarters in the back, and the centre of the room could use more than the red cushion he sat on while he glimpsed into somebody's future. The only things that the temple had for decorations were the statues of Mayon and Vulcan, set behind and side by side at the back wall. The two walls at the side also had some fancy torch holders.

It didn't take long for King Jarid to arrive. He waved to Igneous. "How are doing today, Igneous? I hope your caretakers are doing you well!"

"I'm doing fine," he answered with a smile as he held his hand up for Jarid. Igneous saw glimpses into the future, tiny ones usually, several times a day but they didn't seem to relate to anybody. However, it seemed that if he held somebody's hand, then he could clue in one the future of a specific person. It was why he didn't like handshakes – he didn't care to see everybody's future.

Jarid placed his hand down on his. The first thing he saw was the king's dead body on his back, a gaping wound in his back. There were more bloody bodies, two which looked kind of like his children but they were faced down and the entire vision was dark so he couldn't make out as much detail as he would of have liked. The only clear thing was King Jarid's gaping wound. The second thing he saw was an alternate route but apparently, it ended in death all the same. King Jarid was face up, blood all over the front of his lonely body, the only thing keeping him any company being the sword in his hand. That image was considerably lighter than the other, like the sun was finally spilling into the room after a night of slaughter. He let go of the hand.

"I usually don't describe what I see but this time I feel like if I don't, it'll be the downfall of Adoss. The important thing is that you're going to die," Igneous said clearly. "How you chose to die is what will help or hurt Adoss – when the time is right, and I believe you'll know when, you must choose to fight. Your children will be spared and they have the chance to redeem Adoss. If you try to flee, then Adoss has no future that I can see."

"So I'll die? How long do I have?"

"I can't answer that for you. I never know when these things are supposed to happen, just sometime in the future, you have a choice to make."

Darren growled, balling up his fists. He may have been mad but Igneous knew that Darren wouldn't lay a hand on him. "Wait, father, you can't possibly be taking this guy seriously! You're not going to die just because some androgynous freak said so!"

"Excuse me, I'm the best androgynous freak as you so kindly put it," Igneous growled. "I'm hardly ever wrong and while some futures can be changed, the vision I saw of King Jarid wasn't one of those that could be changed. The details of the bodies were both too clear for me to mistaken it for anything else. However, if you father doesn't heed my warning, it's all over for Adoss! You can make fun of me all you want but it changes nothing!"

Darren bit his lips and huffed.

"I trust him, Darren," Jarid said, placing a firm hand on his son's shoulder. "Igneous, thank you. I have one more question... I don't suppose you've seen The Barren in your visions?"

"Not that I know of..." He was sure that he would know if he saw it. At least he hoped he would know if he saw it – it was hard for him to say anything.

"You see, Queen Asteria of Zahan hasn't been queen for very long but I believe she may try something soon. Maybe it has something with what you saw for me today," he said with a sigh. "I barely managed to convince her father to wait and observe The Barren but now that we do have an oracle, maybe I can get you to have an audience with the other ruling kings and queens to reaffirm my points eleven years ago. The Zahan rulers are always tough to get along with."

It could be very well that Adoss' future was threatened because of Zahan's ambitions. He didn't see the killer so anything was possible. He doubted that visiting the other rulers would really change anything though – it would take too long to organize and the king may not even be alive for much longer.

"It might be too late for that father," Darren mumbled. "I don't think she would believe you and that's all assuming she hasn't left yet. I've been close enough to the borders to know that Zahan's eager to fight and they'll do it on a whim."

"I'll do it if you want but I think Darren knows what he's talking about. It might be too late to do anything if today's vision was of any indication. Like I said though, Adoss will survive if you don't turn your back on the enemy," Igneous said with a shrug. He hated being vague but the best he and anybody else could do was try to piece together what little clues they had and hope for the best. Sometimes it worked out and sometimes it didn't.

"So you're on my side now?" Darrn muttered as he folded his arms in front of his chest.

Igneous gritted his teeth. "I'm not here to pick sides! But maybe I should read you too."

"You have my permission," the king answered. Darren look flustered, embarrassed even, as Igneous grabbed his outstretched hands. He saw two paths again. In the dark room, he could see the body of Darren, face up but his eyes were still open, like he never saw his death coming. Unlike his father though, he couldn't make out the wound that killed him and the vision was so blurry that he could barely tell it was Darren at all. That was a good sign – a blurry vision had the potential to change, in his experience at least. The other path presented seemed to be a literal path, one that was steep, narrow, and meandered frequently. A difficult path then? The path was so long that Igneous could not see the end of it but Darren, blurry like he was before, simply walked forward, cautiously putting one foot in front of the other.

"Well?" Darren asked impatiently. For somebody who seemed convinced that Igneous' ability was fake, he seemed awfully frightened of the end result.

"Two choices, like your father. Neither of them are easy – on one hand, you could die. I believe this has to do with your father's decision. If he fights, I believe you'll survive since I saw more than one body with your father's cowardly death. If you do survive, the path you have going forward is a difficult one – steep and not straight forward so you'll have to take your time to make it to the end," Igneous explained. Again, he didn't really like explaining his finishes so thoroughly if he could – he liked to leave a little bit of mystery, assuming it wasn't a life or death situation. He liked to prevent death if he could.

"What's at the end?" the prince asked, raising an eyebrow. Igneous heard his sister huff and she rolled her eyes.

"I couldn't see."

"Some help you are then!"

"Or maybe you can think about it a little." Igneous rolled his eyes. He had a feeling he was one of the only people allowed to get away with rolling his eyes at the prince. He didn't mind milking that fact for all it was worth. "What would you be after?"

"Can you read my daughter as well?"

He blinked at the request. It was the first time he actually read any of the children so he didn't expect to read them both in the same day. He held his hand out.

"Go on, Lauren," her father urged. She eyed his hand suspicious but eventually, she grabbed his hand. Not unlike the two men in her life, one path showed him her dead body, laying on her side like she thrown there. Thankfully, the vision was blurry like her brother's body was. Her other option showed her in much simpler clothing, her face obscured and her hair tied back under some some sort of headdress. She reminded him of a common women, keeping her hair out of the way while she worked or ran errands.

"I don't quite understand it. What I first said to your brother still stands – if your father dies-"

"I get it. What else?" she barked.

"I don't know what it means. You were just wearing plain clothing." She didn't look impressed with his answer but he had no idea what it could mean.

"Thanks again, Igneous," King Jarid said with a nod. "If this is the last time we meet, I sincerely thank you for all the help you've been. I know this is a tough job but I'm sure you made Vulcan and Mayon proud. I also know you and Darren don't necessarily get along right now but I hope that when it counts, you two will pull through together. I wish you all the best. Goodbye, Igneous."

"Goodbye, King Jarid," Igneous said with a small bow for perhaps the last time.

Igneous watched them leave, then stood up from his cushion and padded his way back to his room and collapsed into his bed without bothering to remove any of his jewelry. It felt like it was pretty early in the morning, considering that Saikur had yet to get up. Saikur and Igneous both enjoyed their sleep though and if they had the chance, both of them would sleep well into the afternoon. He didn't see his other two guardians though who naturally seemed to raise with the sun so he had no idea how late or early it really was. Igneous pinched the bridge of his nose. He couldn't remember what woke him up. He didn't dream, at least not that he could remember.

The glimpses into the future was enough – if he had vivid dreams as well he would just let the fourth oracle deal with everything.

It was not only the lack of sleep that bothered him but for the first time, foretelling one's death actually bothered him. He did it several times before. The very first time he said what he saw out loud was when he was six and he was trying to play with the other children in the village – he stumbled around a lot because of the visions and it made him the butt of every joke – when he told one of the other kids that he would be an orphan. The adults thought that he was just being mean but six months later, the kid's home burned down with his parents inside. His first act as an oracle was predicting the death of two parents.

Igneous knew, despite what the priests and priestesses tried to conceal from him, that he was known as "The Oracle of Death" by the general population but somehow he was still worth visiting. He predicted somebody's death way more than the other oracles did and never bothered him much before. Death was just end and nothing more.

What was different with King Jarid then? Was the fact that he tried to be so strong but inevitably he would fall apart? Hearing about his own death more than once had to get him but he tried to pretend that it didn't worry him. Igneous didn't think he was ready for his death though – there seemed to be a lot that the king still wanted to accomplish. He was still trying to to help even though he knew his days were numbered. Or maybe it was his final words getting to him – after all, nobody really did end up thanking him and hardly anybody outside of his guardians complimented him. King Jarid said the words Igneous didn't want know he wanted to hear and suddenly, he didn't want the old man to go.

What was wrong with him?

But most importantly, why him?

Hi everybody! Admittedly, I probably should have waited until school was over to set this all up but I was so excited. I'm working on the next chapter already and I want to get that up soon.

If you submitted characters through PMs, you should have heard back. If you didn't, just send me a message but don't resubmit your characters. If you submitted through a review, we'll take about that now!

Whoaheavy: Tahno is good to go!

HexyWitch: Charlie is accepted. However, is there an alternate spelling to Charlie, like Charli? I have another submitted character with a similar name so I'm trying to a find a way that won't be too confusing to refer to them both. I do have other ideas if you don't want to change from Charlie though!

McHearth: you know me so well! But I like to think I know a little about you too, so that's why I don't mind using Arum and Elli again so long as you update them a little to make them applicable to Haelin instead of Tellius. Or if you trust me, I'll do that myself since I have some ideas. Point is, I think it would be a fun little experiment to see how character interactions really shape a character - who knows how different the two Arums and Ellis will be at the end of my two stories when they essentially started the same way? That's the fun!

Characters are still open but as you may have guessed, time for Adossian characters are limited. There will be a few more chapters of Adoss, depending on how more characters I get from Adoss, but after that, Adossian characters will have to be wanderers. If you want to submit manaketes, do that soon as well since I'll probably only take a few more before I even that they won't be considered rare anymore.

If you need some ideas, you can PM me and I can tell you what kind of characters and what classes I need. If you have any questions about characters, then don't be scared to ask. This is my story and I'm totally willing to break Fire Emblem rules a little bit to have my fun.