When he woke up, he found himself confused, unable to remember just when he fell asleep at all. He also had quite the headache since he slept with a golden circlet pressed against his head the entire time. However, he managed to get up and stumbled into the main lobby of the temple. The doors were closed and locked, meaning that Igneous wasn't expected to read more people for the day. It also meant that it was only a few hours that passed since he read the royal family. His guardians noticed the closed doors and set themselves up in the lobby with cards and small piles of gold coins in between them. They were gambling inside of what Adoss considered to be divine space but he also knew that his friends, at least the ones actually doing the gambling, did it because they thought it was hilarious.

His friends all lived in the addition of the temple just as he did, along with some of the priests and priestesses that cared for the temple. Igneous understood from early on in his divine career that he was important to Adoss and he was important in how the temple operated. To help keep stress off of him, they charged people for a reading – those who thrived from Adoss' wealth were read and their gold went back into offering some wages for those who had a hard time keeping up, people who couldn't work other jobs for whatever reason. These jobs were usually offered in a building a short walk from the temple, a building Igneous could see if poked his head out the temple. The temple itself was just outside of the capital city.

It would fall apart for years if Igneous died. It took time for an oracle to be born and be old enough to really be useful as an oracle.

The guardians not only looked after him but also after the gold that accumulated before it could put back into circulation. One the guardians was a male ursurine that came from Vedia named Gerben. He stood at seven feet, with heavy stone gauntlets and greaves that Igneous couldn't lift. He had messy black hair, some of it pulled back into a short ponytail, and chocolate-brown eyes that shined with mischief. He came for a reading once and Igenous, being eleven or so at the time, immediately became attached and wouldn't let him leave. He ultimately decided to stay. Igneous looked over Gerben shoulder. He seemed to have a bad hand but Gerben smirked like he was going to win.

Saikur was merely watching and he was the guardian that followed Igneous from their home village, so Saikur was a childhood friend. Well, one of the one friends that Igneous grew up with. He had a shoulder length, wavy navy coloured hair and serious blue eyes. His clothing was usually plain, usually some dark coloured tunic with lighter pants and leather boots. He was a little short for a sixteen-year-old and he had a surprisingly small build for somebody who could wield an axe. Saikur had an older brother who essentially raised him but Igneous didn't really know the details. While Gerben was mischievous, Saikur was the self-proclaimed voice of reason but not even he could stop the gambling in the temple.

He seemed to be on the look-out for cheating, at least.

The last guardian was an older man who was in his mid-forties with greying brown hair and a beard. Leigh was trained as a knight, and generally wore the heavy red and yellow armour that represented Adoss. However, he was transferred to the temple by the king himself just about the time when Igneous moved in. Leigh was usually strict with training and rules but when the temple was closed, he let himself and everybody else relax. Despite Gerben being the literal bear, Leigh was usually called the bear, especially by Gerben himself. He would act like mother bear when he was strict and then like a teddy bear when the temple was closed.

"Which one of us has a chance, Iggy?" Gerben asked. Despite Igneous warning him several times, the ursurine insisted on using the stupid nickname.

"If I knew, I wouldn't tell you guys," he mumbled, sitting down opposite of Saikur.

"So why is the temple closed today?" Saikur asked.

"I had a private meeting with King Jarid and his kids earlier today," Igneous answered, playing with one of his bracelets. Leigh glanced at him.

"What's the news?"

"He's going to die," Igneous said frankly. It stilled bothered him and he caught the crack in his voice from the brief break in his composure. His guardians were silent until Leigh cleared his throat.

"How? What's going to happen?" he demanded.

"He'll get killed – he can be a coward or a martyr, his choice really. If he chooses to be the martyr, Adoss will bounce back. If he tries to run, then he's not the only who will die. I didn't see who his murderer was though."

"That's some crazy stuff," Gerben said with a shrug, throwing one of his gold coins into a pile in the middle. Leigh raised an eyebrow and did the same. "But hey, if it'll cheer you up, I heard that some dancers are coming near the temple tonight! Those girls usually have those piece of jewelry you like."

That they did. Igneous liked to watch dancers, he always did. It wasn't the just clothing or the girls themselves that he paid the most attention to but rather the jewelry that the dancers wore that moved to their beat and jingled whenever the dancers moved, almost like a song. Gerben watched because he enjoyed any type of activity that involved a lot of movements. He lacked the finesse to really dance himself, or so he claimed, so he could respect the people who could.

"That sounds nice," he said with a nod. "Are you two coming?"

"I'll think I'll visit my brother today. It's been a while," Saikur mumbled.

"I'll stay here. There needs to be a guardian here at all points of the day. Besides, most of the girls are too young," Leigh mumbled. In other words, Leigh didn't want to look like a creepy old man for watching younger girls in somewhat revealing clothing dance. That was a probably a good call.

"Then it's just you and me, Iggy!" he said, throwing his arms around Igneous. "It's been a while since you got some fresh air!"

"Gerben, you accidentally showed your hand," Saikur murmured. Gerben shrugged and threw his cards into the middle.

"Fine, I was probably going to fold soon anyway," he mumbled.

"It's fine, keep your gold," Leigh said with a shrug. Saikur shook his head.

"Gerben isn't going to learn to handle gold unless you take it away from him," Saikur mumbled.

Leigh seemed to consider Saikur's words for a moment, then with both of his hands pulled the middle pile towards his own pile.

"Oh come on!" Gerben groaned.

Gerben and Igneous went out later that night after they were served dinner. Saikur left earlier in the afternoon, saying he'll have dinner with his brother and his niece and nephew. Whenever Igneous went out, he had to wear a travelling cloak and braid his hair so it would actually stay under his hood. That way, he could pass through a crowd easily without people bothering him for a reading, though if he had Gerben beside him, people were quick to stay out of their path anyway. As far as Gerben knew, he was probably one of the only ursurines in Adoss, considering that most of them just stayed around Fraedia or Vedia because they preferred the woods and rivers.

It didn't take long for them to reach the entertainment troupe that was staying in the capital city, Dosia. It was a collection of carriages set back against the side of the roads of the city while the dancers and entertainers themselves occupied the city square, dancing to various songs done by instruments and voices. There was a carrying case for a stringed instrument open on the ground where gold coins were starting to collect as people leaned on the houses or from the windows to watch them. Igneous heard some cat calls but he ignored them.

However, one dancer in particular seemed to grab his attention. She wore a yellow shirt and black pants, both appearing to be a little translucent around her stomach and along most the length of her legs. She was lightly tanned, perhaps because she was outside more often, with long blonde hair that ended at her waist. For a moment, his eyes locked on green eyes. He felt close to her for some reason but he couldn't place why. It wasn't a physical attraction. He could see them together, with fire burning around them. He realized that the building he thought would look better with some colour was surrounded by fire in a strange twist. It was the other buildings around the temple that were actually burning, making the air hot and making him feel claustrophobic with all the screaming and people running all around him. She grabbed his wrist and pulled him with her as she broke into a run.

He snapped out of it, blinking away the fire that threatened his livelihood. No matter how long his visions lasted, the real time that elapsed was only a few seconds. When he was walking and had a vision, he would only stumble a little from the sudden loss of reality. Gerben elbowed his side. He must have tried to be gentle but it hurt enough that Igneous doubled over in pain.

"Sorry, I was checking. You didn't say anything for a while," he whispered furiously.

"You wear stone gauntlets. You hurt," he grumbled with gritted teeth but the pain subsided relatively quickly. That didn't make it any less agonizing. He stole another glance at the dancer in yellow and black. He felt like their futures were connected somehow but he couldn't tell who was helping who or what her goals were.

"Yeah, sorry," he mumbled, then smirked. "Find one that you like?"

He pointed out the dancer. "I feel like she's important," he mumbled. "I just saw her... we were together for a time. And the temple..."

"Iggy," he said, gently shaking him. It was gentle – he didn't feel sick from it. "You're here to relax."

"How long are they going to be here for?"

"Three days, I heard. Tonight is the first." Igneous looked at the dancers again,the other dancers but a blur in comparison to the one he was focused on earlier. He had to talk to her before she left Dosia, at least to satisfy his own curiosity about her. He didn't need her hand to figure out that she was important somehow - the fire was clear and she was clear, so it was most likely inevitable. He watched silently until she finished her dance and approached one of those carriages, switching spots with somebody in a colourful costume, some sort of jester if he had to guess.

Igneous approached the caravan, startling Gerben and making him rush to rejoin his side. "Hey," Igneous called out. He got her attention. She turned around quickly, like she had something to hide.

"Who are you?" she asked quickly.

"I'm Igneous..." he answered. He wasn't sure if it was a good idea to tell her that he was the oracle. He wasn't sure how well people knew his name, just his looks most likely, so he wasn't sure how she would react. "What's keeping you here?"

She blinked – she likely had no idea what he was asking. He tried to to think again. What would put her with him but outside of the troupe? He didn't think she was still affiliated with it.

"Is there something important that you lost, something outside of this troupe?"

"I... yes but really, I don't want to be a bother. I'm fine!" she said with a blush. He reached out and grabbed her hand, earning him a weird look from Gerben. He could see a reunion, his feet planted in soft grass. They were surrounded by dense trees and by people he couldn't recognize, aside from Mira and his guardians. Why he had so many people surrounding him was a mystery but he felt safe. What was clear in her future though was a reunion, a big, tight hug with somebody he couldn't really see.

He shook his head as her hand slipped out of his.

"Don't you want your future though?" Igneous said.

"Igneous, what do you see? Why are you so obsessed with her?" Her face turned red again. Gerben sometimes had a bad choice of words. Great, she must have thought he was some sort of stalker.

"She has a future and somehow, we're involved in it," he whispered to Gerben, then he faced the girl. "I'm not crazy, I promise! I'm the oracle and I saw your future and that's why I came here. I want to know how I can help. If I can, I want to."

"I can't leave until my debts are repaid," she said softly. "I promised. I want to keep that promise, even if I have a future elsewhere."

"What if we pay your debts?" Gerben asked.

"Well, maybe..." she mumbled, her eyes wide.

"Are you going to be here tomorrow?" Igneous asked. She nodded.

"Then I'll meet you tomorrow... or send someone else," he mumbled. "What was your name?"

"I'm Mira."

"Tomorrow then, Mira! Think about it!" Igneous said with a wave as he turned around and began heading back to the temple. Gerben was at his side quickly and patted his back.

"Are you happy you went?"

Igneous nodded. "We're going on an adventure... soon, maybe."

Gerben didn't say anything. That was fine – silence helped him think. King Jarid's death, a fire at the temple, a journey away from Adoss and Mira was somehow in the middle of all that... what did they have in common? There was something he was still missing and if he had that piece of the puzzle, he could figure just what was going on. Which one came first? Was there even a connection or were the events are separate from each other, the only connection being the fact all of it had yet to happen?

Sometimes, he hated his gift. He felt like he had the opportunity to really help people but all he was capable of sometimes were answers that were either vague and unhelpful or clear and horrible. He wanted to help, he wanted to feel good about his gift because he was stuck with it and he might as well turn it into a good thing. However, all the visions did for him was earn him the terrible nickname. He had big shoes to fill – the other oracles carried Adoss forward but he didn't feel like he was all that helpful.

Sometimes, he hated being in the same room as those statues because he felt like they were staring him down and judging him for his inability to accomplish what they did. He couldn't figure what made him so different if he had the same gift they did.

Gerben patted his shoulder again. "Quiet means upset," he mumbled.

"No, I'm fine!" he answered. "Do you think the priests would do that? Buy her out of her contract? I want to feel like I'm helping somebody."

"You don't ask for much – the occasional shiny thing but really... they owe you a lot more than that for the work you do. I know it strains you. Anybody could see that. We should make sure we're back before it gets too dark though. You know how nervous the priests get."

"Yeah..." he mumbled, surprised that his mental exhaustion ended up translating in his body language. "The bed sounds nice right about now."

"I'll talk to the head priest about buying the girl's contract while you get some rest."

It was late into the evening when the last person who requested a reading left. For the first time in a long time, he went through a day without seeing death. It was strange compared to the day before when he saw fire and death everywhere. He couldn't explain it. He expected more death if Adoss was in trouble and surely, without a king it would be. He was confused. Maybe he should stop thinking about it, considering that all it did was make his head hurt. His only job was to say what he saw.

Gerben approached him as soon as he went through the curtains into the living quarters. "The priests will let us do it if you want to go now. What do you want her to do though? Come here? You can't just buy her out of a contract and then expect her to be fine – she needs somewhere to go."

Right, he did not think that far ahead. What if she didn't want to go back to the temple at all? Maybe they could set up her in an inn? Of course, that was more gold they had to spend but that was assuming she would agree to go with them at all. She seemed unsure of herself.

"I guess we'll have to talk to her," he mumbled as he began to braid his hair loosely before he donned his travelling cloak and pulled up his hood. Gerben took his chance to grab the gold when he was doing his hair so by the time Igneous was done with his hair, Gerben was ready to go. It was darker that night than it was the previous night they went out but the capital was still alive with song and dance, the night lit up with torches. He saw Mira again and approached her when she was done dancing.

"You're back," she said with a smile.

"Have you thought about it?" Igneous asked.

"I have and I think I do want to go with you. You might have a hard time with my boss though," she said with a sigh.

"I can try," Gerben mumbled. Mira directed him to her caravan while she motioned for Igneous to follow her. She went into the direction of another caravan and hopped inside of it, emerging later with a sword on her lap as she sat on the edge of the caravan. He didn't imagine that such a gentle looking girl would carry a sword but thanks to the fact that he mostly stayed inside the temple, he didn't really see a lot of people out and about with their own concerns. He saw his guardians, the way they could wield weapons but outside of that his experience was little. She also had a travelling cloak set under the sword on her lap but she must have not had many possessions.

"Who are you looking for anyway?" Igneous asked. "When I saw your future yesterday, you were hugging somebody but I really couldn't see who."

Mira looked hesitant. "That was probably my brother," she answered. "Do you really plan on going to Fraedia?"

"I'm not sure, to be honest. I'm getting the feeling that Adoss won't be safe for me anymore and that I should leave but I don't have enough information to know why. I never do," he said with a sigh. Between the fire and the fact that the king was doomed to die, it didn't seem safe for anybody but just because he knew he had to leave didn't mean he knew when to leave. Was Fraedia dangerous though? Even if he wanted to go to Vedia, to avoid The Barren he would have to go through Fraedia to get there. He also had a bad feeling about Zahan – Darren said they were eager to fight and if they had a relatively new queen, then it was perhaps a good idea to avoid the country if he had the chance.

Suddenly, Gerben and an older woman appeared in front of them, her face serious. She seemed to be the type that couldn't tolerate stupidity and she also looked to be a dancer herself but rather than appearing to be on the timid side like Mira, she seemed proud of her dancer outfit. "Well, Mira, looks like you're free to go. It's a darn shame since you're so useful, but he paid twice the amount that you owed me. Where are you going now?"

"I want to find my brother," she answered with a determined look. "But thank you for giving me the chance, Lotte."

"Hmm, don't you dare get caught up slavery again or you may not ever get the chance," Lotte said, brushing back some of her black hair. "I was the one to give you the chance, so don't waste it."

"Shall we go now? We can probably fit you in at the temple," Gerben said.

"See you later, Lotte," Mira said as she hopped out, placing her sword on the ground as she threw on her travelling cloak. When she done with that, she strapped her sword on her back. Gerben gave her a strange look but nonetheless, the three of them headed back towards the temple. Mira seemed much more comfortable in the cloak, Igneous noted and he understood the feeling. It was a shield. Igneous could be alone in the cloak because nobody could recognize him so long as his hair stayed bundled and didn't peek out. He had a feeling that Mira was one of the dancers who really didn't like the dancer outfit and just felt better when she was more covered. She was also armed but Igneous had no idea just how well she could wield that thing.

Probably better than he could.

Gerben stopped suddenly, holding his head up higher in the air like he could smell something strange and he looke alarmed. He suddenly heard the sound of screaming, followed by people running past them like they were running for their lives. Igneous looked up to Gerben in alarm.

"I smell smoke. C'mon!" he said, running ahead. Igneous followed him, keeping a hand on his hood as he did so.

"What? Why towards the fire?" Mira asked in a shout, holding her hood down by holding it on the sides as she followed behind them.

"Igneous can't be alone for any reason!"

"So the fire is better?"

"It is until we know what caused it!"

It was just as Igneous saw. The buildings, the wooden houses, were all on fire and seemed to be going strong as people in the surrounding area fled. Gerben ran closer to the temple and Igneous followed him, Mira at his side. The temple itself seemed fine, maybe because the entirety of it was made of stone of some kind. Adoss spent a lot of time and money on the temple back in Mayon's day and the fact that it could stand on its own without wooden supports, as far as he knew, amazed him. It provided safety for the ones that fled into it but it wasn't a large temple so he doubted many could fit unless the addition was opened up to the public.

Many ran past them towards the square back in Dosia and many continued to run past him as he stared at the temple. Gerben was trying to assess the damage.

"We should probably try to find a way to stay out of the way," Mira mumbled. She grabbed his hand and they ran off the main path but tried to keep Gerben in their sights. He was in a frenzy though, moving around and around and it was hard for either one of them to keep track of him and watch where they were going at the same time. Gerben seemed oddly panicked and for a brief moment, Igneous wondered if maybe Gerben forgot him. In terms of being a good bodyguard, Gerben tried but sometimes, he forgot simple things, like making sure Igneous was always in his sight. Leigh and Saikur were definitely more careful about that than Gerben was.

There was suddenly a loud horse whinny. He looked back and found it wasn't any horse he recognized. His eyes fell on the black and icy blue colours of Zahan and for a moment, the horse rider noticed them, watching them carefully. Igneous bit his lips. Was it a good idea to try to run? The rider didn't seem interested in them. His stare lingered for a moment, a moment too long – he locked eyes with the rider and he raised his arm. Igneous realized in horror that he was recognized somehow. "After him!"

Mira gasped and they both turned to run with Mira holding onto his wrist. He was getting tired quickly, not used to so much running and if it wasn't for the chaos and sudden danger, he would have refused to run so much. His new found friend seemed to be keeping up better than he was – she had no choice but to be active and dance and it seemed to help her. Most of all, he cursed his damn ability because it was so vague and so random, it seemed hardly useful at all sometimes unless somebody could connect all of the dots. It would have been nice to know what started the fire – it would have nice to know that it was freaking Zahan that was behind the whole thing and that they were apparently looking for him. What use was it to know about the fire but be unable to prevent the fire?

But maybe the fire was meant to happen – oh yes, Igneous definitely believed in fate and destiny and other such concepts. He just had no other way of explaining why some futures were so definite and others were so wishy-washy that he couldn't really tell what was going on, none of it was clear or very decipherable. They could mean anything. The ones that were meant to be couldn't change as far as he knew, such as King Jarid's death and possibly the fire and that was why he knew of them but not how to change them. He could generally tell if it was definite depending on the clarity of the vision – if the details looked so lifelike that he felt like he could touch them, then it was a more definite future than one that looked blurred.

Igneous cried out as pain erupted in his ankle and it gave out from underneath. He felt more pain his somewhere on his left and more pain into his right shoulder. He couldn't see what caused the pain, just that it was so unbearable that he found that his vision had gone dark and he was suddenly out.

Mira gasped and turned around when she heard a thud on the ground, then felt a tug on her arm. Igneous was down, two arrows poking out his back and another near his ankle. The horse rider approached him, setting his bow across his back. He looked at her intently. "Scoot along now, Miss, we only need the oracle and we'll withdraw and get out of here."

She bit her lips. She didn't like to be angry at anybody but she couldn't fathom why somebody would set fires to capture one person. He didn't seem to care if he was destroying other people's lives – many seemed to survive the fire but they would surely have nothing left. Igneous may be the oracle, she was just taking his word for it because she was thankful to him, but he wasn't worth all the destruction she saw.

What could she do though? Igneous wasn't screaming so she assumed he lost consciousness, unable to get himself out of the situation. Mira slowly unsheathed her sword. She was still new at it but she got the grip down and some basic moves. She figured that thanks to dancing, she might be able to dodge – her brother mentioned before that a moving target can cause some trouble, so she hoped that it would work in her advantage. However, she wasn't feeling confident in her ability to try to fight him though.

"Oh really? What do you think you can do? You're inexperienced! I know fresh meat when I see it!" he said, quickly drawing his bow out again with one hand and grabbing an arrow from his quiver in the other hand. He might have been fast but there was no way he could have fired three so quickly that neither her or Igneous knew what happened. He had help. Maybe she was in over her head but Igneous promised her a future, one that sounded like involved her brother. She was not letting anybody take that chance away from her.

He fired the arrow but he seemed to intentionally miss her foot, probably just to scare her. However, before he could even touch another arrow, there was a loud, angry growl that made her jump out of her skin and drop her sword. A giant, black mass dashed beside her and jumped, colliding with the horse and the rider. The horse got up quickly and ran away, making Mira jumped out of the way before it could collide with her. When she had a moment to catch her breath, she saw Gerben shift back into his human form, holding the man by the neck.

"How many soldiers to have here?" he growled, bearing his teeth.

"There are many more! More than you know and more than I know! Adoss is already in Zahan's hands!"

"That's a lie!"

"Just wait until tomorrow and you'll see!"

Mira gasped in horror as Gerben squeezed his fist and she heard the distinct sound of bone snapping. He broke his neck with his fist.

"C'mon, we have to get Igneous help," the bear mumbled, bending down beside Igneous. "Healers don't need the entire arrow, right?"

"Yeah, just enough of the shaft to push it through," she answered as she watch Gerben snap steel arrows in half, leaving about half of the shaft left.

"I'm going to transform again. Can you get him on my back when I do?" he asked. She nodded and he shifted again, taking the form of a large, dark bear, the biggest she ever saw. He bent down, allowing Mira to take Igneous' arms and drag him onto the bear's back before joining him. She had no idea where he planned to go but she owned, so she was going to stay.

Here's the update, as promised! From here on out, expect updates to be more sporadic - those who followed me since Silver Memories, my other story, will know that it's a good month if I update more than once. Not going to lie. I also want to some time to make more of a back log since that helps me finish the story.

Also, if I have not yet replied to you, then shoot me another message.

And say hello to Mira, one of the characters I received! So far, she's the only one in the story, unless you count the mentions of her brother, but you'll see more characters in the next chapter.