Eldora had seen greatness in the future of someone who had been in that room on the night that they plotted against her mother. That greatness was higher than all the courts in the land but she couldn’t quite put her finger why it tasted so different compared to the rise of everyone else she had felt. Now Eldora was one of the most gifted Oracles that Arri had to offer. She saw things many years ahead of when situations would happen. She wouldn’t understand them until the time came to understand them but at what cost?

The cost was simple: her sanity. She was plunged into a world of chaos and fear. She had been normal once upon a time. Before the visions that haunted her soul started. She had remembered a time when things were happy and she could feel SOMETHING. Anything. There had been a time when she knew those emotions that came so easily to everyone.

Her blue eyes flickered just a bit as she felt the dynamic of the world change just slightly. She pulled herself from the hole that she was hiding in. She loved the spirits but rarely did they leave her alone. Not that she wanted to be left alone… the spirits were the only ones who really understood her and she would feel so lonely if they went quiet. 

She picked up a set of dolls. One had long black hair and red painted eyes. The other had long white hair and eerie blue eyes. One fashioned after a female and one fashioned after a male. She had come across them and they seemed to be made of the finest material. She held them close and she tilted her head. The strings were pulling her. Making her drift. She knew that it was dangerous. She wasn’t dumb. She had seen many outcomes but she was not foolish, she was longing. Maybe it was death that she sought. 

She wasn’t far away from the world’s changing features. She stared up at the moving rocks and the floating land in the sky. Her blue eyes were much more like stormy ocean now. She couldn’t put two and two together but she knew that someone from that room… was there. She found her way through the portals and found herself in the courtyard. She paid it hardly any mind. She just clung to the dolls as she walked through. Most people would have jumped when the doors slammed but not Eldora. She looked back at them uninterested. 

The maze that she found herself in was just an uneventful. Something caught her attention as she found a screaming mask on the wall that tried to send her into a fit of madness. Her fingers were gentle as she lifted it off the wall. It screamed louder and she tilted her head. You couldn’t send someone into madness if they were already there.

She wondered for a good bit the Stewards attempted to talk to her and she just pushed past them. Her eyes were oddly absent as she stared up at them. Her mind for all that it was worth led her to the single corridor that others would have been crying to see. She tilted her head and watched the doors. She pushed the doors open and went into the black and white room. What was it that she was looking for?

A shiver was sent up her spine as she thought about everything that plagued her. What her desires were… were… oddly not up to her. The room would comfort her but not in the typical sense. The room became like a mirrored surface. Her eyes hit Xunatar as she held the dolls closer. Her heart was beating hard. The one thing that could bring her comfort in that chaotic mind she had.


The visions that had plagued only her for so long. Every image, every feeling that accompanied it even the pain, and how it had affected Eldora over the years. It tried to show. All of her siblings being abused… Bryony holding Eldora through her screams to make the visions stop. How her pain mimicked that of what Cyprus did to her siblings. It continued for a while before it stopped.

She held out the dolls in her hands and dropped them on the ground. Her hand was holding the mask that had seemingly gone silent and the black haired doll smashed against the floor while the white haired doll laid intact on the floor. 

On the mirrored surface of the room laid the future that she had seen. All of which she couldn’t tell a mortal soul. Xunatar ending Cyprus. Cyprus ending Xunatar. Cyprus ending the world. Colden being betrayed. There were many fate strings that showed. Her chaotic mind went to almost a static as she fell down and just watched him. The amount of chaos in her mind was… enough to make someone who wasn’t numb kill themselves.

There were screams around the room. Eldora put a finger to her lips. The voices began to die. It was clear the voices weren’t from his temple, but from the spirits that guided the oracles of the rose. Eldora was the most gifted of the Oracles… but it came with a steep price. It made her hollow, took her sanity, and in the end made her almost doll like. Maybe if anything Xunatar could take the chaos away. She wasn't willing to say it because she didn't think he would but she had seen something in him. Something. Maybe it was her mother's death.

The room was oddly quiet as Xunatar sat lazily upon his throne. Typically he would be entertained by his Stewards playing their fickle games of gaining his favor by trying to outdo one another. But the moment the Cradle had sensed the arrival of a guest, his minions scattered towards the Halls of Madness to greet them. Though he would be able to pry and see for himself who came, where would be the fun in that? One finger stirred about his white locks, twisting and turn it as he waited news of whether he would have to play host or to call for someone to dispose of the corpse. Blue eyes fell onto the doors as one of his more favorite Stewards came bursting through. The look in the young man’s eyes was…odd. “My lord, there’s….something about the visitor…she’s a strange one. Her gaze makes it seem as though there’s nothing inside her.”

“Oh?” His interest was piped and soon the lord sat right up in his seat. “How close is she to finishing trekking the halls?”

The Steward sighed, “She is actually close to completing it. I was one of the last to see her. I made sure she hadn’t followed me, but it doesn’t seem to matter.”

“Very well. You’re dismissed.” Xunatar waved his hand at him and watched the servant bow and take his departure. With that, he stroked at his chin and pondered just who would be so keen on seeing the master of the Cradle. Within moments, he received his answer in the form of a familiar woman. Their encounter was brief yet it had a lasting impression on him, for better or worse. It made sense from the description fed to him that it would her to come here. His head tilted to the side, eyes watching her like a raptor. There was something much different about the strange woman; while her oddity was great, something was unusual even for her case.

Briefly he looked upon the dolls in her grip and noticed various traits from the both of them before their fall. From what he had learned in his short time in her presence, Eldora had been tainted by her mother but he was unsure of how until he felt her summoning some of the power in this room. Whether she meant to or not was irrelevant; the room served as a medium of her mind and he rose to watch it unfold. Through these images, he recognized that of Cyprus and those whom he had never seen before. Their resemblance to her remaining children was difficult to ignore, however. The gruesome images that played out would of had weaker men sickened to their stomachs but the Lord of Lies watched on with a stony gaze.  “Of course. She may have not laid a hand on you, but she might as well.” There was some pity he felt her, felt for all her children. It was a waste that she had broken the ones that remained; he knew of Colden’s state because of her and through Dante, he knew of Lotus’ as well.

The screams around them were deafening and before he rose his hand to silence them once and for all, Eldora fortunately did so. Was she so desperate to seek so sort of comfort from her mother’s misery that she would come to him for aid? He was rather surprised that she didn’t see Angela for this feat for it seemed more up her alley. He didn’t fret about it for too long as soon he rose from his throne and approached the broken girl. The size between them was great- he easily towered over Eldora’s rather short form and reached down to take hold of the white haired doll that still remained. Inspecting it for a moment, he took it with him back to his throne and sat before bring two fingers up into the air. As if following the motion, a chair shot up from the floor that face him and he beckoned her to take seat in it. “You were hardly speechless before in our last encounter. But I trust that you know why you came here in the first place. Such a haunting curse you have dealt with, bearing witness to all of that. Why not tell me the purpose behind showing me all of that…”

Eldora was stoic. Vastly. It was the images and the screams that spoke so much. She tilted her head to him as he spoke to her. He was right, Cyprus might as well have. She got up and followed his direction as he let her sit down in her chair. For the first time, she let her blue eyes wander around the room. She was silent. Like she had told him she liked the silence. Her attention snapped to him after a bit. Her hands gripped at the fabric of her oracle robes.

“This room,” she looked around and she knew why. “Grants people what they want most.” It wasn’t an accurate description but more so her own way of saying that it comforted her. “No one knew,” the words were hard to come from her lips. Her Arriese accent was so much thicker now than it had been when she was divining the future. “They call them Nizeva. Connectors to the spirit realm.” Her eyes drifted over his. “Special Rose Oracles who are more connected than anyone else. They are the strongest.” Her voice drifted in and out. “Most cursed. Most hated.” The words continued to pour through her mind and she brought a hand up to her head to stop it.

“Of the three born to that order, I’m the only one left.  The others committed suicide.” Her eyes drifted. “Nizeva can feel the pain of their visions. Most only see what the spirits want them to see. Nizeva feel and smell…” Her eyes looked over everything before finding his way back to him. “Why?” She appeared to be answered the purpose. “Why not?”

Her hand came down and gripped at her robe again. “You are chaos are you not?” She had felt it in these hollow halls. “My souls, my being, everything sang to you the day I first met you. But why?” She cut herself off and looked at the doll. “I knew something was changing. Someone’s death had become a part of the fate strings permanently. I knew someone in the room would become great but not in the typical sense like when I divine future kings.” Her once broken speech was becoming clearer.

“Someone in that room was going to break boundaries. It wasn’t going to be Lotus… or Kirika. That left just two people. The spirits liked you best but I couldn’t tell why.” She dazed off and looked at the room again. “Then the world shook and I knew. I saw.” 

Her eyes snapped back to him again. “It’s not something Angela can fix.” She knew that he had probably wondered it. Any sane person would wonder it. “Because theoretically there is nothing wrong with me. The Soul-Stream doesn’t bend to just anyone. It listens to Angela because it respects her but it would never stop whispering the maddening things it does to me. You were right when you said she might as well have.”

Her blue eyes closed. “I was a happy person. I remember happiness. I remember it… kind of. This light fluttering feeling. It made your chest beat from laughter. It’s so vague anymore. It started when I was five. The visions. Past, future, present. It didn’t matter and god help you if it was future. You see it again and again. They try to stop it but you realize that it isn’t something you can stop. Over and over again your siblings die and you feel every slice… every bone break.”

She was getting mad but she stopped and suddenly the emotion was just gone. It just vanished and her eyes were wandering again. “They didn’t have a word for what I go through at first. This chaos.” Her face twitched softly. “It's just there. Numb. Nizeva don’t normally come into their potential until they are older. I was different. They thought it was different. The tides of what Cyprus did had pushed the floodgates open. It flooded my mind. Bit by bit I was drowning in it. Then I couldn’t remember how to feel anymore.”

Her face twitched softly again as she watched him. “And then it was just dark. I would lose myself for days. I would end up places where normal people wouldn’t go because it would shut them up. Then I realized that without them I was alone. The silence was deafening. Madness would set in and I would lose myself again until I found myself on the edges of places that give nightmares. Where nightmares are born.” 

She stared up at Xunatar. “I just wanted someone to see that madness. Someone who could understand it. Who better than the person who now rules chaos? It’s not something someone can fix or quiet. Not without damaging me even more than I am. Being numb is the worst feeling in the world.” She gripped at her robes. “I said I liked the silence. I didn’t lie but maybe that’s because my head does nothing but scream all day and all night. When I sleep I dream of death. When I’m awake I see death. I feel death. I know what it feels like to die and have your last moments on this plane. But here I am… no matter how many times it has happened. No matter how many times I’ve watched my siblings die… How many times I’ve watched you die.” Her eyes closed. “It’s damning. But you understand and perhaps that will give me peace of mind. I’m the last of my kind and who knows when the next will come… but they will probably die like all the others. I’ll be here trying not to rip myself apart from all that I see.”

“In…a matter of speaking, yes”, he spoke beneath a soft tone. This room, as with all of the cradle was an expansion of his domain, of his own power. It was kin to being alive for it was ever changing depending on either the situation or whim. While the room could provide those in it with what they sought for, it was a double edged sword. Some would regret their decisions while others would be denied by the lord should he wish it. For the time being, he hadn’t mind the images projected but was more intrigued with what went through her mind. Before he had suspected that her awkwardness and abnormality was due to being directly subjected to her mother’s parenting but he was proven wrong. It was what she had done to her other siblings and having to relive it time and time that had done the deed. It was a rather curious thing to take sight of.

“I have been called many different names and titles before all of this, dear Eldora. As far as being Chaos…” Xunatar give it some thought before replying, “Yes…and no. Absolute Chaos is unbound by the rules of nature or of man. It can not fully controlled and it truly unpredictable. I am it and yet not truly.” His face wore a most brilliant smile as he looked to her, “And yet do not forget about what another part of me- I am that of Deception as well. Therefore you would take my words with some heed.” This Nizava she spoke, it seemed to take quite the toll considering how many still stood. Or rather, was sitting in his presence. Xunatar wasn’t the sort to deal with the spirits or of the future, but that wouldn’t mean that he didn’t pay close attention to what she was telling him.

“You mean to tell me that you knew that I would ascend to godhood, or at least something much grander than before?” He felt no sense of lying coming from her and her unorthodox means had once told him of Colden’s predicament with his mother before. Oracles were a tricky lot, that much was certain. He brought the doll back up and pushed its hair from its face. It seemed so much like him and from what he gathered from its broken counterpart, that was Cyprus. Had it been an accident of its demise, or was it foreshadowing the future?

If Eldora sought for a confidant, then it was a most curious thing that she chose this God to speak with. Then again, he seemed to had made an impression on her one way or another- much of which he guessed it was due to these spirits she spoke so highly about. He observed her struggle to keep herself in check; shades of emotions every now and then slipped from her. They didn’t go unnoticed by her host but he kept it among himself. He shifted his legs to get more comfortable and his head rested the back of his hand. “I’ve seen the madness lurking in you all right. To think that you’ve dealt with it for so long, it's a wonder you still remain with what bit of sanity is left.” [

Then again, the more they discussed this, the more he had to take recognition into his mentality. It had been molded back from his trials and surely he didn’t possess the state of mind he had once had so long ago. A great deal of torment that could seem everlasting could do that. In Eldora’s case, the length would actually seem like a whole lifetime, if not several. “To go without feeling anything is nigh impossible. I read you very carefully Eldora; words and body movement alike. That too could be a part of chaos itself for aren’t feelings a tempest in of themselves? Can we not go from being blissful to angry at the snap of the fingers? Every single thing that is born into this world can feel and feelings are chaotic. Myself included. All of this you have shared seemed to have suppressed it. It may be in my hands that it can be fixed.” Once more he grew restless and pushed himself from his throne and came towards her. He slipped behind her chair and brought the doll right up front of them. “Of course it won’t be free. Hardly anything in this world is. But you may tell me one thing, where did you get this from?” He was curious as to how much it looked like him, but the lord didn’t feel as though this was purely coincidence.

“I may also have an idea for your spiritual visitors as well. You nor them would be harmed, do not fret about that.”  

Eldora’s blue eyes were brilliant… They stared at him for what seemed like a thousand leagues. For the first time since their meeting, a small smirk appeared on her face. “How long I wonder… would deception be able to keep me rooted? Lies only work when the person doesn’t find out fast.” She reached a hand up and tapped on her head softly. “It’s not that I have forgotten. It’s that it is irrelevant. Not that the titles you possess aren’t amusing. It’s not that… You can’t fool fate strings no matter who or what you are. When you are in perfect harmony with the very strings of reality… It’s depressing that nothing can surprise you.” She wasn’t there yet but every year she felt that tug.

She tilted her head at him and nodded. “Yes.” There was no lie in her eyes or from her tone. They spoke of her madness and she knew it existed. Not many could stand back and look at themselves. Not many knew that deep down they were crazy. Eldora existed on all three planes. She could see herself. She understood what many could not. “It’s easy to remain when you can pull yourself from the fabric of the present and see what many cannot. To understand that you are mad… not many people can do that. Survival is what my siblings and I excel at. It is hard but it is not impossible to deal with this gift.”

Her head tilted the other way and she stared at him for a long time. “Perhaps because emotions make us weak. Fleeting happiness can be destroyed in an instant and with it yourself. If you feel nothing or are blank, you survive even the hardest trials. Maybe that’s why.” She didn’t answer him right away on if she wanted it fixed. She knew he would have his price. 

“They were a gift.” Her eyes looked down at the doll. “By a demon who feels remorse. He doesn’t know that I know.” She stared at the dolls. “Kreviz Demons are known by the same strings as Oracles. They see things like oracles do. Sometimes they see more. Used by the Demon Lords of their area they are able to predict weaknesses in their enemies but at a cost. Most of them die to the visions they see. Much more violent than what I have.”

Her fingers twitched. “He’s remorseful because he thinks that it is his fault. He was told I was dead. Despite all the visions in the world he didn’t know.” Her eyes flickered up. “Powerful oracle demons. That’s what my father was… is? He leaves gifts. But he doesn’t have the heart to look at me knowing what I go through.” She frowned a bit. “I shouldn’t even know but the spirits talk about him. He leaves me things that will help my journey. That will help me.”

She stared back at the doll. “The breaking of the Cyprus doll means that I would have liberation at last. For yours… I must meet with you. You hold something that can help. It doesn’t say… if you will. It just says you can.”

Letting her fingers bunch at her robes she appeared more at ease as they spoke. “I’ll hear of your idea.” She tilted her head once more. “In exchange, I’ll stay here and help you. Aside from when duty calls I have no where to be. No one that could make use of what I can do. I suffer but I have no purpose for these things I see. Perhaps that is what he wanted for me. He knows Sularia is too much of a headache for me to live in. It hurts. Angela’s hurts too. Where the spirits are strongest. It hurts.” 

She moved her hands up and touched the doll softly. She was much smaller than some of the others in her court. “I feel at home here.” It must have been weird to hear of such things. “I want to stay.” She turned her head enough so she could look up at him. “Things are beginning to happen now. I need to stay here so I can tell you.”

Her sense of humor made the lord grow silent and eyes stared impartially. Should it had been any other person in his stead, such words would have surely been taken as insults. From there, punishment would likely be the first thought to stroke their egos back. But Xunatar’s lips slowly carved out a smirk before soft rumbles of laughter echoed the room. He was someone that had always liked a challenge and to be challenged. It made life more enjoyable, he found it. “Perhaps so, though I do give warning that the titles were gifted to me for very good reason, dear lady. I have no intention of fooling something that is beyond one’s control, but…those that aren’t fate are fair game”, he spoke, waving it off as if it was nothing. She may had her spirits to aid her, but in this house, they would do no good. He could easily twist their messages and even conjure up fakes if that would his wish. Though it was more of a formality than anything, nothing truly against the woman before him.

“Madness is something people try to avoid. It is simply the norm among society to not want to understand things they know nothing about. But it does exist either way. Sometime it gives us a clearer understanding of this world.” Some were stirred into the abyss of insanity by birth; for others, it was a experience shaped by their nurturing. She dangled along the line between sane and madness, tipping towards the latter he’d imagine.“At times, they can drive us to do irrational things. Take your mother, for example. I tried to lecture her about her temper and to think and plot her moves more clearly. Shame that she doesn’t have the sense you and the rest of her children have.”

It was a pity that she would soon be dealt with once and for all. But he was over it rather quickly; the woman was more of a hassle being left alive than dead. If things had been different then surely he would have assisted her or perhaps welcomed her into his fold. His mind was drawn back into the doll and the meaning behind it and its companion that laid shattered. “I see. I have heard of such creatures, but never really employed them myself.” The more she spoke, the more he realized that it was her father that had left her these things. Unlike Xunatar or Lotus’ father though, it seemed like he didn’t wish to defend Eldora from the dangers of Cyprus. Her wrath was something that most didn’t wish upon anyway. All of this was to lead her here, to see him and that’s where Xunatar was left puzzled. “Is that on your own accord, or that was what the spirits suggested?” How could he help? Her sisters were hunting her down and it seemed as though Angela wanted to finish what she started. True, he had the blood of her younger sister at his disposal and should he be able to get his hands around her neck, there would be silence in this world once again. But for all her stupidity, she was a smart one and would send someone else in her stead if possible. And he had no time for such games.

As he dangled himself right behind her, he paid close attention to her reply. It was rather strange that she knew what he could be like, though she volunteered herself to be employed to the lord. Such an offer made him think; there was no telling on how viable her visions could truly be and there was potential that he could take advantage of. Leaning in closer to her, Xunatar released the doll back to her possession. “It is rather simple- I make that”, he spoke while pointing to the doll ,”Into a conduit for your spirits to speak with you, rather than pulling and reaching into your mind. I think that would help to ease you of this feeling, or lack of. Enchanting it would be none too difficult. And in exchange, you are to serve me.” Coming back around, he crept over to the windows and looked upon them. “How is that for an idea?” The stained glasses flicked with different lights as he gazed at them. He was not without giving perks to those beneath his grasp; it was far better to lure flies with honey rather than vinegar. It was one of several lessons that were lost on Eldora’s mother.

“And why is it that you are so willing to help me?” He turned his head enough to see her while his hands clasped behind him. “As long as you serve, you may stay here then. I suppose that it only makes sense in this realm of senselessness.”  

Oracle eyes turned up to Xunatar. For a moment they began to swarm like whirls forming in the vast ocean. “I wasn’t speaking of you in general.” She blinked a few rapid times and the eyes she possessed began to calm down. “Many people have tried to lie to me and it has never ended well for them. You are different. You can fool me. You have the power to do things that most cannot, you and all the other gods. However, the fate strings were what I spoke of. It is hard sometimes to separate myself from it. Honestly, it's thrilling to think someone could deceive me. That they could tear me apart with their words. Thrilling… Absolutely.”

She tilted her head and thought about his words. “Madness is the clear understanding and perspective of the world around us. However, it comes with the price of what it inflicts on its host. For most, they cannot grasp what they have learned.” She scoffed as soon as he brought up her mother. “All the power in the world and that woman doesn’t even realize it. She couldn’t utilize the vast amount of power she had because she was too busy thinking demons had more and that made her weak.” Her eyes closed. “The powers that the spirits give is just one of the perks of being queen in Arri. The other is the Himiria Stone that is implanted within the queen. It’s an arcane augment. You can see it most in the other god that rose.” A smile came to her face.

“Mother is turning in her grave right now. The one who gained the most power out of her greed was the man she tried to possess. Adraejen is now a god as well. I felt it. I felt the movement of the Himiria Stone. It means that Arri has gifted some of the meteor to him… For what I don’t know.” She gave him insight into the other god that rose.

“My father is a coward.” She spoke as soon as he said he had never employed. “Worried that I would befall the fate of his kind. Any other demon who hasn’t risen… Any of them.” Her voice got quiet. “I could defend myself well enough. I am not weak just because I have my seer abilities.” She appeared to be distraught and upset over her father thinking she was weak. She calmed down again and took a deep breath.

Her eyes closed as she thought about what had led her here. “Myself? Maybe. I struggle with knowing my own wants compared to that of the spirits. Maybe it’s because madness blends with madness. Eventually, it all feels the same. Inside and outside all blends as one.”

Her voluntary servitude to Xunatar benefited her greatly. Even if he didn’t bless her, this place was helping her mind. She had felt it clawing at her insides before they went quiet. This place made them shake. It was good that they would be scared. Scared for her? Maybe but she would prefer it this way.

She caught the doll and stared down at it. “That would make things rather simple for me, I must admit.” She could find herself again. She could finally figure out who she was. It had been so long. “I do like that idea greatly. I wish to find myself and to find myself I need them not to scream like they do.” Her fingers traced the doll lightly as she watched it. Her blue eyes snapped up at him. “You interest me.” It was a simple thing. “I’m not like my mother. I don’t kill the things that interest me. I don’t try to dissect them to understand. I simply want them to be.” She tilted her head. “Seeing the future is one thing even a god benefits greatly from. If it could help you then I would do it, simply because you interest me.”

She brushed some dust off of herself and there was even rubble, very small but still there, from when this place had been made. It showed just how long she had been there simply waiting. “My skills are among the best of my kind. The only thing I would leave for would be when Bryony calls. She raised me. She protected me when no one else could. She could barely do it but she still tried. I wish to do the same for her. She is a better mother than my mother. That should be protected.” She mused lightly. “Rarely does Bryony call.” She seemed sad by this. “But she is strong and wise. Older than most Rosenites. Her strength with the spirits might not have happened overnight like mine did but her power is on my level.” She thought aloud. “She is the first, the mother of the oracles. That’s why my mother hasn’t struck at Bryony. She would be a fool to try to. Oracles rarely intervene with Arri business. Which is why we haven’t said much on my mother. Maybe it’s because on some level her demise has been verified and we don’t feel the need to get in the way.”

She got up from the chair and her eyes watched as the dust drifted off of her. “May I bathe? I would rather your temple not get dirty. My meditation goes for months at a time to deal with the spirits so I tend to be dirty.”

“Most people don’t have such mindsets, but then again you aren’t most people” For many, his identity wasn’t quite known yet and some even believe him to be naught but rumors and tall tales. It was something that he could use to his advantage for if they could never see him coming, they would be ill prepared. It was all just a game for him. “Do not take it to heart, I for one do not. I am made of much sterner stuff and my pride will not be weakened that easy. I can not say the same for the other deities.” Mainly because he had yet to meet some of them. The boy god that he met in town certainly wore his feelings upon his sleeve, Dalanesca had seemed to be in a mood when they spoke and Angela didn’t seem to have held anything against him. But Xunatar suspected that not all was what it seemed. Call it being over cautious; he rarely left anything to chance. The others had yet to be seen but suppose that in time it would change.

The lord would have burst out laughing gallantly over Cyprus being ridiculed by her own daughter. Instead he kept his composure, breaking it only to lit out a few snide snickers. “Many people believe that we can magically grant them power, one way or another. In truth there are only quite a few number of demons that can do that. Even I couldn’t back then.” But now he could. “And more often than naught, the consequences are far more grave than just carrying a child of theirs. One’s own soul is a common payment, and the realization of surrendering such a thing doesn’t hit a person until their deathbed. You mother may of had a problem dealing with these elite demons because I doubt she has a soul to give.”

While he allowed the last bit of amusement to die down so they could continue conversing, Eldora had informed him of the other god that ascended around the same time he had. He had forgotten about that in his short reign and in learning who it was, he found himself recalling from the horse’s mouth of who imprisoned her so long ago. He spoke nothing of it but gave a simple nod. Eventually their roads would cross, as would each and every one of the other divine. Again he spotted cracks in her stoic armor as emotions slipped out, likely without her awareness. This time her father was the catalyst for it. Xunatar find himself shaking his head and clicking his tongue a couple of times, “I am sure you are able to. Perhaps he was merely afraid of your power.”

Regardless of that, here they were now, and she wanted to remain her to quell the constant storm she faced on a daily basis. He suppose that it didn’t matter if she chose to come here or if she was following the spirits. The doll would be blessed by his power and it would fair well for her. In exchange she would be his personal seer. As he stood in front of the window, he motioned one finger onto the glass and started to watch as the it illuminated, bit by bit until it disappeared and he could see outside where the seas softly churned, waves crashing against one another below. “Many things are…interesting, Eldora. But take heed in that curiosity may bring you into situations that you may wish you were never in. You are correct though; you are nothing like Cyprus. She is truly like a child that yearns to get what she wants and throw tantrums when she doesn’t. You are least put thought into your doings.” Still it was strange that he stroked her interest. “Also, I have to admit that seeing the future can undoubtedly be a fantastic thing.” He turned around and let the sea air flow into the room as he paced back to his throne. Yet he refrained from taking it and instead leaned against its arm and turned to her.

“I suppose you have proven that you are capable of serving me through all of that. Allow me the doll one more time.” As soon as he had it, he channeled some of his magic into the doll, which started to shift in his grasp. For a moment, it looked as though something was causing it to inflate before it fell back into normal and he handed it back. “Once you take it, then things should start to be clearer to you.”

Hardly had he looked onto her but once his eyes befell her, he sighed and beckoned her to come with him. The doors she had entered through previously flew open just as he was about to walk into them and he turned to the where the doors that lead to the Quarters were. They too opened before his gracious and he allowed her to pick a room. The door would open and he allowed her entrance. All that you would desire, let it flow from your mind and into reality, Eldora. Such things will come to you for as long as you are in my service.” 

A sigh left Eldora’s lips. “Soul, brain, whatever else was completely ripped from her at birth. She is utterly stupid.” She tilted her head and contemplated. “She could have had an army of strong children to back her powers if she hadn’t turned her hand against them. She could have mastered the powers that the throne of Arri brings if she hadn’t misused them. She could have been smarter about her dealings with demons but here we are. Obviously, she was not. She has the act and movement of a desperate child hungering for power… Oddly she had power but she refused to acknowledge what Arri gave her. We call people like those morons.” Finally, they let the amusement over her mother die down and she told him of Drae.

“Curiosity killed the cat.” She gave a smile. “Satisfaction brought it back.” She mulled everything over. “However, I don’t always go head first into situations. I do so here because it is an irresistible urge I have to fill. I cannot claim to know why maybe it’s because my madness sings to this place.” There was her pride as an oracle of course. Xunatar could most likely make her see things that weren’t ever to happen but she didn’t know if he had the ability to see things for himself. It appeared like he could not even with his abilities. Her nose took in the scent of sea salt and she found herself in a much deeper place than home.

She offered the doll up to him once he asked her for it. She watched as the doll grew and went back to normal. When she took the doll back she felt her mind… gaining a sense of peace. She heard his sigh and she blinked a few times. The doll would help her. She cradled the doll close now and she followed him as she got up. Eldora walked with him into the corridor and she tilted her head. She began to count, though a bit silently. Every door. Every room. There seemed to be a reason to her madness. When she had settled the door was opened and she peeked inside the blank space.

She had never had a room before… Not in recent memory. She lived not in taverns, no castles, not anything. She had lived in the wilderness. But she had remembered her oracle quarters. Oracles lived like royalty and while she couldn’t stand the voices in Arri… That had been her room. So the room evolved and showed her what she missed.

She could have whatever she wanted but the one thing she wanted was taken from her because of the closeness that Arri had with the spirits. The room was clothed in a deep ocean blue. From the large bed with a deep blue velvet canopy. To the paintings on the walls of many things. It reminded her of her childhood home that she had not seen in a long time. Of course, things had changed as well within it. The pile of pillows in the corner looked to be a place of deep meditation. The giant scrying bowl not far from it hummed with a soft power.

There was a pool of water with a large fountain that poured over into it not far and the wall seemed cut to overlook the ocean though it didn’t appear to be a window at all. At least not a window you could open. The sounds of the ocean made her shoulders relax. She looked over to Xunatar and nodded a bit almost to her. “Home.” Turning to the demon lord she gave a gentle smile perhaps it was one that had been hidden away by all the voices that were now silenced.

“I’ve been kept from it for so long.” It was one of the things she wanted. “Oracles have their own court. Their own manor to live in. My room… was my favorite place.” She ventured over the bed and just looked at it. “Before the visions started.” She didn’t touch it because she felt like she would ruin it. “Then I left. It has been a long time.” She wasn’t sure if he was interested but without much thought Eldora began to take her robes off. She didn’t understand the differences between people. She didn’t care to.

After her dirty robes hit the floor she took the time to take whatever it was that was keeping her black curls up. It looked to be a hairpiece made out of some sort of bone. She threw it in the pile with her clothes. Eldora looked more like a cross between Kirika and Lotus. She had more of an innocent posture but her form was more like her succubus sister’s.

She turned to Xunatar and held out her hand. It was a beckoning of sorts but there wasn’t anything emotional about it, not on the surface. It was more like she wanted his company still. The doll sat safely up on the edge of the bed as if it had a mind of its own because she had not placed it there. Rather she had made it appear there. 

To say that he was a cruel man, that point could certainly be true but he preferred to known as one that took opportunity after opportunity whenever they presented themselves. He was simply a person who knew what he wanted and goes after it. In this world, there were those like him and there were others that weren’t as ambitious. For as long as he breathed, he had heard excuse after excuse from various people across the so called spectrum of good and evil. He surrounded himself with those of liked-minds and merely saw those that weren’t as but scapegoats and pawns. What would Eldora be? That was completely uncertain, but at the very least she was smarter than her worthless, crazy mother. Cyprus had played her part in his grand scheme and now she could be put away; Xunatar was unconcerned with the “how” bit of it.

Once she had took hold of the blessed doll, it seemed as though she had found some solace from the spirits, at least for the time being. While the Lord of Lies was capable of keeping his word, there was plenty of evidence that pointed else wise. But the thing was that the favor had to be equal to some value he could obtain personally, and servitude was among the top incentives

Through her own eyes, Eldora had seen that Cradle served to be an extension of himself and yet he granted those that were worthy of his recognition some samples of his power and the room they lodged in was but a taste of that. Should they prove their worth in his eyes time and time again, then there would be more rewards. It all depended on how much she pleased him. He kept the consequences amongst himself as he watched her vision of the room come to life. It didn’t take long for her to explain the setting, which only made sense soon afterwards. 

 “And why did you depart from your favorite place? Your mother? The spirits?”

Xunatar leaned against the doorway as he allowed her to explore to her heart’s content before she began to undress. His eyes lingered only because she hadn’t requested him to leave her. If anything, she could have requested privacy and very well received it. But then again, she was a Rosenite and from what he had gathered, privacy wasn’t really an issue with them. That sort of vanity like quality was truly stolen from their vampicy ancestry.

Looking towards the hand, he had pushed away from his spot and took it as she lead him towards the pool. He released her by the time they got close enough to the water and sat around the rim. He wasn’t sure what to make of her actions considering her mind worked in far different ways than any he had seen before.