Angor turned to the next page and continued reading.
“Wanderer of Balance” Ivan claimed that the current holder of the missing item could be a monster “almost drenched in an intense impulsion of greed and madness, sided with unpleasant wetness”.
“Something evil that is wet. Did a sea monster take the item after all?” Angor wondered.
“It’s too early to take guesses. But you should keep such a clue in mind.” Sunders stroked his chin. “At least what Ivan told us ruled you out of suspicion. Once Maya gets back to Brute Cavern, we can take Torras to her and find out more about the skull.”
“Yeah… I really want to know who took the item now. By the way, what is this ‘stargaze’ thing?”
“It’s a ritual held in Starliege Temple. When the time comes, able Prophets will gather there to discover useful clues and secrets told by the stars, then they will predict incoming events in the future. It’s a big event in the southern region, mind you. This is one of the reasons why most Prophets all went to the Brilliance Plane to study.”
“A meeting of Prophets? Did they come up with anything else?”
“Keep looking. There’s more.”
Angor simply took the magazine and picked a seat to read. He checked the previous pages first and saw a picture that showed Parmigi Highlands.
“Is it about the plane fusion?”
The first prophecy told by the magazine was shorter. It was indeed related to the plane fusion everyone was expecting, but there was little to say. Apart from “a great destiny”, which was to be expected from every plane fusion, the Prophets only said that the entrance to the foreign plane was unlikely to appear at Parmigi Highlands.
“It’s bad news for Brute Cavern,” said Sunders. “If the entrance is near, we’ll have the advantage of exploring the foreign plane ahead of everyone. Too bad now.”
Angor wasn’t very interested in this matter as he was busy enough staying away from it.
The third piece of prophecy was provided by “The Beyond” Azathoth. Azathoth said two things, one bad and one good.
The bad news was “the looming shadow above shall continue expanding, until it fully blocks off all light from us”.
The Moonfrost Union wrote a long article trying to decipher these words and reached such a conclusion that Azathoth was referring to the demon invasion. Whereas most wizards were more or less horrified to hear about this, the union was actually glad because if a demon invasion was in full swing, it meant their “mission” must have succeeded.
Angor once saw an illusion made by Sunders that showed what became of the southern region when demons descended upon the land. Now he felt extremely unpleasant when the union described the coming crisis as if talking about a festival.
“They will let the entire world suffer just to assist one individual to become a legendary wizard…”
“It’s all about your perspective,” Sunders commented. “Naturally, both humans or other creatures in the south would like to prevent the disaster. But for the Moonfrost Union, this is all worth it. If Monkey succeeds, he will grant the union unthinkable reward. As for the demons, the world’s consciousness will eventually deal with them. Again, profit means everything. Such is how wizards do.”
Angor shook his head and looked at the good news.
“A great creation that might change the wizarding world is in the making? But he didn’t say anything else.”
“We know it’s true because Lupanya later proved that claim. And I might have just gained an idea about what it is. The dream wasteland, perhaps.”
“What?!”
Sunders maintained a blank expression. “As I said, the dream wasteland holds an unlimited potential that will have far-reaching impacts on the wizarding world. Such an existence couldn’t escape from prophecy for too long. They did not reach any more conclusions about it yet because the dream wasteland is only at its initial state.”
Angor frowned, clearly worried.
“Don’t stress yourself yet. Suppose they are indeed talking about the dream wasteland, they aren’t going to find you any time soon.”
Which meant this would happen in due time.
“Uhh, sir, is it okay if—you know. You don’t seem bothered by it at all.”
“The dream wasteland should get noticed by Prophets sooner or later, so this is not a surprise. However, the prophecy was only done by the best Prophets during their yearly ‘Stargaze’ event and without revealing many details. This tells us that the secret is well-hidden. It will take years for them to know what they’re trying to find, then more years to come if they want to find you. I believe you have ample time to make preparations. Meaning, getting stronger.”
Angor sighed in relief.
“You should look at the last message. Compared to the other ones, the last one is more closely related to you and me.”
Confused, Angor turned to the next page.
Unsurprisingly, the last piece of prophecy was told by none other than “Unfading Globe” Lupanya, the leader of Starliege Temple. Lupanya only said a brief phrase, but the union spent several pages explaining it.
[Compared to the demon invasion, the calamity currently haunting the Evernight Kingdom and the Fairy World will cause us more harm than ever.]
Angor just realized that the “calamity” Lupanya was talking about was probably caused by the nightmare monsters, Fox and Froggy. And HE let those monsters out.
“Yes, you’re somewhat responsible for the incident.” Sunders saw Angor almost feeling guilty. “But it’s not as serious a problem as you think. The ‘dragonfly nest’ in Pocratee tells us that someone from the Nightmare Realm set up plans for invading the wizarding world a long ago. Recently, people discovered more of these nests in the Woonona Dominion, the Dungeon Island, and the Simsung Regime. The parasites will show up one way or another. Your actions have little to do with them.
“For now, you shouldn’t think too much about the nightmare monsters as they probably won’t do much harm to you. Your biggest concern right now is the demon assault.”
…
Revealing the prophecy found during the stargaze day was an important part of the magazine, but it was not the only thing it had to offer. Apart from these, the magazine also included some interesting rumors and how the front line bases in the Abyss Plane were doing.
It even described what recently happened at the Demon Castle nearby when this matter was only observed several days ago.
Sunders suddenly looked at the room’s window, which served as a clear boundary between the cozy room and the snowy weather outside.
A hunched figure appeared outside, who was walking straight toward Sunders’ room. Ahead of the figure, a rather fat sand rat was happily bouncing about. For some reason, this creature, which was naturally born in hot climates, didn’t seem to mind the freezing temperature.
The door of Sunders’ room opened itself when the visitor came close.
The sound of footsteps brought Angor out of his focus.
