Destiny

Volume 4: Otherworldly Venture

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There is a slight worry in his step as Das paces back and forth in the Death King's kitchen, waiting for the cookies and tea to finish warming up. Ever since Das had appointed himself the Death King's personal butler, he's been in charge of all his snacks… though he has a bit more on his mind than some tasties.

Because Das is so worried, he ends up putting far too much sugar in his own portion of the tea cup; he always impulsively seeks sweet food when he has something heavy on his mind.

After getting the snacks on a silver platter, he puts his neutral face on and does his best to stay professional when he knocks on the King's door.

"Come in, Das," the king's hoarse voice calls out.

On the other side of the door is a perpetually tired looking man hunched over some papers with a dead look in his eyes. When Das walks in, the King is staring off into space - obviously not in the mood to look at any confidential reports, but guilty enough to not outright leave his desk.

Das leans down and sets a steaming cup and a plate of cookies on the desk. "Your tea sir."

The King snaps out of his stupor and says, "Important question for you, Das. Can a butler only serve snacks, or can they go over reports as well?"

"Ha....ha.... NO," Das firmly declares. "That's something only a king can do."

"Just become king anyway!" the Death King asks with a smile on his face. "Death Deities can't stay in their offices forever, so I'll have to step down some time… Why not have you take my place?"

"No thank you," Das refuses politely, "That's what we keep you around for. It's thankless, work really."

"Are you sure? You were a very great king when you were a mortal!" the King adds, "The duties of a mortal king aren't very different than my own. You could help out with running the place, at least."

"No, no," Das refuses a little more firmly this time, "I'm not a king anymore; it's in the past. There's an age for everything, and my days of dressing up fancy and giving orders is long gone. I'd be happy to make you some more tea though, or perhaps cookies?"

"If they have cream, then yes please."

"Anyway, Das," the King says in between sips on his tea, "I've heard you and Freyya were having a disagreement over that mortal's soul? I mean, I've known about it for a while, but I've heard the two of you have been wreaking havoc in that world. I think it's about time you tell me what this is all about."

"Ehem," Das coughs, "Define 'wreaking havoc', please?"

"It means starting a dragon fight and killing tens of thousands of people within a day!" the King rebukes him, "That incident was enough to birth another land god! The other deities of that world have already sent a complaint to me, and I have to give them an answer. This is YOUR problem, what should I tell them?"

"The truth," Das replies. "You know the Kingdom of Death far outclasses any god of the mortal world. If you tell them this is the business between multiple Death gods that involves succession, then they won't dare say anything."

"Das! It's not good to bully the lesser…, Ugh," he scowls, "never mind. Where are my cookies? I'm out already."

"I'll be back with more right away!" Das enthusiastically offers. He's just grateful to have this conversation over with, so he's quick to leave.

After Das is gone, the Overlord of Death sighs and says, "I'm only doing this once out of our friendship, Das…"

He reaches into his cabinet, which is enchanted to be filled with whatever he is looking for. Moments later, he pulls out a long, golden scroll. He carefully clears his desk (so as to not get his work mixed up with the finished pile), and he lays the scroll across the top.

Written on the golden scroll are many runes and letters writhing on the surface, as if they're alive somehow. "Hmm…," the King mutters, "it'll be hard to divine Haalfrin's Fate without his Name, or that book Das keeps in his room… Still… I have my own methods."

The King carefully traces his fingers along the runes, which are written with the many places Haalfrin has been to, and the important things he's done so far. By using this map and finding how Haalfrin connects to all these things, a competent Diviner is able to learn part of a person's Yiir Name. After all, your past is part of your Yiir too – not just your future.

After accurately determining a part of Haalfrin's Name, the King uses this knowledge to look further down the road of the man's life. More runes appear on the scroll, detailing future places he'll be, and future events he'll be a part of. Mapping out the events of a mortal's life shouldn't be too difficult, right? It'll only take half an hour at most…

… Or at least, that's what the King was hoping for.

What the King expected was to see many a few hundred Runes appear detailing Haalfrin's future… but instead, the runes multiply by the thousands, then by millions. Within moments, the entire scroll is covered in layer after layer of shining white runes. As more runes pile on, the scroll grows brighter and brighter, until the King rolls the scroll up in frustration and puts his head on the desk in defeat.

With a Destiny that big stored in Haalfrin's Yiir Name, it'll be next to impossible to really guess the man's future. What's truly scary about this is that the boy's Yiir is actually brighter and more complex than the king's own.

The King swivels on his chair and looks out the window of his high-rise tower. "Das… Freyya… what have you gotten yourselves into…?"

Suddenly feeling a sense of dread for his friend… and Freyya, the King opens the scroll again to take one last look at the scroll.

After the Yiir Divining Scroll has finally finished being written with Haalfrin's Yiir, a big, black Rune writes itself across the entire surface of the scroll. In contrast to Haalfrin's white colored Runes, the black lettering of the Rune on top looks like some sort of blasphemous ink stain.

…And the black Rune reads, "Drakavar-Aryiir-Yiirvarla" – a message in the soul's tongue – no, a doom declared by the universe itself.

Upon reading the foul rune, its image is seared in the king's mind, and he feels himself nearly go mad. In a fit of panic, he rolls the rune up again and burns it up in the palm of his hand.

Soul Script is a language that's not mean to be understood by any but the one it was written for. Even still, there are a few beings with a Name simple enough to be understood, like the black Name written atop the scrying scroll.

"Drakavar," the King mutters thoughtfully. "with a True Name like that, there's only one creature this can be referring to. Elshi-rothe."

"Elshi-rothe" isn't the creature's actual name; it's a grand title collectively given to it by the ancient gods long ago.

("Rothe" is a word in the ancient divine tongue that means "equal to the heavens and against the heavens." You add "rothe" to the end of someone's name to mark them as the enemy to all that lives. Nowadays, people just replace "rothe" with something more modern, like "devil". "Elshi" means "Devour", or "To be hungry". Thus, "Elshi-roth" means, "The Hungry Devil".)

This title of infamy was given to the 7-horned black dragon because it was first seen visiting world after world, hunting the gods down in their own territories and devouring them. From land deities to the rulers of laws, like the Death King himself, all gods were considered food to this beast.

It was stated in the history books that Elshi-rothe's greed knew no limit until the beast went to challenge Mora himself – the great Creator of all things.

…Nobody knows how that battle turned out, though it's assumed Mora won since Elshi-rothe was never heard from again, and Mora has been spotted every now and then, yet is still very much alive.

However… if Drakavar / Elshi-rothe is mentioned in big letters in Haalfrin's future… that could be very bad. That means Elshi-rothe is still alive.

"SH#T!"

Immediately, the Death King uses telepathy and calls up every contact he knows – key governors in his kingdom, as well as people who owe him favors in other Realms here in the Divine territories.

For his governors, he issues a very strict orders. "Destroy any evidence of the mortal Haalfrin's past! I don't want ANYONE divining his future! Anyone caught attempting to do so will be destroyed!"

For his foreign contacts, the King persuades them to keep any news about Haalfrin quiet among the gods.

Under no circumstances should another god's attention be brought to Haalfrin.

After the Death King sends out his orders, he leans back in his chair and thinks about what he just saw. Every time that black rune flits past his mind, he feels a searing hot pain in his mind.

Knowing it's dangerous to be in contact with the Name of a being higher than yourself, the King carefully uses his magic to enter his own Mental Realm. Then, he carefully purges his own memory regarding the black Rune.

He'll know that he read the Rune, but he'll no longer recall what it looked like.

Only this way can he be safe from Drakavar's gaze.

Once the Death King finally feels safe again, he looks down to where he knows Das is preparing his cookies, and he thinks, "Oh Das, my old friend, I'm sorry I couldn't help you."

The King had been planning on using his immeasurable experience in Divining to figure out Haalfrin's exact future, then he was going to help his friend win the mortal's soul from Freyya.

However… now that the Hungry Devil is involved, he'll have to look away and pretend he doesn't know anything… for everyone's sake, not just his own!