First Divination

"I can't believe I'm doing this again," Silver murmured. 

He had decided to do it again, "it" referring to the ritual, after thinking about it carefully for several minutes, and deciding that the benefits outweighed the risks.

Silver had opened the Mysticism Studies back to the few first pages, which spoke about the rituals needed to acquaint oneself with mysticism, and prepared the same twelve-pointed star on the ground. After the last time he had done this ritual, the star had disappeared from the floor, leading him to believe that Ariadne had quickly cleaned it away.

"…Usually people do these rituals with the help of experts since this kind of ritual can even lead to the diminutive chance of death or madness without any sort of guidance at all. But, since I have this book with me, I'm not worried at all…"

Silver sat down on the twelve-pointed star, and began to recite the words once again, "May the Four Tri-Lords bless me with fortune and strength." And so hopefully, this ritual would give him the affinity with the Mystic Pathway that he wanted.

Also, what he did alongside the words he spoke was make the symbol of good luck with his hands, crossing his fingers as hard as he could so that perhaps, the ritual would have a better chance of working this time. 

The reason why he still wanted to become a Fatespinner, even though from what he had seen about the capabilities of the other Mystic Pathways, it seemed like a bad one to pick, was because the mysticism of a Lucky Fool was unique. It could not directly harm anyone, but changed their fortunes, for the better or the worse.

With such power, Silver realised that, potentially, he could even hold the strings over someone's life after enough spirituality was gained, and enough knowledge was possessed about that kind of mysticism.

Silver gasped, as he felt his soul and spirit change and twist suddenly. This did not happen in the first ritual, so it was a sign that it was working. 

Upon this feeling, Silver's intensity increased, and as he felt his heart erratically beat, he vigorously roared the words, "MAY THE FOUR TRI-LORDS BLESS ME WITH FORTUNE AND STRENGTH!"

And yet… the feeling faded away as quickly as it came. His heart settled in an instant, and he felt no changes afterwards. This was proof that the ritual had failed once again.

"…Damn it." Silver groaned with a sigh. "That shout probably woke Ariadne up as well… Goodness…"

Silver stretched his back and rose from his seated position. He was disappointed, but he expected it as well. Becoming acquainted with mysticism was quite impossible for the average person because of how rare it was.

"Huh…?" Silver noticed yet another spider crawling up his head. 

"…Why have there been so many small spiders crawling around my body so recently? Where do they even come from? Do they just appear on me randomly or something…?"

He flickered it away without a second thought and stared at its injured self, crawling away on the floor. He didn't mind leaving it alone now, but a faint feeling resonated from within his body. Then, a blue fire began to encase and shroud him with flames in a matter of seconds, almost completely burning him to ashes. Or, it should have.

"Aah… Aa—Argh!" Silver shrieked. Yet, it turned out that such flames belonged to the power that he had acquainted himself with. 

This was the Flame of Soul, the source of mysticism within every human being, which could grow according to the amount of "spirituality" one possessed. However, spirituality was a truly finicky subject. Nobody could tell if it truly existed or not. But, it was heavily theorized and believed in by scholars especially because the Flame of Soul would be enhanced by a strange, foreign energy upon the consumption of Shimmering Cores.

"…Woah…"

Silver slowly began to marvel at the brightness of the blue fire, as he realised that it wasn't going to harm him, or burn the house to the ground. It was almost as if he was imagining something. He didn't even know what it was yet, as the Mysticism Studies had yet to mention this unique flame.

But, before he could reach the book, and know what this flame was, a strange light surrounded him, and a "divining" of future events began.

***

Towards the future, his eyes gazed forward. Now, before Silver, was a cavern larger than the eye could see.

Rotting roots pierced through the stone of this cavern and shrouded its rocky walls. Deep lakes and shallow ponds were scattered all around the grounds of these caverns, created from the flowing streams that leaked from the walls.

In this cavernous realm, the cursed ruins of the old ages lie, deep and dark within the ground and underneath the region of Scina, where the Count's town sat firmly above ground. Also, within this place, the sound of footsteps silently echoed amidst the backdrop of flowing water.

Two men with covered faces, wearing long, flowing black robes adorned with silver embroidery, wielded sabres and stepped through the mud, ponds and small marshes that coated the cavernous grounds.

"…Solrad, did I hear you correctly?" Silver heard a voice say, as they came into hearing distance. One of the men stood still as they walked, asking a question out of, what seemed to be, awaiting.

"Yes, sir. One of the Black Knights has finally found the Altar of Dark Blood within the Silvermoon Dynasty's ruins."

"…O Great Whirlpool of Suffering, you have given us your blessings! Then, I only hope the legend remains true."

"…The Altar of the Silvermoon Dynasty, deep within the ruins connected to these cavernous channels, shall give us, the Underworld Court, what it needs to bring back a Sufferer Scion! In return for the body of someone who has been blessed by divinity!" The Black Knight said, grasping his blade tightly. "The person we have set our eyes on, that boy, is he still safe to take?"

"…Yes. He grows stronger still, and though he is still far from being strong enough to resist even one of our Black Knights, he is still growing at a fast rate. Shortly, it will be time to "harvest" him."

"…Ha… then, it appears the Whirlpool of Suffering has blessed us in full! Soon enough, a true disciple of their grace shall come, and our faith, deemed an occultist religion, will become real in the eyes of all."

"…The Whirlpool of Suffering… shall bless all with the gift of eternal temperance!"

***

As the vision came to an end, Silver felt his mouth run dry in an instant. He had noticed it immediately, what they were talking about, exactly, and how that divination of the future related to him.

The Underworld Court, once before unknown to Silver, was a hidden organization under an occultist religion, separate from the Worldly Religion, serving an Accursed God. Such Gods were unknown, enigmatic beings that took many forms and influenced the world in the same way that the Tri-Lords did, but they did so in unusual, devilish ways, earning them such an evil title.

They granted blessings to those who dearly worshipped them, giving them the power of incantations, curses, scourge spells, bewitchment and even strange hexes, similar to how the Four Tri-Lords granted blessings to Archons and gave them unique abilities. Yet, unlike the Tri-Lords, the Accursed Gods did not refrain from spilling the blood of mortals and instead rejoiced when it happened.

"…I'm being targeted by a group like that, huh…? I did wonder what that dream truly was about… But, it's not all bad… not at all. After all, by the twist of fate, it seems that mysticism has been successfully acquired, and the affinity with the Mystic Pathway, Fatespinner, is now also in my hands! Now, I may be able to divine the future to see what they may be doing, but before they do so!"

"…But… there is also a quite trifling problem arising…"