A faint whisper.

It echoed within Rey's mind, almost like a suggestion. The voice told Rey to kneel, and he found himself obeying in no time at all.

As Rey saw the eyes of the statue shine brightly, with markings of blue and white covering its pristine body, he felt the presence of an entity.

Was this The Oracle? Was it not? He had absolutely no clue.

All he knew was that this being, whatever they were, was great enough to cause his body and mind to shiver. The strong and sweet aroma that suddenly filled the air caused him to swallow his fast-forming saliva, and he could sense an allure of something unseen.

Then, the very same voice came to him once again.

~Bring the Half Elf in your company with you for your next visit, and an audience shall be granted of you.~

Rey's eyes widened as he heard this in his thoughts. There was nothing more stated, and despite the many questions that appeared in his mind as a result of the instruction he had just received, he remained quiet.

After a few seconds, he finally spoke up.

"Understood."

As soon as his words of confirmation echoed in the hall, the energies in the room began to dissipate.

The statue lost all sense of life, and Rey was left all alone in the Shrine after that.

'That was intense!' As he thought this, he jumped to his feet. A bead of sweat had formed on his face, but he brushed it off quickly as he bowed his head before The Oracle once again.

Afterward, he departed from the Shrine.

As he opened the grand door that led outside, he couldn't help but indulge in his troubled, but also curious thoughts.

'Bring Esme along with me? Why?'

***********

"Y-you had an encounter?!"

"D-did you see The Oracle? Did you gaze upon their magnificence?!"

"Please tell us everything!"

As soon as Rey came out of the Shrine and met the Esteemed Elders, he was bombarded with questions from all directions.

It seemed like they could somewhat smell the remnants of the sweet aroma that suddenly filled the room back when he heard the voice, so they figured he had an audience with The Oracle. At the very least, that was confirmation to Rey that he indeed spoke to the real deal.

Still, the Elves and their obsession with this deity of theirs didn't make him show any form of excitement for his achievement.

"Yes. The Oracle spoke to me. Though, I didn't see them. Just the voice from the statue"

Gasps instantly filled the air as Rey mentioned this.

It wasn't just the Esteemed Elders that were present, but a vast number of Elvesat least over ten thousandstill waited outside the compound for his return. As soon as all of them heard this, they went into a frenzy.

"He spoke to The Oracle on his first try!"

"Lord Rey truly is divine!"

"He is truly amazing!"

With everyone staring at him with starstruck eyes, Rey would have normally felt flusteredperhaps a little proud as wellbut his mind was numbed by all of these sensations.

Plus, he had something else occupying his thoughts; something far more pertinent.

"I need to bring Esme here before The Oracle grants me a proper audience." He muttered, turning away from the Esteemed Elders, as he looked into the distance.

Rey noticed how pale their faces became. They probably weren't expecting a Half Elf to be invited to their most holy place, but since this was the instruction of The Oracle, verified by himself, he doubted any of them would render a complaint.

And, as expected, none of them breathed a word against him.

'Now then, I should go fetch Esme so we can go in there as soon as possible.' Since The Oracle had confirmed an audience with him, there was no need to waste any time.

And so, in order to spread his sensory capabilities so it covered the entire Elven Community, Rey removed his eyepatch and opened both of his eyes.

"Huuu"

Instantly, a world of color was granted to him.

He noticed every single detail around him, and with all of his spatial awareness, he absorbed all of the information at a tremendous rate. In no time at all, his mind covered the entire settlement in order to find Esme.

But

"Hm. That's strange"

He couldn't detect her anywhere within the Community.

'I can see traces of her energy, but hold on, her house and what in the world happened?' Rey could feel certain emotions course through his body as his glowing eyes took in all of the information around him.

He could even see the guilty faces of the Esteemed Elders around him, and he figured they had some knowledge of what happened.

'Calm down, Rey' He told himself, changing his focus from the Elves to Kara, who was waiting for him in his room.

'She must know something. I'll just question her directly.'

Rey put his eyepatch back on and inhaled deeply, allowing himself to acclimate to his Normal Mode of vision after utilizing Light Mode for a considerable length of time.

"L-Lord Rey"

"I-Is everything okay, Lord Rey?"

"Lord Rey, please say something!"

Rey glanced at the Elders and maintained his facade despite the millions of thoughts that went on in his mind.

"Don't move a single inch."

Before they could open their lips to respond, a brilliant ray of light shone from him and he vanished from where he stood.

~VWUSH~

At that very instant, he appeared in his room, finding Kara standing still like a lifeless doll.

"Kara"

"Kyaaaaah!" The girl screamed as soon as he called her name, dropping the note and pen she held in her hand as a result.

Rey easily manipulated space and returned them to her hands

good as newbut his expression was still as grim as ever.

"... Where is Esme?" As soon as he spoke, his body vanished from the distance and appeared right in front of her.

She was still flustered, gulping at every second that Rey breathed down on her, but he didn't care about that.

All he wanted were answers.

"W-well about that" Kara gave an awkward smile as she looked away from Rey.

It was at that moment that Rey was certain that he would get his answers. He just wasn't going to like it.

"... Let me explain."

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Thanks for reading!