Page 9 of Dissection of Immortal Hearts

You are now in Antambazi, and everything is happening as I foresaw. It seems I am also dead.

Someone I trust has left this letter for you. You may be tempted to uncover their identity, but for both of your safety, I advise against it.

You must be suspicious, so I will begin with the words I probably said to you during our meeting. Words that were passed to me during my transformation into the Oracle:

Everything can be seen from at least two perspectives. Never look through just one pair of eyes. Start with the small things, and you will understand the big ones. You never know where an enemy or a friend might be hiding. Wish and receive. No one is ever alone.

Amelia pulled the letter away from her face. Gea had written it! The same Oracle who had helped the Queen was now, what, sending her messages from beyond the grave?

With trembling hands, she lit the desk lamp and continued reading.

It is now 1955. You are in or around 2020.

If you are in Antambazi and have received my message, it means you are in the right place at the right time. I made sure you would be here at this precise moment. If everything has gone according to plan, you have earned the Queen’s trust.

By now, you have likely also realised that the Oracle’s visions are merely vague images from which you must draw conclusions and take what you believe to be the best actions. If you think it will get easier with time, it will not, but you will eventually read the visions with your heart rather than your mind. I do not know whether you will be disappointed or relieved to learn that your visions will never be as strong as mine.

But do not fret. You have another gift, one no less impressive.

That final line startled Amelia even more than the confirmation that Gea had orchestrated the events leading to her arrival in Antambazi. A shiver of fear, mixed with anticipation, ran down her spine.

At the start of the twentieth century, a period of changes began, but the true shift in energies will not occur until after 2020. These will be times filled with trials for all earthly species. There will be diseases, cataclysms, and wars that will persist over the next twenty years.

Amelia’s throat went dry. As far back as 1955, the Oracle had spoken of the pandemic and wars that had affected Earth in recent years.

The unstable energies during this period will provide an opportunity for many malevolent entities to gain the upper hand. They have been waiting for thousands of years and will take advantage of the new conditions. As the new Oracle, you will be one of the beings tasked with balancing all these energies.

By now, the Queen must have explained what she wants from you. Gathering the Seven Sacreds has never been as easy as it is now. This makes your task somewhat simpler, but it also complicates your situation because the Queen will not be the only one determined to take advantage of the energy shift.

Amelia frowned. “Gathering the Seven Sacreds?”

The Sacreds are a gift to the earthly immortal species from the humanids (the beings who created all earthly species in their image). Renenutet’s Necklace is a gift for witches. Hecate’s Mirror for nymphs. Sandir’s Smoky Quartz for necromancers. The Lion’s Ring for manticores. Callan’s Pocket Watch for lycanthropes. Belphegor’s Gloves for reptilians. The Shifting Net for vampires. Humans, not being immortal, did not receive one, and perhaps that is for the best, given what I have foreseen.

Each Sacred is powerful on its own. But when activated, they become a terrifying weapon. Your task is to prevent their activation.

It is your choice how to do it – whether to gather all Seven Sacreds yourself and keep them under control, or scatter them and ensure no one ever collects them. My decision was to help the Queen retrieve some of them to prevent them from falling into the hands of greater evil.

Four of the Sacreds cannot be taken during the year in which I write this text. It will be your choice how to find them. You may use the Queen to retrieve them for you, but all seven must never fall into her hands at the same time. According to legend, only the one who calls the Sacreds by their true names can activate them and harness their full potential. I do not know if she can activate them, but I would not let her try.

A word of warning: the energy of the Sacreds is unbearable for an earthly being – immortal or human. If you choose to activate them, you are likely to die.

P.S.: Lately, I have been dreaming the same dream. Dark energy. I cannot see its outlines, but I feel its essence. There is something wrong with it, even perverse. Sometimes it is innocent as a newborn, other times corrupted, as if marked by a flaw before birth. At times, it is inexperienced and weak; at others, it is capable of cruelty beyond death. It longs for freedom, though destined for captivity.

I hope that by the time you read this letter, this energy remains dormant. I hope it stays that way forever.

Still, be prepared to face it.

G.

Amelia reread the last lines several times before slipping the letter under her pillow. There were more pages, but first, she needed to process everything she’d read so far.

Her heart raced; her palms were sweaty. Mikhail’s ring wasone of the seven…Sacreds?

6

Mikhail

The bandage fell off Mikhail’s face. He squinted, shielding his eyes from the dim light.