Tournament of Heroes

7. TRICKSHOT

Trickshot found himself floating in a dark void. He thought he was just asleep at first and that this was some kind of strange dream, but the longer he floated there, the more he became aware of his surroundings. The dark void gradually gave away to a light, a light that illuminated his surroundings. High walls rose all around him, meeting at the top of an even higher ceiling, from which a beautiful crystal chandelier hung. A large marble floor spread out under his feet, while tall crystalline windows stood in even intervals along the walls. Behind him stood glass doors that opened out onto a balcony that overlooked a futuristic city.

Trickshot recognized the place immediately: It was Aeno’s old room from back when he was a baby. He had visited this room once before in a vision of the past, but this place did not seem like a vision to him. The colors were faded and washed out. Aeno’s crib was present but Aeno himself was nowhere to be seen. Nor did Trickshot see Aeno’s parents, either, or any sign of them.

How did I get here again? Trickshot thought. Last thing I remember, I was sleeping in my bed in our Team room. Is this another vision?

“Not exactly,” said a familiar old female voice behind him. “I am not showing you a vision of what has happened. Instead, this is a hint of what is to come.”

Trickshot whirled around to see a small old woman, her head and body covered with a dark hood and cloak, sitting on the other side of the room. As usual, the Oracle sat with her head bowed and her legs crossed. She almost looked like she was in prayer, although Trickshot knew better than that.

The Oracle was the woman who had spoken the Prophecy at Aeno’s birth in the first place. Trickshot had met her once before, in a vision similar to this, and the information she had given him then hadn’t been very encouraging, either. Given the somber nature of the Oracle, Trickshot suspected that she probably didn’t have very good news for him now.

“How are you contacting me again like this?” said Trickshot. “I thought you said you could only pull this off once.”

“I felt I had to risk contacting you again due to recent events in the Nexus,” said the Oracle without raising her head. “The situation has grown even direr than I expected.”

“You think?” Trickshot said sarcastically. “Bolt is Dark Thunder. You might have mentioned to me that the Prophecy said something about one of our friends becoming evil.”

“My apologies,” said the Oracle, again without looking up. “I considered whether or not to tell you that part, but decided against it. I didn’t think it would help, and to be frank, I half-hoped it wouldn’t work out the way I thought it would. It isn’t like I knew which one of you would fall.”

“Makes sense,” said Trickshot. “After all, if we have no idea that one of us will get corrupted and become evil, then we can’t actually protect ourselves from that. Did a good job not telling us. You made things way easier for us.”

“Your sarcasm is understandable but not productive,” said the Oracle. “Besides, I believe it was inevitable. In all of my years as the Oracle, not one of my prophecies has ever failed to come true.”

Trickshot threw his hands into the air. “Then why the heck are we even talking about this? Why bother to contact me at all? Why not just sit back and let Sigil turn Aeno into the Great Destruction and be done with it?”

“Is that what you want me to do?” said the Oracle. “That seems out of character for you, Trickshot. You have always seemed like an optimist to me.”

Trickshot lowered his arms in frustration. “No, I don’t want you to give up or for any of us to give up. But I understand the concept of destiny enough to know that you can’t fight it. That’s what destiny is. It’s fate. Fate, by definition, can’t be stopped.”

“True enough,” said the Oracle, “but if I was as fatalistic as you, I would not even be here. As it is, however, I think you are, perhaps, giving up too easily, which is why I said I was surprised by your sarcasm.”

“How are we supposed to fight fate?” said Trickshot, putting his hands on his hips. “Tell me that, O wise Oracle.”

“You can’t,” said the Oracle. “Fate cannot be fought. Sigil is correct in that. However, what all of you fail to understand—including Sigil—is that fate is not always clear.”

Trickshot frowned. “Not always clear? What are you talking about? The Prophecy sounded plenty clear to me.”

“Clear, yes,” said the Oracle. “But not complete.”

Trickshot stared at the Oracle in shock. “Wait, you mean Sigil didn’t read the entire Prophecy to us?”

The Oracle shook her head. “Don’t get me wrong. Sigil read every word of the translated Prophecy. But he failed to realize that that was not the complete Prophecy. The last few pages are still missing and untranslated.”

Trickshot’s face broke into a hopeful smile. “Please tell me you’re not joking. If this is a prank—”

“It’s no prank,” the Oracle insisted. “I am not much of a prankster, nor do I care for them. I try to speak the truth always.”

Trickshot’s mind spun with possibilities. “If the Prophecy is incomplete, then might the last few lines reveal something that could change the entire Prophecy itself?”

“Potentially,” said the Oracle. She shrugged. “It has been ages since I spoke that prophecy and I still don’t remember it all. But I do remember that that final line that Sigil read is not the end. There is still more to the Prophecy. If you can find and translate the final lines, then you might be able to save the multiverse.”

“And Bolt,” said Trickshot. “Right?”

The Oracle shifted. “Perhaps. In any case, do you remember how I told you that the Prophecy mentions you? Your role is mentioned in the last few lines that aren’t translated. If you can get those last few lines, then you will finally understand why I have spoken to you and you alone out of the four heroes mentioned in the Prophecy.”

Trickshot nodded. His sense of hope—which had been all but extinguished after seeing Bolt become Dark Thunder and Sigil read the Prophecy—rose up in his spirit again. Maybe they had a realistic chance at stopping Sigil after all.

“Even so, I must warn you that Sigil is not the only person interested in the full Prophecy,” said the Oracle. “The Defiants seek it out as well.”

“If they don’t know where the final few lines are, though, then who cares?” said Trickshot with a smile. He gave the Oracle the thumbs up. “Thanks, Oracle! I guess you aren’t so useless after all.”

“Thanks for the compliment, young man,” said the Oracle in a sarcastic voice. “I shall treasure it always. But I warn you about the others because I do not want you to think that it will be easy to go to the Library and retrieve the final few lines. You must do it stealthily and without letting Sigil know about your plans.”

Trickshot nodded again. “Gotcha. If Sigil knows what I’m trying to do, he might take the lines from me so I can’t read them, right?”

“Exactly,” said the Oracle.

Trickshot folded his arms across his chest. “Sigil is probably keeping a close eye on all of us now that the end is near. He’ll definitely know if I try to enter the Library without his permission.”

“I can aid you in that area,” said the Oracle. “Although telling you this information has put my life and safety at risk, I am willing to use what little magic I have to keep you safe from Sigil. Should he try to find you, he will fail. Please take this.”

The Oracle waved her hand. A blue stone flew out of the pockets of her robes toward Trickshot, who caught it a second before it socked him in the face. Looking down at the blue rock, Trickshot saw that it had hundreds, maybe even thousands, of smaller carvings on its surface. The lines made no sense to him, but they looked like the same language in which the Prophecy had been written.

“What is this?” said Trickshot, looking up at the Oracle again. “Your pet rock?”

“A Concealment Stone,” said the Oracle. “One of the last inventions of the original Nexians, Concealment Stones make you invisible from all forms of tracking, whether magical or technological.”

“All of them?” said Trickshot in an impressed voice. “Cool.”

“But it is not unlimited,” the Oracle said. “It will only protect you from detection for one hour. Once that hour is up, the Stone’s power will wear off and you will once again be vulnerable to detection. I recommend to only use it when you can be assured at least an hour, enough to go to the Library, find the last pages, and leave before Sigil notices you.”

Trickshot gave the Oracle a thumbs-up. “Definitely. Not sure if I will be able to use it this morning, though, because I’m going to have to be at the sixth match, whether I want to be or not.”

“I understand,” said the Oracle. “There is still time to save the multiverse. I wish there was more I could do to help, but alas, even my powers are limited.”

Trickshot nodded but then looked at the Concealment Stone again. “If this is a vision, how will I take this Concealment Stone with me back to the physical world?”

“Don’t worry about that,” said the Oracle. “When you wake up from this vision, the Concealment Stone will be in your right pocket. You can then use it whenever you want.”

Trickshot was about to ask how that worked before deciding that the Oracle was just going to say ‘magic.’ Besides, it was hardly the weirdest thing he had seen since coming to the Nexus. He would just have to trust that it would work out the way she said it would.

Slipping the Concealment Stone into his right pocket, Trickshot said, “Thanks again, Oracle. Although I was angry when you first showed up, I’m now glad you did. Maybe we can save the multiverse after all.”

“I wouldn’t bet on that if I were you, Trickshot,” said a familiar cold monotone voice, seemingly from everywhere at once. “You cannot fight fate.”

The Oracle looked up, fear on her aged features. “Sigil. I must leave … why can’t I leave?”

“Because I do not want you to leave,” said Sigil’s voice again, which now sounded like it was coming from Trickshot’s right. “That’s why.”

Trickshot looked to his right and saw Sigil standing in the doorway leading to the balcony. With his wand held firmly in his right hand, the tip glowing a deep red color, Sigil looked like a demon straight out of hell. His black suit seemed to be one with the shadows around them, while his red tie stood out sharply against the washed-out colors of Aeno’s old room.

“I thought I sensed the old witch,” said Sigil. His eyes darted from the Oracle to Trickshot. “And she is even talking to Trickshot. Interesting, but not unexpected.”

“You don’t sound surprised to see me,” said the Oracle. She didn’t stand, but looked like she wanted to run away anyway.

“Oh, I am,” said Sigil, rubbing the side of his head. “I thought you had died a long time ago, but it looks like you are still alive. How annoying.”

“I am the last Oracle of the Nexians,” the Oracle said, though there was a slight tremble in her voice. “So long as Aeno lives, I will as well.”

Sigil laughed. “You may be the Oracle, but that doesn’t mean you are invulnerable. There is a reason you’ve been hiding from me for so long and it’s because you know that your magic is useless against mine. Perhaps you should stop running. You look very tired.”

Trickshot stepped forward in between Sigil and the Oracle. He drew three disks from his pouch and held them up. “If you want the Oracle, you’ll have to kill me first.”

Sigil shook his head. “Hmm, I don’t think so. I still have need of you. Killing you would make it impossible for the Prophecy to come true.”

“That’s kind of the point,” said Trickshot. “And how long have you been listening in on our conversation?”

“Not too long,” said Sigil. “I was only able to notice the Oracle’s presence in the Nexus about three minutes ago. But I can guess that she was giving you advice on how to thwart Aeno’s destiny.”

“Actually, she was giving me advice on how to kick your a*s,” said Trickshot, though deep down, he was relieved that Sigil hadn’t been listening very long. It meant that he probably still didn’t know about the missing lines of the Prophecy. “It was a productive conversation, wasn’t it, Oracle?”

“Trickshot,” said the Oracle in a warning voice. “You must go. You cannot fight Sigil, not like this, anyway. He will crush you.”

“She’s right, you know,” said Sigil. “Even in this dream world, my power dwarfs you. Yet even my power is nothing in comparison to the power of fate, which crushes us all under its unrelenting power.”

“Says you,” said Trickshot. “Even if I can only distract you long enough for the Oracle to get away, I would consider that a win in my book.”

“The Oracle cannot escape because I have locked her soul here,” said Sigil. “But even if she could, she wouldn’t. She cares too much about Aeno to simply abandon him, even though it would have been much wiser for her to never get involved in this situation in the first place.”

Puzzled, Trickshot looked over his shoulder at the Oracle. “Why do you care so much about Aeno? I thought you cared more about the multiverse than Aeno.”

“I do, but …” the Oracle shook her head. “It is too complicated to explain.”

“Actually, it’s quite easy,” said Sigil. “Tell me, Trickshot, do you know who the Oracle actually is?”

“She’s the seer of the original Nexians,” said Trickshot. “Right?”

Sigil smiled, a chilling expression on his face. “She’s more than merely the seer of the Nexians. She is Aeno’s grandmother. And the reason she ran away after uttering the prophecy dooming him is because she didn’t want to take responsibility for her own actions.”