The rune equation’s effect was to make a light, like a flare or firework, appear. At celebrations in the past, Odin had always used the color green. However, Trav could clearly see the way it tied into the greater working around him.
Failing to complete the equation, or making the light red, would blow the entire thing up. Green would create a barrier to forcibly separate a soul from a body. Only blue would disarm the trap. With Trav’s increasingly deep insight, he could understand that the entire system had been rigged up in case Odin had been controlled, or possessed. The green light would actually free his spirit if it’d been trapped. Furthermore, one of the lines that would need to be drawn to complete the rune equation could be influenced by the will of someone possessed, whoever’s power was actually being channeled.
The whole thing was sort of genius, but also way over the top. “Wow, Odin was a paranoid motherfucker,” Trav said softly.
“You don’t know the half of it,” said the Oracle.
Trav finished the rune equation, making a pretty, pulsing blue light appear that rose to the top of the cavern, eventually flowering out and sputtering as it died. This left the omnidirectional illumination that had been present before. “So what now?” he asked.
“Now I know that you are you. Welcome back, Master!”
“I’m getting the feeling that all the questions I prepared to ask you before coming here aren’t necessary anymore.” Trav sighed.
“Nope! At least, the form of the question and the number of them don’t matter anymore. You can ask me whatever you want. That whole charade, giving out fortunes for the last millennium was just to make sure I’d be sought out by someone like you if you became lost. The fact I siphoned some energy every time I did so kept me functioning this long too.”
Something suddenly occurred to Trav. “Wait, so if you’d blown everything up, Faith, the village above us, would have been destroyed too, right?”
“Yes.”
“Man that’s cold as fuck, even if most of them are Kin.” Trav ran a hand over his face. “Alright, I have a lot of questions.”
“Good. That is what I exist for. I’m really almost out of power, so you have about ten minutes before I disappear for good.”
“Wait, what?” Trav shook his head. “No way, fuck that. I did not just spend a few days writing down pointless questions and almost blow myself up for a few minutes of question and answer.”
The Oracle’s voice was curious as she asked, “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. Be quiet and let me think.”
“Have it your way,” said the Oracle. “Since I only have a few minutes to live, do you mind if I watch you?”
“No, go ahead.”
After a cracking sound, the entire statue split in two, both sides rumbling several inches apart. On the ground below, a translucent, two-foot-tall, blue, glowing woman appeared. She looked like the statue, stark naked but wore a winged helmet, and she carried a scepter in one hand. She calmly walked to a rock, climbed on top before sitting cross-legged, and rested her chin in her hands with an attentive expression.
Trav stared for a few seconds before he snapped himself out of it. He was tempted to give up on taking any action and just ask the Oracle questions, but he had a feeling that if he let her die after a handful of questions, he’d be shooting himself in the foot. He only had ten minutes, but he also had access to a massive amount of knowledge through Odin’s memories. What’s more, he had a feeling this chamber had been constructed long before the old god had finally died. Hopefully he’d learned some new tricks.
Even after experiencing things like accepting the mantle of a dead god or being attacked by a horny harpy, this was possibly the strangest situation he’d experienced on Asgard so far.
Trav mentally rolled up his sleeves and began combing through his memories while he carefully studied the rune equations around him, especially near the statue, and how they reacted around the Oracle’s little glowing manifestation on the rock. Suddenly, it occurred to him that he could probably ask her a few questions while he worked.
“I am going to ask you some questions while I think about the problem,” he said.
The Oracle nodded her little glowing head. “I was wondering when you were going to realize this would be your best course of action.”
“Everyone is a critic,” Trav grumbled.
Chapter 2
Trav furrowed his brow in concentration, furiously sifting through eons of information. He didn’t expect that Odin would have come across a situation exactly like this before, and he figured finding a specific memory would be tough even if he had. Instead, he was searching for tools, techniques.
This was going to be a jury-rig operation, like using duct tape to fix an airplane. “How much time do I have left?” he asked. Trav figured it’d only been a moment, but he didn’t want to lose track.
The little glowing figure of the Oracle didn’t say anything out loud, just flicked a hand, causing a red, numerical countdown to appear on the ground. 9:49. 9:47. She didn’t even glance at the countdown; all of her attention was focused on him.
“Thanks,” muttered Trav. “So what exactly are you?”
“The details are secret, I am under geas not to volunteer how I came to be, but you created me, so you can likely figure it out. The piece you might be missing is that you visited Yggdrasil as preparation before creating me. If you can tell me my true name, I can say more. It’s fairly obvious that you have holes in your memory, young Allfather.”
“Yggdrasil,” Trav said out loud, and his thoughts flashed like he’d been struck by lightning. A floodgate of memories poured through his subconscious, far too fast to grasp any of them individually, but a word did slip through. “Valdis,” he said slowly.
“Yes, that was my name,” said the Oracle, smiling sadly. “Now, this is what I am.” She gestured at her small, glowing form. “And I am going to run out of power in nine minutes.”
The flash flood of memories slowed, and he was able to grasp the ones with “Valdis” attached. In the back of his mind, he continued to run through his vast rune knowledge, trying to find a way to save the Oracle. There were some perks to not being entirely human anymore.
As he observed the room further, he could see what the problem was. “You were never meant to live this long.”
“Indeed. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever come back, at least up until about five hundred years ago, give or take. That was when I became aware of this meeting’s possibility. In hindsight, it is somewhat fitting that you were fated to arrive at this critical juncture.”
“I don’t really believe in fate,” muttered Trav. He’d shifted most of his mental effort on combing through his spell knowledge. As the words came out of his mouth, he began to remember more about the Oracle, the information slowly focusing.
“That is a strange stance to take now, all things considered.” The Oracle sounded amused, but there was something else in her tone, too. Something less than friendly.
In that moment, Trav understood. The memories crystallized and he knew who Valdis was, and some of what he, Odin, had done to her. He still didn’t know all the details, but there had been a debt, and Valdis had been a seer. Odin had cashed the debt by taking her life and changing it, reforming it.
Now he knew what this room was, and everything that the Oracle represented. A breath caught in his throat as he also recalled Yggdrasil, the world tree. Trav haltingly spoke out loud, “The world tree is a real thing, and is metaphysically connected to many of the veils, if not all of them. I, uh, Odin recognized the potential, and somehow attached something to sync with it. Then he transformed you into an interface using huge amounts of magical resources and high tech, all daisy chained together over several worlds, tied together with magic.”
“More or less, yes,” said the Oracle.
Trav shook his head. “You are the most sophisticated espionage tool ever created. How in the hell were you not elevated to som
e sort of divinity? Most of the Restless can’t even come close to even...approaching this.”
“I don’t know what I am now, Master,” said the Oracle sadly. “What I am about to be is dead.”
“Not if I can help it,” grumbled Trav. The Oracle was far too powerful a tool or ally to let slip through his fingers. He kept focusing on the magical problem, and felt like he might have a glimmer of a solution. To keep the other half of his mind moving so he could think more clearly, he asked, “So Oracle, what is my best move now?”
“Are you asking about what to have for dinner, or—”
Trav cocked an eyebrow. “Still playing these types of games even before you’re about to die, huh? Fine. Tell you what, I want you to figure out what I’m thinking right now and answer the question based on that.” Then Trav very clearly thought about how he was looking for information about his best plan of action on Asgard, to keep himself and his household alive, to find his missing family, to help the human slaves on Asgard, and to figure out what he wanted, who he was. That last part was added on the fly. He also very clearly sent a compliment about the Oracle’s beauty, just in case it might help.
Based on what he knew about the Oracle, she couldn’t read minds per se, but she could basically...read reality, so this should be easy for her.
She crossed her arms and said, “Thinking about my appearance won’t help at all. I don’t have a real body anymore, and we were briefly lovers before you made me into what I am now.”
“Oh.” Trav made a face. “That wasn’t me, that was the other guy.”
“Just so. The rest is actually a very complicated question. I am thinking.”
“Got it.” Trav took the sudden silence to tackle the magical problem in front of him with his full concentration. Now that he knew what the Oracle was, he could appreciate the sheer amount of information and processing she was currently doing. When she’d first been made, his predecessor had called in a favor from the Norns. Well, actually it had been more of a blackmail, strongarm thing. The Norns hadn’t had much choice but to lend a hand.
It seemed Odin really had been a dick, but he’d created something amazing. In fact, now that Trav was aware of the Oracle’s real power, he wondered how the old god could have possibly been murdered, especially considering how paranoid he’d been. He even voiced the question out loud. “How did Odin get murdered with you to tell him the past, present, and future?”
The Oracle cocked an eyebrow. “Master, I am still thinking. This could be an interruption.”
“And you are the most powerful supercomputer ever made, I’ll bet. You can think about two things at once, especially if one is as simple as this.”
“Point,” the Oracle admitted. “The answer is very simple. Odin was prideful and stubborn, and it takes me time to build enough power to be functional, something like a capacitor. In order to make full use of my abilities, I need to be asked specific questions.”
“I see.” He nodded. With that information, several series of events became possible. “So that is why you only let people in here once a year, even though you were drawing energy. It was all a balancing act.”
“Yes. Ah, the computation is done. I have your answer.”
“Hit me.”
“The answer is actually simple. Your fate is closely tied with your valkyries now. All the paths leading to your best fates involve supporting them. Also, you will be served well to accept Tiffany Erben into your household. She is not the most powerful partner you will ever meet, or the most beautiful, or any number of other criteria, but having her at your side will prevent a number of negative futures I have foreseen.”
“Like what? Actually, which of them should I help first?” Off the top of his head, he could remember a number of problems that his new Kin lovers had.
The Oracle shook her head. “No, Master. That was all the power I had for now.”
Trav blinked. “Bullshit. You usually answer a handful of questions.”
“This was a conversation, not merely answering questions, and I am dying.”
“Again, bullshit. When you die, you’ll die, but you could still do more thinking before death. I know this because I remember you being made now.”
The Oracle gave him a flat look. “As you said, that was the other guy.”
“Ah. So this is a shakedown then?”
“You haven’t saved my life yet, Master,” she said, emphasizing the last word.
“Fine, fine, fine. Let me think.” Trav glanced down at the countdown on the floor and saw it read just over three more minutes. He slowly tapped Hex against his wrist, wondering where in the hell he was going to get a power source big enough to keep the Oracle alive, maybe plug her into something. He couldn’t exactly use himself, he was weak. Sure, now he was stronger than the average Kin, but compared to an original Restless, much less Odin, he was still an ant.
No, this problem couldn’t be solved with raw power, he needed a clever solution, and without pulling a miracle out of his ass, he wasn’t going to get anything else out of the Oracle. He really could remember some of the most outlandish things that Odin had done to create her. In some ways, the Oracle was a god made from the knowledge of Odin and the blood of a seer, all tied into the Yggdrasil, and…
Trav’s train of thought skipped. “Knowledge of Odin,” he whispered. “Energy of Odin.” He tapped his forehead with Hex, slightly adjusting his emberstone eye and found what he was looking for, a tiny line of power connecting him and the Oracle. She still had traces of Odin’s power, the same wavelength as the mantle that Trav had inherited.
Maybe, he didn’t need to plug the Oracle into a completely new power source. She actually had her own power source, she was just burning more power than she was creating by merely existing right now, and her reserves were gone. So what if instead of trying to do the impossible, he just did something to keep her alive, like a coal for a fire, while she naturally regained her energy?
“I think this can work,” said Trav. The timer on the floor read just under two minutes now.
“You have a solution?” asked the Oracle. She didn’t sound optimistic.
“Actually, yes,” said Trav. He walked over to one of the dozen or so “hearts” of the major working on the floor, like knots that all the other magical logic tied into. This one gave access to the actual Oracle, where her “body” was, attaching it to all the rune equations around it. The cave was merely a projection, a means to communicate.
“What are you doing?” This time the Oracle’s voice had a note of alarm.
“Would you rather I talk about it, or do it?” asked Trav, voice terse.
The glowing figure of the Oracle raised a finger, but lowered it, and said, “Do what you will.”
“Thought so.” Trav knelt and made a few new lines in the complex rune equation, but didn’t connect the new logic. Instead, he bared his chest and with an effort of will, he heated the tip of Hex red hot before slowly, painfully carving a sigil into his shoulder. Then he connected the anchor he’d just made to the floor with a line of magic before finishing what he’d been drawing.
The next bit required a lot of quick, precise work, so Trav concentrated on it with everything he had. The ring of tiny rune equations he placed around his new work on the floor was both to alter the major working, and to describe how it should link with his new interface. He could have done this part carved directly into his body instead of on the floor, and it would have been a bit simpler, but that hadn’t been a serious option.
When he was finally done, there was only fourteen seconds left on the clock. “Only one more thing to do,” he said.
“Please do it quickly.”
Trav nodded, pricked his finger, and let a fat drop of blood well up. Then he carefully, and very deliberately let it fall right in the center of the new, small but complex rune equation he’d created.
The change was immediate, and it was like he suddenly grew a bit tired, while also feeling more...full. On the floor, the cou
ntdown hit zero. The Oracle didn’t disappear, though. Instead, she began to fade, and her eyes opened wide. “What did you do?”
“You’ll see in about a minute.”
Sure enough, a short while after the Oracle’s glowing form faded from view, Trav heard her voice directly in his mind. “What is going on?”
Trav spoke out loud. “I didn’t have any power sources to work with other than myself, and if I’d hooked you directly to me, I would have either immediately been sucked dry of energy and I would have died, or I would have exploded and I would have died. Me dying would have been bad for both of us. So instead, I’m keeping your spark alive while the rest of you regains enough power for you to be safe for another few hundred years. I figure it will take a few years to reach that point.”
“I see.”
Trav didn’t hear anything further for a while, and in his magical sight, the massive working in the cave began to dim, but didn’t disappear. After a couple of minutes, Trav saw text appear across his vision.
“Sound good,” said Trav.
“Yes,” said Trav. Then he nodded and began walking back the way he’d come. It was time to leave the cave and head back to Faith. He hadn’t gotten all of the answers he’d wanted from the Oracle, but now he had a much better idea of what sorts of plans to make. He’d also acquired a very powerful tool, especially if he could survive long enough for the Oracle to regain her old power.
Chapter 3
Trav returned to Bruman, the Faithful settlement, and ignored the bowing and scraping of the Kin working as guards and patrolling the area. They didn’t all show respect in the same way, but all of them acknowledged him. It still felt a little weird, just like the dual name for the settlement.
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