King Marc made the decision to trust Hilda, and although Laikara tried to convince him to investigate deeper, the ruler was adamant. Marc''s last order before leaving the interrogation room was to settle Arrax''s funeral arrangements and deposit the remains in the mausoleum of the court mages.


    "It is well known that magicians can go mad during the study and practice of sorcery. The people will understand, Arrax does not need to leave this world as a traitor to the kingdom" says the king with a gray countenance.


    As soon as Marc leaves, Laikara goes to the end of the corridor and crosses an iron door in the form of a decapitated pyramid. She enters a copper dome, with dots and lines on the ceiling representing constellations and stars. Inside the dome is a metal platform suspended over a surface of clear water, and on the platform is a bulky iron spider holding the moving outline of a planetary system, with a wide lamp in the center whose flame represents the sun, and spheres of different metals representing the 7 planets, the fourth orb being the world they inhabit.


    Arcanum, the guiding world, built of solidified and dead ether, like a gray crystal sphere; Corporia, gold; Pandemonium, bronze oxidized to show a greenish color: Fantasia, silver and marked with vague lines representing the continents; Promethea, platinum; Rome and Hela, twin planets, made of rhodium and palladium respectively; and lastly Solitarie, small and marginal, forged of a very dirty iron, almost forgotten among the shadows of his fellows.


    Arcanum was the first, he removed his heart and from the beating organ created Corporia, married with her to give birth to Roma and Hela, brother and sister whose infinite affection for each other made them become lovers. Incest is a sin, so Fantasia, born of error, was condemned by Arcanum to suffer in her flesh the experiences of imperfect beings, who would open her entrails in search of glory and bathe her with blood and pain in pursuit of ephemeral ambitions. Hela asked her mother to give order and clarity to the imperfect ones to alleviate Fantasia''s pain, and Rome, full of anger, also asked for relief for Fantasia, but his solution was to exterminate the imperfect beings. Corporia accepted and that same night got Arcanum drunk and had sex with him, but as Corporia was invaded by doubt about what request of her children to fulfill, the new progeny represented duality: Promethea and Pandemonium were born, worlds of the luminous gods and the dark gods respectively. The imperfect beings received light and order, and darkness and extermination in equal measure.


    And the worlds'' dance was perpetuated as an unfulfilled cycle.


    Laikara doesn''t believe in that fable which sounds more like a pseudo-allegory, and varies a lot from one who tells it. Moreover, recent astronomical studies - texts forbidden by almost all churches - indicate that the planetary system''s creation is more logical than mystical. No order of priests knows any psalms or rituals using only the name of Arcanum, Rome or Hela, because these primordial gods seem to be deaf and therefore probably do not exist.Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.


    The witch also has no desire to eat her brains about the uncertain past of the worlds. What she cannot deny is that the planetarium is an invaluable tool for her divination rituals. From the lamp representing the star, positioned on a powerful steel furnace, a drop of burnt fat falls from time to time, which does not take long to hit a wet clay tablet, positioned a couple meters below. The main face of the clay tablet is positioned in direction to a series of constellations, in this case the birth star of King Marc.


    Laikara''s divination method doesn''t always hit the target, and that''s normal, if a fortuneteller would claim to know a 100% sure method to unravel the destiny, probably be a fraud or a lunatic. She usually uses the remains of the pork, sheep, chicken, or cow meat, tasted by the king in his lunches or dinners, to feed the furnace and make the lamp burn. Pieces of mundane life that help the planetarium to focus a little better.


    Still, some methods exist, some very obscure, to make the eye that sees the future offer a more legible reading for those trapped in the hopeless present.


    "Bring the embrion" Orders Laikara.


    One oracle brings a sealed flask with a fetus floating in an opaque green substance. The fetus is incomplete, hinting that Laikara already used parts of it to burn in the sun lamp. It was an indirect gift from Gineber, who hating the idea of bringing a fourth child into a life she hates and deteriorating a little more her body, discreetly asked Laikara for help to dispose the baby before it could show any symptoms of its existence. Laikara cooperated in order to have good material with to help the monarch, though she did not fill Gineber on what she would do with the fetus.


    For Laikara everything is crystal clear: Marc has more than enough descendants for his lineage to fulfill the 100 years destined to lead the Stoicus kingdom. More than a fourth son, what Marc needs is to be protected from the hidden knives of destiny.


    "Add another piece to the planetarium oven. In an hour or two we will have the lecture ready, and we must avoid any possibility of error"


    The oracle nods and dutifully complies.


    The planets rotate. The tablet is fitted with a variety of mechanisms that move it so that the fiery droplets build lines on the clay surface. In the days of Laikara''s master, before the dwarven engineers decided to share bits of their technology with some members of humanity, the oracles had to hold the tablet and catch the droplets in flight, a protocol that was erratic and made them look like buffoons. Laikara still has pale spots on her hands from burns.


    As soon as the tablet is complete, the leak in the lamp closes and they wait a few minutes for the clay to dry so that the prediction becomes solid. Laikara steps under the planetarium and takes out the tablet to read. Her slitted eyes darken as she reads the prediction.


    TRAITION.


    HEART.


    OF THE KINGDOM.


    INVASION.


    DARKNESS.


    KING DEATH.


    ENVY. LOVE. BETRAYAL.


    It''s the same lecture as last time. Although there was one more line.


    DUNGEONS.