I'd like to thank Lastman416 for the read through and edits.
--
'A great Void will swallow the world. The Duke commands the power of the Ravened Disciple, a great angel, with wings of ashen feathers. All of nothing, and one of everything will clash, knowing not, they serve the same master. The Duke will rise, a King of Earth, before Earth.'
The Duke's Plot. That is the name given to a prophecy long recorded in the Codex Magicae, the ancient book of Witches. The Priestess of the Keys, Ophelia, daughter of Johanna, did not believe in prophecy; Thus, she did not fear the words of prophets.
"Mother, you say you don't trust prophecy," Indigo began, following her mother loyally into the ritual site. "Yet, we're taking our guidance from prophecy?"
They had built the site deep in the swamp of the Everglades. The only witnesses to their endeavors would be the alligators. The coven sisters were busy with the preparations. A pentagram had been designed, using a paste made from bone chalk and blood. It was placed in the center of a dry and elevated portion of land with a moat dug around it in the shape of a triangle. The moat was filled with saltwater from the sea, and then further seasoned with strands of their own hair.
The Great Duke of Hell Flauros could not escape the barrier in which he was summoned, nor speak falsehoods in a triangle.
"It's not that I don't trust prophecy daughter. I don't believe in it," Ophelia said, a statement which only served to further confuse Indigo.
"I apologize if I'm misunderstanding," Indigo said.
"Do you know the story, Oedipus Tyrannus?" Ophelia asked.
"I read some of it when I went to a conventional school, though it was titled Oedipus Rex. Dreadfully boring, but perhaps it was my adolescent mind that merely couldn't comprehend it."
"Conventional schooling indeed. That story was written by the Greek Sophocles, a man who understood the nature of prophecy. That being, its self-fulfilling nature. Laius was the King of Thebes, who was told of a prophecy he would be murdered by his own newborn son. He bound the infant's feet and told his wife Jocasta to kill the child. Unable to complete the task, she gives the task to a servant, who pities the boy and gives him to a shepherd, who unbinds his feet and names him Oedipus. The shepherd then gives him to the King of Corinth, Polybus. Oedipus grows up, believing he is the trueborn son of Polybus, and his Queen, Merope.
"In his adulthood, Oedipus hears a rumor, he is not the son of Polypus. He confers with an Oracle, who tells him a prophecy he will slay his sire and mate with his mother. Still believing himself to be the son of Polybus, he departs Corinth as to not fulfill the prophecy. He takes his carriage onto a narrow road and comes across another carriage blocking his path. Oedipus and the older man in the other carriage have a dispute over who should be allowed to pass first, and Oedipus kills the man in the quarrel. The man he killed was the King of Thebes, his own father.
"Thebes was under the curse of a Sphinx, who devoured any who answered her riddle incorrectly. Oedipus answered correctly, so the Sphinx yielded by throwing herself from the cliff. Oedipus's reward for lifting the curse was kingship of the city, and the widowed Queen Jocasta, his own mother. Oedipus had slayed his sire and mated with his mother. Prophecy had been fulfilled."
"If the King of Thebes didn't trust the prophecy, it wouldn't have happened?" Indigo asked, and her mother asked her to elaborate on her thoughts. She loved how her mother seldom forced her way of thinking. Indigo was always encouraged to draw her own conclusions. "What if Oedipus grew up arrogant, and murdered his father to ascend the throne?"
"That is a logical way to read the illogical," Ophelia said with a smile. "What if Oedipus grew to be a kind man, who cherished his father, and never once thought of slaying him."
"That's an overly optimistic outcome," Indigo said.
"Yet both of our answers begin with the ever prevalent, intrusive thought, what if?" Ophelia said, and directed her daughter to the edge of the triangle. Their bare feet sunk into the mud as they walked. The Sisters of the Keys were well at home in their swamp. The cold moist earth between their toes felt like warm wool socks.
"The best outcome is if Laius had never heard the prophecy to begin with. Prophecy breeds distrust, paranoia, and suspicion. Distrust, paranoia, and suspicion is why mankind has had a knife to its own throat since the moment it could craft a blade. When you assume everyone is your enemy, that's when everyone truly becomes your enemy. I understand mankind doesn't need much excuse to kill each other, but prophecy is all too often the justification, not because it was found, but because it was sought after."
"I'm afraid I still don't understand," Indigo said.
"What have I said?" Ophelia asked. Indigo closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and exhaled it slowly.
"Don't speak of fear, unless you're afraid," Indigo said, and opened her eyes. "And there is nothing wrong with fear. Allow yourself to feel it, but never call it to you."
"Excellent," Ophelia said, and kissed her daughter's forehead. "To answer your confusion, we don't care about prophecy. Our concern is those who do care about prophecy. We both saw that creature, Indigo. A soulless golem of eternal death, consuming the energy of the creator. The Void. It must be destroyed. It has no soul, so it cannot be exorcised. Even my strongest magic was a mere nuisance to it. We need to summon Flauros and demand answers."
"Do you believe he's the Raven Disciple, or the Black Winged Angel?" Indigo asked.
"I don't. Those who believe in this prophecy, do," Ophelia said. "Or at the very least, they believe he wields its power."
"Priestess," a coven sister said, her feet sloshing in the shallow water as she approached. Like all her sisters, she wore a black dress with the hem torn up to their midthighs. "We're ready."
"Thank you for your efforts," Ophelia said. The sister replied with a small nod.
Ophelia took her place at the tip of the triangle that faced north. Eleven sisters took their places around the triangle, all looking at their Priestess for guidance.
"Sisters," Ophelia said, taking her time to make direct eye contact with each one. "I will not lie about what we are about to do. We are about to intentionally summon a disciple of the Morningstar. We are about to violate one of the longest held laws of the Confederation of Covens. If discovered, we will be tried, we will convicted, and we will be sentenced to death, or worse, marked as traitress. This is not an order I can give you as a Priestess. Any sister who wishes to leave, may do so without judgement."
Ophelia scanned the eyes of her sisters, looking for any ounce of doubt or fear in their gaze. Each sister nodded in turn as her eyes came their own. One sister evaded her eyes, like a flinch, as if Ophelia had raised the back of her hand to her.
"Garnet?" Ophelia asked. "Speak your fears."
