Emery was reminded of the time when he first came to the shrine. Back then, before even meeting him, the Priestess had already discerned his name from her visions. It was likely the High Priestess had the ability to know about what happened to Morgana.
Was the Lady of The Lake someone the academy would call a Diviner? A magus which specialized in the path of divinity. A path of spirit magic which allowed the user to take a glimpse of the future.
As if the High Priestess was able to hear the unspoken question, she gave Emery a small smile as an answer.
"Emery, when you reach my level, you too will be able to feel the existence of your brethren. Remember, no matter how far we are separated, we will always be connected as one family."
Then, Emery remembered the High Priestess was also supposed to be one of the few remaining heirs to the extinct fey wolf bloodline. From his time at the academy, he knew the bloodlines had a strong unique connection with each of their family members.
A part of Emery wanted to ask how evolved she currently was, but his main concern still was Morgana's safety.
"Priestess, please tell me, what happened to Morgana?"
Emery couldn't calm himself down. Though he was glad to know Morgana was fine, he still did not get the answer he sought from coming here.
Nimue closed her eyes and hundreds of light particles dispersed from the trees and floated around her. Emery watched as the particles danced in tune with the wind and weaved through the shadowy tendrils shielding the forest, before gracefully shifting and entering the High Priestess's body.
Right after all the light particles disappeared, the High Priestess opened her eyes, smiled and slowly told Emery. "Morgana, the girl is currently in Logress Kingdom and she… she is fine. Gaia's blessing shines upon her and she is on the right path."
The high priestess closed her eyes one more time and said,
"Emery... I must forbid you to find her, in time your paths will intertwine again by the will of Gaia."
Emery was reluctant to accept, as she had been on his conscience for a while now, but at least, the assurance of Morgana's safety lifted some of the weight off his shoulder.
The high priest continued, this time in a more serious tone than before.
"As for you Emery… you have your own path… a much bigger one…"
The High Priestess approached Emery slowly and spoke.
"It's time… come... follow me"
She grabbed his arm and took him step by step closer to the massive tree. Now that he was closer, the tree looked even bigger than before, dwarfing even the trees growing all around them.
Each root was the size of his arm and the trunk could easily be wider than a house.
As Emery got close, the huge brown bear, Artio, the guardian of Gaia, awakened. It slowly turned around facing him, it's large eyes yet again seemingly staring through him, through the illusion of calm Emery tried to project and pierce his very soul.
"Now, Emery, concentrate on your spirit power. Touch the tree and tell me what you see."
Slowly, Emery moved his hand closer and let the tip of his fingers touch the tree. As soon as he felt the smooth bark under his hand, a bright light engulfed his vision and everything turned white.
When the light subsided, Emery found himself still in the area of the shrine, except this time he was a few steps further. The place was empty and the High Priestess wasn't there.
Through the foliage of the tree, Emery could see rolling grey clouds covering the sky.
The clouds gathered into one, inky black mass connected with thunder jumping back and forth. With a thunderous roar, a flash of lightning descended down, blasting the top of the tree and igniting it. A wild flame quickly burned the tree throughout all its leaves and branches.
Strangely the sight of the burning tree brought horror and fear to him. Screams echoed in the distance following the burning tree. Hundreds, thousands of different voices came from the flames, mixing with the far-away voices and making Emery's head start to throb,
"This is another of those illusion... but why does it seem so real?"
The flames dispersed away, leaving the tree to crumble into a pile of fine ashes before him. The tree was a symbol of hope and it crumbling into ashes sent a pang of persistent despair in Emery's heart.
For a few seconds, everything went quiet, until Emery heard hundreds of voices echoing all around him.
"Find it…"
"Find it…"
"Find.. find what?!" Emery asked to the empty place, hoping someone would hear.
A bright light came from behind him and Emery turned around to see a towering stone had appeared. The stone stood almost as tall as a small mountain.
Emery walked closer and saw that the stone was not glowing, but something on top it did. He tried to see past the bright light, to see what it actually was.
The object was a dazzling, shiny sword thrust inside a stone. The sword's handle was embroidered with gems with a crystal body and the blade was engraved with some kind of weird writings. It gave a powerful majestic aura that made people want to worship it.
A normal sword would have shattered or bent when thrust into a rock like that, but the weapon seemed to defy all logic, staying intact and sharp despite all that.
"Wield it…"
"Wield it…"
Emery raised his hand, trying to grab the sword as the voice instructed. But he heard a loud, screeching sound from all around and he saw he was already surrounded by black clouds so tall they reached the sky. The clouds moved in waves emerging toward him destroying everything who stood in between
Emery suddenly woke up with a jolt, and his trembling hand, removed from the tree's bark.
The experience felt so real, sounded so real, to the point he forgot it was merely an illusion of what may come to pass. Sweat drenched his entire body and a trail of tears lined his cheeks.
Emery turned around and saw the High Priestess' concerned face.
"Did you see it, Emery? Tell me, what did you see?"
"High Priestess, I…" Emery hesitated.
"I think…. I saw death… destruction... and what is that sword I am seeing?"