From amidst the hustle and bustle of a Grove preparing to defend itself from a war, word comes out of a ritual being prepared. Something to be done, deep, deep inside of Unreality's embrace. All are invited to attend, of course, though the posting does not officially reach outside of Gloomlight itself. The Oracle...

...is hardly the secretive sort, at least in this particular instance.

She does, however, apparently have a fondness for cryptic messages, as the public invitation so reads.

Quote:I will be Your clenched fist, I will be Your sledgehammer, I will be Your devastating word.
I will be armored in godly metals, I will be armored in faith, I will be without pain.
I will be the will by which this war is won, I will be the banner under which You walk.
I will be! And in that becoming, so will You – and Our becoming will be an end to this war.

Murmurs and whispers of success echo out from amidst the deepest levels of Unreality. Of a sudden uptick in grey, unlit aether, swelling around the one who partook in it-- of an embrace offered from a distant source, a mirror-like cocoon that surrounded her. Of a blessing bestowed by Athelios, and of the ascension of His Holy Oracle unto something more. For a time after, she was remarkably quiet-- reportedly exhausted from the change...

A public address is made and arranged, to announce the results of her ritual.

Quote:"Faithless, they called me. A spoilt child, they spit, like a youngling in a schoolyard, unable and unwilling to grasp that they are not the arbiters of right or wrong, and that we need not answer to their morality."

"I am the Oracle of Aphros. I am Ysayl dul Vique. And I, am the secondborne Daughter of Athelios, blessed to bear His might on the field. His holy sword, with which His lands might be defended from those who would defy His designs. Faithless, they called me. Heretical, they declared. Look at me now. See how He has chosen me-- See how He has declared my path righteous. Whosoever continues in the fallacious decree that I am somehow unholy, that I do not follow His designs, can only do so if they refuse to accept reality itself."

"My Lord, the Lord of Duality, has made me His blade. He has offered me His greatest of boons, picked His side. Any who continue in their foolhardy refutation of a better path, of the discovery of a means to annihilate the very basis of our enemies' continual existence... defy His will."

"Two Nephilim of Athelios at once. Something once thought impossible, now made manifest. What more proof do you need?"

"Defy me not, ye faithful, for I am His weapon, His holy will, His righteous hand on Meranthe. I will not - be - denied."

And with that? The Oracle returns to her Keep, the success of her ritual made clear. Word of this speech spreads, no doubt, to every corner of Meranthe-- from Prospera to Arcadia, from Serenity to Xuefeng, from the Frontier to the Citadel.

No doubt, that was the Oracle's desire.