Fortunately, Arethar was persuaded rather easily; in fact, he didn't even try to oppose the will of the dragons. When Haku told him that they should take a few days to think about the situation well and that they should talk to the Council since they were their allies, the Arachne didn't bat an eyelid and actually said that the dragons were free to take everything as long as they wanted, and that he would talk to whoever they wanted. After all, he would never dare make demands on them, so they could do as they pleased; higher beings like the lords of the world, in his opinion, didn't need the approval of mortals to make their decisions. Haku (but also his siblings) were increasingly uneasy about Arethar's behavior: they couldn't be sure, but they were pretty sure that the arachne would even jump into a volcano if they ordered him or even vaguely asked him.
Haku had decided that for now he would do his best to ignore Arethar's exaggerated praise and focus on getting as much information as possible, so he had invited him into their cave and tried to be a good host... even if he probably shouldn't have tried too hard, since the very prospect of being invited to a dragon's abode seemed to have sent the arachne over the moon, so almost certainly even if Haku had told him to sleep on the rocky floor of the cave it would have been happy. Halu spent the rest of the day and even a good part of the night asking him for details about the arachne civilization, the underworld and many other things, and sometimes she even tried to find out more about the prophecy, however failing miserably: Arethar was willing to answer to any of her questions without hesitation, but it seemed that not revealing the prophecy except in the presence of the ancient scriptures was an even higher rule than total obedience to dragons. Haku couldn't help but wonder what these ancient scriptures really were and how they had affected the arachne so much, to the point that it even overwhelmed his desire to please those who in his view were literally divine entities.
While Haku interrogated Arethar, his siblings tried their way to help out. Some of her sisters had started talking to the arachne in turn, hoping to be able to confuse it with many questions and thus make it reveal something important, while others stood aside and tried to notice some movements or other signs of the body language that could have revealed some important details. Rhaegal and Darbi instead decided to leave the cave to patrol the entire oasis, to check if other arachnes hadn't arrived without their knowledge... or at least this was the excuse they had used to leave. When they were far enough in fact Darbi stopped and looked at his brother with an intense gaze. "So?"
Rhaegal let out a soft growl from his throat. He knew he couldn't avoid that conversation, evidence of it when he'd tried to leave on his own to clear his head, but Darbi had continually insisted on going with him to the point of literally forcing him to take him along. However, he still tried to don't do it. "So what?"
"Don't play dumb. I'm not the smartest of the family, but I'm smart enough to put the pieces together when they're placed in front of me" Darbi said. "I know you've noticed too: that prophecy the arachne talks about closely resembles the one you know... although we can't really know since we only know part of Arethar's one. But he clearly spoke of 'lords of the world' defeating the 'usurpers', and he keeps calling Haku 'my king'. And you heard what he said: that title is reserved for only one person... the king of all dragons"
Rhaegal's expression hardened as he heard those words for the second time. 'King of all dragons'... the same way the priest of the God of Knowledge had defined Haku. And now it seemed there was another prophecy that defined it the same way. And what did this mean? Rhaegal wasn't sure. It certainly meant that Arethar at least to a large extent wasn't lying, which presaged that the rest of the things he said were true as well, and that therefore his devotion and his viewing of dragons as supreme beings was also real. This boded well for the immediate future, as it meant they were unlikely to face an unknown threat. But in the long-term future… it could mean many things. Too many things. And not everyone of them was positive.
Rhaegal couldn't come to hasty conclusions because in fact he didn't yet know Arethar's prophecy and therefore could not really compare it with what had been revealed to him, but he could extrapolate some things from his words. The arachne had said some things that he recognized, such as the 'king of all dragons', but he had also said others that he couldn't comprehend, such as the 'lords of the world' and the 'ancient scriptures'. This had raised a doubt: initially he had thought that Arethar's prophecy was just another version of the one he already knew... but what if the two prophecies were destined to be combined instead? What if they were nothing but fragments of a much larger and more complex prophecy? Deep down Arethar acted as if he considered Haku a perfect being, which suggested that he didn't know that he could also become a cruel and dark being, not just one respected and admired. It was therefore possible that the arachne did not know some parts of Rhaegal's prophecy, just as Rhaegal couldn't understand some parts of Arethar's prophecy. So, were the two prophecies just a small part of something bigger? And maybe there were more pieces, other prophecies not yet known to them? In this case they should perhaps have looked for them and discovered what they were hiding... or should their path have been another? Arethar knew exactly how he would find them when he arrived, having recognized their sisters in hibernation; did this mean that they weren't to seek the prophecies, but that they were destined to find them at a specific point in time? But if that was the case, then was their life supposed to be nothing more than playing out a script already written? And above all, who had written this script? Was he the God of Knowledge? Was he 'the last true lord of the world', as Arethar had called him? Maybe there were other beings besides these two? Or maybe there was an even higher entity and those beings apparently so powerful were just its puppets? But more importantly... what was the real goal of this entity, and why was Haku so important to it?
There were still too many unanswered questions, and Rhaegal felt uneasy when he tried to explain such questions. Every time he tried it felt like he was trying to understand something that was beyond him, and that he was sticking his nose where he shouldn't. Sometimes it had even seemed to him that something was staring at him as he pondered these matters: there had never been anyone looking at him, yet he had clearly felt the sensation of having an eye on him. Maybe he really was playing with forces greater than himself… or maybe he was continuing to follow the script without his knowledge, and the mysterious entity was just watching him roaring with laughter at his futile efforts.
Realizing that Darbi was still waiting for an answer, he shook himself from his thoughts and tried to formulate a speech: "Well, it's useless to ignore it. Yes, in fact, there are many details that fit together... which makes me think that Arethar isn't a scoundrel at all, but that he will indeed reveal a prophecy to us" he said. "And given the clues we have so far, I think it will be another piece of the prophecy we already have. Right now we know too little, but when we go underground and he shows us the ancient scriptures I will be able to…"
"Are you serious!?" Darbi interrupted him in an angry voice. "Aren't you going to tell Haku yet!?"
Rhaegal closed his mouth for a moment. "I didn't say this..."
"But that's exactly what you want to do" Darbi grumbled. "I know you, brother: if you had wanted to tell Haku, you would have immediately put it on your priority list. Maybe now you would have already told him, and we wouldn't be here to discuss it! Admit it, you still want to keep this secret from our brother!"
Rhaegal let out a snort. There was no point in denying it. "Would it make a difference?"
"Of course it would! Rhaegal, this is no longer the time to play!" Darbi exclaimed. "We can no longer deny reality, forces are at play here that are beyond our understanding and above all beyond our strength! Whoever is behind these prophecies was able to predict our arrival far too accurately! I don't know whether it's a god or some other supernatural being... but it sure is dangerous. Here's what you can tell if you keep thinking about this situation: how dangerous it is. Nothing else. It was scary enough with a prophecy, and now to apparently there are two, and maybe even more. Continuing to keep hidden what we know serves no purpose, in fact, it puts us all in more danger than we already are! We need Haku's help and, above all, he has the right to know! The whole family has the right to know! I've kept your secret until now, but that's enough. Either you tell him, or I'll tell him"
Rhaegal bit his lip. Even he wasn't sure why he didn't want to tell Haku about the prophecy. He felt it wasn't a good idea. Perhaps it was because of what the priest had told him, or perhaps for other reasons… but his instincts advised him not to. If Haku really had two different futures ahead of him, and one mistake could lead to the wrong one... how would he behave if he knew the truth? He would have tried to follow the right one... but what if instead it was precisely that awareness that pushed him to the wrong one without his wanting it? The possibilities were too many again, and Rhaegal was afraid of what might happen. "You can't do that. I confided that secret to you and you promised me not to reveal it to Haku"
Darbi gave a soft growl. In fact it had been a bluff; he could do nothing as he was bound by the promise. "Well... but I can tell someone else. I could tell one of our sisters or my beastmen friends and ask them to tell Haku. I can do that"
Rhaegal sighed softly. His brother was definitely not the smartest of the family, but like all dragons he too knew how to find loopholes in his promises. "Please, Darbi. Give me some more time. I'm sure there's something behind this. I don't know how to explain it to you, I… I just feel it. Trust me"
Darbi looked into his brother's eyes with a very annoyed expression, but Rhaegal sustains and returns that gaze. This stalemate lasted a few seconds, then Darbi closed his eyes and lowered his head. "Okay. I want to trust you" he said, even though his voice sounded quite displeased by it. "But be clear, I won't wait forever. You have until Arethar reveals his prophecy to us to do… whatever you want to do. In fact, five days later, so you'll have time to compare the two prophecies, as you said you wanted to do just now. But when that time is up, you'll have to tell Haku, I don't care what conclusions you come to. If you don't, I'll make sure that he knows the truth. And I don't think he will be happy to know that you kept something so important from him. So... hurry up brother, because the time available to you isn't infinite"
And having said that Darbi turned and walked away, uttering a few verses as if he were muttering to himself (which was probably true). Rhaegal shook his head and sighed, but he knew he couldn't blame his brother entirely. At least he'd bought himself time for a while… though he didn't know exactly what he'd done it for.