ONE
YOU were here.
The seat of the Oracle.
The doors groaned as you pulled them open, heaving as you dragged it.
Their metal edges ground against one another in a loud shrieking sound.
You kept moving it shut despite that until the entire world outside was cut away.
The Hall of Shadows closed behind you like the voracious mouth of a beast.
Inside there the air was still.
The atmosphere felt heavy as though time itself had been pinned down there.
You took a deep breath—your eyes shutting tightly and opening again.
You began to move, deeper and deeper into the eerie darkness.
Then, you saw her.
The Oracle.
She stood at the chamber's centre in her epic human form you once admired.
Her back was to you, her stance and curves perfect, impeccably beautiful.
When she turned towards you, the torches along the walls hissed.
The light that they provided instantly dimmed as though afraid.
Her head was lowered, her long golden tendrils spilling downwards.
"You have come." Her soft feminine voice bounced off the walls.
Soft warmth from a mix of dread and anxiety raced through your vessels.
You swallowed softly as she slowly began to raise her head to behold you.
She looked at you with eyes glowing like aurum—the colour of molten gold.
A gasp left your lips.
Those iridescent orbs had an ineffable hold on you that made you trepidatious.
"You!" She called out as her facial features morphed into that of anger.
You made to speak but she swiftly raised a hand and the ground slightly quaked.
You halted instantly as something dark crept from your feet to your heart.
It was consternation.
You were apprehensive, beginning to didder slightly under her intense gaze.
Then, she spoke.
“Every century, power is sold, bought with sacrifice. Tonight, the choice is yours.”
Your stomach twisted.
She raised her head to the sky with light radiating from her eyes to the ceiling.
Agitation wrapped around your belly, compressing your stomach.
This left you quivering and shaking there like a leaf on a tree in autumn.
"Do nez tres evit trapeze!" She began to chant in a voice that gradually deepened.
The words morphed into a strong wind that wrapped around the both of you.
The higher her chant, the more uneasy and weary you felt in this great hall.
You were here for only one thing.
Kainene.
Your sister.
And you knew rather well that the Oracle would never give her to you without asking for you to make a choice.
The words grew higher and premium fear wrapped around you alongside it.
An ofor staff morphed in her right hand which had held nothing.
It was formerly empty.
She pointed it afore you and two paths instantly tore open into the air.
They hung before you.
She lowered her head, her gaze meeting yours then—intense and eerie.
You swallowed hard as goosebumps rose on your skin at the expression on her face.
"Make a choice," she demanded in a voice that sounded demanding.
