Tales of the Oracli - (almost) COMPLETE EDITION

CHAPTER 8 - The Layover

When X came to, he was back in the temple. He batted his eyes, sitting up slowly, not feeling any pain. He looked down where the hole in his chest was, and instead, only saw his bare chest. He was completely healed.

He looked around the room he was in; a large marble dome with shapes engraved into different parts of it, each glowing a different colour. He heard voices from outside, voices that sounded concerned.

"That'll never change, I suppose." He mumbled, stumbling onto his feet clumsily and walking outside.

There, he saw Lilly in Z's arms, crying.

Are those waterworks all for me? he thought, but his thoughts must have been audible because the next thing he knew, Lilly had broken apart from Z, and jumped towards him, giving him a tight hug and resting her head on his shoulder.

"Thank God you're alright! You looked absolutely awful when we found you!" she cried, breaking apart from him and taking a step back.

"No need to worry Lilly, made of steel, Z and I - it's tough to kill us," he replied, tapping his stomach where his wound used to be. Lilly looked at him, worry still infecting her eyes, only making her seem sadder.

"You're all eyes today, aren't you?" X chuckled.

They had wandered out of the main temple complex and out onto an open courtyard, surrounded and entirely furnished with four gorgeous quartz pillars, each of which had marvellous marble statues mounted on the top.

"Tell me, who's on these statues then?" Lilly asked Z quietly. It was apparent that she had been pouting, and it was plain to see she was distressed with X's apparent lack of concern for the fact that hours before, he had a head-sized hole in his chest. Z put one arm around the back of Lilly's neck, resting his hand on the upper half of her right arm.

"We call them The Titans. Four goliaths of knowledge, power, death, and life. Knowledge is Gabriel, Power is God, Death is Lucifer, and Life is Bydak. Bydak is the one who created the universe, the Oracles, and in turn, us. So we give him thanks," Z explained.

As they continued walking, Lilly had her arm around his and X's waist, as she was considerably shorter than the two.

"Wait, but God, Lucifer, and Gabriel are Christian people, aren't they?" she inquired, looking from Z to X, then to the statues.

"You lot, all so full of yourselves. Where do you think your ancestors picked up their gods? It's not like someone just woke up one day and thought 'Time to make a new religion!'" X laughed at her statement, and Lilly pouted jokingly.

"So, what you're telling me, is that those guys are real?" Lilly asked again.

"In a way, yeah!" Z responded, not looking back to her, and instead, paying close attention to the statue of Bydak ahead of him.

"You look exactly like him, y'know. If you were older, and had larger eyes, and were slightly more muscular," Lilly responded, squinting at the bust.

"Bydak created us in his image, it's more than likely at least one of us would look like him." Z retorted.

"True, but I don't mean just looking like him, you two are almost identical," she stated incredulously.

It had been a day or so since X had woken up. They were not yet allowed to leave, seeing as he was unfit to travel.

"I'm fine, I swear, just let me go!" X had whined when A had stopped him as he tried to sneak out to The Fold Point, a small platform on the outer edge of the temple where The Fold could be accessed.

"You're not ready. Your new organs are still forming, your neurons haven't merged yet, and your powers are still on the fritz. If you go now, you won't be able to think properly, move effectively OR defend yourself. I'm sorry, but no," A stated firmly, in a matter of fact sort of tone.