Z braced for impact as the ship came to an explosive stop on the top of a high mountain, he raised an arm into the air, moved another to match out to his left and moved them in together, a purple field of energy exploding outwards and surrounding the bridge. The mountain sliced the ship clean in half, and the remains were scattered for miles.
When he had woken up, he was in a perfectly preserved bridge, with Lilly still lying across the arms of her chair uncomfortably. Z looked around and felt an immense pain just above his right eye, he put his hand to it and found it stained with gold blood.
"Shit."
He waved a hand over his wound, his hand sparked a light green before fizzling out completely. He looked at it in confusion, his powers had always worked before without fail... Something must be messing with his powers. He didn't even know it was possible for his powers to just not work like this.
Lilly stirred beside him, raising her head slowly, gripping her neck with her right hand to lessen the pain. She stumbled out of the seat, standing rigidly and looking around. Her vision was blurred, and she could only barely see. As her vision slowly unblurred, Z came into view.
"Holy hell, Z, are you okay?" Lilly screamed, running to his side.
"Yeah Lills, I'm fine. Just a scratch." Z replied, wincing as she touched the wound.
"Your blood? It's?"
"Gold, yes. You ever wonder where the term "heart of gold" comes from?"
"I was always told it was Shakespeare...?"
"Who do you think loaned it to him?"
With that, Z wandered to the door of the bridge. He placed both his hands on it, closed his eyes and strained, but yet again only tiny sparks of purple came out, and nothing happened. Lilly looked at him with concern as he strained in frustration. She soon caught wind as to what was going on and took charge.
"Okay. So the bridge was shut off by impenetrable steel in the crash, the door is jammed, and the room is practically empty. Let's put our heads together and try and find a way to bust out of here." Lilly commanded, helping Z to his feet.
"You're really getting the hang of this whole adventurer thing aren't ya?" Z said proudly.
"Well, I did learn from the best," Lilly replied, still looking around the room.
This comment seemed to electrify Z, sparking his desire to continue, because he immediately seemed to forget his lack of powers and began to rummage around like Lilly.
"Okay, so I measure this room about 10 metres by 10 metres or so, no exits or entrances. Go." Z said, pausing to allow Lilly to interject.
"The ceiling is 3 metres high or thereabouts, meaning there is approximately 300L of air in this room. Go."
"We are two average adults in lung capacity combined meaning we have 30 hours worth of air before we suffocate and pass out. Go."
"We pass out for several minutes, only to wake up, suffocate, and die. Go."
Z stared at her. "Maybe the whole deductions thing went a little far this time Lills."
Three hours passed, they had made idle conversation for a while, followed by an ice-cold silence. Neither seemed to know what to say. They both had the same fears. The fear of dying in here, the fear of no one knowing what had happened to them. But neither had the words nor the courage to voice them.
After another hour of silence, Lilly finally spoke up.
"Z, can I ask you something?"
"Of course you can! You've been travelling with me for ages now!"
"Why don't you talk about yourself or your past that much?"
"Well, what do you want to know?"
"Everything."
"Oh, a bit broad... Well, as you know, my name is Z. I am an Oracli-" Z began, before getting cut off by Lilly.
"What is an Oracli? I've always wondered."
"It's my species, it's what we're called. In the first few years of the universe, Bydak, the creator, created The Oracles to do his duties for him. They created billions of planets in trillions of galaxies. They constructed a temple for themselves on an asteroid, stuck on the edge of a black hole." Z went on, he stared blissfully into the far wall as he said all of this.
"Wait. But I thought nothing could escape a black hole? How is the temple still intact?" Lilly queried in return.
"I'm getting there!" Z chuckled.
"Well hurry! We might run out of air while you explain all of this if you're not careful!" Lilly chuckled in response.
"The Oracles, having done all they could, finally rested in their new temple. Their bodies were worn out and faded away into ash. From that ash, rose The Oracli. We owe the Oracles our lives. They were left as disembodied whisps of energy, visible to the naked eye. Blue in colour. They trained us to be the perfect species. It's their power that keeps the asteroid afloat, as soon as they let go, that asteroid and everything on it go into the black hole. Not even an Oracle could survive a black hole." Z finished, his rant having spanned over an hour by now.
They were running out of time.
"Tell me more..." Lilly yawned, the air was noticeably thinner now, and Z was of a different species, giving him an advantage in the air compartment.
"What else would you like to hear about?" Z spoke softly, resting her head on his lap and running his fingers through her hair comfortingly.
"What other adventures have you and X been on?" Lilly asked breathlessly.
"Well, let's see... We met and had lunch with Winston Churchill! Fine bloke, that one. Wouldn't shut up though. Oh! We went to the planet Q'irtis, met two really cool guys in a local pub. Long story short, married them and became princes of the planet! So that's fun!" Z paused, Lilly looked visibly upset by this, he moved on.
"We went to London in your present-day, fought the last of the werewolves. Met this really nice Android named Sarah. We went to London in your past too! Fought an Ex-Oracli, The Butterfly. He was one of the missing six. Six Oracli spread across the universe with untapped power and potential. All six are unstable and dangerous. The Butterfly is the worst of them all. Almost killed us. He's the one who set that Hydra on X back at the aquarium."
Lilly was struggling to stay awake at this point. If she passed out, Z would have four hours to get her air before the damage was permanent. Her only hope was for Z to keep her awake for as long as possible.
"You still with me Lills?"
"Barely... I don't think I can keep my eyes open for much longer..."
"There's something I should tell you now. If something happens to me I'll be spinning in my grave if I never got to say it."
"What is it?"
"Lills, ever since you joined us in our adventures, they've been so much more fun. It sounds sadistic but the peril of it all seems to fade away with you around."
Z closed his eyes, breathed a deep breath, and went for it.
"I love you, Lills. I love you to the end of space and back. I always have and I always will."
He looked down. Her eyes were closed.
"Lills?"
He checked her pulse.
Slow.
Dangerously slow.
How much of it had she heard?
Z clutched her body as it lay limp.
He had four hours to pump her full of air.
Z tried his powers again. He tried with all of his might to push some wind towards her, to do something constructive. No luck.
It was hopeless.
Lilly was going to die, and there was nothing he could do to save her.
YOU ARE READING
Tales of the Oracli - (almost) COMPLETE EDITION
Science FictionI was writing this book for many years and have since decided to turn the series and all my plans for it into a comic series. As such, I have decided to publish all the work I had done on this story for the world to see. I hope everyone enjoys!
