"How is he?" N asked with a hint of worry in his voice.
Slash.
"He's been doing this ever since he came back. Still won't talk about it. Says he'll only talk to X." A responded, typing strange symbols into her information pad.
Slash.
"He's ruining all your antique vases..." The Butterfly commented from a cell across the hall.
Slash.
A few hours before this, Z had defeated The Butterfly, folded them back to the temple, and personally threw him into a cell. He went around the island, collecting vases and various other pieces of pottery.
He's currently destroying them with his favourite sword.
He finally comes out of the room, his arms slumped to the floor with exhaustion. He breathes heavily, frustration and unbridled anger in every breath.
"I want more things to smash." He announced loudly. X walked up to him from the door of the small white room they were in.
"I think you've smashed enough timeless antiques..." he replied, tapping Z's hand, the sword vanishing from sight.
"She's gone X. I don't even know if the oxygen worked. She could be dead for all I know. I can't even grieve because her body could be anywhere..."
"Okay, okay... take a deep breath, Z. I'm sure there's something we can do. Let's think about this rationally."
"No. We can't think about this rationally. I loved her X. If I could give up my entire long life to spare hers for even just an hour I would. She brings out the best in me. She's gone and it's MY fault for bringing her out into the dangerous universe."
"You can't possibly blame yourself. Put yourself in her position. A man from the stars saves her life using amazing and heretofore unknown powers, then offers a trip of exploration into space and time? It's Human. She's just being human, they want to explore, they want to live on, they want to know what's out there."
"You've been watching too much TV." Z chuckles weakly.
"So come on. Dust off all those bits of pottery, and let's go talk to N and A, I'm sure the four of us can work out a way to combat this. Even if she's dead, if we get her body back, we can bury her properly." X added, looking at Z with a sad expression.
"O-Okay. Let's give it a shot." Z stuttered in response, taking X's hand.
They walked out of the room and out to the main foyer of the temple, where N and A were talking, N seemed upset.
"It'll be okay! Listen to me, when they go looking for Lilly, they can find her too!" A said to a now sobbing N, who had clung onto A in an embrace.
"What's happened now...?" X sighed, looking at them.
"Ashley, my wife, the love of my life. She's missing too." N stated, his voice shaky from the tears.
"Do you think the cases are related?" Z asked, walking up to N and hugging him tightly.
"They have to be, right? Two human girls, both unrelated to eachother in any way, both intimate with Oracli, both gone missing around the same time." A proposed to the group.
"I'm going to find them. I'm going to find whoever took them, and I'm going to destroy them. That's an Oracli Promise." Z growled through gritted teeth. His hand had curled into a tight fist. He was angry, understandably.
"Well, you're not going alone. I started this journey with you and by Bydak I'm going to finish this journey with you too." X stated, grabbing his hand and holding it tight. Z looked at him and smiled.
"I'm coming too. If Lilly's disappearance is linked to Ashley's, then it's best if we stick together and search. Plus, I was trained under Izzy Einstein and Moe Smith, I know a few things about detective work." N added, grabbing X's hand and holding it tight. He smiled at them.
A sighed and held onto Z and N's hands. "And if I don't come you lot are gonna get yourselves killed. I'm in. No one left behind." She said, her face contorted with a sort of sad smile.
"If we're going to do this. We have to do this right. Stick to the shadows, stay hidden, don't attract too much attention." X spoke up after a moment's silence.
"We also can't be noticed if we run into other time travellers. We need to change our style up." N added with a hint of excitement in his voice. He was always a stickler for clothing.
"We always wear colourful, out-there outfits usually, how about we go all black instead?" Z added. On some of their lesson documented adventures, Lilly had introduced Z to what she described as 'Punk Music', and was particularly interested in their mostly black clothing.
"I say we switch out our outfits and begin." A responded. She felt the black was a bit much but in the decision to agree to finish the conversation.
Z clicked his fingers and a cloud of purple light surrounded him and then vanished.
His new outfit was astonishing.
His hair had grown, a deep black and heavily messy. He had grown a clean beard, starting at his nose and finishing at his chin, stretching to meet his hair at either end of his head. His eyes were a deep purple, the kind you could get lost in. A scar had manifested over his right eye.
He wore a pure black button-up shirt with a dark grey waistcoat over, golden buttons gleamed in the sunlight. A white bowtie was visible under his collar, a suit jacket, pants, and shoe set were ordained over the waistcoat. He wore tough combat boots, a long black trenchcoat and black leather gloves.
X did the same, surrounding himself in a blue mist and emerging changed mere seconds after.
He had grown a full-length beard, that sat halfway down his chest, wavy and unruly. His hair and beard were both a vibrant blue.
He wore a neat black t-shirt that hugged his chest, pure black denim jeans with a chain belt, and black work boots. Over the top, he had a heavy black leather jacket and leather fingerless gloves. On each shoulder sat a blue and gold armoured shoulder pad, with two spikes made of bone marrow. They sat attached to the jacket.
N did likewise, surrounding himself in a spiralling green ball of light that changed him as it went.
His short green hair had grown into a long mane of unkempt green hair, with a small green moustache on his upper lip. His eyes had grown into a light blue that seemed to stare into their souls. He wore an outfit identical to Z's, except his bowtie was light grey, and he had epaulettes on either shoulder.
A did as the others did. She surrounded herself in an orange tube of cloud, which vanished as her appearance changed.
Her hair went from her usual brown to a deep orange, her eyes also changed from green to bright vibrant orange.
She wore black denim jeans and a chain belt similar to X, however, she wore a black loose-fitting low collared shirt. She had high top combat boots with high laces on her feet, adding extra height to her that she didn't need, her being the same height as Z and X. She had similar black gloves on either hand and a black gun holster with a laser blaster attached.
"With all of that out of the way, are we ready to go?" Z announced loudly to them.
"Ready," X said. A large silver sword with a leather-bound hilt appearing out of his hand.
"Ready," N responded. One of his arms transforming into a clean spike of green crystal.
"Ready," A replied. A bow appearing in one hand, and an arrow quiver filled with black steel-tipped arrows slung around her back.
"Then let the search begin," Z grunted.
They all disappeared into the fold.
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!
