The Oracle

Chapter 15: Shades of Green

SORA

In the middle of the night, I wake up to someone knocking on my door. I sigh and slowly climb out of bed, pushing aside my covers in the process. I shuffle my feet across the floor and rub my eyes tiredly before I reach the door and open it slightly to peer outside. My eyebrows raise in surprise and I open the door further whenever I see Raciel standing before me with his hands in the pockets of his black ripped jeans, complimented by a white t-shirt and black vans, dog tags, and a few silver rings on his right hand. On one hand, I feel like I should be weary because of earlier, but on the other hand, he didn't seem to really care earlier.

I nearly stumble out of my door whenever Raciel removes one of his hands from his pocket and grabs ahold of my wrist to pull me through the hallway, my door still completely ajar as he drags me to who knows where.

"Hey, wait a minute!" I protest.

"Shut up," Raciel glances back at me and sighs. "You'll wake everyone. What a pain."

I frown slightly and wonder what his intentions are as he drags me to his classroom. Once we're inside the classroom, which has multiple teal banners hanging around the ceiling and dark wooden tables that line a pathway which has a teal rug that leads to the pedestal where he sits on his stool and teaches, well...lets us teach ourselves. Along the wall are multiple different wooden bookshelves that match the tables and the bookshelves are lined with scrolls, potion bottles, books, and candles. There are also a couple of containers with miscellaneous alchemy items, such as feathers and roots of plants or crystal vials and powder pouches.

Raciel drags me beyond his pedestal and to the stone wall in the back and I wonder what on earth he's doing before he presses his palm along a certain stone that he finds after a bit of searching and a doorway opens up in the wall, dust flying around as the stones move. Raciel then takes me through the hallway, which is lined with candles that catch on teal fire as we walk by. The stone lined hallway carries on for a little while until Raciel turns right with me and he presses his hand against another wall and the wall opens to reveal a circular dead-end room with lots of stained glass images, an alter, multiple shelves that reach the ceiling and have scrolls and books in them, and a rune circle that's drawn on the stone slabs of ground.

"Raciel?" I frown. "What's going on?"

"You're a time bomb that's waiting to explode and obliterate everyone in your path," Raciel says bluntly, his expression completely neutral and I wince. "You were born to destroy this world and everything in it, but that does not mean you must. Everyone has a choice, a chance. We may be given fates that we cannot avoid but we choose our own destinies. You are not your parents, you are not a prophecy, you are not controlled by anyone but yourself. Therefore, you have a hand in what happens, even if you can't fully control the ending you gain-- you can make a new one. People are going to hate you and people are going to judge you simply for what you are, not who you are. If you're okay with that, stay. If not, leave now."

"I don't care what anyone thinks of me," I scowl. "I don't give a damn what they say or what their misconceptions of me are. I know what I am, I know who I am, and I'm not going to let anyone else tell me otherwise. I am not a coward and I am not a monster. I am a person, a living being with a life and a soul, a mind and a heart. I'm not going to run away from what I am. I'm going to embrace what I am, who I am, because I want to help people. Whether they fear me or not, I want to right all the wrongs my father did, and I want to do so much more than that. In my heart, no matter what happens, I'll know I'm doing the right thing. So no, I'm not going anywhere and I'm never backing down, even if it kills me."

"I thought so," for the first time in possibly ever, I notice the corners of Raciel's lips wanting to turn into a sad smile. "If that's the case, then you'll need this."

I watch as Raciel walk over to one of the shelves and he moves a scroll on the third shelf aside to reach to the back of the shelf to grab something. Whenever Raciel draws his arm back, I notice him holding a necklace and I raise my eyebrows, wondering what exactly it does. Raciel walks back over to me and places the chain necklace with a green vial surrounded by a silver winding wire at the end around my neck before he tucks the vial underneath my shirt so that only the chain is visible.

"Please, do not waste it," Raciel says quietly, his eyes still fixated on where the vial is hidden underneath my shirt.

"What exactly is it?" I ask and furrow my eyebrows. "Not that I'm ungrateful, but..."

"It was my daughter's," Raciel says and my breath hitches.

"You mean you're no longer--"

"Not in this life," Raciel explains and I grow quiet. "Two hundred years ago. Two hundred years ago, I was twenty-five with a six year old daughter named Caroline and a beautiful wife, Naomi. My wife's father was a shaman who gifted her that necklace to give to Caroline to protect her from the evil spirits. When Caroline was six, a war spread throughout the country. I wanted to fight but I also wanted to stay with my family to protect them. One day, our village got raided whenever Caroline was out by the lake in the woods. At the time, it was spring, so she loved to go outside and pick flowers by the lake to bring back to put in a vase for Naomi. I remember I was outside the house whenever I heard the sounds of the enemy soldiers coming through the village. Naomi ran outside from cooking dinner and the two of us ran to the lake to get Caroline. As we ran to the lake, we could hear the village being burned in the distance.

We always told Caroline to be careful whenever she was at the lake. She hadn't learned how to swim yet but she was a very cautious girl, so we trusted her to be safe. Whenever we were in sight of Caroline, a row of soldiers ran by on their horses and she was knocked into the lake from behind. We went to go save her, but the soldiers took notice and as I tried to fight my way through them they grabbed my wife and pinned her to the ground. I remember that one of them stabbed me and knocked me over the head as I was within feet of the edge of the lake. I could hear my little girl, I could hear her calling for me, yelling for help and I couldn't even reach her. I remember I watched the lake go in and out of focus as my ears rang and all I could feel, all I could think was that I wanted to save her, I needed to save her, I needed to save my baby girl. I felt so damn helpless. As I laid there dying, I begged for a way to save her, for a way to fix all this madness and to just end the war. I just wanted the pain to stop.

Whenever I died, I turned into who I am now. I've...never aged physically since then. My prayers were granted and I was gifted with the abilities of Sloth. Whenever I woke up though, it was too late. I just remember...I remember screaming in agony as I got her out of the lake and tried to save her, but it didn't work. I remember how much I wanted to take that necklace off and crush it because it clearly didn't work-- it didn't protect her from the true evil spirits. I couldn't do it though...I couldn't destroy it, not when it was the same color as her eyes, not when it originally belonged to my wife and not when she loved it so much. Whenever I awoke, I also found that my wife was killed. I buried them by the lake and I made makeshift graves for them with stones, flowers, and sticks that I put in the form of crosses. After that, I joined the army and I brought down hell on anyone who dared hurt an innocent being. I found the ones who killed my family and I eradicated them to ashes. That necklace will protect you from the effects of Nightmare creatures."

"Why..." I manage to breathe out, despite the tight feeling in my chest and the lump in my throat, "why give it to me though? I couldn't possibly keep this..."

"Because," Raciel's eyes search mine, "your flames are the same color as my daughter's and wife's eyes, and I want to see them burn everything corrupt to the ground."

"Right," I swallow thickly and clutch my right hand around the necklace. "I'll do them justice, I promise. I'll do everyone justice."

Merrick was right, Raciel really does change whenever he talks about the things he loves, and he really has been through complete and utter hell. I may not be able to bring his wife or daughter back, but I promise I won't become like the ones who took them from this world. I will not become a monster, that I swear.