The Oracle

Chapter 43: Voices of Despair

SORA

It's the middle of the night when I'm lying on my bed, staring up at the ceiling and tracing the patterns with my eyes because I can't sleep when I suddenly hear a faint sound drifting through the air.

"Sora..."

At first, I think maybe I imagined it as I sit up slowly and look around the room, listening to the silence of the nighttime, but then I hear my name being called out again. I slowly swing my legs over the side of the bed and make my way to the door, twisting the handle gently and opening the door to peek outside. As I fully open the door and slowly step out into the hallway, I notice Miroslava and Evory doing the same, slowly followed by Isabella.

The four of us exchange a glance before we nod and head down the stairs to the main floor of Nikita's castle, following the voices until we're out in the ravine.

"What do you think it is?" Isabella asks as we walk across the bridge slowly, my longsword drawn and Miroslava's chain scythe drawn while Isabella clutches her book to her side and Evory holds her staff.

"I don't know," Miroslava says, "but I don't like it."

As we walk further into the ravine, a blanket of fog comes around us, completely blanketing out the sight of the castle behind us.

"Miroslava, how does it feel, living in the shadow of your brother your entire life?" The voice whispers around us in the air, and Miroslava clenches her jaw.

"Brother?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"I do not live in my brother's shadow," Miroslava says as a nightmare wolf races towards her, "nor will I ever."

Miroslava braces her legs before she leaps forwards and twirls through the air, darkness blending her in and out of sight as a streak of red energy slashes through the wolf when her chain scythe slashes it in half, Miroslava's eyes completely focused.

"The shadows are my home, and the light is my brother's home. That is who we are, that is how we work," Miroslava says as she lands. "And nobody will say otherwise."

"Surely, you must get jealous, being his puppet," The voices whisper. "You, the one with the blood on your hands. You, the assassin. You, the hated one, the misunderstood. They blamed you for Mariposa, didn't they?"

Miroslava clenches her jaw, her eyes flaring with anger as the scenery around us changes to a field of grass surrounded by trees in the distance, a bright sun overhead as a blonde haired girl with red eyes runs through the field, butterflies swarming around her.

"Don't you dare," Miroslava says coldly.

We watch silently as the girl glances back behind her and suddenly the past Miroslava is seen, a smile on her face as she laughs and chases the younger girl ahead of her.

"Mariposa!" The Miroslava from the illusion shouts, her smile slipping into a frown as the girl whirls around and her image flickers back and forth. "Val and I warned you not to do that!"

"Oh, come on," Mariposa, the girl, giggled. "Lighten up a little. Live in the moment and not in your doubts."

"Mariposa!" Illusion Miroslava shouts as Mariposa disappears once more, her giggles able to clearly be heard.

Suddenly, Miroslava from the illusion glances back over her shoulder, her eyes going wide as she senses something is wrong. Time seems to go in slow motion as Miroslava turns around and summons her chain scythe as Mariposa appears in front of her, a smile on her face as butterflies fly around them both in the field, and the sound of an arrow whirring through the air indicates the tragedy that's about to happen before it even does.

"Oh no," Evory gasps, clasping her hands to her mouth as the sleek black arrow flies directly into Mariposa's chest, having been meant for Miroslava, and Mariposa's eyes widen as illusion Miroslava's do too, the butterflies hurriedly scattering away.

The real Miroslava shouts and whirls around with her chain scythe, cutting through the illusion.

"That was not my fault," Miroslava says bitterly. "And I've come to terms with that long ago."

"It doesn't seem like you have," The voice hums.

"My hands are stained with blood, my soul stained with malice, but I will not and have never given up on what is right, that much is true," Miroslava says as she faces a black and white image of herself. "I am who I am, I have done what I have done, and I fight for what is right. That will never change, even if it means doing something that isn't popularly seen as right."

Images of Miroslava fighting on battle fields fly by one by one, unimaginable amounts of blood being spilled overall, the images coming to a stop when Miroslava runs up to her reflection and yells as she punches it, the illusion shattering like glass as her knuckles bleed.

"Do not doubt who I am or what I stand for, or you will pay just as I have paid," Miroslava breathes out raggedly.

"You are able to put aside your pain for the sake of what is right. Very well," The voice whispers. "But remember, you must deal with your pain eventually, even if you think you already have."

A few minutes pass and Evory, Isabella, and I exchange sad glances, not wanting to push Miroslava any further by mentioning what happened. We continue walking until Evory stills and her eyes widen as a figure stands hunched over in the distance.

"Darius?" Evory asks, uncertain.

As we approach, it's plainly clear that Darius, or at least an illusion of him, is ahead of us. The hunched over Darius is clearly holding an illusion of Evory as he sits there on the ground, imitating what happened during her near death experience. As we get closer, the image shifts like paper burning away in a fire, turning into Evory helping people in the infirmary and then to Evory as a child, ever obedient and kind, willing to help others.

"Does it make you happy? To be so selfless that you cause damage in the wake of those you love? Do you feel justified? Taking the easy way out, being a sacrifice, telling yourself you did all that you could? Always listening to the words of others, and when you finally listen to your own, it's nearly your own destruction. Doesn't that make you feel angry?" The voices swirl around. "Does it make you happy to damage, to shatter the hope and the confidence in your allies, in your loved ones?"

"Darius and I made that choice together," Evory shakes her head. "For once in my life, I finally listened to my own voice because I knew I was doing the right thing when others were not. I didn't care if it killed me because I knew if I didn't try, somebody else was going to die. Don't you get that? That's true selflessness. We never wanted to lose each other, and we didn't, and that was what was meant to happen in the end."

"Perhaps you're not the one who is broken, but perhaps he is," The voice muses as the imagery fades away. "Surely, you of all people know about trauma."

Evory's breath hitches and she purses her lips while her eyes hold sadness before we continue moving forwards, me having placed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly for a few seconds to let her know that she isn't the villain in her story and that everything will be okay.

"You know, I don't think I like these trials very much," Isabella says quietly, "yet somehow, I feel like we're just getting started."