The Oracle Saga Vol. 2

Nyx trudged unhappily behind Arron as the fair-skinned boy led him and his sister deep into the heart of Briarwood. they had been walking for two days now, and Arron barely let them rest.

"We have to get to the treebridge to wait for Bria." he would insist, shaking his head whenever Mina or Nyx requested a break.

Nyx paused to stare fondly at his sister. she was small for her age - she was ten, but she had been born nearly fourteen weeks early, and was thus very fair and delicate. that didn't stop her from participating in any school activities, it just made things like running long distances, or walking nonstop - like they had been doing - more difficult. he had to admire the way she kept a brave face; never complaining, and often running to catch up with Arron and Nyx.

a small twinge of sadness pinched his heart. though she acted brave, he could tell that leaving home had been hard for Mina - she had had to leave her home, their aunt and uncle, her friends - even her dog, Dill, all because Nyx had acted impulsively and leapt to the aid of Arron and Bria when they were being threatened by Kallah's guards.

it had all started when Nyx and his family had attended the annual festival of Everial, where everything had gone smoothly until Lady Kallah, the ruler of their realm, announced that there were several traitors who needed punishing. the traitors had ended up being two teenagers, only a few years older than Nyx, who's only crimes were that they were trying to expose the truth.

Nyx had been caught off guard by what they were saying, and in the end he had leapt up to help them escape - unknowingly putting both himself and Mina in danger.

to make matters worse, one of the captives had sacrificed herself so that Nyx and Mina could escape - and now they were hiding out in the forest of Briarwood, praying that Lady Kallah's soldiers wouldn't find them before they were able to complete their plan.

what scraps of a plan we have, he thought ruefully.

so far, all he had been able to squeeze from Arron was that they were going somewhere called 'the treebridge' to meet up with Bria, and from there; Arron didn't know. Nyx had tried asking; "What happens if Bria doesn't show up?" but it had only made Arron mad, so he didn't ask anymore questions.

in the following days of Bria sacrificing herself, Arron had grown cold - he didn't talk unless it was to give orders, and he often would drift away from the group and stare into the dark woods around them as if under a trance.

Nyx sighed. Bria's unusual beauty had caught his attention, and then she had sacrificed herself so that Arron could escape with the siblings. from the way he acted, Nyx guessed that Arron and Bria might have been more than friends - in which case it must have been devastating for him to have to leave her to the hands of Lady Kallah's soldiers to rescue two total strangers.

a small sound to his right pulled him back to the present. he turned to find Mina walking beside him, a strand of fawn-brown hair in front of her face. "Nyx?" she asked softly. he looked into her big, blue eyes and gave a small smile. "Yes?"

she shuffled closer. "Will we ever go home?" she kept her face blank, but she was fiddling nervously with her thumbs. Nyx felt a familiar pang in his chest. his smile weakened. "I...I don't honestly know." he sighed, using his grimy hands to wipe some stray black hairs from his face. "I hope so, but... I just don't see how, now that Lady Kallah knows who we are and where we live."

undoubtedly his home with their aunt and uncle had been crawling with soldiers as soon as Lady Kallah was able to pry information out of some poor citizen on their identities. I hope they haven't harmed aunt Liana and uncle Aether.

Mina and Nyx's parents had been killed in a boating accident several years before, and since then they had been living with their aunt and uncle - whom they had come to love as real parents. it would kill him if any harm came to them on his behalf - especially since he had already put Mina in so much danger.

they walked in silence for a few minutes before Nyx asked gently; "How are you doing?"

Mina stood a little straighter and put her skinny shoulders back.

"I'm fine, Nyx. don't worry about me." she said sternly.

"I meant... with everything that has happened. I am so sorry - all of this is my fault." he sighed, staring miserably at the ground as he walked. "If I hadn't jumped up there, we wouldn't be in this mess. we would be at home with aunt Liana and uncle Aether. I'm a horrible brother."

Mina shook her head and grabbed Nyx's arm, walking so close to him that he almost tripped over her. "You are the best brother ever!" she cried stubbornly. "If you hadn't jumped up there, Arron and Bria probably would have stayed prisoners - no matter what Arron says. you did the right thing."

Arron snorted from the front. "In case you've forgotten, Bria is still prisoner, thanks to you two." he stared coldly at the siblings. "We are almost there. I want to hear you speak unless you are saying; 'I can see Bria!' - got it?"

Nyx nodded dejectedly.

he followed Arron in silence for the next half hour, Mina trailing along behind him.

suddenly, Arron halted in front of them and raised his hand. "This is it." he murmured.

Nyx peered in awe at the formation in front of him.

about twenty feet on front of the group, the ground cut off in a steep canyon. two identical trees grew from either side of the canyon. the trees grew sideways, stretching horizontally until they met in the middle, their branches intertwining in an elegant arch over the trunks. the trunks were wide and flat, and the only branches that grew from them grew from the sides.

it was beautiful.

woah, this is incredible. he stared, amazed at the tree-made bridge until he noticed its perilous placement over the chasm.

"Is it safe?" he asked.

Arron slung his satchel from his shoulders and set it on a nearby boulder. "Its magic."

Mina squeaked in amazement. "Magic?"

Arron nodded, seemingly in a better mood now that they had arrived. "It was crafted seventy years ago by the Forest Elves as a way to connect our kingdom to theirs."

Nyx gazed at the bridge and replied; "That sounds amazing."

"Yes, it was," Arron said agreeably. his expression darkened. "That is, until we killed them."

Nyx blinked in surprise, wondering if he had misheard. "Wait - what? killed them? why?"

Arron scowled. "At the time, our ruler was King Oren - Lady Kallah's father. he saw the Forest Elves as a threat to be eliminated - so he personally led his army into their kingdom, and annihilated them. women, children, everyone. when they were finished; nothing remained of their kingdom but a charred mark in the ground.'

Mina looked outraged. "Why would he do that?" she clenched her fists. Nyx laid a gentle hand on her shoulder and said; "I'm sure he had his reasons," but Arron was shaking his head grimly.

"Any reasons he had were completely invalid. the Elf King constructed the bridge as a symbol of peace - and in return; we killed them."

Nyx felt sick, even though all of this had happened before he was born. "But... why have we never heard of this?"

"Why do you think?" Arron snarled. "Something like this could destroy reputations - or cause rebellions. better to ignore it the whole thing and pretend it never happened. in fact, Kallah knew about all of this - and other things that I won't get into now - and did nothing."

Nyx furrowed his brow and sat on a fallen log. "is this what Bria meant by 'Kallah isn't who she says she is'?"

Arron shifted uncomfortably, and Mina sat on the log next to her brother.

"Partly," the older boy admitted. "But that's not even the half of it."

What? what else is there?

He forced his eyes away from the elegant, yet now seemingly sinister bridge. "What?" he looked into Arron's reluctant blue eyes. "Please tell me. I want to help you."

Arron sighed. "Can I trust you?" he asked seriously.

Nyx nodded and looked at Mina, who was also nodding.

"Fine. I will tell you." Arron narrowed his eyes. "But you cannot tell anyone. I'm not really even allowed to tell you, kid, but... I don't know. there's something special about you." he cleared his throat. "Anyways; you heard Bria say that Kallah was not who she says she is. that is because she isn't." he sat down on the log, and Nyx listened with dread.

"one thousand years ago, in a small town not far from here, several miners uncovered something. a strange stone; pale blue with specks of white like starlight. it is said that the miners donated it to the town, and it was put on display for all to see. little did they know; the stone held great power beyond imagining - it could cure any disease, or wipe out any enemy, or basically do anything you can imagine."

wow. what would I do with that kind of power? he thought about it for a moment. I would probably try to bring back mom and dad. he admitted to himself, though he wasn't quite sure that was possible.

Arron continued: "The stone remained in their possession for only a year, and then it was stolen by a neighboring realm - from whom it was stolen yet again. this pattern continued for hundreds of years, until it finally fell into the hands of Kronath - the first of Kallah and Omar's kind."

"Wait," Mina interrupted. "Kind?"

Arron nodded, and Nyx felt like his insides were being turned inside out. his whole life was falling apart - his family, his home, and now the leader he had always trusted and looked up to.

"What do you mean, 'kind'?" Mina asked softly.

Arron turned his cold, blue eyes to the siblings and simply said; "Kallah is not human. she is one of the ancient beasts - a cywith. they can appear as a human - or anything, really, but the rest of the time; they are a black, scaly, humanoid creature with big, leathery wings and jagged teeth. they prey on the flesh of lesser beings when in their true form."

Nyx felt Mina shudder beside him.

as much as this new horrified him, it didn't exactly surprise him - but he didn't quite know why.

"Continue the story," he said, his voice hollow sounding.

Arron ran his finger through his blond hair and continued. "The stone eventually fell into the hands of Kronath, the first cywith. when he discovered the immense power, he kept the stone with him - always. it never left his sight, and with it he became a powerful ruler; heartless and feared by all. he used it to create Everial - in his eyes, a kingdom full of slaves. that is how all of his descendants saw it, too, when his life force faded and his kin inherited the throne - and the stone."

he paused to flick a ladybug off of his shoulder.

"It turns out that the only things the Oracle can't do is to prolong life - or bring someone back to life."

Nyx felt his face burn red. so, scratch the 'bringing parents back to life' plan. but, what else would I do? he was still thinking when Mina leaned closer to Arron, her eyes sparkling with interest. "Oracle? as in, what Bria told us to find?"

a flash of pain filled Arron's eyes at Bria's name, but he nodded shortly. "Yes. two hundred years after the death of Kronath, during the reign of his foolish great-grandson, a band of twelve heroes managed to steal the Oracle and escape with it - well, most of them. two of them didn't make it."

Mina burrowed closer to Nyx's side, and he wrapped his cloak around her thin shoulders.

"Once they were far enough away, they gave it the name of 'Oracle', and decided what to do with it. four of them wanted to destroy it, but six of them wanted to preserve it and keep it hidden - so that's what they did. they took it to the farthest end of the earth - but no one knows which end - and hid it somewhere nearly impossible to find. they told no one but their descendants where it was hidden, and the legend has been passed on for generations. our organization has decided that it is finally time. the Oracle must be found if we are to stop the line of Kronath, once and for all."

Nyx shifted uncomfortably on the log. "What does this have to do with Kallah?"

the look on Arron's face told him that maybe this was a stupid question.

"Now that our spies are trying to find the Oracle, Kallah is, too. she wants to find it, and use it to secure her rule - meaning that anyone who rebels will be killed immediately. you think she is cruel now? just wait - if she gets her scaly hands on that stone, she will be unstoppable."

"But... I thought that they already stopped one of them. can't they just do it again?"

Arron snorted. "Perhaps it goes without saying that Kallah is much wiser and more powerful than any of her forebears. trust me, Kallah getting the Oracle would be a disaster."

Nyx inhaled deeply. "Wow. that's... a lot."

Arron cocked his head. "You are taking this surprisingly well."

Nyx blushed. "I guess I'm just used to being disappointed, that's all."

Arron studied him with cold interest for a moment. "Huh."

"So, wait, how do you know where it is, then? I thought you said that only the hero's descendants knew where it was?" came Mina's small ten-year-old voice from behind Nyx. Arron sighed again, sadness in his eyes. "Bria and I are great-great-great ok I don't know how many 'greats' grandchildren of Elina and Corey, two of the original heroes."

Nyx nodded thoughtfully. "Ohhh, Ok, this is making more sense now."

"Yup. she and I were paired to search the south end, and well... you saw how that turned out."

Mina sat up, her eyebrows sticking in funny directions because of how her face had been pressed to her brother's side. "What about the scrolls? Bria mentioned scrolls."

Arron grabbed at a handful of grass and ripped it up, disturbing several cobwebs and scattering their owners. "Our first stop was the ancient library of Kese; they have scrolls and parchments from before the time of Adrian, the first king of Lestgard. we hoped to find clues as to where the Oracle's whereabouts might be, but instead; we found evidence that there were several more ancient civilizations that Lady Kallah's kin wiped out without a trace. civilizations of dwarves, faeries, even underlings - the original beings that lived under the earth - gone without a trace."

his frown deepened. "with this new information, we could have caused an uprising. no one would have followed Kallah after we revealed what she really was." he cursed under his breath. "But when we arrived to Everial, Kallah's guards were waiting for us."

Mina inhaled sharply. "that is terrible."

Arron nodded gravely, then glanced at the sun - which was lowering itself into the west. "We should make camp. I will tell you more tomorrow, while we wait for Bria."

Nyx and Mina got up and helped Arron build a fire, and by the time the sun set; they were all in their bedrolls, trying to fall asleep.

I can't believe it. Nyx thought as he drifted into sleep. two days. in two days I learn what could be the end of us all. he shuddered and pulled the blanket tighter around his neck. he got the feeling that they were in more danger than they realized - and things were only going to get worse.