Layla looked around to make sure none of the members of the Val Castle was around. There were servants milling around but they were nothing important. Ramya mulled over the fact that she was going along Layla’s plans. Layla threw her a quick glance and Ramya made a face.

Layla had gave the princess a tonic that kept her powers at bay so she can carry out her plans to escape Valkavina for a while. Hopefully forever. She just needed the vile the oracle had in her quarters. She knows she can get executed for this after what she had done.

Retrieve the vile from the oracle

It is within her quarters, Layla.

Reelan’s words rang in her head. Too bad he forgot to give her how she can fight off the oracle if she found out. She was simply too old and strong. Almost like a god. Good thing is..She is living in the Val Castle. Where Layla lived her whole 250 years. Where Ramya (her ex. best friends) would soon be crowned and married to the Heir, Prince Creusin.

When they reached the west wing, Ramya came to a stop. She looked up and gazed at the empty halls. Only a few servants were allowed to be up there to clean and tend the oracle. Layla had no time for awe gazing so she tugged on Ramya’s gown and pulled her gently toward the staircase.

Ramya didn’t budge. She looked up again and then finally looked at Layla. Ramya didn’t know the exact plan but she knew some. Knowing dawned in her eyes. “You want to become a mortal?” she asked quietly.

“I’m not going to become a…” Layla trailed off at Ramya’s gaze. Tears glistened in them.

She quickly blinked them away. Layla just shrugged, even if it hurt her to leave best friend since a babe. Ex Best friend, She reminded herself. She betrayed Ramya but it hurt her greatly to do so.

She tugged on Ramya’s dress again and this time Ramya moved along with her. On the top of the stairs, the halls seemed bare. It was more eerie than described in the rumors. They’re shoes clicked and clacked on the floor, echoing the ever silent halls.

There in the end of the hall was the double doors leading to the oracle’s quarters. Ramya started saying a prayer under her breath, while Layla repeated her fathers last words in her head to get her through this. “You can do this, You can make the world a better place, YOU can do it.”

Layla abruptly came to a stop causing Ramya to stop her prayers and look at her.

“She would know if someone were coming to her if she hears the clicks and clacks of our heels.” Ramya nodded and tugged on her shoes. Layla did the same.

They came face to face to the double doors and Layla put her hands on the handle which was unnaturally cold. Freezing cold. A shiver ran through her as she gently opened the door. It didn’t make a sound and Ramya began her prayers to the forgotten gods. They stepped inside and the room as well was below temperature. The room itself feels bare, as if no one has been in here in a good while. But the many potions and small viles lying on the far end table told her otherwise.

She walked toward it and looked for the vile with amethyst colors. And the smallest of them all. She moved some around careful not to make them have any contact with each other. Burrowed in the center was the very vile the rumors and Reelan described.

She hadn’t a clue how they knew. She gently picked it up but as she was fixing the other potions and tubes back to place, she dropped it on the wooden floor.

Glass shattered and the powder exploded around them. Ramya screamed and Layla gaped. Then fog started growing around them. Heavy and thick fog. In the midst of the fog,

stood a silhouette, tall, yet short as well. Layla blinked and fear climbed her throat and squeezed, making her short of breath. Her heart pounded so loud she was positive the oracle standing in front of her can hear them pound.

This is it. I’m caught. I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die. Death loomed above her and it sneered at her direction. She took a step back as the oracle stepped forward.

“Children of the deity, what brings you here?” The oracle asks. Her voice sends shivers running Layla’s spine. It was beautiful like a sirens, yet, old like a withered hag.

“Don’t you already know?” Ramya’s voice rang. Loud and strong. The oracle doesn’t turn around to face her but she answers.

“Perhaps. But I relish giving punishments. And you were perfect.” Ramya lets out a whimper, losing her confidence. “Wh…what ki..kind of punishment?” Layla stutters.

The oracle steps out of the fog with a grace no one can master, and her beauty was nothing like ever seen. Yet, she was hideous beyond imagination. Nothing made sense with the oracle. There was no middle ground when it came to the oracle.

“I’m in a great mood today so I’ll give you the vile you tried to steal from my chambers,”

she says. Layla’s eyes widen. She was allowing us to go free. But this sounded too pleasurable to be real. Her instincts told her to brace herself for whatever is coming next.

“However, everything is a lose and gain. Nature demands balance. Lady Layla Elise Vercuse and Princess Ramya of Citra, I have a bargain for you.

On this very same day, the 20th century of Feruza’s beheading,

Among your heirs, Lady Layla, you will have a spare.

The day she turns into womanhood, she will be gone.

Taken to marry Valkavina’s next heir…”

Layla doesn’t know what to think about this. She will lose her daughter to a bargain. She chokes on her tears. But the oracle isn’t quite finished yet.

“…Princess Ramya, your heir is doomed to despair

The world of Valkins is doomed as well, so beware,

He will be born with a deformity.

One that can kill him if he fights it.

His magic and the spare’s magic combined are beyond imagery.

It will serve this world a good deed,

But because of his deformity, no woman will truly love him.

Unless the spare can relive that need,

This world is doomed to perish”

The Oracle turns to Layla and Ramya. She smiles slightly as if she found her greatest meal. “Agreeable?” She asks. Layla can’t let this world be in danger. She can’t all Valkins be in danger. But if she says no, she will die. She will be beheaded and she needs to escape before that happens. Before she can come up with an answer, Ramya’s voice ring ahead.

“Fine. But you will have to let us go. Let Layla go and for me and my family to live in harmony”

Layla throws a grateful look to Ramya and Ramya nods. “Well then its settled. Give me both your right arms.” Layla does as the oracle says but can’t understand why she would need their arms. Ramya does the same.

The oracle slashes their upper forearm with her unnatural long nails and blood trickles down. She does the same to Ramya’s forearm and Ramya flinches. Without her powers, she can feel the pain. Then she slashes her own forearm and hold them all together.

“Do you, Lady Layla Elise Vercuse agree to the terms of the bargain?” Layla nods.

“And do you Princess Ramya of Citra agree to the terms of the bargain?” Ramya says yes.

“Then by the Gods of all Valkins, and witnesses of the Fates, your bargain begins now.”

She vanishes as swiftly as she came leaving behind the very same amethyst vile in her wake. This time though, it isn’t broken but full and upright on the table. Ramya barks out a laughter. Layla’s head snaps to her ex best friend.

“What’s so funny?” Layla asks her eyes narrowing. Ramya stops lauging and looks at Layla an cocks her head to a side.

“That’s an oracle, Layla. Not a witch. She can’t make blood oaths. It’s basically forbidden for them to do so. Besides, who makes bargains and threats like that. It must be jest, if you ask me. She had a gleam in her eyes which furthermore makes my assumptions more like truth.”

Ramya was right about the forbidden part. It was unheard of, of oracles making blood oaths but the closed slash on her forearm told her otherwise. It could have been another rumor. But what Ramya said about it being a threat, was wrong. Something told Layla that the bargain wasn’t a threat but a promise. Layla snatches the vile off the table and looks at Ramya who is staring at her.

She nods at her as a goodbye and Ramya rushes to give her a final hug. “If you want to live in the mortal world then fine, but be careful. Remember nature demands balance and that vile may not seem what it is but…” Ramya trails off. Layla hugs her back and Ramya just whispers in her ear “You can do this.”

She pours the powder in her hands and licks it off. Almost immediately her knees buckle as she collapses to the ground. But she doesn’t fall on the hard wood floor in the oracles room. What she falls on is concrete. A pedestrian. Horses whine is a distance and the streets bustle with ladies in flurry gowns and men in ridiculous tunics and pantaloons. She then knew where she was and why she couldn’t feel the usual hum in her veins that held her powers.

The Mortal World