A/N: Yes, I'm a bad bad author. I haven't written in a loooong time. So sue me. Life happens...

Chapter 18: Oracles Abound

As I'd suspected, the two forest denizens were waiting for me when I finally managed to stumble my way back down the path. My body still quivered with the memory of the pain that had, not moments before, been my entire existence. To make matters worse, despite the insistent pounding of my head, a thousand questions swirled in my head. Where did Bryant come into all of this? And my promise... A vow that even now gripped me in its iron jaws

"Didst thou find what thou dost desire? Wilt thou depart?" The booming voice of the Tree broke the quasi-trance I'd been operating in. By his tone, and the look on Saria's face, he already knew the answer. Squelching the sudden flare of anger that threatened to overwhelm me, I shook my head.

"You know I didn't. I didn't learn anything I didn't already know. Except... The Oracle... It wasn't on the pedestal when I left... What happened?" I could barely keep my voice level. What I really wanted to do was throw myself on the leave-littered ground and cry, to curl up in a ball and huddle there until the world passed me by. My only hope of escaping this... faerie tale... had rested in the Oracles. And if they ALL had performed the same disappearing act... I was stuck, until I found another means... Probably get a hint from an old NPC in a cloak I thought ruefully, even through my pain. That thought surprised me. It'd been a long time since I had compared this obviously real (And PAINFUL) world to the video game I'd come to know and love. I'd accepted the reality of an impossible universe, in which Trees spoke in bad archaic English, and were spelled with capital T's, and little girls actually had thousands of years under their belts. Strange, when you think of what the mind is capable of coping with.

"You really have no idea, do you?" Saria stared at me from the stump she'd obviously perched herself on while waiting for my inevitable return. "The Oracles are in YOU. You have been collecting them since you started. That's why your clan markings are blue... Why the burn on your palm is unnaturally red... and your battle wounds are green. How could you not have noticed?"

I froze. "I hadn't noticed, actually." I'd taken it for granted that the tattoo had always been blue... And my scars had indeed taken a distinctively greenish cast. "What's going on...?

"I wish I could tell thee, Colt of the Scorpias, Oracle of Hyrule," I winced inwardly at the additional title, "but I know little of the workings of this strange creature known as the Other. Save that he desires that which thou dost possess more than anything, more than life itself. For I truly believe that the Oracles do hold the key to returning to thy world, if only thou couldst see. Be forewarned, however. If the One you call Sorcerer wishes to retrieve the Oracles, it must be from thy cold, dead grasp, for even if thou wouldst surrender them to him, the removal may kill thee. Alas, we have no way to know, for none such as thee has ever crossed our path before."

"Great. So not only have I pissed of the Big Bad, I've also stolen the one thing... three things? ... he was looking for." My mind suddenly dredged up something the Sorcerer had said to me, back when I'd betrayed the princess. 'Next time we meet, you will not be so lucky. And there will be a next time. You have something I want.' It was finally all becoming clear. I had the Oracles. I WAS the Oracle. "So what, do I have super powers, now? Do I get a cape and spandex? Come on, tell me I've got super human strength, or something..."

Saria shook her head. "It is not that simple, Oracle. In all the history of Hyrule, the Oracles have never performed for anyone as they did for you. Never before has a querent vanished upon coming into contact with a conduit. According to the mayor of Kakariko, when you contacted the Oracle of Wisdom, you were extinguished as though you were a candle. He did not say anything when you returned, for fear of alarming you, but he contacted the Great Deku Tree as soon as you were on your way."

"I remember... That was what saved me from the Sorcerer... When he attacked me, I stumbled into the conduit... And when I came out, he was gone." But that didn't make sense either... Why didn't he take the Oracle from me THEN, if he'd known what was happening? For that matter, why hadn't he taken the FIRST Oracle, if he'd known it was there already, back in Hyrule Castle? Unless... "SHIT! He's HERE... He KNEW I'd be looking for the third Oracle... Because he knew he wouldn't be able to get them all, unless I ventured into the Forest. I never escaped from him, not in Hyrule Castle, Gerudo Fortress, or even from the nightmare of my past. He LET me go. He's been following me the whole time!"

"Impossible... None can come into the Kokiri forest without my knowledge, young Colt. If he had come, I would know. Do not worry thy..." But his assurance was abruptly cut short by the sound of screams coming from the Kokiri village. It was only then that I noticed the smell of smoke.

A/N: More expository, I know... but I had a lot of loose ends to tie up.