— Chapter 13 —
Oracle
Never before in his life has Oracle felt just this… Miserable and saddened. The time half of his face melted off was very miserable as well, but that time was more about the horrifying pain and sensations.
This time he was outright imprisoned by what is basically the leader of the mafia, and there were very high chances that he'd face death and torture in this place, and that thought might just be the most terrifying thing ever.
He slowly turned his head as he tried to peer into the darkness of the oubliette, and it didn't look very promising. He was stranded on a rocky platform quite above the actual bottom of the oubliette, the depths themselves seemingly containing other animals based on the movement of shapes he saw and some unsettling sounds, and his nose caught scent of something rotten down there, making him wish his draconic senses weren't always so strong.
And looking up to the trapdoor did not make things any better, being met by two hooded figures that were staring down at him in silence, almost completely unmoving, turning this whole scene into a literal horror.
And to top this off… Nothing at all happened for an hour… Two hours… He was just sitting in silence within the darkness, barely even daring to move as he was terrified of approaching any of the edges, or moving resulting in some of the creatures below to try reaching up here.
Oracle knew very well what Vulture was going for right now, he probably could have just interrogated him earlier right there and then, but likely thought it'd be simpler to possibly make Oracle more likely to comply by seemingly just leaving him in a dark, scary cell for hours. And he was afraid of this tactic potentially working.
Qibli… Qibli's gonna do something before anything truly bad happens, surely… He already must have about 20 different escape plans, he'll come around and then we'll leave. He kept repeating himself that a lot during the slow hours he spent here, really hoping it'll come true.
But eventually, he tensed up as he finally heard footsteps coming this way, he was rather sure that Qibli wouldn't be this audible during a rescue mission, so it had to either be another cloaked dragon, or Vulture himself.
It appeared to be the former, as he heard a low hissing voice. "The boss requests his presence."
Nothing else had to be said, one of the two dragons quickly unlocked the trapdoor and leered down at him. "Come out, now."
Oracle gulped, but he decided to comply on this part at least. Vulture will probably already be angered enough when he refuses to help, so better not test him by being late as well. With some quick wing flaps he flew up to the trapdoor, and the moment he got out these two dragons immediately grabbed him from the sides.
He did not fight back, although his body did stiffen the moment that happened, but he at least walked the direction they began to head to instead of pulling back or getting dragged around.
They went back indoors and he was taken to a different room this time, it was more dimly lit than other rooms but there was still enough visibility… And Vulture was sitting on a chair at the opposite extreme.
"Actually on time? Good, that is a favorable look towards you," Vulture said, dismissing the cloaked dragons with a single gesture, with them nodding then stepping right outside of the room. "Sit down," he ordered Oracle, gesturing at a much less nicer chair.
He was hesitant, expecting the very chair to be trapped, but also considered how there weren't a lot of choices that he could make. And besides, Vulture could easily just place him on the chair by himself if he wanted that.
Oracle sat on the chair, and no trap was sprung, and he didn't get suddenly tied down like if this was some action movie, so that is a small bit of a plus. Taking a deep breath he faced Vulture.
"Let's get straight to the point," Vulture said, not even a second later. "I want these powers of yours in my side, and it will be much simpler for you if you cooperate. As my seer, we can easily talk about the benefits in the long run if you don't make this harder than it should."
Oracle gulped at this, that was straight and direct, and didn't leave any room to talk around or say much otherwise, quite literally being purely a Yes or No answer, with both options being terrifying.
"I… Won't," Oracle muttered, his breath stiffening. Vulture won't just outright go for the kill after a single refusal, right? He's not going to die today… He can't…
Vulture's expression hardened, leering down at him as he leaned forward a little. "You don't want to stick with that choice, and you don't gain anything from refusing, so being stubborn will only make things worse for you."
And accepting would just get me killed as well, perhaps even faster. Oracle thought with despair. I am no seer, he'd catch on me being completely wrong, and I would have no use… And if I accepted, he'd force me to talk more about the scroll too.
"S-Still a no, I can't help you with this, my… Power is not yours to use," Oracle muttered.
"Hmph, for hanging out so much with my grandchild, I would have considered you smarter," Vulture said with a disapproving tone.
Another cloaked figure slithered from the shadows and suddenly approached from behind Oracle's chair before he even heard or noticed it, his eyes widened when he looked behind himself, then he felt strong talons taking hold of him…
No matter what happens today, Oracle will be able to resist, he will survive this day.
What followed next… Were the most horrible experiences that Oracle ever had to go through, never in his darkest imagination could he imagine that he would end up facing physical… Torture.
To resume it, it was agonizing, painful, quite bloody at times, with Oracle gaining several cuts and bruises over his body, which went into a state of shock.
And it ended in the cruelest way possible, with Vulture playing right into his fears, as a large and luxurious golden pot was brought into the room… And it was filled with water, and the water had been heated to near its boiling point.
Oracle's body had basically almost given in and he could barely react much by that point, several different painful sensations washing over his whole being. But seeing that immediately made him snap out of that state, gasping as he suddenly began to squirm as hard as he could, fighting desperately. He bite the claw of the dragon holding him, and he threw fire which singed the cloaked dragon's snout.
Then he got hit very hard on the head, throwing him to the ground, and while he was still trying to recover and partially out of breath, he got grabbed again and his head pushed down into the pot, he managed to close his eyes right before.
With a splash, his face was pushed into the hot water, he gulped but forced his eyes and mouth to remain closed as the water burned at his face, touching his scales, and the gaps between the scales.
It must have only been about five seconds, but they felt so long and made his whole body shake as he felt his face being burned again. These sensations were coming back, never quite as strong as the first time, but it was far too close.
As his head got pulled out from the water, the next words that came from Vulture rang in his ears. "And we can do this everyday, this is what happens when you choose to be stubborn and illogical."
Everyday… I cannot be here… Even a day… Longer… I can't…
Oracle honestly couldn't remember the few minutes where he was brought back to the courtyard and towards the oubliette, his mind in such a state of stupor, and his body in so much pain, that he barely noticed.
He heard the trap door being opened, but he was in such a state that he didn't really pay attention to it so he didn't go down… After some time, one of the dragons just pushed him down, this time he couldn't land as well like the last time he got pushed here. One of his talons landed rather badly as he fell to his side and then he felt a painful tug on his wing as it hit the ground.
He remained immobile for a whole minute like that, the new feeling of his wing barely registering as just another painful sting among the rest until he finally slowly moved to a side to plop normally on his stomach.
And as the Nightwing slowly came to his senses after feeling limp and in pain, he began to shudder and shake, feeling his eyes tear up as he brought his face against his talons and started crying. His body hurt, everything hurt, and he was panicking with the thought of spending another day here, to live through that again.
As he kept on crying, his voice of reason spoke within his mind. Oracle should sleep and rest. He will have a peaceful sleep without dreams.
That sounded like the best possible thing at the time, so like always he decided to follow and try closing his eyes. Despite the pain, somehow and miraculously he began to fall asleep…
Oracle had no idea how long he slept for, but he assumed it was at most a few hours given that the pain he felt had significantly diminished, but wasn't close to leaving yet. And the reason for his awakening was… Something hitting the trapdoor's iron bars? And then another bang not even a second later.
Looking up, he would see how both of the cloaked dragons that were silently keeping guard over him, had seemingly fallen over and both had hit the ground and a side of the trapdoor.
He remained silent and hopeful, did someone arrive to help him? Was Qibli here? His eyes kept staring up as whoever was up there must have found the key from one of these dragons and opened the trapdoor… And Oracle saw nobody at all.
"Psst, Oracle?" A voice that he never heard before called out to him.
"H-Huh…? Who…?" Oracle questioned with a bit of a shaky voice.
"Name's Pineapple, Queen Glory sent me with your group to help, and now I was sent here to aid you," a kind sounding voice spoke from thin air.
Our Rainwing… Oracle realized, and he felt one of his talons lightly twitching as he was now… Well, not face to face as the dragon was camouflaged, but still interacting with a Rainwing right now. He tried his best to stop the twitching as he's being saved right now, he can't just start acting weirdly to his rescuer.
"Hm… It's a pleasure to meet you, and huh… Your queen truly made a good choice for, hmm, someone to sneak by, I don't think even Qibli knew when you were there so, nice job," he quickly muttered some compliments to ease things before quickly asking something important. ""S-So, you're here to bring me out? Hm so how exactly are we going to do this?"
"Well, I was thinking you could fly out with this open, and then I was handed over an earring and told you'd know what to do with it," the voice with no body spoke, and Oracle winced.
"I… Can't," he admitted, trying to stretch both wings, but the one he fell on earlier gave a very painful tug. "I was pushed down here a while ago, and it twisted one of my wings when I fell, I can't fly right now."
"Oh," Pineapple's voice said in surprise and showing a tone of pity. "I'm really sorry to hear that, I hope it gets better soon."
"Me too…" Oracle said awkwardly before he cleared his throat. "So, hm… How am I gonna get out? Could you give me a lift?"
Oracle instinctively shuddered some more at the thought of being carried by the Rainwing, but the logical part of his mind knew that there weren't many choices.
"Hm… I wouldn't consider myself the strongest of the Rainwings, but I think I could carry you this short distance," he agreed after a moment, and Oracle could hear the flapping of invisible wings approaching.
The Nightwing tucked his wings against the sides of his body to make this easier. And then he felt confused when he felt something grabbing him slowly and yet all that he could see of the Rainwing was vaguely the shape of the talons against his black scales.
And as the camouflaged talons touched him, Oracle felt as he instinctively flinched. No… Not now! I need to get out of here first, don't start panicking…
"I'm sorry about this," Pineapple suddenly said as he slowly began to fly upwards, confusing Oracle.
"H-Huh…?" He questioned.
"I know that in a way I'm not making things that much better for you, and that's a reason I'm staying out of sight," the Rainwing said in a sympathetic tone, leaving Oracle speechless for a moment before he realized.
"O-Oh my… Did you hear… That?" He muttered, his awkwardness reaching new levels.
"I really shouldn't have but I was nearby and I did. I'm sorry, and also sorry on behalf of my tribe. A big majority of us don't like using our venom on living beings, I promise," Pineapple said apologetically.
Oracle closed his eyes for a moment, taking a deep breath. "I know… I just can't really control my reactions…"
The dragonet couldn't believe just how awkward things had become for him during the rescue. Someone from one of the tribes eavesdropping on your private, heartfelt conversation about the trauma one of the dragons from their tribe had put him through is quite… Uncomfortable.
They stopped talking as he got carried out of the trapdoor, and looking up he could see that it was about late afternoon, close to twilight, and luckily the courtyard didn't have cloaked dragons moving around at the time, probably most of them working in the building proper.
"Let's hide behind that building, it seems like plans are changing," Pineapple's voice said, and a pink-yellow talon appeared to point at the nearest building, which was the treasury.
"C-Careful where you step, look for any strings or marked tiles if you see any, these are traps," he whispered back, not knowing if the outside of the building is trapped as well, but better make sure.
They reached a side of the building so it was covering them and it'd be much harder to spot them unless someone was coming from the opposite side, and then Oracle saw a pretty white stone hovering in the air in front of him,
"One second, I need to tell Qibli some stuff," Pineapple told him.
"You can talk to him…?" Oracle asked, feeling hopeful.
"In thoughts, apparently this stone can send what I think to one he has, it's cool," he replied, then was silent for a minute. After that, the stone was moved closer to Oracle.
"He wants to talk to you right now," the Rainwing said nicely, handing it over to him as Oracle grasped it.
The stone felt smooth and normal to the touch, but Oracle was quickly swarmed by new thoughts within his mind.
ORACLE! He heard Qibli's voice directly in his mind, not going through his ears, as if it was actually part of his thoughts. Thank the moons, I was extremely worried for you. Are you okay?
The small dragonet took a deep breath, feeling quite better now that he was talking to his friend, knowing he must have some good plans in mind for his plight. I've been much better, to be completely honest, I am feeling terrible… But things are feeling a bit lighter now.
He couldn't see Qibli's facial expressions, so he merely imagined him frowning or grimacing slightly. Yeah, I should have imagined. I'm sorry for taking so many hours, I was worried of staying earlier and getting captured while I had the scroll. But now Queen Thorn and I have devised a plan, although Pineapple just told me that you can't fly?
One of my wings got twisted… I can see your original plan, just getting me out of that place, then I'd put on the earring and fly off… So what now?
That was the easiest plan, but don't worry! We thought of a backup in case you weren't in condition to do that, and it's a reason why I'm out here. Just sneaking through an exit like that would be impossible, so what we'll do is outright finally attack grandfather's organization as a distraction for you to escape among the mayhem, and well, to also finally put a stop to him too.
Oracle shuddered from this. He had thought about it a few times, about how it always looked odd that after over 6 months as queen, Thorn wouldn't just take down the mafia in what was once her home… So now it was going to happen.
The moment they see Thorn's forces ready to strike, they'll certainly go over to the courtyard to retrieve you as a hostage so make sure to hide well, and then that already should cause a good commotion while we start the attack, which then should mean far less dragons should be in there. Qibli's thoughts said.
The Nightwing regarded Qibli's plan, and unsurprisingly he didn't really see any glaring issues with it; that might be the best thing they could realistically do.
Alright… Let's do it… I'll see you later in person. He accepted.
I'll tell Thorn and we'll be on our way soon, try to hide now and look for a good time to start sneaking around.
The stream of thoughts finished, and Oracle let out a sigh, feeling extremely nervous about this, then as odd as it felt, he whispered to the air to tell Pineapple the situation.
"Oh wow," Pineapple said after he was done. "I mean, I think Qibli hinted at something like that happening when we first talked, but it's crazy to think we'll be escaping in the middle of a battle."
"And yet it's our best bet here..:" Oracle whispered as he thought of something. "I need to be able to hide before the attack and until there's enough mayhem to move, but I'm not very sure where exactly in a place like this could be safe…"
He looked straight to the empty spot where he assumed the Rainwing was standing, and he winced slightly as he had a sudden idea.
"Huh… I got a bit of an idea…" He muttered as he thought about it. This sort of plan had been used once or twice in the books, so it might just work out. Not to say he actually liked it though. "How… Big are you? Like maybe you could…" He began to stutter now. "G-Get on top of me for cover to camouflage us both?"
Based on the following silence for some moments, he might have temporarily broken the Rainwing, but finally he replied.
"You want to-? You're sure that will work? And are you like, truly okay with that happening?" His tone trailed off slightly as he questioned it.
"I-I am not the biggest fan… But I can't think of anything better. If we're close to this wall then concealed like that, we could easily stall until it's safe to go… And hm… I promise I'll try my best to hold still."
There was yet another moment of silence before Pineapple talked again. "Sorry, I nodded at you when you couldn't see it. Okay I can't really think of much else, and they must be coming very soon, so I guess so. Care to lay down with wings closed then?"
He did exactly that, also being decently close to the wall while not outright pressed against it either so the Rainwing can move his wing around that side too.
And then he felt a pressure above him as the larger dragon was actually on top of him, although at least he must've been careful as he didn't feel anything touching his twisted wing.
Having a whole dragon on top of him felt rather cumbersome, and he had to press his body and talons against the ground while trying to not shake too much, because he already is. But at least he saw a change of colors around himself as he got covered fully by body and wings that matched exactly the surroundings, and Oracle couldn't see anything else now as his face was covered.
And he was very well aware that they'd need to be like this for a decent amount of time, oh god…
He was still holding the rock between his claws, so he received a mental message: We're approaching the Scorpion's Den, get ready, I'll give reports from outside, and if the plan goes terribly wrong, send me a thought and I'll go in there.
And indeed not even five minutes later there were several pairs of footsteps entering the courtyard, and then they stopped.
"Condor and Antlion are down!" A voice spoke up in shock.
"And the prisoner?" Another voice asked.
"He's gone! Oh the boss is gonna be mad, get searching!"
Many pairs of talons began to walk around the courtyard, and Oracle held his breath as he heard some approaching this side, but luckily it didn't seem like they were spotted, the camouflage was working out.
Another new voice appeared from closer to the main building, shouting at everyone. "What are you all doing, just fooling around!? That Thorn is attacking us, get moving!"
After that followed several minutes of movement all over, with orders being issued and dragons running as the sound of weapons being drawn was heard, and then the dragons started to scatter around the place and probably went back into the compound.
"Let's wait a few minutes to maybe hear if the battling started, and maybe we can start moving," Pineapple whispered in a low volume.
He heard several wing flaps in the courtyard, signaling that dragons were starting to take flight from this spot, and then Oracle was nudged lightly by the Rainwing, and Oracle made a small sound of agreement as he felt the weight off him and now he was able to see.
It was darker now, the time passing by quickly, which was excellent for the small dragonet as he might be able to use the Nightwing skill to pretty much camouflage among the shadows for some quick cover if needed.
They stuck close to the walls, or at least Oracle did and assumed that Pineapple was doing it as well. When they got closer to the door, he felt a nudge on his side which he took as stopping and so he did, after another moment he got nudged again, which made him move and peek inside, seeing a long line of cloaked dragons walking onward so their backs were facing them.
That looked good, so he stepped in and moved forward a little, sticking as close to the walls as possible, and glad that there was plenty of furniture around that could be used as potential hiding spots.
But he couldn't have accounted for a door at the side suddenly opening wide and slamming him on the face as he stumbled back due to a dragon stepping out.
The cloaked dragon turned, looking behind the door, and Oracle, even in his dazed state, could see the surprised expression beneath the hood as the dragon appeared ready to raise its voice… Until a dart hit them on the neck and they fell unconscious two seconds later.
Oracle sighed, and carefully took a peek through that open door, seeing what appeared to be a well filled armory, with weapons already lining the few walls he could see, same with shelves.
He decided to very quickly and carefully snoop around for a moment in case that there were any useful items around for their escape, he'd certainly take some short weapon to carry around if possible.
What he saw after some seconds and quite tucked away in the shelf at a corner, were a few round and prickly cacti… And he realized that these most likely had to be Dragonflame, considering they're literally in an armory, and some of them had a rope connected to them, and that made a new idea spark within his mind.
"Pineapple," he whispered now. "I got an idea that might help us, and also help our allies outside… We could set up some of these cacti somewhere in this place, and when fire touches them, they make a big explosion. That might cause more mayhem within our foes, and possibly breach some walls for our friends to come in, or for us to escape."
"You want to cause an explosion? Here? Isn't that much?" Pineapple whispered in a worried tone.
"I don't really like it either… But to be honest, how well is the base idea of just sneaking all the way out and through the door gonna go? At least with this, they'd have to split up even further…"
The Rainwing appeared to give a resigned sigh, so the Nightwing very carefully grabbed a big cacti from its rope and put it against the wall opposite to the door, then he pulled the rope all the way to the other extreme.
"The moment I light this up, we need to run away, like back to the courtyard maybe, and then do the same hiding trick as before while they investigate this. After that we might be able to escape from this side," he explained, feeling extremely nervous about the fact he's planting a literal bomb, but he let out a small fiery puff from his mouth towards the rope, and immediately started running out of the room, and he actually heard Pineapple's footsteps as he was running too.
And talking about running, Oracle suddenly spotted a group of like five dragons coming down the hallway and this way, and when they spotted him… Weapons were immediately drawn, with one of them shouting and calling out to other cloaked dragons, although the shouting one got swiftly knocked out by a dart.
With eyes wide open, Oracle started running for the courtyard, but not before throwing a few more flames into the room they just left. He and Pineapple reached outside and were trying to make distance, even though one of his talons was still sore and it hurt to run.
He looked back and saw that group of dragons approaching the courtyard, with another rather large group running from further back. The first group passed by the open door of the armory, and one of the cloaked dragons gave a quick look at the room and noticed what was going on as she let out a quick warning shout as she turned and tried to run the other way…
Too late as an incredible explosion happened with a powerful boom and a terrifying burst of fire that came out of the room, breaking the doorframe and the surrounding wall at the same time as it consumed the four dragons that were close with its flame tongues, and they let out instinctive shrieks and screams of pain and despair as they were charred, their scales blackened and scorched, with several even melting off and showing the tissue behind and even some bones.
This made Oracle freeze in the spot, eyes wide open in horror at such terrible sight, bringing a talon to his mouth as he covered it, his body trembling.
He… For the first time since his arrival in this world… He had taken a life, multiple of them in fact. Gone within seconds and meeting a gruesome, painful end as they were burned alive without any hope of being saved.
Killing other dragons might be a common thing in this continent to survive, but Oracle wasn't a Pyrrhian, he hadn't wielded a weapon before with the purpose of actually striking someone with it. And he certainly never made a place just… Explode. He didn't consider the possible sequences of this escape plan beforehand, just thinking about breaking the walls and splitting the attention of this organization.
He should have imagined this.
He felt a pair of talons holding his own, his invisible companion starting to pull him away and towards a wall as he stood in shock in the middle of the courtyard, looking at the smoke, the crumbled hallway, and the barely recognizable bodies.
Oracle wasn't able to see anything other than just a coat of the same color covering his body and eyes as Pineapple hastily did the same trick as last time since they bought some extra time before the other group actually reached the courtyard.
After a minute and with trembling talons, Oracle desperately held the shiny rock and with unfocused thoughts he called out to Qibli.
Qibli… I caused an… Explosion and maybe you saw something from outside, things have to be hectic in here and maybe a wall is open now…
Then with teary eyes he added. Please come get us soon, please… I can't stand this any longer, it's too much…
Author's Note:
One would have thought that the day where half of his face melted off would've been the worst day of his life... But it was the worst day so far.
I'm aware that I did a bit of an "Artic's last show" here skimming over most of that early part, but well... Besides showing the last method used, actually going about a full torture scene with a teenager made me mighty uncomfortable.
Also this is without a doubt the chapter where I was the most indecisive about how the events would go, literally. in one of my mental drafts they would end up confronting Vulture on the way out to snag the mirror before leaving, in another they'd end up confronting one of the cloaked dragons in actual battle and Oracle would've had to use a weapon that laid there to help Pineapple by killing the attacker. Then I decided that it would be TOO much with how his day was going already to outright willingly stab someone himself, so next I had a full sneaking sketch, but then as they reached this armory I decided to go for this final thing where while performing his escape and distraction plan, this happens.
I MIGHT promise this is PROBABLY gonna stay as Oracle's lowest in the story, I don't want to torture my characters that badly either haha.