HYACINTHUS

Chapter Twenty-Two

"There is no hope for him left. After I told him his fate was to die, his heart gave out on the spot. Amusing, those self-fulfilling prophecies, aren't they?"

The voice echoed throughout the cave, composed and calm, and incredibly loud. It penetrated me, as if reverbating in my chest. I could feel the sound of my own panicked heartbeat.

"Look around, little one", the voice said. "To your left."

I looked left. Amidst the thick green mist, nothing. I scrunched my nose; the scent of rot and incense was so overwhelming I felt my stomach rise to my throat.

"To your right."

I looked right. Nothing, just rocky, uneven walls, smeared with a reddish liquid that oddly reminded me of blood.

"Behind you, perhaps?"

I swivelled around, turning around my axis. Behind me, the oltar, dressed in a white sheet and covered with various amphoras, was devoid of any presence. On the steps that led to it, carcasses of goats and sheep, some still fresh, some already pungent and decomposed, all sacrificed to the Oracle of Delphi.

I cried out towards the oltar.

"I thought trickstery of such sort was forbidden? Don't these fumes poison those who lie?"

Somewhere very near, as if right in my ear, the voice laughed maniacally.

"The fumes of Delphi have taken a liking to me after all these years", it chuckled behind my back. "After all, they are MEANT TO SERVE ME!"

I turned around and screamed.

A woman's face, just a few thumbs' lengths from mine. But what a face it was! Pallid, devoid of any healthy shade; a jaw jutted out, so sharp I could cut myself on it; and a pair of eyes, devoid of any pupil or iris, just pure white.

She perhaps was beautiful - a few hundred years ago, when she was still human. Now, she had turned into a monster that could easily rival the Furies.

"How do you like my face?", she asked, and I noticed her teeth were perfect, gleaming white in the dimness of the cave. Just like her eyeballs.

I averted my gaze and glanced at the green fumes that enveloped my body menacingly, like strands of poison ivy.

"It's... unique."

"Well, I am the one and only Oracle of Delphi."

I gulped back my fear. It would serve me naught. My best plan was to stall time as long as possible, until the next supplicant was to enter.

"How come the man before me died instantly when you told him it was his fate? Aren't all humans supposed to die, after all? Why would that be such a shock?"

Pythia clasped her hands together, and nodded, as if she were impressed.

"Well, aren't you a bright young man? You probably came to the conclusion that questions cannot be interpreted as lies. Thankfully, I have welcomed enough mortals to see through their tricks. But no need to fret. We are here just to talk about you."

I had to play along. "All right."

As if they understood I had no intention to harm or slay their master, the fumes retreated from my body, gathering in the corners of the cave. Now, I could see the place more clearly.

The sparkling clean marble tiles of the floor were a stark contrast to the blood-smudged walls. Rimming a path that led to the oltar, candles with unnatural green flames emitted the scent I had already grown accustomed to in my short stay here.