Son of Blood and Malice

Chapter 6

Jason decided to step out of the carriage at the next station. The train felt tainted by that old woman. Even though he had stepped out on the platform, he felt suffocated. While in the train, he had not made the connection with the glowing green eyes and smoke erupting from the woman.

Within the House of Thebes existed the oracle, a girl born from Apollo who would receive the gift of prophecy. The fates would speak through the girl, and every time they did her eyes would glow green, and sometimes smoke would erupt from them. Like the ancient oracle of Pythia, the prophecies told from the girl could be ambiguous.

However, this woman did not reiterate a prophecy. It was as if the fates spoke to him through her. Most oracles within the house of Thebes would not reach adulthood, and if they did, they would turn insane. 

This woman had the power of prophecy yet was stricken with old age. Knowing that made him unsettled. Something was off about her.

He sat down, waiting for the next train home to arrive. The station lights begun to flicker unnaturally, and Jason felt like he could not control them. 

Suddenly the flickering stopped, and Jason felt a presence beside him. As he looked up, all he could see was an illuminating light surrounding a beautiful man. 

It was Alessandro. Of course it was.

"You need to learn how to control the bending of light", was all he said.

"I don't know how", Jason said earnestly.

No matter how much he tried, he never seemed to be able to control it. Especially when his emotions were all over the place. Alessandro observed him, eying him from head to toe.

"The godly powers are tied to your emotions, once you learn how to control them you will be able to control your powers better."

"Tell me something I don't know, it's my emotions I cannot control."

"You're at an age where a lot of things are confusing and new, so it's not weird that you feel that way. However, you cannot display your powers openly. There's eyes and ears everywhere, Jason."

Jason was tired of being reprimanded for things he already knew. Alessandro was just repeating what Jonas had told him yesterday, but in a different tone. He did not feel like talking to him, but he could not help to want to ask about the old lady.

"Were you on the incoming train just now?"

"Yeah, I was heading home from work, why?"

"Did you see an old woman? She wore a cloak and had green, glowing eyes like an oracle."

Alessandro tensed up. Did he know who he was referring to?

"That old lady is dangerous, Jason. Don't believe a word she says", he said through a clenched jaw.

"Why? She called me the son of the sun; she obviously knew I am from the house of Thebes."

"She's a vessel, not an oracle. The oracle is a servant of Apollo, a vessel is a tool of the fates. If her eyes were glowing green, it was not her, but the fates speaking to you. They cannot directly influence someone, so they speak in riddles and prophecies. That's what's makes them dangerous, because their ambiguous words often end up come true one way or another. You must've heard the story of Croesus?"

Croesus, a prominent king of Lydia, sought an audience with the oracle of Pythia. He was facing a threat from the Persians, and he asked the oracle if he should go to war with them before they would grow stronger. The oracle would answer: "If Croesus goes to war, he will destroy a great empire".