"Come forth, seeker. Ask and you shall know."
The Pythia didn't speak using her mouth, rather, she went directly to their thoughts. The horror in her frigid position makes her look like someone who is constipated. Finally, Sayo and Rexis understood why Julius never wanted to come back to this place and hear once more the slam poetries by the conduit to the Oracle of Delphi.
The jarring phenomenon rang through their ears, and it took every bit of their mental and physical fortitude to endure the undeniable invisible pressure exerted to them by the first few words of the Pythia.
It was Rexis who asked for the divination because he wanted to end this as quickly as possible. "What shall we do to save our friends?"
The chilling voice of the Oracle sounded again as she began to do her spoken poetry.
/Travellers, heed this call, or else, thy friend, the Son of Time shall fall
Go west, 'til you'll see, two maidens, who seeks another one of thee
Pray then, so he'll hear, the west wind, he'll bring you where she is
Be wise, nevermind to be nice. Alter fate, and anger the Goddess
The only way to save thy friend is to go to the Realm of the Damned/
"Nandatto?" Sayo said in her original language, while covering her ringing ears. "Realm of the Damned?!" She looked at Rexis for confirmation, which was a useless thing to do since her companion was having a harder time than her. He's the one who asked the question, after all. Now, she has to focus to hear what's next – they must get this right, or else, this will be all for naught.
/One man, a lone one, suffering an endless struggle, ye must aid
The reward, a thing from your own time. A clue, to what lies ahead
Then you'll see, that revelation will greatly influence thy quest
Son of Time, he will come back to thee, bringing wisdom of the old
Connect thy knowledge, and lead yourselves, more dangers lie await/
It took all of Sayo's concentration to remember the Pythia's words. She's seriously praying that no more gibberish will come, for she's worried she can't keep up anymore. Suddenly, the ringing stopped, and they immediately noticed the shift in the atmosphere surrounding the temple. The heavy pressure was gone, and the sound of their labored breathing was the only audible thing.
'Haaaaah, haaaaah, haaaaaah'
The two of them both took deep breaths, in order to recover their dizziness from their recent bout with the peculiar mythic being that was sitting right in front of them. The lights filtered in the chamber, and it shone upon the young woman who was now unconscious from her tripod.
"Is it over?" Rexis asked Sayo, still a little bit dazed from the prophetic exchange with the Oracle.
"I guess so." She replied.
The young lady began to stir from her seat, and now she was half-asleep, as she asked them in a voice totally different from what they heard. "Sorry….did you get what you asked for?"
Rexis gave Sayo a look, silently asking if she got it because he obviously didn't. The girl only nodded.
It was Rexis who gave the Pythia a polite reply. "Yes, thank you."
The woman groggily got up from her seat, she was about to fall down but Rexis caught her. "Woah, careful."
"Thank you. I'm glad you got it, because I can't repeat it for you, I'm sorry."
"It's fine. I think I remember what it said." Sayo reassured her.
They helped the Pythia outside to gather fresher air, and the boy from earlier ran to them upon seeing his sister being helped out by the strangers who sought answers from the Oracle.
"Thank you for helping out my sister, excuse us for a while." The boy thanked them and asked if he could take his sister from them so that he can prepare her concoction to help ease her headache.
"That's fine, go on. We are grateful for your help." Sayo told the boy and gave him something as a token of thanks – one of Tobias' specially made medicine during their prep time. It was labeled as something like ���cure for headaches.' The boy thanked them again before heading out.
When Rexis and her were left alone, they talked about what the heck of a confusing answer was given to them by the mysterious Oracle. Sayo started the conversation.
Sayo: "She said we have to go west until we see two maidens."
Rexis: "I'm guessing those are the sisters of Psyche?"
Sayo: "I believe so. Then we have to ride with them towards where Psyche was taken."
Rexis: "That's when the Oracle said something about the west wind, right?"
Sayo: "Yep, we'll have to hitch a ride with the Zephyr and those sisters. But I suggest we just tail them around and not really talk much to them."
Rexis: "Agreed. West, huh?"
Sayo: "I'm concerned about the next lines though. Realm of the Damned. Does she mean Realm of the Dead?"
Rexis shivered at the memory of the Realm of the Dead. The Underworld is not some place he wanna go back to. He shook his head at Sayo, though he's convinced that the place the Oracle was talking about and the place he's currently picturing inside his brain are one and same.
Sayo: "It is, right? Don't be such a wuss, Rex, you guys have survived there before. Besides, the Underworld plays a significant role in the myth of Eros and Psyche."
Rexis: "But why there? Of all places?"
Sayo: "There's something there that we must take. It will help our quest as a whole. It will help us save Julius."
When she puts it that way, Rexis cannot argue anymore. He wonders what should they do there. Then he remembered another line from the Oracle.
Rexis: "Ah, it says we don't have to be nice and that we should anger the Goddess. Isn't that kinda stupid? I mean, who wants to earn the wrath of those who are divine? It doesn't make sense!"
Sayo: "Whatever it is, we can only assume it's what we should do. If we anger the Goddess, whose identity I think you already figured out, it will flesh out more of the story for us."
Rexis: "So we find her sisters, ride with the wind, talk to Psyche, anger a goddess, and go to the Underworld to retrieve something. Julius will come back to us in one piece, according to the Oracle, so we don't have to worry much about that, right? That's about it, right?"
Sayo gave him a nod. "Yeah, stupid, but yeah."
--
"I've got them."
"You've got them?!" Melissa raised her brows as she asked this to Carl.
"Well, one of the clones I deployed did, with Cetus. They're on their way to the base. Let's hurry over. Contact Adam and Isaac, tell 'em we'll meet them there, stat."
The lady frowned at the demand but complied to it, nonetheless. She closed her eyes to establish the telepathic link she has with the two mentioned. "Head to the base, we've got him."
--
Whatever he tried to do, even using his teleport powers, Julius can't seem to break free from the clutch of the Cetus. Yes, him and Tobias are currently inside its body, which is made of very viscous water-like fluid, which made it impossible for them to breathe. Every once in a while, like a whale, the Cetus will release some of these fluid out, and that's the only time when actual air can enter its system, making it the only time for Julius and Tobias to fill their lungs and survive in the next two minutes or so.
Finally, after that constant struggle for air for god-knows how long, they felt like they were rising from the creature's belly, until they felt like they were about to get thrown out of the entire thing.
Yep, the Cetus vomited them out, choking itself in the process. Tobias and Julius were covered with the fluids of the insides of the Cetus, and as Julius was about to launch an assault, shadows caught him and Tobias and they were suspended in the air. He scanned the area and found four other mortals present – their eyes boring into him.
"HEY, IT'S YOU!" He recognized immediately the magic and it's owner. The one called Isaac whom he met in the Underworld. This must be his group, inside their hideout!
"Good job taking another one of them Carl, we can hold the boy as hostage so that the Son of Time will tell us what we want." A young man with a scar below his right eye just said. Shadowboy Isaac, who was beside him, pulled Tobias away from Julius, and placed him in a nearby chair, where the only girl from their group positioned herself.
"Are we really doing this?" She asked the guy with the scar. His sharp look gave a solid answer. 'YES.'
"What, what are you gonna do?!" Tobias nervously asked but he got no answer. Instead, the girl put her hands on his head and then he was instantly immobilized.
"Do it." Scarface said. The girl concentrated for a bit, and the next thing Julius heard were the screams of Tobias.
"AAAAAAAAHH! AAAAAAAAAHH!!"
Julius can't understand what's going on, but he knew that Tobias is hurt and very much in pain.
"Stop that! What are you doing?!"
Melissa didn't give him an answer, but this is actually torture. She's not really hurting Tobias physically, but since she can manipulate the mind, she was tricking him as if he was being tortured by something, thus the screams he's crying out in pain.
"AAAAAAAHH STOP IT!! AAAAAAAH!" The boy pleaded.
"Listen first, Son of Time. And answer us honestly." The one with the scar told him. "Don't try anything funny or stupid. Or else….." the shrieks of Tobias echoed in the room.