It was not looking especially good.
Now sitting on a large mound of dirt, Fen silently contemplated his choices, hoping to avoid eye contact with the woman for as long as possible. Fen didn't particually want to divulge anything that had happened within the cave, or what had happened to him prior to it - unfortunately, Fen was going to have to sacrifice this leverage, unless he was willing to take his chances against the woman in a fight.
He certainly was not delusioned enough to believe he would stand any such chance, despite his recent victory against the creature of the cave.
He also would certainly not be able to bluff or lie his way out - after all, an oracle was certainly what she was known as - even Fen had heard of her! She was a supernatural who had set their way along a path, one of the strongest and most mysterious at that - thankfully, that which he had heard was mostly positive.
'What was it Auntie Iverson had described her as? Fair, kind and monstrously competent?'
That being said, some of it was certainly government propaganda, simply pumped out to perfectionalize those powerful enough to dominate.
Hopefully, her character was not a complete falsehood.
"Well then Mr… Actually I believe we've yet to be formally acquainted."
Fen was a little surprised, finally matching the gaze of the smiling woman sitting opposite him.
'She doesn't know my name? - No, it's probably simply an act to help lower my guard. Or is it? There doesn't seem to be much merit in such an obvious ploy.'
'Argh, I'm overthinking. It doesn't particually matter - I just need to make sure to answer whatever questions she asks truthfully, most likely she's simply here for the reason she stated - to make sure I'm truly Fen the human, not a devilish imitation.'
"I go by the name Fen, Ms Audlett"
"I see, Mr Fen then. And I'd quite prefer it if you used my first name, we can reduce the formality's to a minimum."
"Very well, Ms Auxley. Now, I believe you wanted to ask me some questions about that rather gloomy tunnel some miles back?"
"Yes, If you would so kindly oblige. I quite like a good story, so it would be wonderful if you simply explain your rather… eventful experience in full. Ah, before you proceed however, I'm going to have to check to make sure you are truly Fen.
Fen frowned.
"Sure, i suppose, but wasn't that the point of the questioning in the fi-"
"No, no the questioning is simply for… personal reasons - once I've verified your identity, I'll explain it in more detail."
"Very well - if I may ask though, how are you going to do such verification?"
Auxley smiled.
"Well, I'm going to peer inside your soul of course!"
Fen's complexion turned a very sickly shade of pale.
Fen would, normally, of had nothing to hide here of course - his cores, both inner and outer, had been as mundane as could be, simply existing inside of him, not a whiff of power in either.
Unfortunately this had changed some point between the moment the man's shadow-flooded hand had pierced his stomach, and the moment he had somehow activated the pendant-shaped artefact - something only someone who had both cores active, or someone further along - someone travelling a path.
Normally, this would of been brilliant - people awakening both cores under incredible and stressful situations was not unheard of, and would certainly end up being a significant boon for Fen in the future.
The situation, however, was not normal.
Instead of two powerful, activated cores inside of him, there was simply nothing. No cores, no key to incredible power. Fen had been stumped, after all, literally every human on the planet had cores inside of them, even if they were completely unrealised.
Whatever the man had done to him, he was certainly no longer an average human. Unfortunately, this meant that Auxley would not view him as one either, perhaps not even as one at all.
This would be catastrophic, considering the stakes and current scenario.
His mind snapping back into reality, Fen felt something - not anything particually conceivable, just a feeling of being watched - it was very unsettling to say the least - this was certainly his soul being examined.
After around ten seconds of… well, whatever she was doing, Fen felt the sense of lack of privacy fade, followed by Auxley piercing him with a sharp gaze.
Knowing he was probably in immense danger, Fen racked his brains for an appropriate explanation.
"I'm assuming you saw no cores in there - which certainly is what you would expect to see from a rift creature, but there's probably a very good explanation as to wh-"
"You awakened your path?"
Vaguely registering a slight annoyance that this was now the third time she had rudely interrupted him, Fen's mind nearly imploded.
'What the hell does she mean I've awakened my path - is that even possible for someone as young as me, nevermind someone who hadn't even awakened his cores yet?!'
Realising his cool exterior was worrying close to failing, Fen took a deep breath before not-so-carefully responding.
"Errrr, I suppose so? This is certainly news to me too".
Fen grinned as he saw a dumbfounded look now cross Auxley's face.
'About damn time.'
"You're telling me, you didn't know you awakened your path? Something only the smallest fraction of the population can dream of, you just happened to do?"
"I guess? I mean, I am a man of many talents."
Bold words coming from the man who had nearly just fell over in surprise, but Fen thought a little over exaggeration never particually hurt anyone.
"Ridiculous. Well, at least I'm pretty sure you're no rift creature now. None we've ever encountered have ever been able to obtain cores, nevermind any kind of enlightenment - they gain their power through other unknown means, but I'm sure you know that already. Now, I am certainly interested in finally hearing how these events transpired, even more so now that you're probably going to be someone of genuine importance."
'Someone of genuine importance huh? Apart from being a incredibly tactless statement, it also seems a bit of a far stretch - sure, I've somehow managed to awaken my path, but I haven't even actually reached the first stage of enlightenment yet - till then I'm essentially just as weak as any other mundane.'
Sighing, Fen put his thoughts on the matter to one side. Auxley was looking at him with a slightly worrying level of intrigue, so he decided it would be wise to not make her wait any longer - he could contemplate the affects of this revelation later, when he had more time.
"I suppose it all started around a week ago - the day I began to disappear".