The Oracle

>>Sorin

My relationship with Leroy, Leon, Enri and Kaan continued very smoothly and I feel like I've gotten closer to everyone but at the same time, there's something bothering me a lot.

Things keep happening around me. Dangerous things and every time it happens, I feel like something snaps in me but then goes back to normal. I feel like I'm missing something on purpose.

There's a constant ominous feeling around me and it's especially high today. Like ridiculously high.

I sat in the throne room, I wasn't taking any visitors today but the usual maids and guards were in their positions. Enri stood by my side too, nowadays he refuses to leave and guards me diligently even in the palace.

I, on the other hand, kept getting more anxious as the time passed. It felt like something was coming for me and I couldn't get rid of the foreboding feeling.

All of the sudden, the tall entrance door opened, making me snap back to reality as the guard came running in, "Your Majesty," He kneeled and gave me a short bow, "The Oracle is here to see you."

"The Oracle?" I was not expecting someone like the Oracle to be here. And to see me? Why?

The Oracle is the highest holy rank. Getting an audience with an Oracle is very difficult even for the royal family. And she's here to see me? All of the sudden? Why?

My heart started racing.

There was something, I gulped, I was getting a weird feeling but I knew I couldn't turn someone of her status away.

"Send her in," I said and the guard nodded, stood up and marched out to get the Oracle.

I looked at Enri in concern and he stared back at me with a similar expression, "Why is the Oracle here?" He asked.

I shook my head slowly, I was still in shock, "I don't know…" I looked at the door, "I didn't summon her."

"That's weird." He replied and I looked back at him, "There was no announcement of her coming here either." I nodded and the door opened again making us both look at the tall lean woman making her way in.

Her white clothes with gold corner laces showed how well off these religious people were. Her long blonde hair and pale skin complimented her whole look but what really stood out about her, was the white lace that covered her eyes.

They say, all Oracles are blind, it allows them to see the world as it truly is. They look into souls, they see what's inside, they know you for who you really are.

She walked on the red carpet line that started from the door, continued straight on the floor and then ascended with the stairs, all the way up till my throne.

Her long white staff with three interjecting gold rings on the top made a small sound each time it came in contact with the ground.

Every person remained quiet while she made her way to the middle of the room and then looked up at me as if she could see me and smiled, "I was called here by your aide. He was worried about you." She smiled, "Except he shouldn't be, your here because of your own will."

"Yes?" I was a little taken aback, "By Leroy?"

"Yes," Her grin remained, "He was worried about you constantly having nightmares and losing focus." But the thing about her smile was- "He thinks that's why you've ended up in dangerous situations.-that it seemed like it was mocking me.

Her way of talking sort of annoyed me even though her voice was super sweet.

"So, you're telling me, it's not my nightmares?"

"Of course not, you're just being haunted by your own past."

"I- uh- what?" I was a little confused, "My past?"

She stared at me for a while,"Oh?" Then gave me a sarcastic smile, "I see, you're still pretending to be someone else." She found something very funny.

I felt something, like a pang in my heart, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh! My oh my!" She shook her head at me, "I think our sweet little king is forgetting that I'm the oracle, the protector of this land and I can see through anything."

I actually felt scared at her words, "What are you trying to get at?" I glared at her but she kept her smile on.

"I know everything," She said calmly, "You can not fool me like you're fooling yourself," There was a pause, "Perhaps we need to talk among ourselves, Miss Elayne Heart." My heart dropped at that name. My name. My name,from my original word.

My pupils shaked. She was no joke, "Everyone out," I gave an order but instead of following it immediately, they looked at me in bewilderment, "OUT!!!!" I yelled and they all flinched but my yelling worked. Every single servant in the room ran out except my guard.

I then turned to Enri who was looking at me with wide eyes, "Out," I told him too.

"But Sorin-"

I stood up from my chair, "Out," I glared at him as my heart was pounding.

"I can't leave you alone." He insisted.

"Enri," I looked at him sharply, "I COMMAND you to leave." He looked back at me in utter disbelief but turned his head away and descended the stairs, "And no one comes in, till I come out." I said those last words to him before he left through the door.

After which, the big wide room was left to us women.

"I see you still yell at people when they don't do what you tell them too?"

"Still?" I asked her, "When did I do that?"

She chuckled at my words, "You did it all your life."

"You mean Sorin did that, I just recently came here." My chest was bubbling up with anxiety. I was beyond nervous for some reason.

"Oh dear~" She seemed disappointed, "I can't believe you think like that." She shook her head in disappointment.

It felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest.

"Why?" I asked,

"Oh! Because you are Sorin, sweetheart. You're not Elayne Heart." That line, that single line, made my heart stop for a split second.

"What kind of bullshit-"

"You're denying reality." She cut my words, "You are Sorin Maximillain, you were born as Sorin Maximillian, you lived as Sorin Maximillain." She was staring at me, she's supposed to be blind, there's a lace covering her eyes yet I can feel the sharpness of her gaze, "And you died as Sorin Maximillain."

I felt my mind go blank at that moment.

"What?" My heart skipped a beat and then my mind went all mushy and I felt something snap inside me and this time, it did not go back to normal like it usually does.

"I see that you were fooling yourself this entire time." She was disappointed, "Telling yourself your Elayne Heart," She giggled, "But Elayne Heart is actually Sorin Maxillian."

"No," I shook my head at her, "That's not true." I scoffed, "What are you even saying?"

"You're deceiving yourself." Her sweet tone was poisonous to me, "Your life as Elayne Heart was your second life. A life you lived only because of me." I felt my body stiffen, "You don't possess the body of Sorin, You only came back to your original body once you died there."

I shook my head, "Lies…" I felt something inside of me shatter. Like a mask that I was keeping on for my protection, "Lies!"

She sighed, "When you were about to die, back in the forest, we met, you were crying while coughing out all that blood. There was a hole in your chest." I no longer know how to describe the feeling inside of me. It had gone beyond fear and anxiety now.

I felt myself sweat, I gulped and licked my lips again and again but they still felt dry, "That can't be…" I felt pain inside of me.

"You were the one who said you wanted redemption, you cried your last breaths out saying you'd do anything." I shook my head as a tear fell down my cheek but she continued, "You said you wanted to right your wrong." I bit my lips and kept shaking my head, "You said, you wanted redemption. You said the voices were haunting you." I kept shaking my head in denial, "You were so pathetic in your last moments, so regretful, so in pain, in so much misery that I gave in and used something forbidden."

"I-it can't-" I was so shocked, instead of words, only tears out, "No," All the protection I had built up around my mind was cracking up.

"I sent your soul to another world. I used a forbidden spell and bound your soul to a newborn, a stillborn, I sent you to a place where you'd be loved, even though you weren't theirs."

I felt dizzy, "What? I wasn't theirs?" I gulped, "NO!" I yelled at her, "I remember my whole life with them!" My feelings were exploding, "What I had with them was real! It's all in my mind!"I felt weak in my knees.

"It's in your mind, so that you remember what being normal is. What love is, 'they' though, your so-called family, does not know you anymore. You do not exist in their lives." My legs gave out and I fell on the platform, "You were never there." My heart shattered at her words and I continued to shake my head like a fool.

No…

This was killing me, "Lies," I said, "Lies!!" It can't be true. Tears rolled down my cheeks. I couldn't stop it. I had no strength to stop it.

My family there is all I had. My life was nothing much but my family was my whole life, "I was loved there…" Everything inside of me was cracking, "I- I was-" I choked up on my words. I was nothing but I was loved. My parents loved me even though I was the most average person alive. I got along so well with my brother, we were partners in crime!! We were best friends! "You can't tell me," I shook my head, "You can't tell me it was all fake." My voice cracked, "You can't…" I whispered as I looked at her with desperate eyes, full of tears and distress.

"I'm sor-" She paused, "It is," She answered in a firmer tone.

"No…" My eyes started to sting because my tears won't stop streaming down my face.

This can not be my reality.

This place hates me. It's so cold… It's malicious. I'm not human here. People treat me like I'm sort of a germ. Everyone here wants me gone, facing the people here everyday is a challenge and you're telling me I'm the cause of it all? I'm actually the one behind my own misery?

How do I describe this feeling? I feel like I've been forced into cold dark waters, it's so chilling in there, it's hurting my entire being. I'm being frozen up, then shattered into pieces.

"I find something else very funny," My head began to hurt, "You're being all chummy with people who resulted in your death in your first life." My brain was hurting so bad it felt like it would split open,

"What?" My voice was barely audible.

"You can't deny it anymore sweetheart." She tapped her staff on the floor a few times, "You have to come to terms with all you did. We have to move on."

I shook my head, "Why?"

"What do you mean why?" She said, "You asked for this." She sighed, "You'll remember, when we met in the forest at your death. You asked me for this."

And just like that.

All the lies I built around me shattered. All my protection was gone. And all my truth stood bare in front of me.

It really was me.

I was- am Sorin Maximillian all along.