Sera's eyes burned with tears as he approached her position. His agony, so clear, grabbed her by the very soul. His inability to discover the answer would add more to the layer of silence. She must find a way through to the help he needed, otherwise, she feared he would indeed be lost to the history rumbling behind the wall.
The dragoon's steps slowed as he drew closer to her, and he kept his focus on the hard ground beneath his armored feet. His step halted only when he stood directly beside her. She had noticed the same reaction to the vision of her presence beside him before: eyes averted, and extreme respect in tone and carriage. He bestowed upon her high honors while humbling himself to none.
And now, as Sera watched his profile, the rage and shame at his defeat . . . the expressions tore at her. 'Do not berate yourself, my lord dragoon.'
"I have failed," he hissed, arms stiff at his sides.
Sera rested a hand upon his shoulder, the burning of his self-hatred buffeting against her soul. 'You have failed at nothing. The answer may only await another season of seeking and listening; until your soul is ready for the answer it requires. You have but to continue forward in patience.'
"There are too many questions!"
His frustration mounted, muting the wind Sera knew attempted to speak to him. 'Then let us answer these questions, so their power will fade and your strength will grow.'
The dragoon's hands opened and closed, repeatedly fisting as he fought with his control and calm. He shot her a glance before speaking again. "How?"
'Come. Journey with me to the summit once more.' Sera stepped forward, hearing the crunch of boot upon the path behind her as he followed.
She lifted her staff as they approached the summit. A massive white circle of symbols and old script appeared on the level ground. Sera stepped within it, standing in the direct center before facing the dragoon. He remained on the outside, body rigid and eyes yet focused on the earth.
Sera produced a hand. 'Come forward, Lord Dragoon.'
His gaze flicked to hers before obeying. Sera took hold of his hand and drew him into the center of the magic circle. Once again she lifted her staff and called down the protective barrier. She directed the dragoon to stand fully in front of her, his hand loosely clasped in her own gentle grip.
'The questions you ask will be answered here, within this circle. However, you must remember that answers are malleable. As in anything in life, our course is constantly evolving. Therefore, our questions and answers, our futures and possibilities, alter with them.' Sera gave his hand a slight squeeze, and he lifted his gaze to hold hers. The orb of her staff glowed. 'Ask your first question, my lord.'
He clenched his jaw.
His handsome features twisted, the muscle of his jaw throbbing with rage and shame. Yet, this time, there came no rumble nor burning from the barrier. She felt no icy rage nor spark from the man's soul. There remained silence, nothing to lead her to the question which would find the answer he so desperately craved.
A tear fled and dripped upon her cheek. 'Lord Dragoon, I cannot be of use if you do not voice the question. The silence of the wall keeps my gifts sealed and your help distant. Please.' She sought out his gaze as yet another tear fell. 'Please, my lord, ask the question so that I may be of help.'
The dragoon lowered to one knee, his chin brushing against the armor of his chest. "Forgive me, my lady. I cannot do as you request. The wall was built to protect my friends from the weaknesses which caused me to do evil. I cannot allow you to view them. Nor can I allow them power. The wall must remain."
'My Lord Dragoon, you decree too harsh a punishment upon yourself.' Sera lifted his head with a gentle touch beneath his jaw, her eyes seeking his. Determination burned bright within their depths. 'Why must you alone battle the weaknesses beyond this wall? Who decreed this punishment? The king? An Oracle? Did a great sage determine this battle should be yours alone?'
The dragoon removed her hand from his jaw. "No."
'Then why have you done so?' He made no answer. Sera knelt, lowering her staff and taking his hands firmly in hers. His gaze refused to rise to hers. 'My lord dragoon, battles are more easily won when waged in the presence of friends.'
"Yes."
'And you are now aware of a weakness that must be strengthened.' The dragoon's gaze finally met hers. 'So do not refuse the help that is offered to you. Accept it and stand.'
"And should the consequence of standing against the wall be your death?" He pulled his hands from hers. "No."
Sera released a deep breath as she continued to watch his face, her hands delicately clasped in her lap. He only stared at the ground. Silent within and without. The silence hurt her. Goaded her to action in such a way as would cause deeper agony. Her gifts were not her own. If the mountain decreed an action, she could not force him to seek a different end.
'Very well.' She took up her staff and closed her eyes. Upon opening, she stood again before the wall. She laid a hand upon its smooth and cold surface. The orb upon her staff began its white glow, so bright the entire barrier was bathed with light. Sera's form began to pass through--A hand caught her by the arm and pulled her back. The dragoon's his eyes burned with horror.
"No. You must not enter there, my lady Oracle."
'This past will not be allowed to bar your way to your new future, anima questio. If I alone must quest to find the key to its destruction, then I am ready to do so for you. I am Oracle. This is my gift.'
"No." The dragoon pulled her farther from the solid door, his fingers tightening until her arm throbbed. "I will ask the desired question, but you must not quest beyond the wall."
'Will this question help you design the removal of the wall? Or will it serve only to distance me from my purpose?' The answer came in his lowering of gaze. She smoothed her hand over his grip, easing its panicked hold. 'My lord, the builders of this wall reside in your history. You must usher this away from your soul. If you do not, I greatly fear that your friends will lose you to the silence. As I have.'
"My lady Oracle . . . ." He faced the wall, examining it as Sera did his profile and the expressions therein. "How do I remove a barrier that well may release a monster?"
'Open the door to your history. Allow it to speak the story of your character.'
The dragoon cringed from her, a clap of thunder shaking against the wall. "No."
'My lord, you must relinquish its hold on you, or you will never be freed to that destiny which awaits you. In the telling of the story of your past the power of the barrier is depleted and you are given new life.'
"I cannot confess these horrors to you, my lady!"
'What horrors have been done that I have not already seen? I have witnessed death and life, treachery and honor. I have witnessed murder and the giving of new life.'
Sera cupped his face, her staff clattering to the stone at her feet and releasing the pair to the reality of the white circle. She willed the urgency and concern she felt to be shared by his spirit. The dragoon blinked down at her, his eyes wide. 'To be free from the wall you must confess the weaknesses you hide behind it, my lord Kain, Dragoon of Baron.'
THREE
Seeking a Future Name
Kain could see nothing save the clear blue of the Lady Oracle's eyes, horror tightening as a stone within his middle. He re-coiled, distancing the taint of his evil from her touch as he brushed her hands from his face.
'Yes. I know the name of your past.' Her tone soothed his soul as the morning dew to cracked lips. 'I have seen visions of this man's actions controlled by a black heart and soul.' The Oracle rose to her feet, face yet hidden by the shadows of her white robe. 'It is the name of your future we seek, Lord Dragoon. As King Cecil sought and found his new future, battling the darkness of his past self.'
Kain turned away, but he could not venture farther down the mountain path. He fisted his hands.
'It is the future the Prince of Eblan and his Summoner desire for you. One of happiness and wholeness. It is the future the Elder of
Mysidia has wished for you. A future filled with peace. It is the future the woman you once loved wishes for you daily. One of love and family. It is the future name this mountain desires to guide you toward, my lord dragoon. But I have the freedom to do so only should you allow me beyond the silence to the voices. When you face them, that is when they cease to have power over your waiting future.'
"And what future should I seek?" His voice sounded as a low rumble, so desperate was he to hold back this tide of hope. "You have seen my past. What future do I deserve but the life of constantly seeking a peace I do not?"
Kain noticed, again, the bright glow of the gem on the apex of her staff--He heard children's laughter and the melody of a woman's greeting. He paled and turned, his eyes focusing on the images of family within the white circle. An older version of himself walked toward a simple home outside Baron Castle. He wore the armor of Guard Captain for the Baron Kingdom, an insignia of the highest honor emblazoned upon his breastplate.
Two boys stood there, ceasing their sword play to charge toward him in welcome. A young girl of five years ventured after them, a doll dragging behind her as she reached for his hand, her pale hair aglow in the late afternoon sun.
'This is a future waiting,' the Oracle intoned with gentle passion. 'Not enough? What of this?'
The oak staff shifted in her grasp, and with it the images. Another collection of years passed. He stood, distinguished and content as he trained an older pair of sons in the techniques of battle. A beautiful daughter cheered from the sidelines, within her delicate hands intricate needlework mirroring the stitching of her mother, a woman of ethereal beauty and eyes bright with joy. She gazed upon her family with adoration, love caressing her lips with such intensity his heart ached for its reality.
'Or this? Would this future be enough, my lord?'
The images blurred and shifted, focusing on the cathedral within Baron Kingdom and rows of soldiers and citizens as he led his smiling daughter to the young man waiting at the altar beyond.
The King's own son.
A royal marriage. A future of prosperity, happiness, and honor for his daughter . . . and his own sons standing near the King in the armor of the dragoons with honors decorating their tunics and hanging from their necks. Futures of honor. Lives of protection and duty--Kain turned away, tearing his helmet from his head. "Stop." It clashed to the ground. "Stop, I say!"
The laughter and images faded, and her oak staff lowered. She rested a hand upon his shoulder. 'My lord, this is a waiting future. One you deserve. A future your friends wish for you.' Her hold tightened as she turned him to face her, her features yet hidden in the shadows of her cowl. 'Will you truly turn your back on these? Will you not fight also for the protection of these souls? Will you not give them their lives?'
"How . . . ?" Kain shook his head. "How can this be possible? I know of no such woman as would have me: a traitor and villain."
'This destiny awaits your forward step, my lord dragoon. You must quest through the horrors of your past and realize their importance.'
He clenched his jaw. "Importance, my lady Oracle? My history caused pain and death, nearly collapsing the kingdom I had sworn to protect. How do I find importance within treachery?"
'You seek it. You compare who you were to who you now are and seek the beauty within the change.' The Oracle turned his head toward her with a firm but gentle hand to his jaw. Her silver-blue eyes sparkled. 'You admit the strengths caused by the overcoming of the weakness.'
The need for this future rose within Kain like a torrential wave. He fisted his hands, driving them into his eyes as if to rub the vision from his mind. But the desire already burned his soul. He ached to hear the laughter of family, to feel the pride of fatherhood. He lowered himself to one knee, head lowered. "Guide the quest, my lady Oracle, for this future I will seek."
The Oracle rested her hand on his head. The warmth of her touch eased the pain of the visions. 'This future will have you, my lord.'
~*~*~
Sera watched the dragoon as he knelt within the center of the white circle, mentally preparing for the first journey beyond the wall. Solemn. Girding himself for the viewing of a past treachery. Steeling himself against the horror of witnessing the dishonor of an honorable man. Yet the wall kept his pain silent, viewed only by the expressions of his face and the actions of his body. Sera could not use her gift to lessen the weight of that guilt and anguish. Lord Dragoon Kain of Baron was forced to carry it alone.
Sera lowered her scrutiny to the softly glowing pearl of her staff, feeling the tears streak her flushed cheeks and allowing them to do so in plain view of all. She mourned his pain, and her inability to relieve the agony. She mourned the man whose honor had become so horribly twisted. I shall give his silence voice. I shall give his future a name.
And the vision of that future . . . .
Sera lifted her gaze to another regard of his handsome countenance. She had witnessed the vision of his future before their journey this day to the summit, but only his honor as Baron's Guard Captain and the home waiting outside castle walls. The warmth waiting within its bright rooms. She had not seen the family and their possible futures.
Not until today.
Lord Kain released a deep breath. Sera stepped forward. 'Are you ready, my lord?'
He gave a brief nod as he stood to his feet, eyes averted as he kept a slight distance from her. "Lead on, my lady Oracle."
Sera moved to stand close beside him, resting a hand on his back and lifting her staff and attention ahead--to the wall. The pearl glowed as a sun, setting the white circle and their protective barrier ablaze. When the light faded, a towering door stood before them, the wall stretching as far as the eye could see to the left or right.
Sera reached for the mangled handle of iron. Lord Kain brushed her hand away, his body rigid beneath her touch. The wall seemed to moan against the visitation to the memory. 'Release the memory, my lord,' she urged.
His hand gripped the handle with white-knuckled control as the memories beyond the door groaned and rumbled. Then he pulled the way open, their vision of the memories obstructed by inky darkness.
Sera shifted her gentle hold to his arm and pressed her staff farther into the dark, the pearl emitting a pulse of burning light. 'Awake, memories. Your silence is given voice.'
FOUR
Oracle
The closing of the entry shuddered through Sera's spirit unlike any heard before. 'There is an intensity here that begs a question.' A question which sought voice as desperately as he wished it given. Lord Kain regarded Sera's reaction to the oppression with a stealthy glance. His hesitation bordered on fear at what she would both sense and see. He still did not understand what her role as Oracle meant for all who journeyed, past and future.
Her hold remained upon his arm, resisting his forward step into the dark. ‘One moment, my lord dragoon.’ The strike of her staff upon the granite at their feet cracked the air, echoing outward as a wave of light banished the darkness.
Cliffs aflame with the red of a bright sunrise accosted their vision, Lord Kain shielding his eyes with a raised arm. Sera smiled, her eyes drinking in the lush green of the valley that poured from the cliffs and led to a rippling river of white water and laughter. Mighty cedars stood as stoic sentinels at the valley mouth, their regal boughs waving welcome in the brisk breeze tumbling from the cliffs surrounding them.
A strangled shout from Lord Kain grabbed at her spirit and her external attention. His soul shuddered under the weight of the memories, agony like acid to her touch of comfort. The pressure of her fingers upon his arm firmed as her gaze drank in the warring expressions on his features reflected on the wall around his soul. ‘Give the memories voice, lord dragoon.’
"You know of the attack on the village Mist, village of the Summoners?" he asked through clenched teeth.
'I do.' Sera reached forward to the wall of silence with her staff and touched one block. It vanished.
"Cecil and I were se
parated there. He was left to a discovery of his fate." The dragoon's voice lowered. "I was given a different one."
Sera touched another block of the wall. It vanished, and she willed her comfort and compassion through the slowly growing hole to the hurting man beyond.
The dragoon pointed roughly ahead of him to the images. "That is me, my mind being twisted and tortured into submission. My soul being poisoned with hatred and jealous rage for a man I saw as my own brother." He pointed again before focusing an agonized gaze to Sera's ever watchful eyes. "That is the image of my honor being tainted with darkness before my first act of treachery. That is the man who hides behind the wall we destroy, my lady Oracle."
Sera shattered another block. 'That is the image of a man who no longer exists. The darkness was abolished, by your hand as well as those of your friends.' She motioned to the images with her staff. 'Remember. Dispense the darkness and the image with a memory of that final victory, my lord dragoon.'
The dragoon held her gaze, fisting his hands before speaking. "Yes. I remember that victory." The images of darkness within the circle began to shift as another few blocks vanished under the gentle tap of her staff. "A sweet victory over hate and the lust for power. A total victory over a darkness that turned brother against brother and friend against friend."
The memories fully shifted to the final moments of the battle against Zeromus--a victory over pure hatred. The rigidity of Lord Kain's body lessened, and the groan of the wall ceased. Sera touched another block, this time with a tender touch of hand, and it vanished.
"Yes," he said in a less harsh tone. "Yes, that was a sweet victory of vengeance."
'And what strengths have you gained from this weakness?' He released her gaze to scrutinize the victorious battle against Zeromus. 'What blessings have you been given that turn the darkness to light?'