The Oracle Part 2

 “It will be impossible. I’ve been cursed, young boy. Cursed with knowledge. Cursed with immortality. Strike me now, and I shall return. Strike me again, and I shall return just as the ravens feast on the dead.”
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Liuk looked down. He was a Raven. He was unsure if the woman’s words were spiteful or not. He was unsure if the woman was real at all.
“I’d assumed you to be a Raven,” Liuk questioned. 
“Not by choice.”
“Was it anyone’s?”
“Oh, yes.” The Oracle stared into his eyes, menacingly. Hers were pure black, just as Liuk’s, and he knew she must’ve been a Raven herself.
“How? I did not choose this fate. I did not choose to be subjected to the terror and violence of the Amovians and their Lumentian Knight-mares.”
The Oracle laughed, a throaty raspy sound that chilled Liuk underneath his skin. “We all choose our own destiny. Even me. By choice, I’ve ended here. On a rock, in the sea, beneath the lands and the sands and the oceans. I’m not here. But I am. Whether you believe me to be true or not.” She stared into his eyes, and he swore he could feel her gaze penetrating into his very bones. “I’m surprised you are not afraid of me, young boy.”
Liuk didn’t know whether he should be afraid or not. He furrowed his brow. Was she telling him something he shouldn’t know? “What do you mean?”
“The monkey chain around your neck,” she pointed with a weathered finger. “Your brother crafted that for you. The monkey is carved from the very shell of your youth.” 
Liuk didn’t know what that meant. Was she speaking in riddles? He did not dare to ask. 
“I’d lost it… as a boy,” Liuk finally said. “I found it today. And how did you know? It is unknown how the jewel came back to me.”
“Yes,” the Oracle said. “Unknown.” 

The Oracle Part 1

The Oracle was an old woman whose age was undeterminable under the wretched clothes she wore on her frail body. Her hair was black as midnight and her eyes devoid of any color, sunken and withering. Above her own face, she wore a mask, grey as a wolf’s winter coat with cracks running down the sides until one could almost see the darkness poking from beneath.  
When Liuk arrived at her den, the door was already ajar and golden sunlight found its way inside the dark cabin. He continued forward and slowly creaked the wooden slab open until pure light painted itself over every shadow in the room. It was only one room where old pickaxes and torches lay askew, and rotten oak pieces haphazardly thrown in corners. Dust caked every surface of every object, even the Oracle herself. 
“I’ve expected you coming.” The Oracle’s voice was old, but it spoke the truth that no other mortal could give Liuk. He needed her answers.
“You’re awake?” Liuk closed the door behind him, and they were both shrouded in the darkness of the room. Dust and cobwebs floated in the air. 
“Sit and close your eyes with me.”
Liuk knew better than to question the authority of the wise Oracle. He obeyed her command without question, and slowly found an open space on the floor to make room for comfort. The stone floor was icy, and cracks made it so he could feel grass and weeds growing between the crevices. As he traced his fingers against the stony pavement, he was jolted awake by the cold waters of the sea wetting his skin. The room smelled of salt and death.