Oracles
~
Cadence
~

"We can turn back, you know?" Accalia suggested thoughtfully to Cadence.

Cadence thought for an answer but angled her head over to the sun coming above the trees and emitting rays of sunlight on her skin.

"We're not turning back!" Lycus hollered in front of them.

Accalia's hands shifted to her hips and she shot daggers at the back of his head. "Maybe we shouldn't have done this so early in the morning!"

Stalking in front of the two girls, Lycus led them to the oracle who lived off the outskirts of the main pack houses and quarters, taking solitude in an old cottage.

Lycus whipped around. "You realise, mate, you and I will not be going in with her? We're just taking her there."

Accalia stopped in her tracks and worked up a sour expression.

Lycus sent her a scathing look. "Alright, darling, don't be surprised when Vaela tells you to run along."

Shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket, he shifted away and continued his stalking.

Accalia huffed and kicked up her feet against the dirt. "I hate when he calls me that."

"What?" Cadence asked to pass the time, "Mate or darling?"

"Both! He talks to me like I'm some pet of his."

A fleeting but laughable question followed through Cadence's mind and she almost felt giddy to ask.

"Do you think he's attractive?" Cadence questioned, quirking up a thin brow.

Cadence couldn't deny the lycan prevailed in beauty like some unearthly being who shouldn't be on this earth. Damned and unnatural he was with the fur and claw. He was a dark allure one would dream of coming across but not want to cross paths with in reality.

Accalia staggered, locks of hair whipping around her. "I—er. He has done a lot of damage, Cadence, he's nothing but a beast."

Those words emitted into the air and Cadence huffed in amusement.

It didn't go unnoticed by her. Lycus went rigid in his shoulders and picked up the pace, fists clenching. 

She could have laughed at him, how pathetic he appeared. The bond between mates was doomed and cursed but even then, it would seem Lycus would gladly allow it.

The sun rose over the trees, standing brightly against the wood and inflicting warmth onto Cadence's skin. These past few days had been grim.

And it was about to get a lot worse. Cadence had only ever heard of oracles and she couldn't decipher if they were as believable as they were known to be.

Her belief would be held into question as the three walked toward a weaving path with a garden of grandeur and grace. The place bloomed in wildflowers, bright colours welcoming in the morning sun and dew soaking at the stems and roots of plants. Lavender welcomed Cadence's nostrils as her nose twitched unpleasantly. The floral aroma was stifling but sweet.

A stirring notion brewed in Cadence's stomach and she debated whether to make a run for it. She could. After all, Lycus's word held no power over her. But Accalia wanted to know, she was fretting with overwhelmed and that didn't sit right with Cadence.

Lycus knocked on the wooden door and right on that last clatter from his fist, it pushed open.

What if she's a nutcase? Cadence thought and peeked over Lycus's shoulder to snatch a look.

Frowning to herself, Cadence shrugged indifferently, feeling all the nerves dispersing as she knocked her shoulder into Accalia's.

"She's got silver eyeballs," Cadence informed Accalia.

They casted each other sheepish grins.

Lycus ran a hand through his dark hair and exchanged a few mutterings with the oracle. Words Cadence couldn't hear.

Soon enough, he stepped to the side and bade his goodbyes to the oracle.

"Goodbye, Alpha," the oracle bowed her head respectfully and then her eyes met Cadence.

The oracle's eyes were silver, like the moon. Lucent, ethereal and unlike anything Cadence had laid her eyes on. Her face was timeless and her style pertained to her youth as she wore a creamy white maxi dress with a cluster of jewellery. Gold rings around her tattooed fingers, bangles and necklaces tucked into her dress. From the tattooing painting on her black skin, long locs dangling over her short form and those stunning eyes, Cadence could truly depict the mysticism within this person.

She was human, but something more.

"Walk back when you're done, Cadence," Lycus grumbled to her.

Cadence blinked and looked away from the silver-eyed creature.

"I'm going to wait out here with her," Accalia informed Lycus. "I'll stay outside and wait. Do I need to ask your permission for that?"

Lycus sighed deeply, staring at Accalia for a little too long and then left.

"Come along, Cadence," Vaela muttered and beckoned her in.

Too rigid to spare a glance at Accalia, Cadence stepped inside and the door closed behind her with a thump.

Cadence was all hunting and sharpening weapons. Nothing more, nothing less. She felt her body was designed for it, her mind equipped for it and no more than that. She never thought of stars, prophecies and gods. Just hunters and lycans.

She was seated on a wooden creaky chair on a round table that had a navy blue cloth over it with alit candles, crystals and books falling at the seams.

Scanning the room, Cadence thought it to be quite unorganised but at the same time, orderly. Perhaps that was because many weird objects stuck out to her. Jars of subjects she wouldn't even dare to question were in odd places, symbols were hand drawn on every wall within the room and a crow with one eye was in the corner, hanging on a stick, its beady pupil unblinking at Cadence.

"What happened to the crow?" Cadence asked as she leaned her elbows on the table.

Vaela had her back turned, busying herself with a cabinet she was collecting things from.

Cadence sure as hell didn't know where this meeting was going, but she was certain, that no blood pricking, pulling a string of hair or messing with a Ouija board would be taking place here today.

"I'm not sure," Vaela responded serenely, "I found him one day, wounded and I nursed him back to health. He never left after that."

She turned and in her arms were a deck of cards, runes and a stick of incense. Drifting over to the table, she took a seat and laid everything out in front of her with acute precision.

"I'm not looking into a crystal ball," Cadence hissed.

Vaela laughed ardently, the noise wallowing through the small cottage and Cadence thought she could shatter glass.

"Now why would I ask that of you when I can just look into your mind once I have your consent? I do not need a crystal ball." Vaela responded passionately.

"Then what's with this deck of cards here? Are they tarot cards?" Cadence asked, leaning her head to gather a clear look. They were a stunning deck, embroidered with floral imagery and a pastel colour palette.

"You're close. They're oracle cards. I made these myself." Vaela answered, eyes misting with serenity.

"So why am I here exactly? Lycus has a nag for making others' decisions for them and now I'm here," Cadence informed Vaela.

The silver orbs glistened brightly, like a pallid and impelling ball of light and her dark red lips stretched into a smile, dimples showing. "He wants to uncover the suppressed memories of what occurred the night you were taken. He expressed distress that the person could be after his mate. He's just concerned."

Cadence withheld the nerves that coursed through her. Suppressed memories? Nothing was suppressed. Her brows knitted together. She remembered a name, a face, a duty — Alexene. Only ... she couldn't tell anyone else, she was ordered not to, she just had to find the item.

Because if she didn't ... they would all die.

Cadence went tense in her seat. She had to hand memories over to someone she didn't even know. What would the oracle find? What would Lycus come to know?

Cadence looked around the room, the front door. She couldn't leave now, doing that would be suspicious and she couldn't risk that. She just had to find the object. That was it.

"Were you on the road a lot when it came to hunting, Cadence?" Vaela asked gently.

Cadence shrugged and said, "Kinda. I'm eighteen, so it all depended on what I could do, but I didn't sit around a lot. If I wasn't hunting, I was at school, if I wasn't at school, I was training."

"You didn't study after your schooling?" Vaela questioned, cutting the card deck in half and shuffling them together as one.

"I didn't even complete my schooling," Cadence responded, eyeing the oracle's actions with curiosity.

A sudden caw cooed throughout the room and the dark feathered crow flew over and landed on Vaela's shoulder, jutting its beak at Cadence.

"So, what can oracles do? Are you ... magical?" Cadence felt stupid for asking.

"I'm just a human gifted with divine abilities. Supposedly, through myths and legends, I'm connected to the creator of the lycanthrope curse, but even I'm not certain we have a creator. I have abilities such as foresight, seeing the past, memory-seeing upon touch and other things."

The candles flourished as Vaela shuffled her cards away and her silver eyes blazed against the flames.

"Pick two cards, the ones you feel called to," Vaela commanded of Cadence, splaying the cards across the table like a curved rainbow.

Cadence steered back with raised eyebrows. "And what's this going to do? Tell me who I'll marry in the next three years?"

Vaela's face shifted coldly and brushed a hand across her pet crow. "You're a rude girl, you know that? Arrogant, close-minded and rude."

"Did the cards tell you that?"

Vaela sighed deeply, running a hand over her face as her eyes glazed over at the symbols that tainted her body. On one hand, the moon phases relayed in its natural and alluring cycle; waxing and waning, and on the other, depicted the atrocities that came with it. 

Cadence nibbled at her lip.

"I'm—I'm sorry," Cadence forced out quickly and hung her head. "I just feel cornered. Over the past few days, everything has been out of my control and it pisses me off."

Vaela remained passive at Cadence's explanation.

Cadence tried not to huff in exasperation, she was being honest — she didn't mean what she said. Partly. She hardly apologised to others and no one apologised to her.

Pushing along, Cadence hovered her finger over the cards and tapped one at the end and another somewhat in the middle.

"These two," Cadence decided and bit the inside of her cheek.

Cadence didn't believe for a minute these would decide her fate. They were just cards.

Vaela pulled those cards out and flipped them over.

Nothing within these two cards relayed meanings of love and life, but a message of something entirely different: Death and resurrection.

Cadence shrugged carelessly. "I'm used to death,"

Although, her gaze wandered over to the other card, that of flowers and bones embroidered in it and she didn't have much of an explanation for the resurrection card.

Vaela's silvery gaze snapped to Cadence, unblinking. "Give me your hands,"

Cadence frowned skeptically. "Do you need to touch my hands to get into my head?"

Vaela, still unblinking, nodded. "I will, yes. Do you allow this?"

Cadence figured she had no other choice and nodded, extending her hands to Vaela. She may have accepted, but that didn't mean everything would be laid out easily for the oracle. Her plans couldn't be revealed. Alexene couldn't be discovered. She had to keep Accalia and everyone else alive.

She would need to block out as much as she could.

"You will need to relax," Vaela murmured and latched her hands on Cadence.

Cadence stiffened in her seat.

A gentle push was trying to penetrate her mind, threading and probing. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to subside the sensation ticking at the surface, trying to block it all out.

"Let me in, Cadence," a voice crooned.

A force wedged and pried through. An electric, magnetic pull trying to will everything out of her.

And it was too much for her to stop it.

It was like a movie, the flashing, the fleeting moments flickering through her head and she was reliving it all again. Every bloodshed, every death, every day, everything.

It was as quick as a train, too fast for her to recount anything and too much to stop.

Until it did and Cadence's eyes snapped open, taking in the daylight to vanquish out the doom caving into her very skull.

She exhaled, chest heaving and looked straight to the oracle. "What happened?"

The oracle wasn't seated anymore. She was standing, beckoned to the closet wall and didn't dare get an inch closer.

"Your mind," Vaela uttered, her voice strained and gravelly. "There's too much there. A lot of blockages. Too much pain. I couldn't get past anything other than you being in a cave and someone talking to you. But everything was blurred, I couldn't get the words or the person."

Cadence nodded but she didn't understand a single thing other than they wouldn't know the truth. She wrung her hands together. She had more time.

"You should go Cadence," Vaela suggested and pushed her chair under her desk. Any trace of serenity faded. "I'll inform Lycus about this."

Cadence lifted her shoulder with another nod, more understanding. "Got it."

She only got to the door before the oracle called out her name.

"What?" Cadence looked back in question.

"You're in a pack of lycans and werewolves. You have to go against your nature which is to kill them, be careful this full moon." Vaela implored.

A strange and absent smile crooked across Cadence's lips. "I have no intention of killing anyone, oracle. Of course, I have to be careful."

"Be on your way," Vaela waved her off and Cadence left without another word.

~

Edited: 29/9/2024.

Cadence is ... Cadence. She's a piece of work, let's be honest.

Speaking of her, between Accalia and Cadence, which one is your favourite and why?

— Caranyx.