"What else can you do?" Dana's interest was piqued and she couldn't even try to hide it. She was just pushing it to see if the Oracle would give her a straight answer for a change. She saw a smile brush past her face, probably the second time the older woman showed a semblance of human emotion. Dana had almost assumed that being part of their coven meant getting rid of their human emotions or something creepy like that. She took that as an indication of a lot more than just what she had seen. Things were not all glum and grey after all, it finally seemed like Dana was going to get power. . .
Power.
Even thinking about it gave her tingles down her spine. She was finally going to learn and embrace her new identity, she was going to be free at last, be in the know like everybody else in her life. She was going to be able to fight back when something decides to attack her in the middle of nothing as if it just popped out of thin air, only to vanish just as fast after delivering a slap right across her face. Tainting her for being powerless as if she was supposed to fight back. She drew in a lungful of breath at that thought.
'Things are finally going to fall in to place in my life' she said to herself.
The Oracle continued leading her down a spiralling staircase that seemed endless, it was dark with a few candles posted by the wall every ten feet from each other giving a bit of light so that it wasn't completely dark seeing as there were no windows in sight to at least let in streaks of sunlight here and there. Dana had been subconsciously trying to keep count of how many floors they had passed until her mind started wandering. She started noticing something strange about this cave-like establishment.
"Hey, do you uhm. . . mind if I ask you a question" she blurted out
"I don't think that telling you I mind will stop you from asking anyway, will it?" The Oracle gave her a look as if she really didn't want her to ask her question but she was going to indulge her anyway.
"What's up with the whole floor being empty except for one door at the curve of each staircase before leading to another staircase? Like it's just an empty hall whose sole purpose is to house a door to a patio or something"
"One thing at a time Princess, one thing at a time. For now your focus should be on meditation. It will do you no good to overload you information that is of no consequence to you at this point. It will only distract you from your true purpose"
Cryptic
Dana had been basing her questions on the flip of a coin, knowing the possibilities were balanced at a solid fifty fifty chance. She was okay letting it go for now but if there was one thing that she had learned, it was the fact that everything in this place was well thought out. It represented something or at least served a certain purpose that only the residents of this place knew about.
The Oracle finally halted in front of a solid brick wall. Dana immediately got her senses on alert thinking they have probably run into some sort of danger. Blame it on her unfortunate encounters in the last couple of months but as of late, she had been walking around with a cautious edge, looking at everyone as a possible threat. This was no different.
"Your training begins now. I need you to listen to me because everything I am about to tell you now is critically important and I will only tell you once so listen very carefully. Beyond this door lies all the answers you seek to fill in the blanks you have been caring with you all your life but in order for you to get to them, you need to follow my lead. First you need to focus all your mind, body and soul so that you can do what I'm about to show you. Focus on the energy within you, it will guide you and help you be in sync with everything around you" she then exhaled loudly only to draw a lungful of breathe in, closed her eyes and walked right through the wall
What the?!
She knew she shouldn't be surprised by now given the nature of these people. The woman just walked right into a wall and phased as if she was an apparition of herself and not in her actual physical form, talk about astral projection at its peak. Wait was she also expected to do the same?
Ha!
Just when Dana thought she had seen the core of the madness, things just took a turn for the crazier, well if that is even a real phrase. This suddenly became a rollercoaster ride for her. She got too excited without even noticing the outward output of her emotions, they ran unchecked until she noticed that there was suddenly a bright blue spark floating about. This startled her and made her spin around to try and locate the source of the light.
"Is the Oracle back so fast, probably to laugh at my stupid incredulity" Dana thought out loud
Something seemed familiar about the glow though but for the life of her, she couldn't point the exact thing that made her feel a sense of familiarity. Her eyes wandered on the walls and still felt the sense of belonging from them that she got the first time she got thrown in this place. It felt as if they were alive.
Weird.
She tried to remember how the Oracle just closed her eyes and breathed in and out, she mimicked even the face she made as if she had just tapped into a well of stillness inside her that comes pouring out as soon as she wills it.
"Uhm. . . I don't feel any different to before I closed my eyes" she exhaled, feeling a brush of anxiety wash over her. She closed her eyes again, this time taking a step closer to the wall. She told herself she can do it. Dana was no stranger to being her own anchor, her own cheer leader and the support of both her parents just made it that much more flawless.
She tried to focus really hard, exhaled loudly pushing the air very slowly out of her lungs and then took a deliberate long minute to inhale the air back into her lungs again. She took another step towards the wall, she was simply standing three feet away from it before she took the first step towards it, she knew for sure she was standing close to it now and so she chinned up and walked right up to it.
Bang!
She let out an ungodly swear the moment she was sent hurling at least seven feet away from where she started. She did think that it wouldn't be that easy. Nothing about this part of her life was ever easy. If it even gave her that idea, she instantly knew it was too good to be true because it wasn't true.
"What am I not doing right" she asked herself that question as she got herself up from the ground to go back to her starting point.
'Focus on the energy within you, it will guide you and help you be in sync with everything around you'
The words of the Oracle rang in her head again, this time when she got within three feet of the wall, she sat down as if she was about to meditate with her back upright and her legs crossed over each other at her ankles. She put her arms out, stretching them before putting them on her thighs. She stilled her mind and exhaled and then breathed in again. She felt something go off as if a pulse is leaving her body and moving out of her body. She focused on that feeling and tried to follow where it lead her. It went to the wall and then rebounded back to the centre of her chest. She saw this happen in a back and forth motion as if the pulse kept attacking the wall, the strange thing being that the wall had some sort of countering pulse, as if it was resisting her. She exhaled again, trying to dig deeper. Deeper than she had ever done in her life, then drew the air in again. This seemed to open her third eye in a sense that she suddenly saw lines tracing the very oxygen she was breathing in. she still had her eyes closed but she could now see lines tracing literally everything around her.
"Princess. . ."
She suddenly heard a new voice inside her head. She was sure it was new because she had had the privilege of hearing all the other woman speak during their little argument when she came in.
"Who are you?" she asked tentatively, careful not to scare away her new companion
"I am Shriek"
"Shriek" Dana tested the name in her lips and found that she liked how it sounded, she felt a sudden rush to comfort Shriek. To let him know she wanted him to stay. "It is nice to make your acquaintance Shriek"
"As am I Princess. I am your guiding spirit. Thank you for finally letting me out" Shriek had a stern voice, smooth and emotionless "now let us get you to breakthrough. You want to go through that wall right" to which Dana nodded
"Take my hand" Dana did, she stood up and took his hand which was the only thing that had fully manifested to its physical form and the next thing she knew, she was standing in front of the Oracle who looked fairly pleased with her "you finally made your Break through. . ." she was saying until she saw the manifestation of Shriek next to her. Her pleasant face turned to stark horror which confused Dana, she also turned to look at Shriek who had a pleasant smile on his face.
"What have you done Dana!" the Oracle screamed