'Dana'
This was the only way she knew something was wrong, especially where these old woman were concerned. Only when they call her by her birth name and not "Princess". She was still clueless as to what she had supposedly done wrong this time. She could've sworn that the Oracle had a proud smile when she first saw her materialize in front of her but then things just couldn't be that simple for her. Of course something went wrong, she couldn't have just done it so easy without complicated stuff. She could make a wild guess and say something was wrong with her new found acquaintance based on the fact that the Oracle only changed her face when she laid her eyes on Shriek. The strange thing for Dana was the sudden smug look on her guiding spirit's face, the kind that you find in a child after pulling off something really naughty.
"Rhea"
"Shriek"
'Oh. . . so they know each other' was Dana's first thought when a staring contest looked to want to become an actual exchange of whatever voodoo powers these two have.
The Oracle was the first one to break eye contact. We have to fix this Princess, come with me. She said with her back already facing at Dana. She felt like a child that just let her favourite role model down with a spit in the face, worst case being in front of a crowd. She honestly felt trapped between a rock and a hard place with these two. She got the sense that they had a lot of pent up issues, like they had a lot to talk about but somehow both of them decided that their conversation is best left untouched in front of her. The atmosphere was so thick you could literally cut it with a knife but what made her feel awkward is that she felt like she had to take a side which she truly couldn't even begin to understand the stakes. Why did everything have to be so difficult for her especially when she was so clueless about what was going on and so she took a neutral stance and looked at both of these frenemies or whatever else they considered themselves to be? She figured she had time to even open her mind to imagination and so she dared to even wonder if it was possible that these two are ex-lovers from a millennia ago.
What is it that I am missing here. . .
"Why do you set out to deceive the child Shriek?" the Oracle boomed with her voice, ominous as ever. The air suddenly got heated as if there was a raging inferno in the ceiling of the room.
"Do not try the flare with me, things could get dangerous really quick, especially for the young one you have been trying so hard to protect or was that a ruse?" he smirked again, as if trying really hard to irk the woman in front of him.
"Can someone please explain what is happening right now? Did I do something wrong?" Dana couldn't take it anymore and so she asked the question that was eating at her consciousness.
"This is Shriek, I am certain his pride wouldn't let him talk to anyone without identifying himself with that ridiculous name. He was not supposed to have come here, we locked him away in the bowels of this chamber. He is what you would call the first Oracle say like an original vampire in the fantasy movies you children watch and like the night creatures, this one is also ruthless with a touch of a big ego"
"Don't forget to mention your first love"
Rhea threw a cold gaze to the blabbering Shriek.
"Stop flattering yourself Shriek, you are nothing of that sort" she retaliated.
'Yep, I hit it spot on. These are ancient lovers or even deeper than that. At least that part is sorted but now why does it seem like they are fighting over me? I don't get why he seems to give off a sinister vibe like someone with a cynical agenda. It doesn't help that he sees me as some sort of an expendable pawn" Dana tried to put the pieces of the puzzle unfolding before her together for something. . . anything to start making a little bit of sense to her.
"That is all beside the point now little Rhea, I have seen how you let things slide so easily along the decades. I am here as an accountability partner, if you may. We can no longer sit back and allow this behaviour of yours to go on. What say you we talk away from the young one" Shriek insisted.
Dana was not entirely zoned out of what was happening right in front of her and so she didn't miss the slight trembling that the woman she had come to consider as the strongest tried so hard to conceal. She tried to put on a brave front, acted like the words of the first Oracle didn't intimidate her. In fact she tried to downplay the whole situation, she had her brows tightly knitted as if she wanted to defend herself or feel that she was being accused unjustly. If Dana wasn't such an observant person she would've thought the woman was a solid bulletproof against the new company.
"Look, I am sorry if I am causing you trouble. I didn't mean to be here, heck I didn't want to be here and please don't get me wrong, I wasn't kidnapped but my life just suddenly stopped being mine and now I have this ridiculous feeling like I just made matters worse although I don't have any idea why that is. Maybe you can just zap me back to my old plain life. That was a lot more peaceful than the last couple of months since you all came into my life"
There it was again, the tantrums!
"Breathe young one, take a long deep breathe" he talked to her as if she were her five year old self and weirdly enough, she did feel like she was in the presence of something as old as time itself so she didn't protest. "You are one of the reasons I am here, so in a way you could say you made matters worse but not for yourself although I do think your fath-"
"Don't you dare Shriek" her eyes flared again, her fears forgotten when Shriek nearly spouted something of a forbidden conversation. This was one thing she thought Dana might not yet be ready to hear. She knew this could just be a projection of her own fears of what might become of the girl more than anything and Shriek knew this.
"Say it" It was safe to remember that the presence in front of her was as ancient as it was powerful but this was the second time that something like this happened to her and like a dog with a bone to pick, she wasn't going to let it go so easy this time around. "What is it that everyone seems to know about me that somehow, I am not supposed to know? It's not like I am suddenly going to grow a pair of devil horns and red eyes if I heard it" Dana suddenly flipped but unlike all the others before, her new companion seemed all too happy to make the big reveal albeit the cold stares he got from the other woman in the room.
"How much do you know about the man who took your fling from you?" Shriek directed the question at Dana.
'huh. . . what's the Lord of Vengeance got to do with any of this' Dana pondered shortly before something else registered in her mind.
Sasha. . .
"It wasn't a fling" she raged at the man who seemed to lack anything sympathy. Was he just being an arse to rile her up? Or this was just his miserable existence? She didn't even want to find out.
"I suppose how long it lasted doesn't matter then" he shrugged nonchalantly before he dragged a long sigh like someone exhaling a cigarette "case in point being your knowledge of Rudrik"
Even the mere mention of his name made her blood boil
'Breathe Dana' she reminded herself.
"I know that I will have to kill him" was all that she could say.
"Such fire. . . the conviction in your voice is refreshing but whether or not that statement will ever come to pass is a different story altogether. Do you know why someone like you would be of interest to the dark lord?"
"I don't know and frankly, my not knowing borders on the not caring line. I only care for my vengeance and that's all I need to know. And besides, who knows why I keep attracting egotistical freaks?" the last part was very condescending and intentionally so, she had felt the prick when he said 'someone like her'. Like what the hell!
"That's your mistake right there young one. Rudrik is dark, yes but he is not a maniac. He has a reason for setting his eyes on you and that by proxy has awaken me from my slumber to also set my sights on you. We have only that in common with him but for different reason, Rudrik only wants his blood whereas I would be what you call, THE BOMB SQUAD"
'only wants his blood'
She felt the build-up of the rush until it went full-fledged. She felt the blood drain from her face until she could literally feel raw electricity pulses in her hair. She dreaded the meaning but she needed the confirmation.
"You mean. . ." she couldn't even bring herself to say the whole thing with her mouth.
"Yes young one, the big secret that everyone won't tell you is the fact that Rudrik is actually your father" he smirked again.
"What have you done" Rhea suddenly panicked, a feeling that felt foreign even to her but she could feel it. The smell of a collision was staggeringly powerful. The girl was about to merge their two worlds. Rudrik will find them, now granted a free pass by this hot headed, egotistical maniac all for his lust for combat, he was after all the God of War.
'Let there be war' Shriek mused darkly. . .