İlyara stared at the Oracle for a while.
Why did the Oracle want to kill her so badly? Had she somehow ruined his life without even realizing it? A bitter smile appeared on İlyara's face at the thought.
Perhaps she really should die this time?
İlyara slowly furrowed her brows.
But she couldn't die. If the Oracle had hurt Yitan, she had to make him pay for it, didn't she?
"Did you do something to him?" she asked again. Her voice deepened as black smoke began to swirl around her hands.
The Oracle's jaw tightened.
"I'm telling you I'm going to kill you," the Oracle said. "And you're still asking me about that incompetent fool?"
İlyara continued staring at the Oracle without saying a word. A reddish hue slowly spread across her irises. Her body began to tremble.
Was what had happened to Yitan really that important?
That voice calling her "my son" was gone, too. It had disappeared along with the pure love.
İlyara clenched her jaw.
Had she transferred that emotion for nothing? Why had she done it in the first place? Perhaps Yitan really was incompetent—
"Ahh!"
Unable to bear these thoughts any longer, İlyara screamed and buried her face in her hands.
Did these thoughts really belong to İlyara?
Incompetent.
"İlyara, are you all right?" Arın asked. Though his voice sounded anxious, he kept his eyes on the Oracle.
İlyara nodded as she took deep breaths.
"I'm fine," she said.
When she heard applause, İlyara turned her gaze back to the Oracle. The sound was beginning to get on her nerves.
"Absolutely marvelous," the Oracle said, continuing to clap. "Even I could feel Morhena's concern for you."
He raised a hand to his chin and scratched it.
"And… yes. I killed Yitan."
İlyara's entire body tensed.
"He knew too much about me," the Oracle continued. "Whatever emotion you transferred to him, it could have destroyed me. I couldn't allow that, could I?"
After saying this, he lightly tapped his cane against the ground. It sank a little deeper into the dry earth with a solid thud. Then the ground began to tremble and swell. Something tore through the earth and emerged from beneath it. A nearly two-meter-tall, hairless creature with an enormous head stood before her. It was blind.
That was the humanoid creature.
A Yargar.
The ground continued to tremble, and several more Yargars emerged from the earth.
İlyara could only watch in shock and horror.
"İlyara, let's get out of here," Arın said.
He grabbed İlyara by the arm and tried to pull her away. But İlyara shifted her gaze from the towering humanoid monsters to the Oracle, who was watching her with a smile."
He didn't look frightened at all. On the contrary, he seemed pleased and perfectly at ease.
"Going somewhere?" the Oracle asked cheerfully. "First, meet my friends."
Was he controlling them?
How?
Before İlyara could respond, a Yargar suddenly lunged at her. İlyara continued staring at the enormous creature charging toward her.
She couldn't move.
She had encountered these creatures before, back in the town. But this was the first time she had seen them so clearly, in broad daylight. And there was more than one of them.
Her hair stood on end.
The creature swung its long, hooked claw at İlyara. Arın pulled her behind him and blocked the creature's attack with his sword. But the creature's hooked claw had caught the blade.
"Stay back!" Arın shouted at the creature. "You can't touch İlyara!"
İlyara's heart skipped a beat. But not out of fear.
"No one can take her away from me!"
What was Arın saying? Had what he said in that cabin really been true? Did he love her?
He does.
For the first time, İlyara felt warmth in her heart.
"Back off," Arın said. He gritted his teeth and pulled at the sword with all his strength. "İlyara, get away—"
The creature suddenly yanked the sword caught in its hooked claw, lifting Arın into the air along with it. Then the creature swung its arm, freeing the blade from its claw. Arın was flung away from the graveyard and toward the town, still holding his sword.
"Arın!"
At İlyara's cry, the other Yargars lunged toward her as well. Though blind, they had excellent hearing.
"Goodbye, İlyara," the Oracle said, turning his back and walking away.
The creatures surrounded İlyara, trapping her in their midst. They let out strange, unintelligible groans. One of them approached her. Then it sniffed her.
İlyara slowly took a step back.
The creature tilted its head to the side and listened to İlyara's footsteps. Then it licked her from head to toe with its rotten tongue.
Fear filled İlyara's body, and she squeezed her eyes shut. Perhaps if she couldn't see it, everything would be over sooner.
Run.
But something was strange. Its tongue… was dry. And İlyara felt something through that touch.
An emotion.
Could the Yargars feel emotions?
It seemed to be in pain.
When İlyara opened her eyes, she noticed that the creature's pinkish skin was beginning to turn red. So that was why she had sensed that emotion. The creature really was in pain.
An idea occurred to İlyara. If they had emotions, perhaps she could use them. Just like Elna.
The Ancient.
İlyara looked at the creature. She couldn't enter its memories because it had no eyes. Eyes were mirrors, after all. They held everything within them. Then she looked at its hand, hanging beside it, far too long for its body. It was nothing but skin and bones. Far too thin. But she could touch it.
She took a deep breath and reached out toward the creature's hand with her trembling one.
"İlyara!" Arın shouted as he ran toward her. "Don't move!"
But İlyara ignored him and touched the creature. At the contact, its hand trembled slightly. Then it turned its gaze toward its hand, as if it could see.
The creature's skin was scorching hot. İlyara wanted to pull her hand away. But it was too late now. She was certain that if she let go, the creature would attack her.
İlyara gripped the creature's hand as tightly as she could and squeezed. When it began to grow restless, she closed her eyes. Then she began drawing its emotion into herself.
Pain flooded İlyara's body, growing worse with every passing moment, because the sun's rays were practically roasting the creature alive. As it continued to burn, the smell of charred flesh began to fill İlyara's nostrils. It was making her feel sick by now.
When she felt more pain flooding into her, she opened her eyes. They widened with fear. The other Yargars surrounding her were very close. If she took a single step, she could bump into one of them.
"İlyara!"
It was Arın.
The sound of a blade sinking into flesh filled the air. Arın kept thrusting his sword into the creatures and pulling it out again, trying to drive them away from İlyara. But the Yargars weren't fighting back. They were all simply trying to get closer to İlyara.
The creatures' pained groans suddenly fell silent as a cloud covered the sun. İlyara watched in astonishment as their skin rapidly regenerated.
Were they immortal?
Help me.
İlyara froze at the unfamiliar voice echoing in her mind. Her mind was always talking. But this voice was so… real.
İlyara looked at the creature's empty eye socket.
"Are you the one speaking?" she whispered. It was ridiculous, but worth a try.
The creature tilted its head to the side. It moved its jaw as if it wanted to speak, but its long teeth made it impossible for it to utter anything beyond a groan.
Save us.
Save them?
İlyara furrowed her brows.
She didn't know what to do. How could she possibly help a Yargar?
She flinched when she felt a touch on her shoulder. Turning her head, she saw another Yargar touching her. Then another reached out to her, followed by yet another. Every Yargar that could reach her was touching İlyara.
Help me.
Help me.
Help me.
The voices in her mind began to multiply. What's more, each one was different.
"How?" she asked.
The Oracle.
The Oracle?
"Incompetents! You're all incompetent!"
It was the Oracle's voice.
The creatures suddenly began screaming in pain. As their pain rapidly flooded into İlyara, she couldn't bear it and screamed too.
"You will obey me—"
The Oracle's voice abruptly fell silent. The Yargars slowly moved away from İlyara, then sank back into the earth they had emerged from, as if nothing had happened.
As İlyara watched in astonishment, the sun emerged from behind the cloud once again, illuminating the graveyard.
Those things… had they come out of graves?
"Don't," the Oracle pleaded.
When İlyara looked in the direction of the voice, she saw the Oracle crawling backward on the ground. Arın approached him with slow, heavy steps, his sword pointed at the Oracle.
Hearing footsteps, İlyara looked around. She saw gray-armored guards and women in long black dresses running toward them. Behind them, a curious crowd was following.
How long had they been watching them?
While the gray-armored guards held back the crowd, several of the women stepped forward and raised their hands. Then a blue barrier rose from the ground to the sky, trapping İlyara, Arın, and the Oracle inside.
"No one can touch İlyara," Arın said to the Oracle. His voice was deeper and more menacing than ever. The Oracle cowered closer to the ground. Then Arın turned his gaze toward the people outside the barrier.
"I'll kill anyone who touches her."
İlyara's heart began pounding faster than ever.
The moment Arın took his eyes off the Oracle, the Oracle pulled a pouch from his pocket. As he reached inside to take something out, Arın swung his sword at him.
"Ahh!"
As the pouch flew out of the Oracle's hand, something dropped rapidly from inside it, and black smoke instantly spread across the grass. When the smoke cleared, the grass where it had landed was gone.
The Oracle's gaze shifted to the pouch lying on the ground.
"You can't escape," Arın said to the Oracle.
Then he swung his sword again, this time aiming for the Oracle's neck.