Nanowrimo 2023 Weekend Update - Day 18 + 19 (Patreon)

This weekend I added a total of 2,834 words to my project bringing the total word count up to 32,256!

“Welcome, Fionna, Oracle of Orange,” the Oracle of Blue announced, snapping Ayden from her thoughts. She placed a laurel of marigolds upon Fionna’s head with a matronly smile. “With you, we are complete once more.”

Fionna made to match her smile with one of her own, but her lips stopped halfway. Her body stiffened and her eyes glazed over, the peachy color spreading over her pupil and sclera until it was one solid shade. Ayden felt her heart jump into her throats.

“What’s happening?!” she demanded, limping forward as fast as she could. Something was wrong. Something was terribly wrong! Fionna’s body moved in sharp, jerking twitches. It looked torturous, yet no sounds of pain left her lips.

“Wait!” The Oracle of Blue shouted, holding out a hand as her own eyes glazed over in the same way. “A prophecy comes!”

Ayden froze. A prophecy? Now? After all this time? She felt strong hands wrap around her arms, Percival’s warmth against her back as he pulled her away from Fionna’s jerking form.

Suddenly, Fionna tipped back, her eyes wide and unseeing. Her mouth opened wide, and when the voice came it was not Fionna’s.

“Little fire grow and spread over land and sea.” Fionna’s lips did not move as the voice spoke through her. It was melodic, the words just on the edge of being sung. Ayden looked at the other Oracles, each frozen with their hands clasped in prayer. Their eyes shared the strange monochromatic glaze as Fionna’s, and their lips seemed sealed shut. “Burn the ancient and profane. Phoenix rise from white ashes. Create the world anew in our own image.”

Fionna let out a deep, shuddering sigh. Her body loosened, and she fell to the floor like a rag doll. Ayden rushed to her side, Addie not far behind. She pulled Fionna up, resting her head against her shoulder as the newly crowned Oracle heaved breaths.

“Are you alright?” Addie asked gently, dabbing at Fionna’s sweaty forehead with a kerchief.

“W-What was that?” Fionna asked, her eyes wide with fright.

“That,” the Oracle of Blue said, leaning heavily on Percival as he and Laurent helped the elder Oracles up, “was a prophecy. The first in many, many years.”

“What did I say?” Fionna asked cautiously. “I don’t…I don’t even know what I said.”

“Little fire grow and spread over land and sea. Burn the ancient and profane. Phoenix rise from white ashes. Create the world anew in our own image,” Laurent recited. He looked to the Yellow Oracle. “But what could that possibly mean?”

Ayden inhaled deeply, steadying her pounding heart. “It’s about me.”

She could feel the eyes on her before she even looked up to meet them, her lips pressed into a pale, thin line.

“How do you know?” Percival asked.

Ayden let out a bitter, breathy laugh. “My name.”

“Your name?” Fionna echoed, shifting to sit up on her own. “What about your name.”

“The very first words of the prophecy were ‘little fire’. And…that’s what my name means.” Ayden looked down, a small wave of nostalgia bringing tears to her eyes. “My mother was questioned quite a bit when I was younger for it. It’s a rather unusual name for a young woman. And besides. Whiteashes?” She grasped a handful of her own white hair and gave it a rough tug. “What else could it be talking about?”

“Uh, me?” Fionna said, gesturing to her own white hair.

Addie elbowed her in the side playfully. “You’re the one who said the prophecy, you numpty.”

“But there’s one part I don’t understand,” Percival said. “What did it mean by ‘our own image?’”

The Oracle of Blue hid a chuckle behind a cough. “You’ve never seen a full depiction of Iris, have you, young lord?”

Percival and Laurent looked to her in confusion. “What do you mean?” Laurent asked.

The Oracle of Blue nodded towards one of the many doors the led into the chamber. “Follow me.”

“Is this a good idea?” the Oracle of Violet asked cautiously. “No one beyond the Oracles have seen it before.”

“Seen what?” Fionna asked, pushing herself up using Ayden and Addie’s shoulders to keep her steady.

The Oracle of Violet’s eyes darted nervously back and forth. “The first image of Iris ever created. The one all others are based off.”

Ayden hauled herself up, ignoring Fionna’s offered hand. “The first?”

The Blue Oracle nodded once more to the door. She did not have to repeat her words to get Ayden marching her way. The others quickly followed behind as the Oracle led them to a door that looked much like the others, until you noticed the mother of pearl hinges, hidden in the shadows. When opened, it led down a spiraling staircase. The Oracle led them down at a clipped pace, and Ayden had to reach for the heaviness in her veins she now recognized as magic to keep up. Beyond the stairway was a long, dark stone tunnel. The walls were damp and covered in moss, the rocks dotted with opalescent flecks that shown in the dim light.

They continued in silence, not even Laurent offering up a quip as he usually did. Eventually, Ayden could spot light at the end of the tunnel as it quickly approached. She had to hold up a hand and squint as they stepped out into a lush grotto, the sound of a thousand, tiny, trickling waterfalls filling the space like a chorus. They emptied into a crescent-shaped lake, the water clear blue and teaming with white fish whose scales shimmered like mother of pearl as water poured in from the root-covered hole above them. Flowers of every Sacred Hue dotted the lush, grassy meadow at their feet.

“Where are we?” Fionna whispered, reverence and awe coloring her words.

“This… is the most sacred of locations on the island,” the Oracle of Blue explained, hands held palms up as if offering a prayer.  “This is where Iris first came down from the heavens on her rainbow, blessing our world with life and the Sacred Hues. And this… is our most enduring image of her.”

Ayden felt her breath catch in her throat as the Oracle stepped aside, revealing the figure before them. A statue so lifelike that Ayden nearly thought she could see it breathing. Ivory skin draped in white robes that could not possibly be made of stone, yet clearly were. Eyes made of shimmering opals that reflected every Hue watched her as she approached. Hair drifted down her back in the way a leaf drifts down a river. And it was white. And yet, at other angles, it was some shimmering collection of pastel Hues. Iridescent. Beautiful. But always going back to white. Ayden swallowed thickly around the lump in her throat.

“It’s like hers,” she whispered, her cane falling to the soft grass below as both hands came up to tug at her hair. “All this time…it’s been like hers.”

“But…then why was the threat against an Empire of White?” Percival asked.

The Oracle of Blue shook her head. “I wish I knew. It’s been so many years since the prophecy was spoken. I am the only Oracle from that time left, and even I feel the time in my bones now. White is…the lack of all color. Iris once carried all the colors in her hair and eyes, but she gifted them to us, her children. Perhaps, should we fall into senseless war, she would take the Hues back into herself in sorrow.” She shook her head once more. “I wish I had more answers for you.”

Ayden stared up at the statue, an ember of certainty burning in her gut. "We need to get back."

"Her Highness is correct," Addie agreed. "We can't leave Lady Jasper waiting."

The eldest Oracle turned to Fionna. "Go with them, Sister Orange."

Fionna looked at her in shock. "But I just got here..."

"Yes, but our prophecy has not yet been spoken to the people," the Oracle said. "And I can think of no better candidate than you. Besides, these people risked life and limb to bring you from your forgotten kingdom. It's only right you see them through their own quest."

Fionna bowed her head, a hand gripping at the white fabric of her robes. "Yes, Sister Blue."

"How will they know to believe us?" Percival asked. "We could have just dressed someone up in white robes."

"All know an Oracle when they see one," the eldest said firmly. "Besides, what sort of con artist would go into the depths of the abandoned kingdom to find their fake oracle?"

Laurent flashed Percival a look. "She's got a point."

"You must go now, though," the Oracle insisted, already herding them out the way they came. "A shipment of pilgrims will be coming within the day, and with them will come knights and noble's guards. If any of them should be Red or Blue..."

They didn't need much more than that, hurrying after her. Ayden paused at the entrance to the grotto, however, and turned back to take one last look at the statue of Iris. From this distance, she almost looked like a real person. Like her.

The shout of her name broke her from her reverie, and she left the grotto behind, her eyes set on the path ahead. One she would have to paint with blood.