09

It was truly an lobby, but no entrance doors. The only entrance and exit was the top of all that staircase on which we went down. Looking from below, it seemed impossible that I had gone down what didn't look like more than a few minutes. And going up would be an even greater penance. But I had no plans to go back the same way I arrived, and I took a hand on my chest to make sure to hide the shape of the necklace on my chest, even though I knew that the blue light still shone against the leather of my clothes.

Not to say that there was nothing in that lobby, I can mention that there was only a small opening on the wall, which could be a door of the human standard size, but that there was only an opening. Even if I spied as much as my neck could stretch, I couldn't see anything from the other. It was as if a mantle was placed over the passage, reflecting the lobby and not its interior.

"Is she on the other side? "I asked Vraxlon.

The warlord nodded.

“Choose your questions well. And choose even better what you want to give in exchange for your answers.

I agreed with my head, writing down all the information obtained up to that moment. I raised my chin and went ahead, taking Vraxlon with me. The passage made a funny sound that I only noticed when I approached. It was like the static of a radio or a television without a signal. And a primitive instinct made me raise my hand to the passage, playing it as if it were the entrance to an unknown portal.

My fingers crossed, and the first feeling I had was that of ice running through my skin. Then I threw my whole body inside, and it was like taking a very cold and long shower. My whole skin seemed to wrinkle with the jet fact that ran through my hair to my fingertips. Vraxlon seemed to have the same feeling, because he came after me jumping from one foot to the other to warm up again.

I was still feeling cold from head to toe, when I looked at the place where we had arrived. It was a circular room like the others, but immensely larger, and totally taken by a light blue flickering light. The walls and columns were extremely large, as if the occupant of that home were a giant whose size was equivalent to a mountain.

And I noticed that there were arabesques drawn against the walls, in addition to what could be drafts of unfinished drawings. Images of battles rose from the ground to the ceiling, figures that showed both humanoid creatures in beautiful and infinite landscapes, and with humans in war tanks and fields already full of bodies.

However, the creature that stood in the center of the room, trapped by the feet in a circle of thorns and chains, was a woman of my size. The hair was that bluish tone that filled all the walls of the room, only some lighter shades, which left them almost silver, and wore a long golden dress. The woman watched me, and her look was like being naked in front of an audience of more than a hundred thousand people. Every detail of my body and soul was scrutinized by his gaze. So she moved her attention to Vraxlon, and repeated the same inspection. Finally, he looked at me again.

"I was looking forward to your arrival, my old friend "he greeted her, and her voice was a mixture of all that is most beautiful and pure in the world. A song to the ears and a comfort to the soul. "Even if the circumstances are not so happy.

"Are you really the Oracle? “I asked, taking one more step.

The woman offered me the shadow of what could have been a smile.

“Obviously. And you're here for information.

"I'm here to bargain," I argued, letting go of Vraxlon's hand. "I want to offer something that may be of interest to you. And in return I want you to answer me some questions.

"Three questions and nothing else," she said, watching me carefully. "And depending on what you have to offer me. I need to clarify that I have little interest in your life, in case you have come to offer it.

"I'm not offering my life," I said, and I only stopped walking when I was already at a distance of two meters from the woman. The bluish light that spread all over the walls came from her own body and she reflected against me at the moment when we were face-to-face. "I'm here to offer my company. Tell me about yourself. About what you've been doing. About what I would like to do. Take some of my time for yourself, and then answer my questions.

The Oracle watched me with visible suspicion.

"No one has been interested in hearing my story for a long time.

"So enjoy," I said, and sat on the floor. "Tell me about everything that no one has ever been interested in hearing.

On my back, I heard Vraxlon approaching, and he also sat next to me, at Eva's feet. The woman watched both of us. Without sketching surprise, without seeming moved. Anyway, I knew what it represented that the queen of hell had bowed, even if just to sit down. I knew this could say much more about me than any story she wrote in my destiny.

And that's why I was not surprised to notice the smile stretching on the woman's lips, and it was pure satisfaction that I noticed in her tone of voice, when she also sat in front of us, like an old friend, a mother, and said:

"Of all the life stories I shared to fate, you, Elena Flamel, were the one I was most happy to write.

"Talk more about this "I was careful not to ask, not to let her use the phrase as one of the questions in our agreement. I had only three and I needed time to choose them.

"There will never be a queen as sensible and kind as you," she said with true sweetness. "Because you are destined to rule more than hell. And your story starts here and now. Right now.

Vraxlon and I sat in front of Eve, the Oracle attached to the Purgatory, listening carefully to what she narrated about her own story, offering company so that we could enter into an agreement in which she would have to answer three of my questions. She told us about the creation of the world. He told what it was like to live in the garden of Eden. She also said that she surrendered to the sin offered by Lilith, and that thus she and Adam were expelled and humanity became vulnerable to capital sins.

I listened to her with all the attention in the world, but at times, through the corner of my eyes I could see Vraxlon getting stuck or leaning over to observe the lobby outside. I wondered if she was listening to anything, although he didn't give me any sign that he felt any danger. I had the feeling that he feared that we had been followed.

"Some call me The mother of all, and for others I am just a sinner who was exiled by condemning humanity to all sins. However, I am truly the lady of Destiny. I can determine when a new life will come into the world, and I can decide its torments and overcoming. I am the one who chooses which paths humans will cross, and where their lives will end. Even so, I'm stuck in my own Destiny, and I can't create a story for myself.

"It seems like a very raw reality," I commented, observing it with fascination. Vraxlon had just turned his attention to us again, very focused on the passage we passed to see the Oracle. It was as if he knew there was already someone there. "The fact that she is trapped by her feet in a place surrounded by monsters.

The oracle threw me a smile, which did not reach his clear eyes, nor did it impact his serene features, although it really was a more genuine smile than the one I had seen before on his face. The chains on her feet blinked softly as she moved and looked down.

"No one ever seemed to worry about my reality," she said kindly, so she raised her eyes to mine again, and there was in them a very special glow of admiration. "So I say again, Elena Flamel, no matter how much you carry the spirit of a fallen angel, there is more humanity in your heart than I could ever see in another human. From the first moment you came into the world, being abandoned by a purposeless and confused human, you never stopped feeling. This is what sets you apart from all your past incarnations. You feel it. And that, even I couldn't have written in your story, that's your gift. Empathy.