Chapter 24

The Oracle, who was not able to go to the palace because she had not fully recovered, got surprised to see the High Priest return quite too early. "Did the party end already or have you come for something?" She asked Lord Parafon who was looking somewhat disturbed when he entered into his cottage.

"The party is not over yet but another problem came up," he replied as he sank into a chair next to the fireplace.

"What problem, Mamadu resurrected again?" the Oracle asked teasingly. Lord Parafon replied by just looking at her and said nothing. "Ok. Sorry. What problem came up?"

"Pell returned to Dalawa," he answered tiredly.

"But that's what she does. Pell always returns Parafon. What's the fuss about this time?"

"This time she went a little too far and because of her I had a bitter confrontation with the Emperor."

"I see. So what did she do this time?"

"She enthralled Malin..."

"What?" The Oracle asked as she jumped to her feet as if she had stepped on a snake.

"You heard me," Lord Parafon answered, not interested in giving out all the details. "I need to know whether there's a way I can break her spell before tomorrow. If I don't, the Emperor..."

"Not the Emperor Parafon. If you don't, you won't have a problem with the Emperor because there will be no Dalawa empire."

"What are you talking about, is there a problem?" Lord Parafon inquired, getting surprised and worried by the Oracle's statement and the seriousness in her voice.

"No. Not a problem but problems," the Oracle said, eyeing the portal mirror that stood next to the Holly ground in the cottage.

"How did you know that mirror was there?" Lord Parafon asked, surprised that the Oracle could uncover the portal mirror.

"Because I'm the Oracle Lord Parafon."

"Really? Do you know what that mirror is?"

"What do you take me for, a fool? Of course I know the mirror very well. I have it too in my shrine."

"What? You have the portal mirror? Then you must know everything."

"No, not everything." The Oracle replied as she moved closer to the mirror. "I know not what you know and you know not what I know. That's the mystery of the mirror. What you can read I can't read and what you can't read I can read. For now though, Pell is going to cause us a very big problem."

"What do you mean? There are still four days until Medan must be rescued and..."

"There are no four days Lord Parafon," the Oracle interrupted. "Malin and Revina broke part of the curse when they came together into a kiss. In the next twenty four hours, all the pregnant women in Dalawa will start giving birth."

Lord Parafon jumped to his feet alarmed and hurried towards the mirror. If what the Oracle was saying was true then a bigger problem was looming. In the parts he had been able to read, the barren curse was to be broken only by the awakening of Prince Medan, not by the kiss of their knights in shinning armour. "where did you get that from Oracle? It's not written on the mirror so how did you know about that?"

The Oracle looked at the High Priest with a you-are-not-all-knowing look for a moment and when she answered, her face was rather terse and serious. "Well, my dear Lord, you are not able to read a huge junk of the writings on the mirror. Like I said, what you can read and understand, I can't read and understand. Just so you know, the portal mirror was passed to four groups of people, you, me, the empress and the Emperor and Nicadeaus and Cinderella. Of all the groups, only you and I were given the power to read how the prince would be rescued and who would rescue them. As for the Emperor and prince Nicadeaus, they never believed in the portal mirror and as such, the memory of the mirror and it's contents were erased from them.

"As for Cinderella, she was told through me, though I didn't know about it then, of a time in the future when the mirror would heal and Dalawa would become whole again. According to her part, a man whose chest radiates light would appear in the mirror holding a woman carrying the broken pieces of the mirror. She was never told anything beyond that. Cinderella believed it and her part came to pass."

"Wait, you mean all those people knew about the mirror? I've always thought I was the only one who knows about the mirror."

"I also thought so too until when you told me what was going on. Just like you, I believed I was the only one who knew about the mirror."

"Ok. I believe you. So what does it mean then?"

"What does what mean?"

"You just said Malin and Revina broke part of the curse, what does it mean?"

"First, it's a good thing because finally our population will rise again. Women will become fertile and soon they will start conceiving. However, it also means that the clock to rescue Medan has began ticking and before the first child is born, Medan and Malia must be awake."

"What!" the Lord exclaimed. "Then we are doomed. Pell has finished us. In Malin's state, he can think of nothing beyond Pell."

"But that's not all Lord Parafon," the Oracle said calmly as if what she was about to tell him offered solutions.

"There is more? Good news perhaps?" he asked, hoping for just a little bit of good news. They just went through a horrifying battle with Mamadu and Malin deserved to rest.

"Yes, and you are not going to like it."

"Oh no!" he gave up and slumped into his seat again. "What is it, just tell me."

Choosing her words carefully and trying not to be hard on the High Priest, she answered in a soothingly melodious voice despite the fact that her answer contained a venom poisonous enough to wipe out the entire city.

"Nicadeaus and Cinderella just crossed the portal into Dalawa empire."