The Raven by Jenny Garcia (thriller book recommendations .txt) 📕

I take a step back and bow my head, “Oracle I did not mean.” She cuts me off before I can finish, “No need for that Enyo.” I look up to her and she is already walking up the enormous white stairs to the front door. With a wave of her hand the double doors ease open with a small creak. She turns to me and without words beckoning me to follow. I slowly follow her command and cautiously taking one step at a time. She turns her back to me and walks into the bright home.

Once I make it to the top of the perfectly white stairs I look behind me across that vast green grass trying to find an escape route in case this turns for the worst. There is nothing to be seen for miles. No mountains, rivers, rolling hills...nothing and nowhere to hide...just vast green grass as far as the eye can see. I don’t know what I was expecting to find since I was teleported to the Oracle’s home. She turns to face me her flowing dress spinning with her, “General I mean you no harm, no need looking for a way to escape. There isn't one.” My chest tightens and I turn back to her. She stands in the entryway waiting for me to follow her into the house. I take a step forward my heavy boots stomping on the stone stairs. I follow her into the house and in the middle of the floor is a large circular pool of water. The water is completely still and crystal blue. It is set low in the floor with a large white lip step for sitting. All is white and clean and I almost feel afraid to sit on anything. There are columns at every corner of the vast room with twenty foot ceilings and a large chandelier hanging from the center made of crystal and is the most gorgeous one I have seen. It reflects the sun into gentle rainbows all around the room.

“Oracle, Please forgive me for not knowing you but we have been told for years..” she cuts in, “That I was a man.” I nod my head trying not to grin at her bluntness. She lets out a huff and starts towards the pool of water and sitting on the large white step with perfect posture folding her hands on her lap. “Let me guess, a man more specifically Khan told you that I was a man, yes?” I follower her to the step and take a seat across from her with the pool sitting still as glass between us. “Yes he did.” She rolls her eyes and lets out an annoyed breath, “Men do not like being weaker than a woman, so he started telling all that I was a man.”

“Why did you not come to the Realm and prove him wrong?” She let out a small laugh, “If I came to the Realm every time someone did something I disapproved of, I would have a summer home there.” She flicks her raven hair over her shoulder and adjusts her position.

She looks down to the crystal blue pool of water and without any movement from her the pool begins to ripple at her glare. “Enyo, I have brought you here to give you a message.” A seed of fear nestles itself in my core and I grip my sword. “Look down into the water Enyo.” I hesitate for a moment and then lean forward my eyes locked on her and then slowly I look into the water. It swirls and splashes and there it is, me and my men rushing the castle swords in hand and mouth wide screaming our battle cries. I look back up to her with excitement in my eyes. She motions back to the pool. I look back down and see a woman standing alone with a long white dress and a crown of diamonds. “Renee?” I stare down in awe. She is dead though, this is impossible… “No Enyo. That is Queen Niki.” Rage courses through my veins and pulsing beneath my skin aching to burst through me. “She stands alone as an insult! An ambush?” I look back to her and she shakes her head. “Enyo you are a great warrior stronger than any General before you but Queen Niki is the strongest of all the breeds. She holds more than one gift.” I jump to my feet, “HOW is that possible?! She is a Mystic yes and a inherited wolf from Renee, but there is more?” My blood is boiling and pounding in my ears as I stare at the Oracle waiting for an explanation. I look down to the pool of water and the images have stopped. “Oracle please show me more, what will happen!?” With a wave of her hand the water turns to solid ice and she looks to me, “I do not show the future to anyone. I only warn.”

She walks around the pool and heads to the large glass doors on the other side of room, rainbows caress her back as they float down from the chandeliers dangling crystals. She waves the large doors open and walks out onto the grass and stares at the vast scenery. I follow her out my sword and armor clinking with every step. “Oracle, I am sorry for my outburst. Please tell me what I am up against. I have thousands that will ride with me against the Queen and I need to know what I am to prepare for.” She turns to me and places a hand on my shoulder. “The young Queen may have been raised by humans but she is no fool.” I listen closely and try to get as much information from her as I can. The wind blows and my hair catches it blows around me. “She was born Mystic, passed down Wolf by Renee but she also is Pyros.” My breath catches and a nugget of fear lodges itself in my core. Pyros is one of the true enemies of Wolves. Their fire can destroy us, “How can she be Pyros?”

“Because Enyo, her mother is Pyros.”

“But that doesn't make sense she has never shown that power in battle before.”

“Of course not, she doesn't know she has it.” A weakness at last! Oracle continues, “It will not be long till she finds out she has this ability, but there is another thing that will stand in your way. Her first change was under the Blood Moon.” My stomach clenches and anger over takes me. I turn away from the Oracle with clenched fists and throw my head back screaming into the air. It’s silent for a moment after my our burst and I feel embarrassed at my childish reaction.  “Oracle forgive me.” I turn back to her and she is smiling, “Enyo, why do you feel that this war is necessary?” I take a breath and let it out, “Because this world is not meant for the weak and humble. She was raised by humans and given the highest honor our world can bestow without having to earn it.” She tilts her head, “Is it because of what you had to do to get your status?” My heart stops...how could she know. There was no one I told.

“Enoy I know everything that happens in our world. All the choices that are made in every mind. I know what you...let go to pursue what you wanted. I have never seen anyone leave their..” I stop her, “Please Oracle, I do not wish it relive the past. I have made my decisions and that is all.” She nods her head. “What do I do now, since defeat is almost guaranteed.” Her eyes hood, “I said nothing of defeat Enyo.” I turn my head on its side, “Oh?”

She turns back to the vast green lawn and lifts her arms into the air black smoke begins streaming from her finger tips and swirling before her. “Long ago there was murders, robbers and rapist running rampant through the Realm. Criminals ruled this world and hatred and despair was all our breeds were accustomed to.” Images began to flicker in the center of the black smoke of men and woman begin torn apart by one another the sky was dark and my stomach turned at the sight. Children sobbed over their cold lifeless mothers, fathers and other young children. So much hatred...so much fear. Now we are united as one and stand together against all evil. She continued, “When Renee became Queen she changed our world for the better. She ruled with love instead of fear. She knew that fear already had a grip on our world and she would not let it control her actions. Khan, at the time, had yet to lose his mind and he helped gather all the criminals and sentence them to exile. He agreed with Renee’s decree and followed her proudly into battle.”

As she spoke the images in the smoke portrayed her story. Renee in her silver battle armor stained with splatters of blood; arresting, fighting, and killing those who would not submit. I once thought that woman was to soft to rule and now I see that I couldn't be more wrong. What else could I be wrong about? What other breeds have a doubted that could have been more than they were rumored to be? What a fool I have been… I don’t take my eyes off the bloody battle that rages in the smoke mirror linked to the past. Then there is one man that stands before Khan and he triggers a painful memory in my heart that tears through me like hot iron. “Ares…” I feel the Oracles eyes on me as the images play in front of us. Ares stands in front of Khan his sword drawn and blood covered his armor, face and clothes. They exchange words but there are no sound to hear. “What is happening?” I ask the Oracle as my voice cracks. For a moment she is silent. If she truly knows why I worked to become General than she knows why my heart aches at seeing these images. “Ares and Khan are in a standoff. This is the end of the war that Ares started and is about to lose. Most have been captured, surrender or fallen to the mud. Khan offered Ares a position as his second in command to end the blood shed. He believed that Ares had potential to become more than a rebel but a great warrior and he was right. Ares agreed to his terms.” The smoke disappears as she drops her hands and turns to face me. I keep my eyes locked to my black boots and try to suppress the pain radiating in my chest.

“Why have you shown me this Oracle?” She waves her hands and two white wooden chairs appear and she sits motioning me to follow. I sit across from her with my hand on my sword. Habbit. “Enyo those criminals, blood thirsty men and woman would love nothing more than to take down the thrown and have the Realm back in the grasp to do as they please. For centuries they have contained by magic in the Forgotten Forest and they are begging to be released. If you desire victory they are the only ones that can bring you any hope of attaining it.”

This information brings hope but discourages me at the same time. I either release these monsters from the centuries of imprisonment to overthrow the Queen and King but that would unleash an evil on the Realm that is unstoppable. Or I can abandoned my cause and obey a child who knows nothing of this world. My pride is hurt most of all after this visit. “Oracle, I