Chapitre 15: Oracle!

The morning sun was just coming up as Iolaus and I packed our stuff and continued our journey.

We were walking along a narrow mountain path when we heard it - a soft chanting that seemed to float on the wind. It wasn't like anything I'd heard before, not quite singing, not quite talking.

The words were in ancient Greek, but even with my years of studying the language, I couldn't quite catch their meaning.

"Do you hear that?" I asked Iolaus, probably sounding more excited than Hercules should. He nodded, looking wary.

Following the sound, we found a small cave entrance partly hidden by hanging vines. The chanting was definitely coming from inside.

"Maybe we should check it out," I suggested, trying not to sound too eager. Iolaus gave me an odd look. "Are you sure, there is still a considerable distance to Nemea, we keep getting delayed?"

I couldn't refute his words, but the cave mysteriously had a pull towards me.

"We are just going to take a look.."

Iolaus just shook his head giving up.

As we pushed through the vines, the cave opened up into a wider space. Sunlight filtered through cracks in the ceiling, filling the air with dancing rays of light. The walls were decorated with strange symbols that made my academic heart skip a beat - I recognized some from my research, but others I'd never seen before.

That's when we saw her. A woman was sitting cross-legged on a stone platform, surrounded by small clay bowls of burning herbs that filled the air with sweet smoke. Her robes were deep purple, covered in intricate patterns that seemed to shift in the wavering light.

She held a wooden staff that caught my attention immediately.

It was decorated with ribbons in colors I'd only read about in ancient texts - Tyrian purple, Mediterranean blue, and what looked like real gold thread. Small bones and crystals hung from the ribbons, clicking softly as she moved.

But it was her eyes that really got me. They were completely white, like clouded marble, but somehow I felt like she could see right through me. All my scholarly detachment went right out the window when those eyes turned in our direction.

"Hercules, that's an oracle!" Iolaus whispered to me.

"An Oracle!!" I said, probably sounding more like an excited grad student than a legendary hero.

Iolaus looked at me like I'd lost my mind, but I didn't give him any mind.

Back in my professor days, I'd lectured about how oracles often worked in caves, but actually finding one? This was like walking into my own lesson plan.

"Since when do you get excited about oracles? You always say they just talk in circles and waste time."

I had to think fast. "Well, you know, maybe some godly advice wouldn't hurt right now."

The oracle, who seemed to have noticed our presence, stood up in one smooth motion, her robes swirling around her.

The bones on her staff made an eerie kind of music as she moved toward us. "Welcome, Hercules, son of Zeus," she said, her voice echoing strangely in the cave. "And Iolaus, loyal companion of the great hero. The Fates guided your steps here today."

My heart was racing. I'd spent some time in researching about oracles and deciphering some unknown ones, and now here I was, about to get a real prophecy. "Great Oracle, could you tell us anything about what we'll find in Nemea?"

She tilted her head like she was listening to voices we couldn't hear. The smoke from the bowls seemed to swirl around her as she spoke in rhythm:

"The lion's golden coat no weapon can break,

But the false hero knows the path to take.

Strength alone won't win this fight,

Knowledge from far away must bring the light.

Be careful how you use what you know,

For fate can change which way things go."

Her words ended but I stood there shocked.

False hero? Knowledge from far away? It was like she knew exactly who I really was….!

However, Iolaus just looked annoyed. "That's not very helpful. Can't you just tell us exactly how to beat the lion?"

As expected of Herculeus' Companion, sometimes, him being dumb also helped me!

The oracle turned those blind eyes on me, and I felt cold all over.

"The answers are already in your head, Hercules... or should I say….?"

She didn't finish her words but my face went pale. Iolaus looked between us, confused.

"Hercules, do you understand anything? What's she talking about?"

Before I could think of what to say, the oracle kept going,

"You're walking a dangerous path, Traveler from Beyond. Your knowledge is both good and bad. Use it carefully. The future of this world depends on it."

Then she just started chanting again and walked away, leaving us standing there stunned.

Iolaus turned to me, eyes narrow. "Okay, what was that about? Traveler from Beyond? What aren't you telling me?"

I opened and closed my mouth, trying to figure out how to explain. How do you tell someone you're actually a professor from the future stuck in their friend's body?

"Iolaus," I started carefully, "I need to tell you something. It's going to sound crazy, but I swear it's true."

Right then, we heard a massive roar that shook rocks loose from the mountain. The Nemean Lion was close.

"That came from the next village!" Iolaus shouted. "We have to warn them!" We started running down the path. Part of me was glad I didn't have to explain myself yet, but I also felt guilty for keeping the truth from him.

As we ran toward the sounds of people panicking, I couldn't stop thinking. Was I running toward what I was meant to do, or toward disaster?

The oracle's words kept repeating in my head about fate changing easily. I just hoped that by trying to make this myth happen the way I knew it should, I wasn't about to mess everything up.

What I wouldn't give to be back in my lecture hall right now, just teaching about these events instead of living them. But that wasn't an option. People needed help, and somehow I'd ended up being the one who had to give it.

My muscles didn't feel tired as we ran - one of the perks of being in Hercules' body. But my mind was racing faster than my feet. I had the knowledge of how this story was supposed to go, but now it felt like even that certainty was slipping away.

"Almost there!" Iolaus called out. I could see smoke rising from the village ahead. Time was up for doubts and questions.

Whatever I was - professor or hero - I had to act now.

The only comfort was knowing that somewhere in my years of research and teaching, I must have learned something that could help us face what was coming. I just had to figure out what it was before it was too late.

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