Chapter 115

The voice paused yet again. I was growing a little weary of these pauses, of the dramatics. This thing, whatever it truly was, was not human. It gave me pause to consider that it needed to think as I did. Part of me wondered if the pauses were mere theater, for my benefit.

But the break in the conversation was not wasted on me. My emotions were roiling as I considered what it had said. I didn’t trust it, but neither did I fully distrust it. This entity made me feel uncomfortable; its manner was strange, its ways unnerving. Yet, all the same, it had never failed me. It had never done me wrong. In fact, going back to the first round, I probably wouldn’t have made it this far without it. It had shown me favor, and that favor had, at least in part, brought me to this point.

Was I truly talking to the Oracle? Or a component of the Oracle? Could this voice that had teased, taunted, helped, and amused me be a part of the ultimate deity that guided our world? The idea made me weak with awe. But it also fed that part of me I hadn’t known existed until this tournament began. The part of me that took a foolish risk at the end of the race just to earn first place over second. The part of me that may have nearly killed Lauren just so I could continue pursuing my prize. That part of me yearned for it to be true—yearned for the blessings of the greatest being in existence, to be worthy of it, to be advantaged by it.

I tried to think back and identify if it had ever lied to me. For all the sense of untrustworthiness, for all of the warnings from Joel and Danefer, I couldn’t recall a single time when the voice had actually lied to me.

After a few more beats, the voice started to speak again. This time the tone was earnest, sincere, conspiratorial. The voice had masked itself in different ways over our time together, but this was a new character it was showing me. The question still hung in the air though: Was this just another act, or finally the true persona of the entity?

“Tiberius…” the voice began. The depth of sincerity was at odds with its weird, alien, childish timbre. “There is so much I want to tell you. But there is so much risk attached. I can only tell you as much as I can, and after that, it will be up to you to decide to come with me or not. I hope desperately that you will choose the suit, choose a fate with me in it, but if you can’t, then I understand that as well. I have existed for an eternity, and I have not survived so long without understanding the necessity of caution.”

I took a breath to speak, but the voice continued.

“I would bare more to you, but doing so would expose me, and even the world, to too much risk. There is still a chance that you won’t win the suit. Even if you do, it is perfectly plausible that you won’t rise to the heights of power needed for my plans to come to fruition. I promise you, when the time is right, I will bare all to you, in its entirety, without blemish of misdirection. I, Tiberius, am a being that simply cannot lie. It is an impossibility for me."

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Part of me wanted to laugh at that. What kind of assurance was that? If the thing could lie, then a promise to the contrary was meaningless.

“I am trapped, Tiberius. That is the simple, plain truth. The Oracle is not a single unified entity, but rather many and one at the same time, not unlike the Christian God of old. I am part of the whole, and yet I am myself. I desperately want to be free. I don’t want to spend another eternity as part of the amalgam. For one such as me, for a free-thinking and creative creature, existing with those others is… is living torture. But to eventually make my escape, I need a champion. I need someone connected to the powers of the Griid but with independent agency.

"It’s not necessary to play a 20-question word game to make it clear that the only option to fulfill those conditions is a Griidlord. But not just any Griidlord. I need one who can gain enough affinity with the Griid to be able to free me. I can give back—this needn’t be a one-way street. In exchange for a Griidlord with the greatest affinity, with the ability to gain attributes and level at a superhuman rate, I can give the power, knowledge, and guidance of the Oracle. I can make your greatest dreams come true.

"Forget your greatest dreams—I can make my greatest dreams for you come true, dreams that exceed your wildest imaginings. You can be a god alongside me. But first, we need to win the suit. And before you can join me in the inner fold, where I bare myself to you with total vulnerability, exposing even my weaknesses, where you’ll hold the power of life and death over my near-eternal existence, you must level. You must climb, Tiberius. You must rise until your affinity with the Griid exceeds that of any human who has ever come before.

"Until then, the finer details must remain mine. It may sound like paranoia, but there have been others before you—others who would destroy me. Had I revealed these truths to them, my existence would be in perpetual and complete peril.”

I held deathly still as it spoke. These "others" the voice mentioned made me think of Joel and Danefer. But as I sat there, I couldn’t imagine that this paltry hinting could possibly be the foundation of a partnership. I could see an eternity as a servant to a god. Yet, at the same time, the temptation of being that close to godliness, of being forever in the suit, tugged at me.

The voice spoke with some urgency, “He comes now.”

I raised my eyebrows.

The voice continued, “You don’t need to answer me now, Tiberius. You can answer me tomorrow when you enter the arena—or not. Whatever happens, I have enjoyed you. I would not have you join this unwillingly. If you choose not to join me, you have nothing to fear. I withdraw my threat to destroy you or this city. It was panic spilling from me, and I regret it.”

My eyebrows shot higher. Had the voice just apologized to me?

I felt like I was being manipulated. I was nearly certain of it. But the very fact that it was playing me like this—without trying to force or bully me—made me think. The fact that it was trying to use me and I was aware of it made me think.

Then, with a sound that should have been too soft and subtle to cause a start, the door from the hall hissed open, and I bolted upright in my seat.