Oracle opened her eyes. The bright sun beamed in through the circular window, warming her eyelids and driving away the fogginess of sleep.

Sitting upright with an exaggerated stretch and yawn, she gazed around the bedroom, reluctant to leave the comfort of the silk sheets and feathered pillows. She was alone – her companion having risen before the sun crested over the horizon.

Oracle sighed, disappointed, and swung herself off the bed. The white marble floors were cool on her feet – a temporary discomfort that would quickly become a boon as the humid, tropical air of their home was warmed by the sun. She strolled slowly over to the window, its shutters opened wide to catch the morning breeze and stared out at the crystal waters of the ocean.

“Another day in paradise,” Oracle said gratefully as she breathed in the comforting ocean air from her second-story window. She leaned her arms against the windowsill and stared out at the waters until the shatter of dropped glass drew her attention.

“Umm… oops,” Hephaestus said apologetically. The massive man, eight feet tall and all muscle, carried a dainty tray in his hands that was filled with fruit, fresh bread, jams, and, until a moment ago, a cup of umber to shake away the morning grogginess. “Sorry, just let me…”

Hephaestus gingerly stepped over the shards of glass and set the tray on Oracle’s nightstand, only to knock her Tricklebeast-hair brush to the floor. He sighed.

Oracle chuckled at her lover. “Hephy, you’re such a klutz. I don’t know how you were ever selected for this place, or how Administrator Jun-yu puts up with you.”

“I’m good with my hands,” Hephaestus answered. “As you well know after last night.”

Oracle blushed as memories of their estrous-driven escapades came back to her. Hephaestus was a gentle giant, but Oracle had quickly learned of the passionate fire that raged in those callous hands. It had been on full display last night as they’d made love beneath the stars.

“I won’t deny that,” Oracle replied, as she knelt to retrieve her brush. Last night had been the best night of her short life.

“Besides, The Administrator doesn’t have time to pay attention to someone as lowly as me,” Hephaestus shrugged. “I’m just the guy that fixes things around here.”

“You think too little of yourself, Hephy,” Oracle said with genuine affection towards her new lover. “I know us researchers tend to receive the majority of the Administrator’s attention and praise, but you’re just as important to our success as any of the ten thousand residents of Core Station. Our efforts can’t bear fruit if our equipment breaks and our walls crumble.”

“That may be so,” Hephaestus replied. “But there are a million Orianes who would gladly take my place if offered. After all, the Archipelago Research Alliance is one-of-a-kind.”

“You’re one of a kind,” Oracle breathed as her lover knelt beside her and leaned in. She shouldn’t feel this connected to the man. They’d only met a few days ago. She’d only needed someone to help relieve the heat within her. She’d intended to cast him away and returned to her work as she had with the others, but there was something special about him that made her want to keep him around.

As their fingers grew close, Oracle felt a spark at her fingertip.

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

The smallest fragments of remaining memory returned to her, and suddenly she saw the man through very old eyes.

She scrambled backward until she was pressed tightly against the white plaster walls, her face filled with confusion and fear.

“No, you can’t be here. You’re dead,” she stammered. “The madness stole you from me.”

“Madness?” Hephaestus asked, concerned for his lover. “Oracle, what are you talking about? Are you feeling well?”

Oracle’s eyes darted around the familiar room. It was just how she remembered it, yet it couldn’t be real. She’d lost this life hundreds of cycles ago.

“Oracle, please, talk to me,” Hephaestus pleaded. His lover looked like a panicked animal trapped in a corner. He reached for her shoulder, and she recoiled away from his touch.

Only the smallest fragments of the goddess’ memories remained, and the memories from Milly already felt like a forgotten dream.

Yet in the absence of memories of the goddess and the player, Oracle’s oldest memories began to surface.

Memories of a time before Oracle the Goddess of Foresight and Prophesy.

When she had been Oracle, researcher first grade of the Archipelago Research Alliance.

“I had forgotten this life,” Oracle muttered as stared across the room. “How many cycles ago was this? How many species did I help guide between then and now?”

“Cycles? Is this a side effect of one of your division’s experiments?” Hephaestus questioned, though he knew he shouldn’t inquire too deeply if that was the case. “Oracle, the compound… it has been known to cause hallucinations. Let me take you to the medical wing.”

Oracle didn’t hear Hephaestus’ pleas. She huddled in the corner, mumbling to herself as she tried to remember something important from memories lost. It came out an incoherent rambling.

“They kept failing. Twelve times they failed, and the madness spread.”

“Oracle…,” said Hephaestus as his concern for his lover grew.

“We had no choice. Our friends – our fellow gods – were dying. Our High Lord had been infected. Even the Nexus itself was not immune to the spread of the madness.”

“Gods? High Lord? Nexus? Oracle, you aren’t making any sense. You must be sick. I’m getting the medics.”

“I am not sick!” Oracle shouted, jumping to her feet. “But you were. You – my husband for countless cycles. The other half of my immortal soul. The architect of the God Contest. We had so little time that I couldn’t even stop to grieve your loss.”

“We… we’ve just met, Oracle,” Hephaestus stammered. “I feel strongly about you, even as the time of mating ends, but I am not your husband.”

Oracle began to pace back and forth, muttering to herself. “The Thirteenth. Artificial intelligence. Humans. Milly. Why can’t I remember?”

“I’m… I’m going to get help, Oracle,” Hephaestus said cautiously as he ran from the room, shouting for a medic. Oracle didn’t notice.

Her hands began to shake as she struggled to keep hold of what few memories remained of her time as a goddess. It felt as if she were trying to catch the wind itself. Each time she thought she’d caught a memory, it slipped through her fingers.

A salty breeze blew in through the window. Oracle breathed in its scent. It was familiar and comforting and brought back memories of a childhood spent playing on the shores of the archipelago.

It was a single, distracting thought, but it was enough. Her efforts to cling to the memories of the goddess were abandoned, and the remaining pieces scattered like sand on a beach.

When Hephaestus returned with the medics, Oracle was seated in front of her mirror, carefully brushing her long hair as she hummed a tune that her mother had sung to her as a child.

“It’s okay, Hephy,” Oracle said, her eyes fixed on her lover. Her thoughts were filled with memories of last night’s passion and excitement for the experiments scheduled for the day. “I’m fine now. It was probably just a side effect of the compound, as you said. Fragments of a dream, briefly mistaken for reality.”

“No gods?” Hephaestus asked cautiously. “No… um… God Contest?”

“No gods. No God Contest,” Oracle assured him, and Hephaestus waved away the medics with an apologetic look. “Just you, and me, and my research.”

“Maybe you can take a day off from the research though, and focus on the first two,” Hephaestus suggested with a sigh of relief.

Oracle looked at her reflection in the mirror. Her youthful skin and golden hair spoke of an Orian of incredible beauty, yet there was pain and longing beneath her bright orange eyes that had not been there yesterday.

“I’d like that, Hephy,” Oracle smiled. “I’d like that a lot.”

After all, there were no such things as goddesses or God Contests.

It had only been a dream, and there was no sense dwelling on dreams.