The girl was now standing in the middle of the room, a small ship not unlike the one that Kiko had used floating above her head. From the ship descended a thin stream of water. It was a strange creature, the size of a fly with tentacles that shook around it.
“But what is happening?” Kiko said to herself. “Where am I?”
The creature from the ship began to spin in the air around the girl, creating a cloud surrounding her face. Her face turned a deep red, but her eyes remained closed. The ship then vanished, leaving the girl alone in the centre of the room. She opened her eyes. Her eyes were no longer the dark brown that Kiko noticed earlier. They had a strange glow to them now, as if seeing in the dark. One hand was held out while the other went to her ear. She was listening.
Kiko was about to speak again when a bright flash of light erupted towards her. She felt energy surging through her body and then suddenly a darkness. Her eyes were now open. She was standing in the very centre of the room, but the walls of the room had vanished, revealing an obsidian horizon with some clouds in the distance. The first thing that struck her was that she felt more alive. Her smile immediately covered her face.
“This is what you must show the Oracle,” the computer man said, appearing in front of her, eclipsing the sun. “She will be standing in exactly the same place”
There was another bang, but this one was far stronger than the last. It sent Kiko tumbling backwards, hitting her head on something hard, following by a pillow of some sort as she crashed onto the floor. She realised that she was still standing in the middle of the room, near the sculpture. The crackling noise of electricity filled her ears. Then there was silence, but now her entire body was bathed in a strange, pale light. The energy was now clearly visible, surging and shrinking in the air around her.
Staring at the sculpture, she wondered why anyone would want an oracle there, but she was cut from her thoughts when the voice of the Oracle suddenly filled the room. It was loud, loud enough to be heard over the crackling energy of the device, but after a series of orders she was given, Kiko threw her hand towards the Phoenix.
She was horrified to realise that it had vanished, but the energy was frantically surging from herself. She tried to think of some way to stop it, but the pressure was too great. She was pushed off her feet and tumbled backwards again, falling to the edge of the room. She thought of the death that she knew awaited her, but then the energy ended as suddenly as it had begun. Gasping for breath, she looked up at the Oracle, standing in the exact same spot, her eyes still glowed.
Franticly Kiko got up from the floor. It took her minutes to get her breath even, but eventually she was able to speak.
“What was that?”
The Oracle stood silent, her eyes still gazing towards the direction of the black pyramid.
Kiko waited, holding her breath, her body shaking. After what felt like a while, the Oracle finally spoke.
“You are to go back to the outside world,” she said, in a calm, even voice.
Kiko was stunned, but this was not what she wanted to hear. The Oracle was pointing towards the entrance behind the Phoenix.
“I am to stay here,” came the Oracle’s voice from every corner of the room.