In the cave at the centre of the city there was once an Oracle of indescribable antiquity. And though the Oracle had no voice to speak and was blackened and shrivelled by time, it was known by all that to be in the presence of the Oracle was to understand your life in perfect detail and to have your questions and doubts laid to rest.
The Oracle was served by two people who bathed and kept him fed, since he was far too old to perform these tasks himself.
And while these helpers held power by their subservience to this blackened body, none would have changed places with them, for being in constant proximity with the truth of our tenuous existence proved to drain the body of much of that existence.
My mother was one of these servers, and the last time I saw her alive, her eyes screamed fear even before she saw me; she did not struggle when I placed my hands over her mouth and nose and stopped her from breathing another breath.
But that was later, after my exile from society.
The Oracle was served by two people who bathed and kept him fed, since he was far too old to perform these tasks himself.
And while these helpers held power by their subservience to this blackened body, none would have changed places with them, for being in constant proximity with the truth of our tenuous existence proved to drain the body of much of that existence.
My mother was one of these servers, and the last time I saw her alive, her eyes screamed fear even before she saw me; she did not struggle when I placed my hands over her mouth and nose and stopped her from breathing another breath.
But that was later, after my exile from society.
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