"Dian!" Ethan clenched Diana's shoulder's tight, forcing her to look him in the eyes.
"I...can't," Diana stuttered. Realizing her wife was hiding something major from him, he felt a mix of anger, shock, and disbelief. She shook Diana by her shoulders. Yet no words escaped her mouth.
"If you...know...everything...you...should...know...why I can't...tell him the truth" She continuously sobbed. The lady only revealed a gentle smile.
"Let me tell you a story. Two decades ago, there was a mother who was blessed with god's ultimate gifts" The lady's words turned Ethan's gaze away from Diana. Diana wanted to stop the lady from revealing the truth as she feared for her husband's life but no words came out of her mouth. Something prevented her from speaking.
The lady paused for a moment while Ethan tried to make sense out of her words.
"She wanted to scream that she's pregnant with twins standing on top of the world. That mother never thought a simple feeling as the feeling of her twins kicking her womb would make her so blissful. Becoming a mother to a beautiful angel was the proudest moment in her life. The mere thought of becoming a mother of twins made her the happiest woman in the world"
Ethan listened to the Oracle without uttering a word. Even when he was listening to the Oracle, he never took his arms off of Diana's shoulders.
"The only thing she missed was her loving embrace of her husband. She was expecting her husband but the one who came was a misguided mortal"
Diana still struggled to stop the lady from revealing the truth. Except her entire body refused to move to her will.
"The misguided mortal showed the mother a vision, a glimpse of the future. What the mother saw shook her to the core. The mother refused to believe what she saw but bad things happened to her family like the misguided mortal predicted. Death in the family, sudden storms, natural disasters, and many things brought nothing but death. They weren't enough to convince the mother her child is responsible for all the death until her husband almost lost his life, just like the misguided mortal claimed" Little by little, Ethan began to connect with the story.
"When her husband came home, she wanted to tell everything. However, a powerful organization of misguided mortals put a seal on her husband before taking her away, along with two of the woman's blood. The misguided mortals showed the woman more glimpses of the dark future awaiting the world and her family. The misguided mortals offered the woman two choices: give up her child or be killed along with her family as a punishment for bringing the darkness to the world. In the days following, the misguided mortals showed the woman the changes happening in the world. The woman didn't want to believe it but everything seemed connected to her. The place she first made love before conceiving with the twins was destroyed by a meteor, the time she went to after she got pregnant was crumbled into pieces and the one first told her she was pregnant died in a mysterious illness and much more"
Ethan didn't want to believe the woman in the Oracle's story is his wife. He refused to believe her as he wanted this to be just a story, nothing more.
"When the day of her delivery came, all the natural disasters occurred at once, killing thousands of people all around the world. The beautiful twins in her hands didn't make her happier as she expected, instead, she was afraid. Even after everything, the woman begged the misguided humans to let her raise the child to be someone else but the misguided mortals had already started the prophecy they wanted to stop. They forced the mother to make the ultimate sacrifice, leaving her child at an altar in the forest she gave birth to. The tears she shed leaving her child was the final ingredient they needed to start the ritual"
Regardless of her body's stiffness, her eyes continued to pour out tears. The anger and sadness Diana felt when the lady paused talking couldn't be described by words.
Just as Ethan was about to ask Diana about the Oracle's words, his right hand glowed.
"NO!" Diana broke the invincible force that prevented her from stopping and speaking. She screamed yet the voice was muffled by the lady. Ethan felt excruciating pain as his body began to tremble.
"Save...save...him" the words barely escaped Diana's mouth. The Skyhall placed a seal in Ethan's body which would activate if he was to know about the existence of his other son or what his wife went through the night she gave birth to Noah. It was a powerful seal that had its own consciousness. The Oracle's words made Ethan suspect that he has another son and it triggered the seal.
"Om" Suddenly the lady opened her mouth pointing her finger at the golden glowing on Ethan's right hand. Another light appeared out of the lady's hand as the light shot out at Ethan's hand. The moment the two light's clashed, the excruciating pain he felt instantly disappeared.
"Ethan!" Diana screamed, she hugged Ethan using all of her strength.
"Dian, was it you?" Embracing his wife as tight as he could, he asked.
His mind believed that the mother in the Oracle's story was his wife because it was obvious after seeing Diana's reaction and what just happened yet his dumb heart was refusing to believe it. He promised himself that he would protect his family no matter the cost but now, he felt like he miserably failed to keep his family safe.
"Yes"
Ethan's mind went black getting hit by the truth. In a blink of an eye, the swords he left at one of the benches trembled before soaring through the air to him. His eyes turned blood red as the killing intent radiated from him sent a chill running through Diana's spine.
"Om" the lady spoke, this time her voice was gentle and calm unlike before.
The killing intent and the anger within Ethan quickly disappeared. Both of their emotions were also calmed by the lady's words.
Ethan released Diana from his hug, turning his gaze again at the Oracle.
"Where...where is my son?"
"What ritual?"
The first question was asked by Ethan while Diana asked the latter.
"The misguided mortals believed the child's soul contained unimaginable power; they wanted to take it for themselves. To do that, they had to strip away the child's soul" Diana almost collapsed to the ground. Her body uncontrollably shivered while she felt an excruciating pain in her heart.
"However the ritual didn't go as they planned and the child's soul was split into two pieces. One part of the soul ended up in a desolate place void of any energy while the other part of the soul remained in its body"
"My son, is he...dead?" For the first time in her life, she saw a trickle of tears roll out of Ethan's eyes. It showed her the pain he's feeling right now.
"That's the answer only the time could tell" The lady smiled but Diana shook her head,
"I know my son is alive, I met him!"
Once again, Ethan was completely shocked by her words,
"Where? Where is my son?!" Ethan shook Diana for answers,
"Where is our son, Dian?! Where is he?!" the shaky voice reverberated through the garden.
"Ghost...Ghost is our son!"
Tears burst out of her eyes as she collapsed on Ethan's chest. There was no expression on the lady's face, she just calmly stared at them.
"How do you know?"
"I don't care what anyone says, I know, I know he's our son. I'm his mother"
For a few moments, only silence filled the garden. No one uttered a word
"How are you gonna prove it to him, my child?"
After a long pause, the lady asked, breaking their embrace. Ethan saw Diana struggling to answer the Oracle's question.
"I don't... know...but no matter what it takes, I will show him that he's my son"
"Proving and accepting are two different things, my child. The road ahead of you is filled with thorns, may the gods be with you, protecting from the corrupted ones"
Just when Diana was about to ask for the lady's help against the Skyhall, she turned into a golden light and disappeared into the sky, leaving them flabbergasted. Ethan could tell it was not teleportation or a spell, it was something else.
*********************************
Ethan and Diana never left the garden, the sun had fallen yet they were still staring at the night sky without leaving the garden. Diana held his arms tightly, it took her a great effort to convince him not to do anything rash that would attract the Skyhall's attention towards them. When Rowena was selected as the holy maiden of Skyhall, Ethan felt extremely proud but now, it felt like Rowena was kept as a prisoner in Skyhall.
"Even if he's our son-"
"He is, Ethan"
"How are we gonna explain to him that we failed to protect him?"
"It was me who failed to protect my son, I was too weak"
After hearing the whole story from Diana, he didn't blame Diana or anyone else except Skyfall and himself for not being able to protect his family. Knowing that he could do nothing against the Skyfall, he felt so weak and helpless.
"When we were a happy family, our son grew up as an orphan. How many hardships would he have gone through? Why did this happen to us? How could our son be evil? Dark Lord? What does that even mean?"
