"You're going to have to pardon me, because I feel like I know you. I was pulled here because I saw your soul from across the way. Did you know that people's souls are not always so visible. Further, did you know that yours was cracked?"

  He couldn't help but shrug. Not many women started conversations like that, especially not ones who wore blindfolds yet had no problem walking over to find him and pick him up from a crowd. It was so disconcerting to see her there, that he realized that he must really be giving off a lot of energy.

  "You realize that I know what's going to happen if I touch your hand."

  The Oracle locked up. "You… Why are you… How do you know?"

  Ludere couldn’t help but smile. She was gorgeous. Or maybe he was just so happy that he was not back in the booth in the arena. He had the urge to never return to the arena at all. That would make him so happy. Anything he could do to avoid restarting the loop, he would do.

  If this was a part of his vision, he might not be able to handle it.

  “I think that we need to have a talk. Please hold my hand and we can discuss this.”

  She found his hand with a practiced ease.

  They were instantly in his soul space. He didn’t even have time.

  “Well, this is something." Her voice inside of his head was reassuring.

  The Oracle smelled like honey. Ludere hadn't even known he could smell things inside of his soul.

  "It's a mess, but I'm a work in progress."

  She circled around him. In his soul, she had actual eyes, which were completely dark in the red light.

  "It's like you haven't spent much time in here. How are you so powerful? Your Willpower must be immense."

  "Thanks. I always knew that I had potential."

  The Oracle chuckled. "You know, this isn't the time for jokes, but thanks. This is incredible."

  "Okay, but what do I do about it? I've just relived an hour of today dozens of times. I spoke with a beast from what appears to be beyond time about this, and now I've one of the Senators that I never thought would talk to me has got his interest in me, and…"

  The Oracle held out a hand. "I understand you've got a lot going on. I think that we can go back to real time outside of our soul space. Your friends understand what happened, I take it?"

  "They helped me through some of these loops, and I wanted to make sure they got something out of it. I didn't actually expect to end this so soon. I feel like I have so much unfinished business out there."

  "Perhaps, but maybe you need to rest. I can feel your soul, and it's strong, but… It's empty. You need to fill up your cup."

  She broke contact with him and they were back in the large courtyard in front of the place. Gia and Erebus both paused from stuffing their faces.

  Erebus held out his bowl. "Ah you're back. That wasn't long now, was it?"

  "I think I'm in love with corn chowder." Gia attempted to flag down someone before she gave up and just walked to the large pot of soup. She quit halfway and returned to grab Erebus's bowl.

  "So, what did you learn about yourself?" Erebus asked, looking at Ludere and the Oracle.

  "Well, the Oracle said that I need to fill my cup. Does that mean stealing souls or something?"

  He found himself still holding her hand. She was concentrating on something. "No. Apologies. I'm searching through what you… Ah, okay. The fates have been with you."

  Gia returned with two full bowls. "If you don't want yours… boys, let me know. This day has caused me to work up an appetite."

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Ludere saw his full bowl of corn chowder and wanted to dig in, but the Oracle was holding one of his hands. He palmed the spoon with his off-hand.

  Even though it was the first thing he needed in he didn't know how long, he couldn't imagine anything tasting better than that at that moment. Being with his friends, talking with the Oracle, surviving would gone through, he might even be able to sleep in his own bed that night.

  Ludere let himself smile.

  The warm feeling of a woman holding his hand brought him back to the center, and he realized with a start that he did not want to release her hand. It wasn't like they had talked about this, but the comfort of having someone there next to him, and then just being able to talk to her about things? He explained to the Oracle, for what felt like forever, about everything that had gone on. She interjected every so often, and asked questions and clarification, but for the most part it was him speaking.

  He knew that he didn't want to be the only one talking, but he also knew that she could see some things that he couldn't. Her prediction ability as well; he did not find any other Oracle for a reason.

  This was the only temple that he could go to that he knew there was an Oracle at. If he'd wanted to find another one, he would have had to do some research. He was sorely tempted to just stay there and talk to her all night, and realized with a start that he could make that decision himself.

  He wasn't expected at home, and going home would have been a complication. He also didn't know where the Oracle lived. Did she live by the church? Was she a party to whatever happened inside the temple?

  The inner lives of clergy and those associated with the Temple of Fiddlesoup was not something that you ever thought about. But they obviously had to have something going on. In the same way, she wasn't an enigma to him. She probably never went out to the arena. She wouldn't know her way around the calculation, even approaching what he could do with an abacus.

  But everything was looking good. The food was good and the old club had been by his side for hours. He didn't want to leave, even if he could have gone back home. Things would never be the same. He couldn't just move on from this without taking some time to fully reset his brain. He had no plans to go back to the beginning of the loop.

  And to be honest, she looked so good that he might not even leave tonight.

  The next morning, Ludere found himself naked inside of a large bed that he's never been in before. Next to him a beautiful woman was pressed against him. She had her eyes closed, but he knew this was going to be the Oracle. Whatever had come to take her eyesight, so that she could see the future on Justinian or the Fates, had been so cruel. As for the blindfold over her eyes. Sometime during the night she took it off.

  Under the blankets, he was fully naked.

  The question he had for himself was where the heck his toga was. Not only his toga, but his tunic and his sandals were missing. If he was going to be low and slow and out of the way, he couldn't walk around naked. That'll be a dead giveaway that something was going on with him. If not for all the people that could see his soul immediately making a beeline for him.

  He didn't really have a plan for that. He was hoping that the Oracle would have some way to hide it. All the Senators and Prefereti that he talked to during loops had effectively hidden their ability.

  He moved to get out of bed, but she held him down like he was a child. Her grip was iron, and her Willpower, well, it wasn't close to his, it was clearly doing numbers. He resolved to not fight the gorgeous woman that was holding him. Even if she couldn't see him, he knew that she had abilities that would pick up for that.

  "I don't suppose you remember anything about last night? Because I don't really think I got that drunk," Ludere said.

  "You didn't get drunk, and neither did I. I don't drink. So, yes, I know that you might feel taken advantage of, but I thought that I might stake out my claim. Especially if you know you're going to come back to the loop later. I have a feeling that you need someone to teach you how to really use your Will at high level, and that is just a shame."

  She moved in closer, kissing him on the cheek, he realized that he was okay with this current situation.

  He didn't have anything pressing to do, although eventually one of the Senator's guys would find out where he lives and pay a visit, maybe. That was also the chance that the Senator had him followed here. He didn't see either as friends, which probably was a good thing.

  Nothing that day had prepared him for this moment, and he was utterly dumbfounded as to why the Oracle would have done anything with him to begin with. But he was there, she was there, and she was going to help him train his magic, and he would take the opportunity.

  "I've never had formal training on the Spirit. I've talked to some people about it before, but I really think long-term."

  "Unless you know where to find so many different texts… I don't think I want you to go out to the libraries of many of these rich old men, when I can just talk to you here for a little bit. And they may well give me the thing we shut more often, but…

  "Oracle, can you see the future? You're going to see things happening in the future, or something like that?"

  "I can see the probability of things happening. But without some sort of guidelines, that could go anywhere."

  They resolved to have some sort of meeting as she teased out where his clothing was. He was okay with this. She knew what she was about, he knew what he was about, and whatever had happened to them last night, he was still into it.

  What he wasn't about was having the Prepereti find his house and then have them follow his parents, not sudden absences for labor. Even though the festival was a perfect cover for someone leaving their long-established family home.

  With a start, he realized he hadn't even seen his parents. He'd meant to go and talk to them. She hadn't mentioned this to him and it was probably getting around.