Read The Chronicles of Winterset: Oracle for Free Online

could see a castle, its large silhouette taking up a portion of the skyline. The sweet smell from all the flowers made me feel euphoric. I knew this was where I belonged and that I’d been gone from this place for too long.
    The pleasant vision was suddenly ripped away, and I plunged into a cold darkness, my skin prickling with fear as the acrid scent of blood and death filled my senses. My heart hammered uneasily in my chest, and I tried to suck in a breath, but I could only gag on the smell surrounding me.
    The darkness began to recede, and I screamed as I saw that I was no longer in my field of wildflowers. Instead, the flowers had been replaced by dead bodies, some missing eyes, arms, legs, and heads. The ones who retained their heads held looks of terror on their faces, their mouths open in surprised Os as their eyes locked with death, never to look away.
    I tried pinching myself, hoping to wake up, but I couldn’t pull myself from the horrible scene.
    A figure appeared in the distance and slowly made its way through the field of bodies, shrouded in a long, black cloak, its face hidden in the shadows. I turned and ran, tripping over dead bodies and bits of what was once attached to them. I cried out in frustration as I found myself up against a wall of stone. Looking up, I wondered if I could climb, but quickly realized it would be impossible since it had to be ten times my height.
    I looked behind me and was frightened as the figure glided closer. I knew I did not want to meet whatever was beneath the hood, but that seemed inevitable.
    “Nihilist,” the man hissed from beneath his hood as he appeared a few feet in front of me. The only thing separating us was a body that was missing its arms. I looked away, my stomach rolling.
    As I raked in a deep breath, my mouth filled with the taste of the dead all around me.
    Then a jolt of energy rocketed through my body, and I looked over to see another cloaked and hooded figure drifting across the field.
    “Master,” the voice intoned dully. It sounded like the dead surrounding us looked: devoid of life and meaning. The voice sounded familiar, yet so different. It was as if he’d had his soul taken from his body, only to be left with an empty shell. It made me shudder as his dark energy spilled around me.
    “We are close, Nihilist. I can sense her transition. One of these feeble-minded imbeciles told me where we can gain information on her whereabouts.”
    “And where is the traitor?” the man called the Nihilist asked, his voice deadpan, and his face hidden within the shadows of his dark hood.
    “Dead,” the Master answered wickedly. I felt waves of evil roll off of him and shivered as it made the air around us vibrate. “He served his purpose.”
    “What would you have me do, Master?” The Nihilist dropped to a knee and bowed his head before the man in front of him. I looked quickly between the two, wondering why this Nihilist would ever do the bidding of such an evil being. Despite how the situation looked, I felt something coming from the Nihilist—something that wasn’t entirely bad, but it was quite dim in comparison to the demon he bowed to.
    “Find her. Bring her to me. It is time she joined us,” the Master replied, his voice filled with poison. The Master’s hand came from within the cloak, and I bit my lip to keep from crying out as I saw the terrible black lines snake their way across his skin. If you could see evil course through veins, I was positive this was how it looked.
    The Master pressed his hand to the Nihilist’s head, and the spot where they touched glowed with a strange blue light. But as quickly as it had appeared, it was gone.
    The Nihilist rose to his feet slowly and spoke in a pained voice. “As you wish, Master. I will bring back the Oracle and prove my worth.”
    “See to it that you do. You have been a disappointment since your toxic body was birthed from your whore of a mother.”
    The Nihilist nodded tightly, and the dream