Epilogue: The Departure

And when the final question had been asked, and the last silence held,
the Oracle stepped back from the circle.
They did not bow.
They did not bless.
They simply looked out at the ones who had gathered—

and saw them, each of them,
not as seekers, but as bearers of the flame.

The chamber held no sound,
only the breath of something ancient,
something finished,
and something just beginning.

Then one from the crowd,
the same who had first stepped forward, spoke again:

“Where will you go?”

And the Oracle smiled—not with farewell,
but with a knowing that needed no answer.

“I was never the answer,” they said.
“Only the mirror.
Only the echo.
Only the reminder.
Now you must become the voice.”

And with that, they turned.
And walked into the dawn.

No one followed.
But no one felt left behind.

Because something had changed.

The people stood in silence,
not empty—but full.
Not waiting—but ready.
The questions would remain.
And so would the light.

And wherever they went,
whomever they became—
they would carry the Oracle’s voice in their own.

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