"...James" The female voice was back, as sad and heavy as always.
James was dreaming again. The environment was different, however. Instead of the cold, white nothingness he had found himself in so many times before, he was now sitting in a stone corridor illuminated by a soft blue light.
"...Where are ...you?" The voice continued.
James decided he would ignore the questions this time around, and instead focus on the corridor, which stretched ahead and disappeared in a series of turns.
As he followed it, the blue light grew stronger, until finally the corridor ended in a massive cave bathed in the blue light. The light itself seemed to originate from thousands of smaller lights dancing just below the roof of the cave. They somewhat resembled fireflies, but it was hard to tell for sure because of the height of the roof.
"...Who are you... James?"
"You tell me, since you obviously know so much," James answered, gazing at the strange lights in the room. "Or are you going to disappear again?"
The question of who he was always used to be the last one in his dreams. No matter what he answered, the female voice would disappear, and he would wake up.
"Tell you what?" An old man's voice replied.
James jumped at the sound, as he hadn't expected any reply. He quickly turned to face the direction of the sound, and noticed that there was an old man sitting in the middle of the room, gazing at the lights just as he himself had been doing a few moments earlier. He was only barely illuminated, and almost perfectly blended into the scenery.
"Oh? Surprised?" The old man turned to look James in the eyes. he had a kind look in his eyes. "Come, sit down. Let us..." He paused, studying the look on James' face. "...Talk."
Great. Instead of sexy voices, I now dream of old men.
James sighed. "All right old man, just don't try anything weird," he said as he walked closer to the old man, trying to sound confident.
The old man just smiled, pointing at a large rock in front of him.
Even if James' dreams were only exceptional lucid dreams, they still had the potential to develop into vivid nightmares, and a nightmare involving an old geezer wasn't a happy thought. james was still uneasy as he sat down on the rock.
The old man waited patiently for James to sit down before he started speaking again. "Try anything weird? Why, it is your dream. You are the only one who can decide if anything weird will happen," he said, folding his hands in his lap before continuing. "That being said, I did not intend to frighten you. My apologies."
The polite speech annoyed James. "Who said anything about being afraid?"
"You did not, but you were."
James studied the old man for a while. He was dressed in a plain brown robe, which covered most of him except the head and neck. These were covered in a strange silvery tattoo; several lines running up his neck in random patterns before covering his bald head. He also looked very old and frail. The old man seemed to study James as well.
None of them spoke as they were observing each other, and minutes started to pass. "All right, I'll play," James finally said, trying to reclaim control of his dream. "What did you want to talk about?"
"Ah yes. First thing first though." The man paused, pondering, like as if he couldn't find the right words to say. "I am the Oracle. I go by many names, but you can call me Nebula."
"The Oracle, huh?" James paused, thinking for a few seconds before continuing. "Why Nebula?"
"It's easy for you to remember. Also, I believe Oracle would be too formal."
Another few moments passed as James pondered his next move, not quite sure what to say next.
"Now..." Nebula broke the silence. "It has been a while since I got visitors. Do you know why you are here?"
"You're the Oracle, you tell me."
"It does not work like that."
"Oh? I thought an Oracle was all knowing."
"I am not."
James rose to his feet and started walking around, stretching his legs and arms after sitting on the rock for too long.
"All right Nebula. I fell asleep on the ship, and now I'm dreaming about you, happy?"
"Dreaming you say?" Nebula looked at James with a puzzled expression, before he continued in a merry tone, "Oh yes, this is good."
He looked into the distance, as if he was looking for something. Then he started to laugh. It was a merry laughter, but the cave amplified the laughter, making it sound harsh and rough. Soon the entire room was filled with echoes of his laughter.
"What's so damn funny?!" James snapped. He didn't like to be the object of public ridicule, even if there were only one person laughing.
Nebula stopped laughing and turned to face James again. "Nothing," he just answered.
"Like hell it was!"
"No, no. You don't understand. It really was nothing. Nothing indeed!" Nebula was still full of mirth, and James found himself getting even more annoyed at this than the polite speech.
"James," Nebula started grinning widely. It was a wicked grin that conflicted heavily with the kind appearance he had sported earlier. He started laughing again. "James, who are you?"