Oracle: Prophesy Unleashed
“Next” called the receptionist as the number 31 flashed above her head. I looked at the 31 stamped on the back of my hand and rose to my feet.
The receptionist looked up briefly avoiding my eyes “Through the yellow door” she instructed.
Straightening my shoulders I tugged down my jacket and walked slowly to the yellow door; as I neared the door silently swung open. Entering, I quickly glanced around the room. It featured a burly man in uniform behind the broad desk and one chair set squarely in front of the desk.
Without looking up the man barked out “Sit”
I sat down in the uncomfortable chair; this was not going to be pleasant.
The man finished entering data and sat back and looked straight at me. Not many could look me directly in the face. I tucked away the thought that I was facing a formidable opponent.
“You state your occupation as Oracle”
“Correct” I responded
Briefly he looked down and read from his screen. Raising his eyes he asked “What was your relationship to the deceased”
“I didn’t have a relationship with him” I responded
“You didn’t have a relationship, yet you called in his death”
“He was a petitioner; I didn’t have a relationship with him”
“So, just what did you have with him?” he challenged.
“An appointment for a prophecy.”
“What prophecy?“ he barked back.
I smiled slightly “You know there is no answer to that question” I replied. “My disc turned yellow and I rang it in as required”
He rose from the desk and moved around to the front looming threateningly over me.
“You know what happened to him and you will tell me. Either of your own accord or through whatever means we have to get the information out of your head.”
“Inspector, threats won’t change what is. I gave the petitioner the prophecy and it is no longer in my head. I don’t know what prophecy I gave to him. I came to; the disc was yellow indicating death had been spoken. He left and I rang it in as required”
He dropped into my lap some papers. I looked down and my eyes were trapped by the dead gaze of the petitioner, his bloodless corpse ripped open and emptied leaving only skin and bone. The ugly picture printed itself onto my brain. I was glad I had not eaten this morning as my stomach tried to turn itself inside out.
I raised my head and felt the world receding as I went into a trance my white pupil-less eyes wide and beginning to glow as the prophecy came into being.
Danger threatens in sterile white;
Lost children return with teeth;
Three lines converge;
As wind-borne spectres harvest;
Death howls and souls are freed.
Words released into being I collapsed eyes closing, everything shutting down.
A few minutes later I came back to my senses I looked down at the disc embedded in my palm. It glowed yellow. I raised my head and looked at the Inspector across the desk. He was busy on phone and screen. Without looking up he dismissed me with “That’s all we need today, you can go”
I knew he was a formidable opponent, push the Oracle hard enough emotionally and she will revert to prophecy. I tapped the time into my wrist link and printed off a bill for my fee, stood and pushed it across the screen in over the data he was busy with. Turned on my heel and left before my stomach decided to rebel as I thought of the petitioner’s flayed body.
I returned to my unit, plain white walls, one room for petitioners, and then the main living area bed tucked into one corner, kitchen nook along the west wall, separate room for ablutions. My only luxury was the abundance of plants which gave the room a verdant glow as if deep in a forest. I wandered slowly amongst my plants gently touching leaves, gaining comfort from their joyous energy. My mind flicked back to the petitioner, tall, confident and robust when he arrived for his appointment this morning, within hours he had been reduced to the dismembered skin and bone.
A shiver traced up my spine. I had called in five prophecies mentioning death in the last month, six if I counted the one at Central Law Enforcement and Securities. Words of death flowed through me but without the disc I wouldn’t know. An Oracle is a conduit, not a participant but I was beginning to feel that I needed to know what I was prophesying. When we went through training to get our licence anonymity of the prophesy was drilled into us. I felt that these prophesies where a test of my fortitude and my commitment to the ideal.
I checked my appointment schedule. I had two more petitioners due this afternoon. Enough time for me to get organised. I grabbed some unregistered exchange tokens, I felt the purchases I was about to make should not show on my credit exchange.
I returned with minutes to spare before my next appointment wearing a skin patch recording device. With this device I was breaking all the rules of Oracle engagement. The petitioner comes before the Oracle, asks their question and prophesy speaks. It is no business of the Oracle what the prophesy is, clients are billed based on time spent which begins when the Oracle takes their seat and the disc embedded in the palm of my hand begins to emit colour based on what is spoken; white for air or mind, green for earth or the physical body, red for fire energy and passion, blue for water and emotion, yellow for death, black for loss. The Oracle knows the question and elementally what the response is but not the detail. I was going to find out the detail.
The two afternoon appointments went quietly; I reviewed the disc, nothing out of the ordinary and deleted the recoding. This pattern occurs throughout the following week. Then on the next Monday I checked my appointment book and got an unpleasant surprise. My last appointment of the day CLES Insp Realuten I quickly checked online and it was the same person I saw at the CLES office. This was not good. Thoughts flickered through my head like lightening. Did they know I was recording sessions? Would I lose my licence? Or was it something else. It couldn’t be personal as it was booked through CLES. Could I afford to record this session or should I behave as an Oracle is supposed to behave, totally oblivious of the prophesy.
The day stretched and shrunk, seeming to speed past and then drag out. I finally reached the time for the CLES appointment. When the doorbell chimed I opened the door and there he was a tall, burly man in uniform taking up the space in my doorway. I wasn’t small but felt dwarfed in his presence I stepped aside and gestured him in. As he entered his dark penetrating eyes stayed on me. Again I gestured towards the seat at the table. He sat, never removing his eyes from me but I felt he had observed every placement of plant and furniture in the room. I took my seat and before I could begin he pushed a piece of paper towards me. I looked down.
Danger threatens in sterile white;
Lost children return with teeth;
Three lines converge;
As wind-borne spectres harvest;
Death howls and souls are freed.
My eyes flashed back up to his. Which hadn’t moved, still trained on me like lasers.
“That is the prophecy you gave me at the headquarters” he intoned “I need you to follow it up. What is the danger? Who are the children? And what or who are the three lines?”
I felt the world begin to recede, misty walls arose around me. I hung motionless in a void.
Testing lines in children’s spines;
Life and unlife joined in one;
Death, air and passion wrought;
The veil lifts; Tartarus rises;
Taking tormented souls;
Macaria blesses the children’s sleep.
I became aware of a chill invading my bones as my eyes cleared and connected to the twin laser trained upon my face.
I looked at the disc, once again it showed yellow. I twisted my hand into his view.
“I guess I don’t need to ring this one in” I croaked.
He pushed another piece of paper towards me. I read the lines and looked back up at him.
“Do you know what this means” he asked
“That’s not how it works” I said “I have never had to work out what the prophecy means. That is what diviners are for.”
“Except the diviners say that you hold the answer’ he replied. “To get to the answers we will follow up on every prophecy you make.”
“That violates petitioners rights, prophecy is only for the petitioner to know” I replied.
His lips turned up in a slight smirk, as his dark eyes drilled into mine. “And you have been violating their rights for a couple of weeks now, haven’t you.”
I felt cold all the way down my spine but I held his gaze defiantly.
“You have a choice” he said “Work with CLES or lose your licence and your livelihood.
I was trapped and I knew it.
