The Oracle's Prophecy

2

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Seventeen years later.

"I'm late!" Nakano said nervously as she quickly stepped through the doorway. "There were patrols."

Closing and bolting the door behind her, Kamran – her resistance contact – brushed away her fears with a wave of his hand.

"There are always patrols." He said attempting a relaxed smile. "Thankfully, we still have time."

Nakano nodded and followed him into a darkened storeroom at the back of a small café. With only a single oil lamp to see by, he saw her note with little surprise that the storeroom's shelves were bare except for the usual thin black grime that pervaded every surface in the city. Food shortage was a way of life in the Directory.

The grime was from a nearby coal-fired power station that provided electricity to the Directory's factories in Metropolitan Fifteen – once know as, Denver City. Day-and-night it belched dirty-black columns of smoke into the air from its tall chimney stacks. When it came down it stuck to everything.

At the far end of the room, two women lay asleep in cots. Nakano went to them immediately and knelt to perform a quick examination of the one that looked most like her.

"The best I could do." Kamran apologized after reading her expression.

"It's close enough. Who is she?"

"I'd like to say she's a sympathizer to our cause but the reality is she needed food for her family, and she'll keep her mouth shut if the Squeaks come to question her."

There was a stack of civilian clothes at the foot of the woman's cot. After finishing her examination, Nakano removed her uniform and began to dress.

When she took off her gloves, Kamran almost gasped when he spied the coiled wire tattooed around her wrists. It was a Directory branding for their officers, the Irenics. Or, as they were more commonly referred to because of the sound their new leather boots made as they walked, the 'Squeaks'.

"Why did you bother with the girl?" She asked referring to the eighteen year old black woman in the other cot, though never once looking at her.

"Just in case you found a way to bring the future-seer with you."

She stopped dressing to glare at him.

"I told you, the girl had been normalized!" She snapped. "There was nothing I could do. She had to be eliminated."

He held up his hands in surrender. "I know, I'm sorry. Can you forgive an old fool for hoping?"

It took longer than he thought, but eventually the rage in her eyes burnt down.

"There's nothing to forgive." She finally said and went back to dressing. "What's important now is that we've recovered the lost prophecy."

"Is it intact?" He asked, the excitement creeping into his voice.

"I have it all up here." She responded tapping a finger against her head. "Including the moment when the Pathfinder creates a wave of light so powerful it consumes the Directory's army and wins us the war."

Kamran wanted to punch the air.

"Then maybe there is still hope." He whispered with quiet anticipation.

"Not maybe." She corrected him.

He nodded. "Yes, you're right. Now that we have the last prophecy, we will turn the tide on this war."