The Oracles - Karista
April 19th, 2005 - part one

In the morning we were treated to an audience with the Oracles.

But before I begin telling the tale of that episode, I will back up a little earlier that morning. For as strange as the events of the last few months have been, this day was even stranger…

I woke up early. The sun hadn't come up yet, and I fought the urge to get out from the warmth of my covers and comfort of my bed. Suddenly the alarm was ringing and my mother was in the room, a whirlwind of energy and drive.

Before I knew it, I was at school. Most of my classmates were absent. In fact, only Alex, Leon, Owen and myself were present. But the teacher wanted to continue anyway… She was a new teacher, of Native descent, and there was something that we all found familiar about her. None of could place her face though - someone we had met in a past life perhaps. If you believe in that sort of thing, that is.

There were three new students being introduced. All three were girls roughly my age and were sisters if not triplets. Katharine, Jennifer and Natasha took positions in the front row. I found myself staring. Katharine had an extremely cold attitude, more so than that of a new student. Jennifer had a matronly look to her and Natasha looked to be the "most innocent" of the three. Truth be told, I can't tell you where these images and impressions were coming from. I was staring at the backs of their heads after all.

The fire drill broke me from my reverie. In the hallway, students were moving in an orderly manner. The tough kids were making trouble, and turned on the triplets. Their features melted and shifted. They soon looked more like bipedal hyenas than people. They laughed wickedly, lurching forward with a speed not in keeping with their hunchbacked bodies.

I screamed as the three guys were struck down. In seconds only the teacher and I had made it out of the building with the hyena-men hot on our heels. Only they weren't hyena-men. They were the guys - Alex and company guys. And they were mesmerized by the burning building. Only the teacher and I were free from this effect.

"Ms. Winter," I asked, "what's going on? Why aren't there any fire trucks or people fighting this?"

"Why should they?" Ms. Winter responded, "The world's going to end soon anyway…"

"What do you mean?" my voice trailed off as I took in her facial features, she becoming younger before my eyes and she was becoming more feral by the second…

"AND WHAT DO YOU ALL THINK YOU ARE DOING?" The principal shouted through a megaphone, "You're supposed to be afraid! Act like I'm paying you! 'Cause if you don't I won't!

The group came to life, knocking me over as Ms. Winter loped off like a creature from The Island of Doctor Moreau. I stumbled backwards and was caught by Natasha.

"What's going on?" I asked. "This has got to be a dream."

"Most likely." Natasha replied, "Remember that dreams are windows into what may be, what might be and what could have been…"

Alex, Owen and Leon were back, watching intently. Without warning, they leaped forward, attempting to pin Natasha down.

"Christine - Karista. I need your help"

Without thinking, I reached forward. Energy leapt from my hand and through the guys off like so much paper in a hurricane. Natasha smiled.

"We'll be seeing you soon." Natasha said as she rose to her feet. "Probably sooner than anyone realizes..."

Fire trucks finally arrived, their klaxons blazing louder and louder.

I sat up in my bed, somewhere in Trois-Riviers. A call to arms was sounding. Alex was already up, pulling on his clothes and grabbing up his sword. The soldiers were arming outside, taking up a defensive perimeter. Somewhere in the building, a generator roared to life, flooding the area with light.

We grouped in the lobby, a Bifrost Lieutenant guarding the door. He explained that not all the residents of the city were aligned with the Bifrost or the Trogs. Some were independents and of those the most dangerous were the Wasters.

"Undead," Loehann muttered, his hammer almost humming in his hands, "let me at them.

I smiled despite the danger. Loehann quickly got himself assigned to a patrol to find the war band. I volunteered for support while Tokath joined up with a tech team. Rhaigne stayed with me, despite her desire to be outside. Owen went with his brother, as did Alexander.

The patrol encountered trouble almost immediately. A band of undead - zombies and skeletons - erupted from the snow pack. Their ambush successful, they set to work. The battle was fierce, and drawn out. Alexander's skill and powers were hard pressed to keep the creatures at bay, much less deal effectively with them. Loehann had the satisfaction of cowing a few of them as he charged, swinging his hammer in massive arcs.

I scanned for the leader of the undead. They were attacking with purpose and direction. And then I saw her. Atop a snow-covered gas station. Two undead beside her. From her clothes it was had to tell who or what she was. In fact, gender was barely discernible. It was the way she carried herself that made me think woman.

The boys were holding their own as were the Bifrost. Battle cries to Heimdall, Thor and Baldur echoed in the air, intermixed with the screaming sound coming from the handle of Loehann's hammer every time he swung it.

Knowing the necromancer atop the gas station was controlling this virtual army, I summoned my inner strength, the strength of my most powerful double, and leapt into the air. I landed mere feet from her, and summoning my faith to the front, I destroyed her two attendants with a gesture. Their clothes collapsed into powder-filled heaps even as others fell beneath my companions' onslaught.

Annoyed that I would bring the battle to her, or so it seemed, she gestured towards me and a bolt of black energy came hurtling towards me. My force shield ring activated just in time as I attempted to dispel the foul energy. I staggered back a half step as my power neutralized all that the shield missed.

A minor demon appeared at her side and lumbered toward me. With contempt, I waved a hand at it, bringing to bear a spiritual long sword to fight it while I dealt with the Necromancer. She hissed at me, and I could see sharp canines.

"A vampire." I groaned. I stole a glance behind me to see Rhaigne had snuck out of the relative safety of the building and was using her own formidable powers to attack the undead army that assaulted our newfound allies. She was tearing through them in an effort to get to my side.

As I turned back to my opponent, she withdrew a sphere the size of a bowling ball and threw it skyward. It rose some ten feet above her and shattered, raining skeletons around me. My resolve did not waver. Summoning the very essence of my faith, I sent forth a burst of energy in Pelor's name, felling a dozen of the skeletons.

The battle stalemated for all of us for several minutes. Rhaigne unable to get past a series of zombies, Loehann stymied by a lesser vampire, Owen was overcome by an apparent horde of skeletal figures. The Bifrost themselves looked almost overwhelmed.

I could feel myself growing weaker as powdered remains mixed with snow all around me. I screamed in pain as a skeletal hand tore at my face, even as others finally overwhelmed me.

My eyes closed as darkness descended over me.

When I awoke, a small feral form was above me. Hissing and spitting like an angered cat, Rhaigne's form was an amalgamation of a humanoid mountain lion and the young child I had come to love as a little sister. I could not see the others, but I could hear that the battle had turned.

As I struggled to raise myself to a sitting position, I was just in time to see the vampiress retreating: leaving her minions to final death at our hands without her guidance.

Moments later, the enemy defeated, their purpose in attacking a mystery, Alex was helping me to my feet. The battle had begun to go our way when yet more newcomers arrived. They were at the center of Bifrost warriors, but I could still make them out…

I almost fainted when we were introduced to Natasha, Jennifer and Katherine.

Our meeting with the Oracles was shared. The three human women in audience with us, as were the field commanders. We found ourselves reporting our actions alongside their generals, trying to figure out why these undead had attacked and where they had come from.

I'd like to quote Rhaigne's reaction:

"These guys are creepy." She muttered to me, trying not to be seen.

It just summarizes our initial response so well. The seven Oracles were obvious telepaths. To the point that they often spoke in groups of two and three or completed each other's sentences without missing a beat. It was like an audience with one person in seven bodies.

"Our people owe the nine of you a debt of gratitude." They droned in unison. "However, we fear that these undead were a decoy."

This confirmed my suspicion about the oracles - undead had a nasty habit of being immune to telepathy. I wondered, hopefully to myself, just how useful these seven actually were, considering that they could not detect undead or find the Trogs' leaders…

The Oracles and generals began listing the dead, the wounded, the security status and - most important, missing persons. It seems a number of sorcerers and psions had been abducted. Strangest part was that they were not the elite. They were the younger and least powerful of everyone present. Owen and Loehann shot each other glances and I swallowed reflexively - Tokath was missing too.

The newcomers were eager to assist in the search as the Oracles sought the location of their, and our, comrades. As always, the Trogs were shielded by their allies. However, Katherine turned to us, examining a series of blinking, sequin-sized lights on her arm.

"I am detecting a power source." She said. "Approximately 10 kilometers south of this location. It is not a generator"

We stared at her in mild disbelief. A cyborg. Probably a cyberpath.

Continued...