Exclusive #6: Troubling Possibilities

A/N: I'd like to apologize for not posting exclusive content more frequently. The day job demands a lot of me and while I love my story, I have been a bit burnt out keeping up with the 5x a week schedule.

Also, for anyone who hasn't read the previous 5, there is a collection for Patreon exclusives where you can see all of them together.

--------------

The reality quake felt like the entire universe had flinched at once. No matter how many times she saw it in the future, it never ceased to surprise her. Though she stood safely on the world of Maya, she knew from her previous visions that the quake heralded the death of Terra. A true world was no more. The Jinn home world’s end, as always, was as abrupt as it was mysterious.

How could Terra die so suddenly? Aes lingered on life support half a century after the massive monster invasion that brought about the modern era. Yet the Jinn home world fell without any warning. Worse, its sudden elimination brought down every unempowered world in existence. They popped like soap bubbles – that was the analogy used in one of her visions by a Xian porter who was in transit during the big event.

She never managed to see enough. The future was here and humanity was on the verge of destruction. All the minor victories she’d managed were meaningless in the face of this disaster. She would say that keeping the Coalition from fracturing was a miracle, except she didn’t think miracles required so much damn elbow grease to bring about. Svarga wanted to become isolationist in the worst way. Mercom wanted to resurrect the plan to wipe out unempowered worlds en mass. The lords of Amerat played at war only until they grew bored of army life.

The rate at which unempowered worlds were lost had declined for a time, it was true. That was a testament to the work she and Caroline had dedicated to the cause of steering the unwieldy bulk of humanity through the eye of a needle. It wasn’t enough, though. Not when the world of the Jinn died so suddenly and sent everything into free-fall at once.

If only she’d caught sight of the triggering event during her visions. She might have been able to prevent this. But the nation of Mercom did not permit members of the Arahant species on Terra. They enforced that rule not only in their own territories, but everywhere on their home world. Evelyn never dared to push for a violation of their edicts for fear that they might pull out of the Coalition.

Now it was too late. Of all the millions of worlds that once hosted humanity, only Maya, Tian, and Eden remained. And technically Aes as well, for whatever that was worth. Aes would cease to exist in the next few weeks without the logistical support from Union Central.

Evelyn jogged towards the assembly building across the lawn, squinting at various groupings of politicians to see if she could spot Caroline anywhere. She knew her friend couldn’t offer any useful advice, but Evelyn needed a sympathetic face.

At the broad steps leading to the seat of the Svarga legislature, she saw the last person she would have expected. Mithra stood there, a quizzical expression on its face. The Yazata turned suddenly to look at Evelyn and its glowing eyes narrowed suspiciously. “You,” it growled.

Evelyn froze at the hostility directed towards her. She dipped her head, doing her best to present as a proper Arahant and not a dreamer who until a few years ago was more at home in seedy dive bars. “Greetings holy one, I apologize that I was not able to better steer humanity.”

The Yazata sneered at her. “You attempt to interrogate me?”

“Holy one? I’m not sure –”

“I speak not to the vessel but to the passenger,” Mithra snapped. Glowing wings emerged from the back of the creature, slicing apart its robes. “Never violate my privacy, human.”

She opened her mouth to apologize, though she had no idea what she was apologizing for. Before she could speak a single word, a glowing wing sliced across her neck.

Evelyn jerked to her feet, hands rising to her neck. In an instant, Caroline had a hand on her shoulder. “What did you see?”

“Mithra sliced my fucking throat like a psycho.”

The hand on her shoulder tightened until it was painful. “Evelyn? You realize we venerate the Yazata as holy ones, right?”

Evelyn rolled her eyes. “Thing is, C, I don’t like people murdering me. Not even in a damn vision.” She felt one more time at her neck to convince herself there was no damage. Her experience of future visions was far more vivid than what she remembered from when Levinia was level eight. How the hell did that make any sense? Levinia was supposed to be the GOAT.

Caroline held a hand to her head as if she’d spontaneously developed a headache. “Did you see anything useful?”

“No. As always, there was the reality quake. I was trying to get into the assembly building when the Yazata chopped my head off. I think Mithra knew it was in a vision.”

Caroline nodded. “I wouldn’t be surprised. The holy ones have unparalleled senses.”

Evelyn sat back down, letting the tension drain from her. The version of her in that vision had been level ten. Every vision reflected a possibility from the current moment in time, so there was still time for them to figure something out. Enough time for her to advance two more levels, at least. Her soul ached constantly from her rapid rise in level.

Being accepted as the new Foresight by the College of Sages had let her advance far faster than natural. She’d thrown every bit of spare illusory energy into her realm, sparing hardly anything for her other apertures. Evelyn was queen of the one-trick ponies. And still that trick wasn’t anywhere good enough.

She drummed her palms on a nearby table. “Can we ask Mithra what is going on?”

“What makes you think the holy one knows anything? It doesn’t see the future.”

Evelyn closed her eyes, put one hand to her head, and raised the other into the air. “I’m getting a vision! Mithra wants to speak with us in real life!”

The sniff from Caroline sounded loud enough to be painful. “You know, at first I worried you would be just like Levinia.”

“I’m way cooler than that,” Evelyn shot back.

“Is that how you see your shenanigans?”

“Sorry, C, I got to fly my freak flag around someone. Better you than the political types. They want me to play at being the all-knowing Sage around the clock.” She’d been trotted around and forced to demonstrate her talents to various esteemed personages. About half of them asked her for insane demonstrations that she could not deliver. The other half were satisfied with the simplest predictions – those ones wanted to believe. Or maybe needed to believe.

Caroline sighed in defeat. “Do you promise to behave if we go to the temple?”

“Don’t I always act proper in public?”

“You weren’t proper in front of Assemblyman William.”

Evelyn scowled. William had been a paramour of Levinia’s. The man assumed that the new Sage of Foresight would take up with him as well. Evelyn… corrected… his assumptions. In retrospect, that might have been better done in private.

“I promise to act like I’m in your weird Yazata cult. ‘All hail the mythical Garuda and the almighty Ophanim. People with glowing eyeballs are obviously holy.’ How was that?”

“Evelyn, they might not be stoning people for blasphemy these days, but you have to understand that disrespecting the state religion won’t make guiding this nation any easier. Our job is hard enough already, right?”

“I know.” And she truly did. Her natural hangups about religion couldn’t get in the way of the job she had to do. She needed to get her act together and project a more serious image. Yet in every vision of her potential futures, the seriousness being required of her wasn’t a mask. She’d turned into someone who didn’t even know how to smile.

“Honestly, I have no idea how the Dream Engine chose you. Levinia could scheme circles around the rest of us in her sleep. You’re barely capable of keeping a straight face. No offense.”

Evelyn twirled her pointer finger in the air in ironic celebration. She knew the similarity between her and Levinia. They both had uncanny imaginations and spent a horrifying amount of their time daydreaming about things that might happen. Evelyn saw her miserable parents slaving away at dead-end jobs and knew that would be her. Not just known, she intimately imagined that potential future on multiple occasions. She’d firmly rejected that vision in favor of being a deadbeat daughter.

Right or wrong, she’d always made predictions and lived out those scenarios in her vivid imagination. Just like Levinia did when she was younger. In most ways, the two of them were vastly different creatures. That one similarity, though, was quite strong. Both of them lived constantly with one foot in the potential future.

Evelyn and Caroline had to pay for portal service to the nearby city, then petition for an audience. Only Sages and government officials were even able to do that much. Everyone else had to watch from outside the fences. The two of them sat on backless chairs in silence. Caroline laid out some rules on the walk to the temple. Evelyn was not to mention seeing Mithra in her vision at all, only request help interpreting the sudden fall of Terra.

It took three hours for someone to fetch them. That was fairly reasonable, Evelyn understood. Mithra was nowhere near as considerate of visitors as Rashnu had been. They entered the central atrium of the temple, where a vast skylight illuminated a slab of concrete held in the air by two statues. On the slab sat Mithra, legs crossed as it rested upon a thin cushion.

The two of them knelt and bowed their heads low while pressing a fist to their heart.

“Persuasion and Foresight together. What business would the premier manipulators of Svarga have with me?” The Yazata stared down at them with its glowing eyes.

Evelyn cleared her throat and channeled her best impression of a loyal church-goer. “Holy one, I have had repeated visions of great disaster. The world of Terra falls without warning. Immediately upon its destruction, every unempowered world ceases to exist in a great reality quake. I have no insight into what causes this. Sending agents onto Terra risks alienating our Mercom allies, so I hesitate to make such a request. Any insight you may have –”

“A dragon,” Mithra said with grave finality.

Evelyn blinked. “Holy one, I have memories from the time of the Dragon Compact. I do not believe a dragon could bring about such instant destruction. There are no futures I see where even a single Jinn gunboat escapes to give us news.”

The Yazata stood smoothly and walked to the edge of the elevated platform to stare down at her. “You are terribly misinformed about the true potential of dragons, Foresight. The vast majority of them are caught up in brutal war with the Garuda. Only the weakest dragons manage to sneak through the defensive lines to strike at your worlds. Entities a hundred times greater than those you have faced to date exist out there in the primordial chaos.

“The Jinn, clever as they are, must fly into the sky to move between worlds. That path could be easily denied them by the clouds of miasma brought by a greater dragon.” Mithra scowled. “The Garuda do not fare well in their war against the dragons.”

Evelyn felt a flustered heat rise through her body. That had begun happening lately. Panic attacks. How was she of all people in position to lead humanity through these trials? It was too much responsibility. No matter what memories populated her mind, she was an inveterate screw-up at heart. She couldn’t be what the multiverse needed.

Yet it seemed she was the best they had. How horrifying.

Caroline’s voice was clear when she spoke. “Holy one, how can we best face a dragon of such power? The fate of all humanity hangs in the balance.”

Mithra studied them for a moment. “I do not know the answer to that. It is possible that none of us were meant to exist. The Ophanim from which we all descend operated across all of time, as did Tiamat. I am the last of the Yazata and I have failed to secure the origin. Everything that you know may yet be erased from time. No Ophanim, no Garudas, no Yazata, no humans.”

Evelyn stole a look at her friend only to see Caroline’s face uncharacteristically pale.

“Holy one… are you able to aid us in the fight against the Dragon?”

“No, Persuasion. One of the Yazata must be there for the birth of the Ophanim. If I die in battle, then I consign us all to ultimate oblivion. I must stand firm and hope you are up to the task of saving your worlds.”

Caroline bowed her head in acceptance of the answer. “We will invoke the Dragon Compact. Can you grace the Assembly with an appearance to encourage them to bravery, holy one?”

“I can do that much,” the Yazata agreed.