ALEXiThymiA: Chapter 57: The Prophetic Herald

Chapter 57

The Prophetic Herald

Once again, Luke felt like something was off. While he had spent the better part of the afternoon next to his sister, he still couldn’t help but feel like the other shoe was going to drop. Part of him wondered if they should even go to the Halloween party, but even thinking that, Luke realized that the part of this whole night that was bothering him was not the party.

Well, he did have his own apprehension about going to the party, but that was based solely on how he suddenly found himself having feelings for Julie. The only problem was, he always had feelings for her, which was why he broke things off to begin with. Things were great with her, too great.

At the time he was afraid that most people wouldn’t understand his sister. Many of his ex-girlfriends used to make it a power play, making it so they would choose between them or his sister. He made that mistake only once, and he felt terrible afterwards. In the end, they still ended up breaking up, and he felt like a terrible brother. Worse, she forgave him like nothing mattered. Though he could tell it did matter. He didn’t know how he knew, but he could tell.

Every once in a while, she would show signs, or flashes of emotions, of pain. Pain that was directed squarely at him. Pain that he couldn’t refute.

As such he developed a cavalier approach to dating. Date for a while, have fun, then if it became close to being serious, drop it before anyone made him choose them over Alexa again.

In the end, he ultimately realized that he was just in high school, that despite how amazing these relationships were, they would always end. So, he developed a bit of control by ending the relationship before they became too real. That’s why he broke things off with Julie, she was like a ball of corked electricity. The first second he was alone with her, he felt that surging attraction.

Luke’s attraction to Julie was something indescribable, and it scared him. In the end he knew that his attachment to Julie would cost him a lot in the future. So, he did what he always did, ended the relationship before it ended too quickly.

He had always had these sort of gut feelings. Well not always, they only started shortly after puberty, but they were intense. He almost felt like he could judge a person’s character just by looking at them. At the time he thought such feelings were often arrogance, but over time he learned to trust these feelings. These feelings were the ones that warned him that his sister was in danger.

These feelings were also the same ones that now told him something odd would happen later tonight. Something that was seemingly unavoidable, regardless of what he did.

“Oh, come on Dread Pirate Roberts.” Julie called out from the other room.

They had all decided to meet at the boys dorm, on account of it both being closer, and being the only building Luke could enter without getting zapped.

Luke was about to go, but then he heard his sister speak and paused.

“He will only come if I make him.” Alexa said, with her dry tone.

Hearing her voice, a smile crept on his lips as he waited.

“Westley come here now.”

Then with the line said, Luke smiled brightly as he left his room in his iconic pirate costume. Making sure to give his customary line.

“Nothing gave Buttercup as much pleasure as ordering Westley around.” Luke said the line as he exited his room, then paused as he looked up to see the two girls.

Stunning was the word he would use to describe them both. Of course, his sister was in the iconic red dress of Princess Buttercup, even wearing the gloves.  She even had her hair arranged so that most of the hair from her blond knot on top covered the majority of her hair.

But what gave him pause was the skintight leather pants and vest that Julie wore. Even with a fake mustache, she looked amazing. It took Luke a moment, but it finally clicked.

“Inigo Montoya?”

Rather than answer, Julie just replied with. “I am looking for a man with six fingers. You wouldn’t happen to have six fingers on your right hand, would you?”

“Wow, so you joined us? That is awesome.” Luke admitted.

Julie too had a bit of flush coming to her face at the compliment. It was clear that she for whatever reason felt pressured to wear this outfit, but it suited her well. Even the fake mustache just made her look adorable, rather than anything.

Before the two could drag out the moment for too long, Alexa turned to leave.

The two exchanged a glance, before Julie broke the sudden tension between the two. “Come on. We are already late.”

Luke started following but found himself asking. “What about Gina?”

“Oh, she said she would meet us there.” Julie answered.

“Any idea what she is going as?” Luke asked.

Julie just shook her head, “no clue.”

With that the trio made their way down second street, to the party house that was already alive with activity. Since they were all underage there was a strict no alcohol policy. One that the faculty and staff seemed to be fully capable of enforcing. It was hard to fool the heightened senses of werewolves, vampyres and highly leveled individuals.

Also, with the campus parties being held in the section of campus where most of the staff members also lived, it was clear that nothing major would be able to happen. Especially with Mr. Kim the PE teacher hosting his own party on the house directly across from the high schoolers.

This was as close to freedom as the kids could get, and something the administrators gradually acquiesced to over time, so long as the three main rules of No were upheld. The rules were in order: No means no, no alcohol, and no drugs. Other than those three, so long as logic was held, the kids were allowed to do what they wanted, within reason. There were of course rules against procreation in any form, but there was only so much the staff could do.

As Luke made his way to Angel’s house, he found Mr. Mackie gesturing for all the males of the school to come and hear a safety speech.

“In addition to the three rules of nos. I will warn you all that while you have all been granted temporary access to the dorm proper for the night. You will still find an unpleasant experience if you attempt to enter any of the female rooms. Even with the occupant’s permission. Do you understand?”

“Yes.” The boys chorused in unison.

With that Mr. Mackie gave each boy a look, before going over to them, and touching his thumb against each boy’s head. Luke watched as he swore he could almost see a faint glow of energy for a second. A faint glow that quickly faded once Mr. Mackie pulled his thumb away.

The finally it was Luke’s turn to feel the energy.

Whoosh.

The second, Mr. Mackie’s energized finger touched his mind, her felt a flood of power enter his mind. Then he began to see things.

Images coming too quickly in his mind. There was a sword fight where he was fighting himself? It was a mock battle. There was a power play made by Angel, something where she revealed who her father was. Then there was something even more important. Something dangerous that came from the Dungeons.

Not just the one on campus, though that one showed the most obvious signs of monsters leaving the dungeons. Well not true monsters, rather these were something different entirely. They were covered in shadow, but Luke knew them for the true monsters they were. They were the wolf in sheep’s clothing that grandmother would warn you about. They were the epitome of evil made flesh. Worse, it seemed they would be welcomed with open arms.

Luke saw all this, while his body convulsed.

Gagging.

Luke found himself choking as black smoke that tasted like over spiced rotten eggs wafted from his lips.

Cough, cough.

Luke found himself coughing out the vile stench from his lungs. With a start, Luke realized that he was being held upright by strong hands. Hands that up until a moment ago had been infusing power into his brain. Well not his brain exactly, but into a rune on his forehead. Somehow his body had found the energy from the rune and managed to absorb some of the energy as fuel for his visions.

Luke didn’t quite understand how he knew that. How he knew that the mana that was being infused into his mind by Mr. Mackie had bled off and been used to empower his personal rune, but he had. On some basic level he both felt and understood that process.

Cooling waves of energy.

Just as Luke felt like he would choke to death on the black tar that now clung to his lungs, he felt a soothing wave of healing energy. Energy that yet caused even more visions to form in his mind.

This time he saw a countdown. The iconic image of Time square came, people counted down the time. Then nothing. Luke watched as everyone left the area. As hour after hour slowly ticked by. Finally at three AM, the next wave of change happened. As at that very moment, dungeons around the world began to open up and become permanent anchor points to parts of the universe where unimaginable horrors exist.

Horrors that had up until this point been held back some unseen boundary.

“Stop it.” Mr. Mackie shouted. His voice was distant, as if speaking through a running waterfall. “His mind is somehow absorbing the excess energy and using it to further create the condition we are seeing.”

With that the surge of energy into his body stopped.

The stopping of energy was a double-edged sword. For it meant the pain that he had been feeling was now back and working properly within his body. A pain that was quickly filled by more black tar smoke and the taste of rotten eggs.

Cough, cough.

He found his body going limp, as he was slowly dropped to the ground. Buttercup was next to him. With his vision blurry, he realized belatedly that his sister was standing next to his side, her cold eyes staring at him. Seeing her like that, he knew she cared. That while she couldn’t express emotions, that she had a hard time telling others how she felt, he knew then and there that she truly cared for him. Seeing that somehow made everything feel so much better.

Gentle breeze.

With that breeze, the scent of rotting eggs began to leave the area and Luke suddenly found it easier to breathe in fresh air.

“Good idea, direct magic to him seems to trigger him. But indirect magic like your wind seems to be fine.” Mr. Mackie said to Alexa.

Luke was about to say something, when a system message caught his eye.

Hidden Class Conditions met.

Hidden Class unlocked: Prophetic Herald [Legendary]. Would you like to have class Prophetic Heraldset to be your default class when awakened?

NOTE: Choosing to set the Prophetic Herald as your default class now will allow you to assign all experience gained between now and your true awakening to your class, as if you were that class the whole time.

Class: Prophetic Herald: The mouthpiece of inevitability itself, while you can speak of the future and gain glimpses of it, you will still be subject to being merely a mouth piece for the future. Knowing that even warning others of the future will change the outcome of your witnessed future. In the end, you will realize that if you want to change the future, you and you alone must act to prevent the future from unfolding as you have seen. Primary Attribute: Perception. Secondary Attribute: Willpower.

Passive Class Perk: Identify Convergence Points in Time.

Active Available Class Perks: Forced Visions.

Seeing the message Luke let out a long sigh of relief and found himself saying “yes.”

Click.

With that one word, something clicked into place in Luke’s mind.

“What did he say?” Julie asked, a note of concern in her voice.

Luke wanted to turn to her but was stopped by the look of shock that now flooded Mr. Mackie’s face. He wanted to ask, what? But was cut off by Mr. Mackie himself.

“Everyone go. Everyone but Ms. Thyme, you can stay.” Mr. Mackie said, as he looked down at Luke, then speaking low so only those in the immediate area could hear, he spoke.

“You slotted a class.” It was more of a statement than a question, but Luke found himself nodding anyways.

“A Prophetic Herald.” Mr. Mackie continued, as if reading him like a carnival member guessing his weight, age, and occupation.

Once again Luke found himself nodding as he continued coughing up the last of the black tar smoke from his lungs. Suddenly Luke had a feeling of what it would be like to be a chain smoker.

Suddenly, Luke was hit by a note of insight. “You can see slotted classes?”

Mr. Mackie paused, but then finally nodded in agreement.

“What class do you have?”

“None, I’ve graduated.” Mr. Mackie said with a dead-pan delivery.

At that Luke just rolled his eyes.

“Come now. I believe you have seen a number of events related to this party?” Mr. Mackie asked.

Luke opened his mouth to speak but was quickly cut off.

“None of that. Your class has a few restrictions to it. The number one thing you must know is that your words now have power. By speaking of what you have seen, you will lose that power you had over the future. There are of course certain loopholes that can help you get around this. If you are interested, I can teach you what I have learned.” Mr. Mackie said.

Luke was curious about this. From what he understood, this class was a Legendary class, meaning very few people in the world had it. Suddenly, Luke found himself asking the first question that came to mind.

“Do you…”

“No. I do not possess this class, though I did know someone who did.” He paused, then continued. “I will give you the basic lesson of what I know. This is likely important for you too Ms. Thyme.” Mr. Mackie said, gesturing for Alexa to come closer. Not that she needed to, her exceptional hearing allowed her to see and hear everything that was being said, likely better than Luke himself could hear.

Alexa took a step forward and was now equidistant from both Mr. Mackie and Luke.

Seeing both twins together, Mr. Mackie nodded and continued. “Now while speaking does break the power. Giving certain body ticks and gestures will not. For instance you cannot nod your head, nor give away any blatant examples of yes and no. That said, you two can work out a simple form of communication. This can be something as simple as tapping your leg once for yes, twice for no. Snapping your fingers, once, etcetera. Basically, just have a preexisting form of communication between you two, that does not follow the standard protocols for communication. Thus, no sign language, no speaking, no overt gestures of agreement.”

With that Mr. Mackie paused, to look at Luke.

Luke opened his mouth, but Mr. Mackie stopped him with just raising his hand.

“You are right now under the power of vision. Can you see the aura around him, Ms. Thyme?”

Alexa nodded.

“Good. That means you don’t have to work out a set of instructions for indicating that you had a vision. For help, I had my Prophetic Herald tap their wrist three times in a row to get my attention. You two it seems will not have that limitation.”

Luke again, opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off by Mr. Mackie.

“Again, what part of your voice now has power do you not understand. Something important will happen at this party. We understand that, now using the previously noted ways of communicating we will go through a quick process to see what is happening.”

Mr. Mackie looked, and Luke was about to nod, when he stopped himself by the look of anger that almost filled the man’s face. Seeing the look, Luke raised up his hands so they were parallel to his heart and tapped his left wrist once with two fingers.

“Very good. That was a yes?”

Luke tapped his wrist once more.

“Good, now we can communicate without breaking your vision. Will anyone die at the party?”

Two taps.

“Good. Will anything happen after the party?”

One tap.

“Okay, I will be on standby after the party. Don’t worry, even if you don’t see me, I will see you.”

Gulp.

At that Luke found himself gulping at the idea of an invisible Mr. Mackie following him.

“Will anyone die after the party?”

Luke paused, then after a second tapped twice.

“Okay, no one will die, but something major will happen. This is good. Should I continue, or have the most important parts been addressed?”

One tap.

“Good. All right. Now go on to the party like nothing has happened. Do not speak of your class. Do not speak of your visions. So far as everyone is concerned you had a bad reaction to my permission rune. Ms. Thyme will cover for you.” Mr. Mackie said, gesturing to Alexa.

Alexa tapped her wrist once.

“That is good that you are reinforcing the communication, but it is unnecessary.” Mr. Mackie began, but then paused. “No, you know what, better that you both keep this up. Follow him, until you see his energy fade. That is how you know the prophecy ended.”

“What if…” Luke began, trying to ask about the possible second vision.

“You cannot speak about your prophecies.  Your class is what is considered to be a cursed class. You can of course try to change your class rarity, like Ms. Thyme has, but I strongly suggest against it. While your class is slotted, if you wish to partake in the benefits of your class, you will first need to understand the limitations that surround your class.” Mr. Mackie said, pausing for a second to let that sink in, before continuing. “Now I do believe you both have a night of debauchery to attend to. Have fun, and know, I will be watching.”

With that, Mr. Mackie disappeared right before Luke’s eyes.

Alexa for her part had her eyes following an object off in the distance.

“Ms. Thyme. It is really hard to make a grand escape with you watching me so closely.”

Alexa nodded, then turning her full attention to Luke. Rather than asking anything, she did probably the most Alexa thing possible.

“Let’s go.”

“That’s it?”

Alexa nodded.

Luke felt conflicted, on the one hand he wanted to tell her everything, on the other, he couldn’t help but feel that this was for the best. Still, he felt he needed to talk to someone about this class. He knew Mr. Mackie would be an invaluable resource for the class, but he also felt that he had a connection to his sister now. Now that they both had slotted classes. Finally, he was catching up to her.

The two made their way to the door.

Everyone looked on at the two with questioning glances, but before they could say anything. The two entered the grand room when Luke was suddenly reminded of the first portion of his vision, the one where he was in a sword duel. Everyone was in a giant semi-circle watching the two enter.

Then almost as if reading Luke’s mind, someone from semi-circle stepped forward and said three words that caused Luke’s blood to freeze.

“Prepare to die!”