The city of Delphi was buzzing with excitement and fervor, people running to and fro between buildings, eagerly hoping they could finish their daily tasks for the chance to meet the local Oracle in the city’s place of worship before she left back to wherever the Oracles came from, not to be seen again for another year at the end of the day tomorrow. Catherine approached the building in question, a crystal vial in the shape of a hexagon sat in her pocket, it’s center containing a small amount of her blood, an offering for the Oracle herself, she was met with a line sixty people long, each holding something either personal, or of high monetary value in their hands hoping it’d be a good tribute for the Oracle to give a reading of their futures. She took her place at the back of the line, playing with the vial in her pocket, turning it over between her fingers and keeping her head down, not to draw attention to herself, and to not disturb the locals.

After twenty minutes of the line not moving, a pair of guards approached her, each of them having a mask covering their face, spears in hand, “Miss Tharros?”

Catherine nodded, “Yes?”

“Please come with us, the Oracle will see you now.”

Catherine blinked, confused, “I’m fine with waiting,really.”

“The Oracle insists” one of them said, ignoring her, “Come this way.”

Catherine sighed and followed the two, looking at the ground to ignore any potential looks of envy, anger, or agony from the townsfolk. She wanted to remain incognito, just a traveler, and now she could just imagine the next year of gossip around the city being how some outsider being brought to the front of the line, even if it was against her wishes.

The two guards stopped at the doors, and opened them to her, pointing their weapons toward the crowd out of caution. Inside Catherine was greeted by a room filled with all kinds of foods, jewels, weapons, clothing, from extravagant to poorly made hand crafted items clearly made while waiting in line, all tossed into piles without any rhyme, reason or sense or organization. Catherine noted a pool like incline in the floor with a few stairs that lead up to the main floor, at the center of the room sat a young woman in her twenties or thirties with a golden-blue veil over her face making it hard to make out sitting on a massive throne. The woman stretched out her hand, and beckoned her closer.

“Greetings, Catherine Aya Tharros.”

Catherine stepped carefully around the pool and bowed to the woman, “Oracle…lady.”

The woman laughed, “You may call me Dela, dear. Your tribute?” Catherine extended the glass vial toward her, and she took it gently, rolling it over in her hands carefully.

“A gift from your Mentor, Areius.”

Catherine blinked, “His name is Aiden, ma’am.”

The woman continued looking at the glass vial, “I see, that’s what he goes by now.”

Catherine stared, confused, “You know him?”

“Oh we’ve had our sessions in the past, Catherine. He sought many visions in his youth.Some helped, some did not. We haven’t spoken in oh, fifteen years, if my memory is correct”

“What do you mean some didn’t help?”

“My dear, us Oracles do not see time as linear as you do, it is not a straight line going one way.”

Catherine’s ears peaked, “Ah, multiverse theory.”

“In a sense, yes. We see all time, past, present, and future at once, every possibility, every eventuality, like a web. As an example, you decided to camp out in the woods before coming here on your journey, you slept in and skipped your morning meal, however, if you had decided to go eat breakfast at a local restaurant, a fight would have broken out, and in six possibilities I’ve seen, you end up shooting, or stabbing an attacker, and you end up in prison for a year.”

Catherine nodded, “I see… cool. So if there’s a chance your visions are inaccurate, why do so many believe you?”

“Even if there is a one percent chance of one of my visions of doom coming to pass, you must treat it as an absolute certainty, whether you go on a path to avoid said fate or not. If I told you, drinking a coffee after leaving here would somehow, eventually lead to Athens burning to the ground, would you avoid doing it?”

“...Yes?”

The Oracle spread her hands, “And you see how my wisdom works.”

Catherine lowered her eyes, skeptical, “I know your kind have the power to… unlock ours, make us Gods, but what about that old saying, “A person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.” that seems contradictory to me.``

“As are many things that occur between our kind, Catherine.” The Oracle walked over to the pool, mixing a bowl of odd looking herbs and plants together into a bowl before opening a hidden hatch, dumping the contents inside, followed by the glass vial Catherine had just given her, and closing the hatch. Catherine watched curiously, as Dela snapped her fingers, and Catherine heard faintly, the glass vial shattering inside, and a pink fog filled the pool, never escaping the edges.

Catherine examined the mist-fog waving her hand through it, ghostly tendrils “grasping” into her for a moment before retreating back into the pool, “What is it?”

“Think of it as… sharing my gifts, Catherine.” Dela said, approaching Catherine from behind, “This fog allows a non-Oracle to see the same visions I see, to watch and experience another version of themselves as I do.”

Catherine was too enamored with the odd looking fog to notice Dela get ever closer… and push her into the waiting pool below, the ghostly pink tendrils attacking, the gas invading her lungs as she tried to escape. Catherine clawed valiantly at the walls of the pool, but she only slipped and slid back down, her muscles began to relax and go limp.

“What…are you doing to me?!” Catherine growled, trying to sound tough as her heart beat slowed, and her mind dulled

“Sharing my gifts, as I said. Try not to fight too hard, you’ll experience it soon.”

Before Catherine could fully comprehend what that ment, she felt her head hit the wall of the pool as she almost felt herself falling asleep? Catherine next found herself jolting awake, her surroundings were oddly familiar yet alien to her, the walls around her were decorated with cardboard, and poly steel, the floor was littered with swords and old guns, not the laser ones that were in production and were getting prepped for the public, but old fashioned guns that were last used during the Spartan Conflict. She looked down at herself, and saw she was wearing an old winter coat, tattered and torn, a gun belt around her hip, with an old revolver strapped inside its holster.

She slowly got up, realizing her muscles were aching, as if she slept wrong, she tried to use her powers but only felt a jolt of sharp pain in her neck.

“The fuck!?” She shouted unintentionally, rubbing the base of her neck until the pain stopped.

In came Maria with a bowl of steaming hot water and a towel, worry stricken on her face, “Are you alright? Bad dream?” As she rubbed the towel on Catherine’s face, a layer of dirt and dried blood coming off on the white towel

“Just…hurting.”

Maria nodded, understanding, “You have to be quiet, the local troops are just outside.”

Catherine stared in confusion, “What?”

Maria sighed, “Must have taken a hit to the head last night during your raid. They showed up an hour ago.” Maria pointed to the boarded up window, “Carefully, now. Don’t draw attention.”

Catherine slowly got up and snuck toward the window Maria pointed to, and carefully removed the cardboard from it so she could see the street down below. It was Athens, but half the buildings were destroyed, some were smoldering, citizens were sitting in the street, filthy and broken, their bodies in a malnourished state as a dozen soldiers in red-gold armor, armed with what appeared to be laser rifles, stalked the streets.

“Spartan!?” Catherine mumbled, trying not to talk too loud, as she put the cardboard back, “What are they doing here?”

Maria blinked, “You raided one of their storage compounds last night with your father. I warned you two not to be too careless, but now they’re here looking for the food and medicine you stole.”

Catherine looked at the floor, and internally thought to herself about the possibilities of how this could’ve happened. The shell shock of what Maria was telling her clashed with her own actual memories, as Catherine stumbled into what she thought was the bathroom, and looked into the mirror, and her eyes flew open in shock. She was suddenly a few years older, her hair was longer, and there was a long scar going from the top of her right eye going down to her chin. Searching her memories, trying to separate her real ones from the clouded ones of this…vision she tried to think of how this happened, why Spartans were here… but nothing came.

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Shaking her head, she went back out into the main room, and pretended to start cleaning a gun, when Troy entered the room, Catherine’s face went white. Troy now sported a buzz cut, he was clean shaven, and he was missing an eye. He nodded to Catherine, “You alright?”

Catherine could only bob her head up and down, “Yes… sir”

Troy squinted, “You hit your head?”

Catherine cleared her throat, “Maybe, head’s all… fuzzy.”

“Yeah that’ll happen, Maria keep an eye on her, they’re getting closer, we need to keep quiet.”

Troy went to the other side of the room as Catherine continued to toy with the revolver that was in her holster. Maria counted the supplies next to her.

Catherine cleared her throat, “So… refresh my memory. Why are the Spartans… here. I thought we won the last war?”

Maria’s face was that of pure concern and terror, “Wow you really did hit your head, we’ll have to get you to docs tonight.”

“Mom”

Maria sighed, “We never won. We were going to, we had a super weapon pointed right at Sparta, and were about to fire, when a call came from central command to pull out, there wasn’t enough testing done. It was inhumane, they said. Well your father pulled back toward the west coast where the fighting was most heavy, and the Spartans pushed us back to Athens… they eventually took over the rest of Hades, and claimed their lust was cured, and wouldn’t touch our shores. Well… a year later we found out just how good of liars they were, when our capitol building exploded, and they started slaughtering our heads of state in the street on live internet feeds.”

Catherine looked away, “What the fuck…” she mumbled “Where are the Brotherhood?”

“They took a vow of non-violence, they’d decided not to get involved in the war, and their leadership forbid them from interfering.”

“What about Aiden!?” Catherine shouted just a bit too loud

Maria’s eyes widened the size of dinner plates, “He was the first Abnormal to be executed for fighting against the Spartan Empire, it was all public… The rest of the Brotherhood ran to the hills and left us to suffer.”

Catherine could not believe her ears, nevertheless imagined hearing Maria say such horrible things.

“We had to get a chip installed in your neck by the government order to stop you from using your powers, they didn’t want some super powered coup.”

Catherine slid down and laid her head against the box, tears welling up in her eyes as a wave of sadness rushed over her, “What…why…the hell.” Words escaped her as Maria embraced her.

“Hey… hey it’s okay, I know.”

Troy sighed rather loudly as he approached, “The time for crying is over, kid! Get over it, this is war, people die!”

Catherine shook her head, “This… isn’t right, it can’t be real.”

“It is, and the sooner you get it through your head the better. Stop coddling her, Maria. We need soldiers, not children!”

“She’s ten, Troy! Leave her be!”

Catherine’s crying only worsened as her two parents started screaming more, but all three of them silenced as they heard footsteps approaching from the hallway. Catherine, Troy, and Maria all shared glances, as Troy slowly reached for his rifle on the floor, and Catherine quickly assembled her gun, clicking back the hammer.

“Mr. Pistos! We’d like a word about your military service!” a voice shouted from behind the steel door

Troy dove to the ground as the door flew forward in a deafening explosion, Troy fired off two shots, and two bodies hit the ground, Catherine tried to aim through the smoke but couldn’t find a target, she ducked as a barrage of shots came her way, shredding the makeshift desk she’d been working on, as Troy tried to return fire, a laser hit him straight in the forehead, killing him instantly as his corpse hit the ground. Catherine let out a scream of anguish, Maria was in shell shock as a soldier ran up and hit her upside the head with his rifle, she couldn’t tell if Maria was still alive or dead, but she had no real time to process this as another guard ran up behind her, and the last thing Catherine saw was the butt of a rifle hitting her in the head as everything went black-

Catherine crawled out of the pink fog, tears rolling down her face, coughing out pink, trying not to cry, “What the fuck man!?”

Dela mused, eating an apple, “That… was the timeline where your people lost the last war, Sparta overran the world, and you and your family died. Inconsequential to the larger world.”

Catherine coughed, and cried, remembering the sight of likely both her parents dying right in front of her… “Was it real? Please tell me it wasn’t real, they’re still alive?”

“Here. Yes. There, no. It was very real, just as real as this fruit in my hand.” Dela said, bending down to meet her. “Your father did horrible things during the last war, but in the end, no matter the consequences, they were for the greater good, child.” She said, poking Catherine in the forehead, Catherine’s eyes widened as she realized what Dela was doing

“No…no no no please no don’t send me back please, I believe you!”

“Oh I know you do. But you must experience this one more time.” She said, pushing Catherine back into the fog.

Catherine jolted awake, she found herself in a truck going down an empty patch of road, Maria was driving, Catherine noted the odd way Maria was dressed, a purple bandanna in her hair, a white denim t-shirt, and jeans. A pistol, military grade strapped to her hip. Catherine looked into the backseat, a sniper rifle sat back there, a laser pack charging connected to an outlet in the truck. Catherine slowly stirred as Maria smiled at her.

“Hey, kiddo.”

Catherine’s eyes burned as the sun invaded her eyesight, “Hi… what’s going on?”

“Well, we… are trying to get to a good stopping point before nightfall. We got enough gas to get there if we don’t get stopped by military patrols.”

Catherine squinted, “Why what happens at night?”

Maria rolled her eyes, “I’ve told you this before… look, I know you don’t believe this shit’s real, your father didn’-Look, ignore what your scientist friend Jennifer told you, this shit started when people got too close to Sparta, they got infected, and now they’re feral monsters. They get stronger at night, and I cannot protect you once that sun sets! Okay?”

Catherine nodded slowly, and internally thought, “Can the Oracle stop sending me to these fucked up visions for fucks sake!?”

Catherine examined herself, and only found a pocket knife on her, “Where’s my gun?”

Maria pointed in the back seat, “The rifle’s yours remember?”

Catherine glared, “Right”

As they kept driving, Catherine noticed the radio in the car was gone, and the air conditioning was switched out with an artificial air system. Likely to prevent anyone or anything from sneaking up on them, and if they needed to stay in the truck for long periods of time.

Catherine cleared her throat, “Where’s dad?”

Maria’s pupils dilated for a moment, and her face turned red before she calmed down, “Catherine are you trying to-” As she turned toward Catherine, she noticed the genuine confusion on her face, “You really…-” Maria sighed, as tears welled up in her eyes… “He was called into active service as soon as a string of immigrants came into port, infected with this garbage, and started biting people. He was telling me over the phone they’d gone from a few dozen infected, something manageable to a few hundred within a couple days, and after a week they’d launched bombs to try and contain the outbreak, but it didn’t work. The last I heard from Troy his unit was under assault by a horde, and…”

“Mom, it's okay… I’m sorry.”

Maria just nodded, “No… no questions for a while, okay?”

Catherine just nodded and rolled over as Maria kept driving. After a bit, Catherine just closed her eyes, trying to sleep, hoping she’d wake up in that horrible pink fog with the Oracle standing over her. But nothing ever happened. Instead after a few hours, Maria shook Catherine from her daze as Catherine looked out the front window, which for some reason was not only tinted, but she noticed metal plates were now covering the window.

“Catherine, get your gun ready.” Maria said, pulling out her pistol

Catherine again looked out the front to see a few dozen monsters attacking a military check point, a tank being flipped over by a rather large one as it pulled it’s driver out, and ripped his head from his shoulders, and two more smaller monsters tearing him into pieces. Catherine could only watch the gore in horror as she thought, “It’s only a dream, it’s only a dream, it’ll be over soon”

Maria shook Catherine rather violently, “Grab your gun, Catherine!”

Catherine snapped into action, slapping the energy pack into her rifle and prepping for a fight, “Wait wha-” Catherine jerked forward as Maria slammed the gas and the truck launched forward toward the monsters “Why aren’t we going the other way?!” Catherine shouted at her mother.

“We don’t have enough gas to get back to another safe zone, we have to keep going forward!” She shouted as she slammed right into a monster, it’s head going under the tire, and Catherine could hear it’s distinct squishing sound.

As they drove through the city, they were met by a unit of soldiers opening fire on the mass of monsters, which Catherine could now see under good lighting were covered in rock-like growths on their heads and arms. As Maria peeled around the corner, the mother and daughter could see soldiers waving them forward as they started to close an inner gate, Maria again slammed on the gas as the truck flew forward as fast as it could, Catherine closed her eyes and hoped, as the gates took off their side mirrors and began scraping the sides of the truck, the gates slamming shut behind them, crushing a couple monsters behind them. Catherine scurried out of the truck, rifle in hand, as she scanned the area behind her in case a monster wanted to jump scare her, but there was nothing.

Catherine watched as a soldier approached her, his hands spread out, “Easy… easy.” she finally heard as the man gently pushed her gun down, “You two are okay… may I ask your names?”

Maria approached Catherine from behind, “It’s okay.”

“Catherine, this is my mom… Maria, we’re… my dad was Troy Pistos.”

The soldier squinted, “Pistos, Captain Pistos?”

Catherine nodded, “Yes sir”

The soldier smiled, “I served with him in the last war, good man. I… assume he didn’t make it out of Athens.”

Maria shook her head, “One of the first casualties, his whole unit got bombed by the government.”

“Fucking bastards.” the man said, before looking at Catherine. “Sorry, language.”

Catherine shrugged, “It’s okay.”

“I’m Captain Williams. We’ll get you two settled once we get some burners out and clear out the infected. Maybe get your truck fixed up in town, get you on your way, or you can stay here if you want to,”

Catherine and Maria nodded, “Thank you.”

Williams threw a signal into the air to return to duty as Catherine slumped against the truck, her hands shaking. She just wanted to wake up in the fog, she just wanted to wake up. Whatever the Oracle wanted her to learn, she was ready to learn it.

“Hey” Maria said, “It’s not much but we’ll be fine here for a few days. Then we’ll get back out on the road, heard the infected can’t survive in the snow. Maybe we’ll head north.”

Catherine nodded absently, “Yeah”

As Catherine said that, the heavy metal doors screeched. Sweat poured from her head, as fear overtook her body at what she was witnessing… the big infected Catherine and Maria had encountered at the entrance to the city… it was forcing the thousand ton doors apart… single handedly. Catherine and Maria were frozen to the truck as infected poured through the gates, soldiers opening fire on the horde to keep them back, but the big guy was unphased as it merely slapped Williams away like a gnat, he flew into a wall, splattering like a paintball as it roared and Catherine’s world went black as it’s fist connected to her face.

Catherine slowly crawled out of the fog, laying her head on one of the steps just out of the fog’s reach as she cried, “Please stop… please please please, just stop…”

Dela sighed, petting Catherine’s head gently, “All of your kind go through this.”

Catherine glared, “Abnormals? The Brotherhood?”

“Those who question my methods”

“I believe you, why are you still doing this!?”

“A lesson. You’ve suffered as your others have suffered… and now your reward.” Dela said, once again pushing Catherine back into the fog…

Catherine didn’t jolt awake, she wasn’t in any kind of pain… she found herself sitting on the porch to her family home, rocking in a hammock chair with her father, each with a glass of tea-maybe it was beer, she couldn’t tell which, in her hand. The sunset kissing the peaceful mountains. Catherine looked around expecting carnage, or monsters, dragons, anything to fuck up the serenity… but nothing did. Catherine looked over at Troy, his hair was white, a long beard sported on his chin, and to her relief, he had two eyes.

Troy cleared his throat, “So, one more night with us, and you head off to Hades with that kid you’re training to make his weapon huh?”

Catherine shook her head, “Uh…yeah, visit the Nemorians.” She said, hoping that was the correct answer.

“What do you think he’s gonna make?”

Catherine processed the answer in her mind, “Hopefully… something he’ll never have to use.”

Troy chuckled at his daughter, “That is a very… you answer.”

“I try.”

Maria exited onto the porch, “Dinner will be ready in a minute.”

The pair nodded as she returned to the house, and Troy spoke up, “Thirty years of peace… and all it took as a few good leaders. Proud of you kid.”

“Thank you, dad.”

Troy eyed her, “That’s got a nice ring to it.” Catherine’s eyes filled with happy tears as she struggled with what to say next, “You okay?”

Catherine just nodded, “I’m grand.” she said laughing.

Catherine’s vision filled with pink as Dela’s guards pulled her from the fog and dropped her unceremoniously onto the floor. “Ah what the fuck man?!”

Dela sighed, “I’ve given you just a taste of what could have happened, and a taste of what can happen if you play your cards correctly, young Abnormal.”

Catherine sighed, “Couldn’t have let me stay in that last one a bit longer…?”

“Joy is fleeting, pain is a better teacher.”

Catherine stood up on her shaky legs, the two guards offering a hand up, “So can I get my role now, please?”

Dela nodded, “In every future I’ve witnessed, I’ve seen you as the Herald a single realm, you, Catherine Anne Tharros, shall be the God… or Goddess, I should say of-”