The oracle speed walks in circles around the tent, silently cheering and clapping like a madman. I don’t see why he’s so happy, plus I’m shocked to see an old man have that much energy.
“Elder, calm down. Why are you so excited?” I say.
“My boy, this is great news for our people. Do you know how long we’ve been enslaved to these psychopaths?”
“An elder from my camp once told me it was because of something our people did hundreds of years ago,” I say, sitting on a nearby bench. “I don’t remember the details, but it sounded like a stupid fairytale.”
“It’s not,” he says, with a single loud clap. “Do you remember the main reasons why we were in this mess?”
“I have no clue. Cause we lost a war?”
“Disobedience,” he says by spacing out the syllables. “We were disobedient to him.” He points his finger up while wiggling it. I look at the tent ceiling, then back at him. His cheerful smile is now a grimace gaze.
“Him?”
“The All-Might of our young universe. Tagenta.”
“Who?” He slaps his face hard enough to make me mildly flinch. “What?”
“Boy, this demigod is the supreme ruler of this universe. Creator of the worlds that was once obliterated by a child’s imbecilic rampaging rage.” This story sounds far-fetched. I want to laugh at how crazy he’s sounding, but I don’t want to disrespect the oracle, so I smile.
“Sure...”
“Zazarel, I’m serious. Tagenta is coming back for his people and his planet!” A Melonian guard shouting near the tent causes us to watch the silhouettes rushing past the tent to my right. He commands someone to get out of the way, then his voice gets drowned by a loud crowd.
“What’s going on out there?” Three guys suddenly rush into the tent, sweaty and breathing heavily. A guard comes in, trying to take one of them away, but he resists.
“Oracle, oracle. I need you!” One of the men says.
“No, I need him more,” the second man says, shoving the first guy out of the way. He drops to his knees but stumbles to sit on them. His hands come together as if he’s praying to the oracle. “I had a terrible nightmare, and I can’t get the horrible images out of my head!”
“Get away from the oracle!” The guard says, arming his weapon. I step away with my hands up in fear I’ll get shot. “Stand up!”
“Did you see visions of war, rebellion, or mass chaos?” The oracle quickly says.
“Everything!” A man says, standing back up. Two more guards storm the tent to take all the workers out by force. The men start resisting by yelling that they are expressing the same nightmares and shoving the guards around. A fight breaks out. I move further back into the tent to avoid getting in the mess.
“See, Zazarel? It’s coming to pass! Soon we’ll be free!”
“How long have you had these visions, oracle?” I quickly say.
“I can’t remember. We Spargarians live for hundreds of years,” the oracle says, chuckling with shortness of breath. “At first they were lousy dreams like I was living in a past life.”
“Really?”
“Yes,” he says and nods slowly. “But in the last year, they’ve become vivid nightmares.”
“What did you see?”
“What you saw, but he,” he says then stops to emphasize his words. “He spoke directly to me anonymous in a raging storm in the clouds at night.”
“Did you see what he looked like?”
“Never,” he says, shaking his head quickly as if he’s frightened. “He’s the one that summarized our past. My visions always hinted at him arriving here.” He slams his finger on the stool and taps several times.
“Where did he go?”
I can’t get my question answered because all of the workers storm inside the tent. I’m lost for words on what to say about what’s happening in front of me. I try to maneuver past the mass hysteria but get pushed out of the tent by one of the men shoving the guard out. I slam into a crowd who are waiting outside. A man asks me if I am there for interpretation. Then, another man asks for further confirmation. If these men are coming here for the same reason I came, then what the oracle told me should not be ignored in the slightest.
I confirm my visitation to the men, then hurry back to my post just in case my quartermaster is expecting me back. During my walk, I notice many workstations are empty or not full. I know there are many people at the oracle’s tent, but where are most of the men? Are they seeking help as I did? My crazy thoughts are giving me careful hope that the nightmare could be something that’ll genuinely come. It almost puts a smile on my face and gives me the sensation of butterflies in my stomach. I don’t want to give my hopes up to find it to be some mass lie that’s tricking our people into being subjugated further. Even though my life is hell, I don’t want anything screwing up the secret window Vodkis, and I have. If I can’t see her, I’ll lose myself in this terrible life. Our weekly visits are what my soul needs to diminish days of hard, backbreaking work. Whatever is going on, I hope it’s true.
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“Ah, there you are,” Arlic says, standing up out of our workstation. “You don’t look too happy. Is there something wrong?” I place my finger over my mouth as I squat in the hole. “What’s going on?” He whispers.
“Something big is about to happen, Arlic,” I say, keeping my lips tight to prevent from smirking. “The men around here are looking for an interpretation of their dreams.” Three guards patrol near our hole, so Arlic and I pretend we’re cleaning our tools. The guards walk behind me, diagonal to my right. Even though I can hear him move away, I watch Arlic’s eyes to gauge when we can safely resume talking.
“Continue,” Arlic says, putting down his tools.
“I saw an oracle, and he told me someone from space is coming to help us.” He leans forward over the center table.
“What?”
“I think we’re about to get out of this mess.” He presses his brows down into his eyes and lightly turns to his left to side-eye me. “We might get out of this mess.”
“That’s... impossible, Zazarel. How are we gonna get out of this, hmm?”
“A revolt.”
“A what?!” He softly yells. “Are you mad? That’s crazy talk!”
“Believe me, I feel the same way, but the men I was with saw the same things I saw.”
“The Melonians have guns, ships, and an army. It’s suicide to think we can do that.” A man pulling a cart of stone, accompanied by my quartermaster and two other working men, stops by our hole. He unloads the stones on the ground, then the two men place one stone in our pit.
“Get to work,” the quartermaster says, handing me a blueprint. He walks off with the men, leaving me wondering if we’ll get help.
“Hey, can we get other workers to help us?” I say.
“No. Get it done before dusk.” Arlic sighs with disappointment and curses in quiet mumbles.
“Arlic, I’m this close to lashing out,” I say through my teeth, putting my thumb and index finger together.
“Zazarel... they’re closed,” Arlic says.
“I know.”
“Don’t. Relax. Please, calm down.” I watch the quartermaster walk off in the distance. My anger rises so much that I can feel my heart rate rise. “Whoa there, Zazarel. Keep your verve down, or they’ll sense it.” My verve continues to grow. I can’t stop it when I remember all the pain and suffering I’m going through. “Zazarel, stop!”
“I’m tired of living this life.”
“They are going to kill you if you don’t calm down. What would Vodkis say if she found out you died?” Hearing her name is enough for me to cease all of my frustrations. “Think of her, Zazarel.” I place her glorious smile, deep lavender eyes, and white hair into my mind. “That’s it, that’s it. Are you good?”
“Arlic...” He turns me around to face him. I can feel my eyes about to explode into tears, so I hug him to help me not cry. It fails, and I can’t keep myself quiet.
“Shush. It’s okay.”
“I can’t take it anymore!”
“I know how you feel, buddy. I wish we could get out of this mess.” His firm holds and back rubs are enough to put me in a stable mood. “Come on. Let’s get this work done.”
“Okay,” I say with a voice crack. I clear my eyes, swallow mucus from my nose, and then return to my grueling job.
----------------------------------------
We craft all the stone blocks to the specifications ordered by my quartermaster. It’s late in the evening. The sky is pink as the sun dives down into the horizon. My hands are cramping again, but the pain isn’t as bad as it was hours ago.
“Hey, Zazarel. I’m gonna see a doctor on my hands. I’ll catch you later,” Arlic says, looking at his chalky hands.
“Okay, see you at the compound for dinner.”
“Later.” Before we can go our separate ways, a siren goes off from the direction of the overseer’s home. Several Melonians take to the sky with their weapons aimed at the working men. “What’s going on?” Arlic and I raise our hands.
“All workers, report back to your compounds immediately,” a guard says on the loudspeakers. Arlic and I jog back to the men’s quarters in a hurry. When we get to the houses, it’s swarming with armed guards.
“What is going on?” I say. They round us up to our room but keep our doors open. A guard watches me as more men move to their dwellings. The overseer walks past my door, shouting for everyone to listen to what he’s about to say.
“As of now, you’ll be strictly watched! No more alone time with mild watches,” the overseer reveals. A lot of men roar in disgrace overwhelming the overseer for a moment. “Quiet, or you’ll be beaten!” Everyone shuts up in an instant. “Like I said, you’ll be monitored all day, every day. You’ll be heavily watched when you work, eat, sleep, every minute of the hour!” I can’t believe what I’m hearing. This is madness. Why are we going under high surveillance?
“Hey, what’s going on?” I say to the guard standing in the doorway.
“Shut your mouth!” He says.
“Please... If you never tell us what’s going on, you’ll more likely be bothered by others to tell.”
“Shut up,” he snaps, raising his gun at me. I’m hesitant to keep pleading with him to tell me what’s happening, but the situation makes me highly curious.
“Sir... please...” He takes a few glances at me before lowering his weapon. “Please, tell me, then I’ll leave you alone. I promise.”
“Your people are suddenly causing an uproar in different sectors around the planet. We’ve already lost a workstation two hours ago.”
“Impossible,” I whisper, glancing out my window, picturing the oracle’s tent. “It’s actually happening?”
“What did you say?”
“Uh... When will the food be served?” The overseer stands behind the guard and then looks around the room before walking away.
“Lights out!” The overseer says. The guard steps out from the door frame to close and lock my door from the outside with some heavy-sounding chain.
I sit on my bed, peeking around the curtain of my window. Guards are swarming the building. They seem to be taking no chances at any riots happening here. Just watching them be on edge excites me. I have never seen them so frightful all of a sudden. This is a fantastic spectacle to behold. It brings a smile to my face, but my happiness doesn’t last long when I think about what might be happening in the women’s quarters. I hope they’ll treat the women with care and not too much rigor.
Vodkis, I hope you’re doing okay. I’m worried we won’t be able to see each other for a long time.
Vodkis’s scent plumes up into my nose when I put my knee on the pillow to try and look beyond the crops. I place my pillow up to my nose and clutch it tightly against my body.
Today is going to suck for both of us. Stay safe, my love.