Tomorrow's Child

This is my prophecy.

I was in a meeting room at the Oak Hill Community Center, when a tiny sliver of a woman stood at a podium. Her head was barely visible to the people in the fellowship. A sign reading Superheroes Anonymous hung behind her on the wall. With her auburn hair in a messy bun, and dressed in an oversized red silk wind breaker, blue jeans, and sneakers, she was ageless. Slender as a rod, it was easy to imagine her blowing away in a stiff wind. 

'My name is Berdi and I'm a superhero.'  

Along with the people in the support group, I responded to this statement with, 'Hello, Berdi.' 

'I am a time traveler from the year 2050.'  

My breath caught in my throat, hearing her confession. Time travel? What an amazing gift and horrible curse that would be. I briefly pondered what I would do with that incredible talent. In my mind's eye, his face hovered. I knew what I would do with that superpower. I would save him. 

'I am here to warn you.' This phrase brought me out of my reverie, capturing my attention as neatly as a fisherman nets a fish. 'The earth is facing a a crisis. There is a limited time for us to stop modern society from taking a nosedive off the edge of a cliff'. Like a netted fish, my breath began to come in ragged gasps. 

As she continued speaking, I began to feel as if the world had tilted off its axis and I was in danger of falling right into space. The room seemed to tilt and whirl, and I clasped my hands together tightly, needing desperately to cling to something.  

I closed my eyes and breathed, centering myself. I reached into my happiest memory, struggling to re-live the feeling of perfect bliss that I felt as I looked into his eyes. This image is what I hung onto, for decades it had been my anchor and my grounding wire and my moral compass. It was the perfect moment that had been the highlight of my long life. 

'I have traveled across the width and breadth of humanity's timeline on this earth. I have interfered in the development of our race, striving to stop the world from being destroyed by the collapse of what is now your modern society. This is my last attempt.' A collective gasp echoed in the cold concrete room.  

The sudden panicky vibe in the room broke the bubble of my meditative contemplation. When I looked back up, Berdi was standing beside the podium, holding the microphone. She was a talented public speaker, capturing the gaze of every one of the audience, looking deeply into their eyes, one at a time. When her eyes locked with mine, I felt a shock of electricity like I'd been touched by a live wire. My mind cleared as I watched her with singular vision. 

'I have finally found the answer. There is a person in this room that will change the course of the river that is the timeline that we live in. I am here to deliver the message to the prophet that is watching me right now.' 

And then, she began to pace the front of the stage. I stopped comparing her size to the podium, so focused on Berdi that she seemed to be the only thing in the room, swelling to fill my entire field of vision.  

'I introduced the concept of a god to diffuse the conflict between two warring tribes of a race of men that has long since gone extinct. Over and over again, I have intervened in scenarios that had the potential to bring about the end of life as we know it. The result of this is that life as we know it changes. Some very astute people can detect these changes, but most will just surf over the bumps without even noticing.' 

Again, her eyes locked with mine, this time for a long moment. She stood stock still and spoke her next words directly to me. 'You can see these changes. You have tried to tell others, but they brush you off, afraid that you've lost your mind. You have, but that's not a bad thing. Sanity as you know it is a construct of powerful men made as a tool to control the behavior of the masses.' 

I nodded. I had long held this point of view. Having tried to explain my superpowers to those who were 'normal' had several times resulted in misdiagnoses of mental illness. I saw how afraid they were of me and of what I could do, and I watched as that fear turned to anger and disgust, as they tried to squash my offensive nature the way that they would squash a bug. 

'Prophets exist on earth.' 

A mixture of apprehension and hopeful belief bristled through the gathered audience. 

'You are here because you are superheroes, in a world of non-believers. How can you possibly question the existence of prophets? Gods, and those that can hear them, exist. Prophecy happens when one of the observers has the ability to effectively communicate the message of those gods into the minds of their audiences.' 

A murmur of agreement rippled through the air. 

'In many ways, I am, myself a prophet. I have lived a future that you have yet to even imagine. I have seen the effect of the ugliness of humanity, and watched as it destroyed everything beautiful about human society. I have seen the results of a war that is beyond describing.' 

Like a charismatic preacher, she caught ahold of me and dragged me into her spell. I listened so intently that I heard my own heartbeat providing a backbeat for every word she said. The movements she made were artfully choreographed and well-practiced. She moved like a predator, all smooth grace and deadly focus. My flight or fight reflex kicked in, and I wanted to run, screaming from the truth that she spoke. 

As her voice rose and fell in pitch, she artfully inserted a whisper here and a shout there. Nothing existed aside from Berdi, dancing like a flame, the crimson silk of her jacket catching and reflecting so much light that she seemed to be lit from within. 

As she flickered back and forth across the front of the stage, I was hypnotized by the urgency in her voice. 

She described her involvement in numerous historical events. She detailed the changes that she'd made, the course corrections that she'd added, the prophecies she had delivered.  

Once again, she pinned me with her gaze. The hair rose on my arms. This was a sign from the universe, a direct intercession in my life. I was being called to stand forward. I was being compelled to take action. 

'You have to take this message and pass it on to the world. You have to make sure that the world is aware of the peril, and you have to do it in the most efficient way possible to reach the widest audience. This information needs to quickly become a part of the public awareness.' 

I nodded, I had been taking notes the entire time. When she left the stage, I rose and climbed the steps. I stood behind the microphone and leaned over slightly to speak into it.  

'I'm Krystall and I'm a witness.' 

'Hi, Krystall.' 

'I have hyperthymesia, which means that I see and remember every detail of every event in my life. Because of this, I recall things that other people forget. I can use tiny details that other people miss as keys to a better understanding of why people do and believe the things they do.' 

Discomfort flickered across a few faces, people obviously afraid that I would find out their secrets. 

'I hear voices that are out of the range of most people's ability. I hear people speaking from alternate universes, parallel timelines, as easily as hearing a voice in another room.' 

A few eyebrows shot up in disbelief. 

'You can fly,' I pointed at one individual with raised eyebrows, 'and, you have super strength', pointing at another. If you approach a normal and announce this, they look at you the way you just looked at me.  

The audience glanced around as if seeing themselves and each other for the first time. 

'I am a prophet. And now, so are you all. We've been visited by a time traveler and warned that we must get involved or all of society will be lost.'